Saints Row 2

Hi I'm Adam I am a games tester Mainly for Electronic Arts (EA) and Codemasters I will be frequently be writing reviews on games I have tested or played personally.

Saints row 2 Is If not the best at least one of the best Sandbox Style Games I've seen. It is simply Mind blowing. Really impressive to say the least

Gameplay - The Game Engine used Is the same Engine Used in Volition's New Title RED FACTION : Guerilla. It is Similar to the Earlier Game Saints row 1. Thus making the game familiar to players who player the First game. Although it's not Graphically genius in terms of the graphics etc. It does make for a very fun gameplay. Upgrades to the first game are heavily noticeable For instance the player now has the option to dual wield weaponry and more combat items have been added. I will list a few to show you examples

The Kobra - A laser Pinpoint Pistol with single shot or rapid fire
The New RPG - A laser heatsekking Rocket Propelled Grenade
The AS12 - A dual cartridge High Power Rapid firing shotgun
Shock Paddle's As Used to shock people and restart their heart. This can be done in the game

Stungun - Standard issue of most police forces in the world

Also... Swords and Machetes
Knives
Satchel charges and plastic explosives

Cars and Planes - Although there are new cars involved in the game there are some Familiar ones and the abilty to fly helicopters and fixed wing aircraft. Also the Ability to Parachute etc.

Hand to hand combat has been vastly improved with the Protaganist picking up various styles via mission progression

Total Score for Gameplay 9.5/10

Plot: The Saints are dead, The protagonist Wakes up from a 5 year coma that he sustained on a yacht at the end of the Saints row 1 storyline. Hell bent on revenge he starts a new take over of Stillwater With help from Johnny Gat, A saints Luitenant from the first game. Taking on 3 new gangs in the process

The brotherhood - Red Tribal Clothing Mainly Found in the south east corner of stillwater

Sons of Samedi - A drug selling Gang Wearing Distinctive green clothing and are mainly found In the middle of stillwater and the university district

The Ronin - An asian gang wielding Swords mainly found north on the map wearing Yellow tribal clothing

I will not Say any more about the plot because it may be spoiling the game for users

Plot Rating 9/10

Online: Saints row 1 contained various online modes that have not made a return on saints row 2 which fairly dissapointed me in ways

The online modes consist of only 3 games types

Gangsta Brawl: Deathmatch
Team Brawl : Team Deathmatch
Strong Arm : Players compete in teams on a mini map to earn 100,000 dollars in the quickest way possible

There is also an option to play CO-OP mode which is brilliant in fairness but also can be a pain mainly due to people Joining with cheats enabled then leaving which will leave you with a message saying. The other player had cheats enabled your achievements will be disabled.

All together Rating for Online 6/10

Put all these together and I give it High 4 star - Low 5 star

This game is brilliant. There is lots to do and the co op makes it even more fun. You can customize your character down to how he speaks and his fighting style. Customizing cars is also alot of fun too. If you are a fan of sandbox games, buy this now.

I paid full price for this on pre-order as I was a huge fan of the first game, so a little annoyed at how low it is now :-( Been playing for some time now, and wow! It has all the great points of the first game, and seems to have ironed out a lot of the bad points like having to replay a whole mission with no checkpoints. Other improvements are autosave and much improved graphics and character customization. If you have never played the first, it's basically GTA with attitude! You return as your 'hero' from the first game, busting out of jail to find a world that has changed massively whilst you have been away. One small problem, it has frozen on me a couple of times, but not sure if that's my 360 or the game. 5 stars at this price!

If you're thinking about buying this over GTA, DONT.
If we're honestly comparing these, and not just saying 'THIZ IS BETAR DEN GTA LULZ', lets be real. GTA is ALOT MORE REALISTIC. In this game you can set yourself on fire in a little buggie, and run people down in it as they catch fire, cars explode inches from your head, and you're all good. Enough said on the realistic front. HOWEVER this is really fun, the character moves better than our friend Nico in GTA, and there are more weapons, you can play the hole game co-op too. But GTA just has the feeling of realistic-ness about it, and the graphics, that when you play the game you can tell some real thought and effort went into making it. It's abit like comparing McDonalds to a Roast Dinner. Saints Row 2 being the McDonalds of course, because Mcdonalds is easy, cheap, good 2 have from time to time. But a roast dinner, with all the trimmings, is what GTA is. Time is put into it, the food not only tastes delicious and alot more filling but its good for you, Thats kind of what GTA is to Saints Row.

Infact, although Saints row 2 has the online features of co-op and alot better multiplayer vs modes.. I'd recommend Saints Row 1 over this, the normal game just titled 'saints row'. For the single player campaigne. This Saints row2 jumps into madness straight away, with you being able to characterise your character that you play the game with being a male or female even. To be honest, this is totally unbelievable and mad, seen as though you're in hospital, and when they take the bandages off that's what you look like now. Even a sex change?.. lol.. too far. Get saints row 1 rather this, its alot more 'gangsta' with you starting out in the hood, getting beaten into the gang like with real crips or bloods. It feels a bit like san andreas the first one. Shame they didn't make saints row 2 have that hoodlum, local gangster feeling about it.

All in all though, this is a fun game on its own. Worth a buy, after having had/bought/played saints row 1, or GTA. Go for it, i've completed it, its fun, but not worth holding onto because im not fond of the online for this.

What can i say. This game is everything that GTA could have been. playing with a friend on campaign is the best thing you can ever do. It doesnt focus on graphics as much as GTA did but it did more on gameplay and thats where GTA failed. The story line for each campaign is brilliant and easy to understand. The cut scenes dont get boring. Being able to switch between 3 campaigns took away the boredom and you can do other things like activities ( e.g races or cage fights) they give you benefits so you can run for longer or have infinite ammo for the pistol.

Achievements wise are easy to get if you play co-operatively with a friend. If you play by yourself then the campaign can get a bit dull but playing with a friend can get you about 500g. Everything you do together never gets boring even trying to kill yourself on the activity insurance fraud never got boring.

There are some glitches in the game that seem to happen to me and my friend often. Sometimes our screens would freeze or we would get a black screen and it wouldnt load so we end up doing the mission again.

There are alot of good points that the creators have brought together. One of you can be on the other side of the map buying clothes and weapons which doesnt involve loading up a seperate screen and stopping your friend from doing anything and becoming very bored. Whilst the other can be doing a race and earning money. This game certainly can bring friends closer together. The radio stations have alot of good recognisable music and you dont get any of these chat shows that can be very dull and boring if repeatedly heared over and over again.

There is a feature which allows you to buy homes and pimp them up. This is the same with cars. You can make your house look stunning in everyway with large over sized swimming pools. The safe house isnt one of those places you go to just to save and you then you dont visit again until your about to get off the xbox. You go there picking up money from your stash and changing guns and clothes. The attractiveness of the house just makes you go there more oftenly. You can also change what cars your gang has and what they look like. The online play is really good aswell.

Game play 10/10
Graphics 8/10
Replayability 9/10
I would recommend you getting this game only if you make sure that one of your friends is getting it or you have good internet connection.