Saints Row: The Third

[icycalm]

http://www.saintsrow.com/

http://www.fempop.com/2011/11/23/saints ... nger-to-1/

No word on the mechanics, but she does make the setting sound interesting. And I like the illustrations for this game:

[labcoatdisaster]

I was a fan of Saints Row 2. Doing a drive-by on a golf cart inside a mall and slicing a katana through waves of thugs on a burning ship was a good time. I recently played through The Third and found it to be a shallow follow-up that only succeeds in its superior production values and writing. Things that mean little in this type of game, as GTAIV proved.

For starters, they got rid of all the good side missions in previous games and kept only the bad ones. Even worse, there is a good two hour chunk in the story that FORCES the player to do these terrible side-missions. Why? [Answer: So PR can say, "OVER 10 HOURS OF HIGH-OCTANE GAMEPLAY!!!"]

Then you have enemy-types that aren't suited toward the game's lackluster shooting. Imagine facing a large, hulking brute that charges you in GTAIV. This game makes it a reality -- funny but in no way fun. SR2 was a blast because you were up against waves of thugs; as a result, you'd dart around an environment and use one for a meat shield. Here, you just spray and pray or use one of the ridiculously overpowered weapons (amusing only the first time). Everything in this game was designed with "is this funny?" in mind, instead of "is this fun?" -- this is the game critics like to accuse Duke Nukem Forever of being.

Everything funny in SR2 worked directly into the scenarios and combat, while The Third is all just setup -- here you are shooting guys to Kanye West's "Power"; here you are shooting guys in a Tron-inspired setting; here you are shooting guys to [insert ironic '80s pop hit]. This is the vapid sequel you get out of a developer who thinks improvements only come from larger budgets (also see: Volition's equally fucked sequel Red Faction: Armageddon.) The game offers occasionally humorous opening cutscenes to missions which is all most critics need these days. That and leveling mechanics that do nothing to improve the game, which The Third also includes.

I find it pretty funny that most of the things that critics celebrate about The Third were present in SR2 and better implemented. They'd rather be a bunch of lazy fucks and assume SR2 was garbage and never play it than admit they were wrong for missing out on it. I have yet to see an accurate side-by-side comparison between the two games on a gaming site. Anyone who has played both, including myself, will tell you that SR2 is a superior game. It's just a shame that it doesn't have the wonderful city and UI tweaks of The Third. There are so many basic flaws in The Third -- something as simple as not being able to pick-up crew members from beyond your home base -- that if feels like a piss-poor sequel that was never intended to live up to its larger than life PR campaign (that no one will remember anyway).

And, last but not least, The Third's soundtrack is garbage while SR2's was fantastic.

[icycalm]

I was a fan of Saints Row 2. Doing a drive-by on a golf cart inside a mall and slicing a katana through waves of thugs on a burning ship was a good time.

Stuff like that doesn't attract me on its own. It's like hearing kids fantasize about Iron Man versus Asterix or something -- it just sounds stupid and boring, unless someone manages to create an elaborate, believable scenario out of it. That's why I linked that woman's comments on this game's setting: because she describes all the crazy stuff in a way that makes it seem as if there's coherence, continuity and believability to it, as well as laughs of course.

So anyway, how come you haven't written a review of the game for Destructoid, then? They won't let you do it? What's the site's official word on the game? And aren't there any negative reviews on it out yet?

If you want, you can write one for Insomnia. You've already almost written it anyway.

[labcoatdisaster]

That article is as much of a gushing, worthless mess as the numerous "Skyrim is a world you live in" articles that have been cloging the internet's pipes for the past two months. They all have the same thing in common: Viewing a game through a slideshow of highlights (nothing wrong with enthusiasm, but a clear perspective is a must for good critical analysis). Never mind that Skyrim's world contains the same enemy with the same weapon for 14+ hours or that the majority of The Third revolves around troubling escort missions that have been present since the series' first entry ("oh, but this mission is about finding a hooker ... again!")

Like most publications, the top men get to play the big titles first so Destructoid's Jim Sterling tackled that one. He echoes my thoughts and it's one of the few average scores the game received, though I would have been a bit harsher. Anyway, I don't have Saints Row 2 fresh enough in my mind to do a review justice right now.

However, I'd like to spend 2012 revisiting some old favorites. If the mood strikes me and Insomnia doesn't have a review up for a particular title, I'd be more than happy to contribute something. This site is, after all, the best resource for quality reviews of older games -- why wouldn't I want to be part of that?

[icycalm]

That article is as much of a gushing, worthless mess

It's not "worthless", dude; I linked it here because I like it. If there are no factual errors in what she describes, and if her enthusiastic response to the game's setting is not entirely off-base, then her article could very well be fully incorporated into a review of the game, and make it that much better.

You reactions are generally very coarse. Nothing to be done about that, really, but it still bothers me when I see it. You'd do well to curb your enthusiasm a little bit, both towards things you like and those you don't. Just look at how you ended your last post: I made a simple offer and you ended your response with some kind of irrelevant rhetorical question for christsake.

[icycalm]

lol and I even missed the insult:

This site is, after all, the best resource for quality reviews of older games

lolbanned