Saints Row
by Matt G
We were recently given the opportunity to do a hands on preview of THQ’s upcoming third person shooter / action title, Saints Row. We were impressed.
Welcome to Stilwater, an open-world city with attitude, a city controlled by rival gangs, a city you are about to take over in Saints Row. As a low-level thug in the Third Street Saints, do what it takes to get the money and build the respect and power you need to muscle your way to the top.
First off, a lot of people are probably worrying or thinking that Saints Row is just a GTA clone, so I’ll deal with that now. Saints Row is not a GTA knock off. For the reasons, keep reading.
Before you even enter the Saints Row world you become acutely aware of the level of customization that this game offers. You need to create your character before the game starts, and are presented with a multitude of options in order to do this - in fact, if you spent enough time you could end up with distinct resemblance to your actual self. Getting your character to look right is also important because the customizations will be carried through to the all important cut scenes within the game - most of which can vary by the way, depending on your in game actions.
![[IMG]](http://www.planetxbox360.com/app/webroot/files/2006/august/saints%20row%20preview/1.jpg)
So you start the game off in the Third Street Saints gang, and are basically presented with a large map of Stilwater - the City which you will hopefully end up taking over. The city is divided into various areas, which all are designated by][color, and these represent different pieces of turf controlled by different gangs. As you play through the game the idea is to increase your turf area and take over other gangs.
Various other activities and functions are also activated through the in game map. There are clothes stores, plastic surgeons, bling stores, and a whole heap of other ways in which you can continue to customize your character after the game starts. Many of the stores also serve a more practical purpose, e.g. you get can plastic surgery done so that the cops won’t recognize you any more.
Certain activities are also activated through the menu, and others can also be initiated more spontaneously (such as theft). ; Each of the 13 different activities has multiple levels of difficulty, and there are also multiple versions of each activity around the city. Upon their successful completion you earn respect and cash, both of which increase your standing in the criminal world. These are completely aside to the main missions in the game, and so if you don’t like certain activities you don’t have to do them. Likewise if you particularly enjoy doing something, the option to repeat it is there.
![[IMG]](http://www.planetxbox360.com/app/webroot/files/2006/august/saints%20row%20preview/2.jpg)
Regarding the actual city itself, one thing you will immediately notice is that it is very interactive and appears to be a “real living, breathing city”. That is, people will be doing their own things, such as maybe buying some liquor, and you are able to interfere with that and rob the store if you want. Likewise if you start a fight with someone, and you have some gang friends nearby who happen to see it, they will come to your aid. If rival gang members see you, and you are notorious enough, then they will likewise start trouble.
You can also see the stark differences in the landscape and indoor/outdoor environments, slummy areas will actually look slummy, while affluent areas will look affluent. There are also distinctions in terms of the actual in game time of day. For example, walking around the streets in the middle of the afternoon you might not see a lot of action, but come back in the dead of the night, and a lot more muggings and other criminal behaviour will be going on
Another nice feature of Saints Row is the extremely easy to use navigation system. Many missions and activities will require you to drive places, and in a city as big as Stilwater, you might get a little lost. So THQ have implemented a very well designed position indicator that generally works as good, if not better, as any I have seen in comparable games. It certainly makes completing missions a lot less frustrating - there’s nothing worse than having done all the hard work to complete something, only to fail because you couldn’t find where to head back to.
![[IMG]](http://www.planetxbox360.com/app/webroot/files/2006/august/saints%20row%20preview/3.jpg)
While we obviously didn’t get to play through the whole game, the missions were varied and always interesting. They also related nicely to what is quite a deep storyline. For every mission completed you gain notoriety and money, which in turn increases your gang turf and unlocks new city areas in which new activities and missions will take place.
Saints Row is definitely a title to put on your watch list. The levels of customization, interactivity, and generally things to do within the city was great to see. What’s more, there is also an online multiplayer mode, and while it was not available to us, it will be very interesting to see what that is like. No doubt it will add a lot more value into what already looks to be a great title.
![[IMG]](http://www.planetxbox360.com/app/webroot/files/2006/august/saints%20row%20preview/4.jpg)
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