Car Jacking is an obvious feature, you’ve got side missions alongside the main missions. There are various stores that you can purchase items of clothing attire, firearms, and so forth. It’s like stepping into a warped version of a GTA game. Here’s the kicker. Although Saints Row is a GTA clone, I think we’ve more then established that already, Saints Row not only has everything GTA has – but it improves on almost every aspect of the GTA series – that is why this game has shocked and surprised so many gamers, including yours truly.
Volition have made great use of the Havok engine and it shows. The physics are superb. Ram a pedestrian with a vehicle and watch him/her go flying over your car or bouncing off it. Crash into another vehicle and admire the realistic bump mapped damage on your vehicle, as well as smoke rising from the engine bay if it’s a severe impact.
So the game is already impressive. Under the command of Julius and his pals, you’ve got to partake in various missions, which evolve into quite a large storyline. In order to accept a mission, you first need to fill up your respect bar – this is where the game differs from the GTA series where you can just do all the main missions one after another. In Saints Row you must earn respect, and this is done by completing various side missions known as Activities, which earn you cash too.
I won’t go into detail about the various types of activities because there are just too many, and they’re varied too. They range from Drug trafficking, assassinations, stealing prostitutes off a pimp, and insurance fraud to name but a few. Each of these activities have various levels of play, and the more you play a certain activity, the more harder it gets as it’s level increases.
The mini-games are fun though and never get repetitive. A nice addition is that they are dotted all around Stillwater, and not in one neighbour hood so you really do have to go out and explore the city. Once you’ve filled your respect bar, you can then do one of the many missions. Speaking of Stillwater, you’re probably thinking about its size. It’s no where near as large as GTA San Andreas, but it is larger then GTA: Vice City. Its size is large enough to warrant exploration if you’re the type who enjoys just driving around various neighbourhoods.
A nice touch is the cinema. Upon visiting it you can replay various missions you’ve already completed, or view the numerous cut scenes from completed missions. Its touches like this that make you appreciate this title even more so. Saints Row loses out to GTA when it comes to the various modes of transport at your disposal. Saint’s row doesn’t stand a chance as the only driveable in the game are mostly Automobiles, Trucks, and Lorries. Oh and there’s train stations dotted around the towns which you can use, providing you have money for a ticket.
The range of cars is quite varied in itself though, and there are some seriously cool real life counterparts in here. All the vehicles handle way better then the vehicles in San Andreas or Vice City though, they just feel more responsive to drive and more manoeuvrable while doing power slides through the streets. The customisation options for vehicles are also a lot more flexible then the features in San Andreas too and can be accessed by simply driving to Rim Jobs.
It’s just a shame that saints row couldn’t include more modes of transport. Stillwater has an airport, yet there are no planes to pilot which is bound to annoy some gamers. There are no bikes either, which were one of the most fun vehicles in San Andreas. Stir up enough trouble in the city and the cops will be all over you like a rash. Once again, the AI on these buggers is quite good. They’ll ram you off the road, try to box you in and if all that fails then along comes the FBI! (surprise) and if you beat them up, then I’d assume the army would be called in – I’ve not had a chance to play around with the police in the game yet as I’ve only just finished the main storyline.