A lot has been made of Saints Row’s copycat intentions, a fact that developers Volition have boldly refused to hide from since the game was in early development, opting to state on numerous occasions that the daddy of all crime sandbox games, Grand Theft Auto was undeniably a massive influence. However, they were also broadcasting a confidence that their game would be able to stand proudly in its own right. Have Volition achieved their goal? After putting some hefty hours into Saints Row, VerbalKint27 ponders whether there are actually benefits to cloning after-all…

Wassup’ Homies…
Saints Row aptly kicks off with the character creation screen, where using a whole multitude of sliders you can really let those creative juices flow. The system is similar to that of most sports sims, and allows for a high level of customisation. Once you are happy with your chosen design (which can be changed later following a visit to the plastic surgeon) you are thrust into the world of Stilwater. Getting caught in the middle of a gang war between the Vice Kings, Westside Rollerz, and the Carnales, you are rescued in timely fashion by the 3rd Street Saints, and invited to join their crew by their leader Julius. It’s from this moment onwards you will be helping the Saints reclaim Stilwater.

Deja Vu (AKA The comparison paragraph)
When I set out to write this review I made a point of not wanting to make constant comparisons to Grand Theft Auto, unfortunately there are many places where such comparisons are completely unavoidable. Much of the gameplay, the handling of the cars, and the general controls are all ripped right from GTA, however Volition has taken a lot of these aspects and really tightened them up. A prime example of this is the afore mentioned combat system; even the most hardened GTA fan would struggle to deny that the hit-and-miss nature of the auto aim could cause a high level of frustration, something that Saints Row thankfully never suffers from due to its free-aim system. Another noticeable improvement to this type of game is the physics, made possible by Volitions great use of the Havoc engine. True it really doesn’t add that much to the gameplay over GTA, but it makes the results of combat far more satisfying.

Another area where Saints Row gets one-up (slightly) is in its structure that allows and encourages you to play further and explore all parts of the city. In order to play a story mission, you must fill your ‘Respect’ bar. This can be achieved in many ways, the easiest of which is to partake in many of the activities littered around Stilwater. These range from drug trafficking, assassinations, insurance fraud, and many more… All of these mini-games are extremely fun and never once feel like a chore, meaning that you will get to experience most of the things that Saints Row has to offer in a positive fashion. Aside from that Saints Row goes on a lot less wild-tangents than GTA, providing you with a much more focused storyline.

Bling Bling…
For most part for this type of game, Saints Row visually impresses; there’s some notable texturing, great lighting effects and some half-decent character models (although they do look a little too cartoon-like). The downside is that some of the areas in Stilwater can feel a little samey, but on the whole the city is pleasing on the eye and well designed. The explosions and fire effects in Saints Row are something else altogether, brilliantly worked. Exploding cars come apart with fantastic realism, and it’s here where the physics suitably impress. The game does suffer from some slowdown and frame-drops in places, however it’s not greatly noticeable unless you are actively looking for it, and never once gets in the way of what is an overall enjoyable experience.

Another issue is that occasionally cars will disappear from only a few feet in front of you, which to be fair is only really evident while driving on the freeway. Oddly enough that is also where the game suffers the most from pop-up. This is all down to the streaming technology used in the game, the areas of the map load around you, rather than being consistently there. This technique is also used in GTA and as a result you should note that both titles suffer in the same manner. What the streaming system does equate to, is that there are no loading times between sections of the map and the only loading that occurs while playing Saints Row comes briefly just after starting a mission. One thing I know that has disappointed thousands of veteran GTA fans (including me) is the lack of planes and motorbikes, while it does make it feel like a little step backwards, the entire game is just so much fun that it doesn’t disappoint for long. Also i think it’s right to mention the cut-scenes, especially the ones from the bigger missions, which are really well directed and a joy to watch. You can watch these cut scenes over-and-over while making a visit to the a local cinema, which also allows you to replay any of your favourite missions, without having to play the entire game through again; for me personally, this is a much-welcomed feature.

Bangin’ Choon’s…
Unfortunately Saints Row doesn’t have the iconic soundtrack of its rivals, but there are some pleasant surprises on there, it’s a soundtrack of an adequate nature, but personally I found it more fun to make use of my own MP3 collection. Everything else audio-related is pretty much as you’d expect, but there are some added effects, acoustics for one. Leave a car behind and you can still hear the music but realistically muffled, which is an effect not often used in games of this nature. Where Saint’s row lets itself down here is with the humour, both on the radio stations and in the storyline; it’s a bit hit and miss. Some of the gags are genuinely funny, but a lot are cringe-worthy and it just lacks that satirical edge that Rockstar always manages to nail so well. One of the plus points is the cast, with some big names such as Michael Clarke Duncan, David Carradine, Daniel Dae Kim, Michael Rapaport (who also played Joey Leone in GTA3), and many more – too many to list. In fact most of the characters are voiced by big names, and it really helps with the production value.

Gang Warfare
The online mode in Saints Row is put together really well, but it’s not without its problems. As expected, you have your standard Death Matches and Team Death Matches, dubbed ‘Gangsta Brawls’ but there are a few others that are a lot of fun. ‘Big Ass Chains’ (available as both single player and team) sees gunned-down players leave gold chains, that you must collect and drop off at a designated area. The more chains you drop off at one time, the more points you get. ‘Blinged Out Ride’ for all intents and purposes is Capture The Flag, both teams have a vehicle that they must defend and collect upgrades for, before driving their car back to their base.

The final mode, and my personal favourite is ‘Protect Tha Pimp’ where one team have to escort a designated pimp out of a building, while the other team have to kill him. As the pimp you have no weapons, and have to rely heavily on your team mates to keep you safe, but if it does get a bit close to call, you can use your ‘Pimp slap’ which is a one hit kill. Set-up like a Last Man Standing affair, this mode really adds some tactical elements to an otherwise action-heavy online game. All these modes are very fun, and compliment the offline game brilliantly, however the game can be prone to lag, but if you can make sure that you have a host with a reliable connection, then you won’t encounter many problems.

Conclusion? Cloning Is Surprisingly Good Fun…
Despite its complete lack of originality, humour that sometimes misses the point, and one or two occasional technical hitches, what is left at the heart of Saints Row is just an immensely fun and playable game with lots to see and do. Yes it really doesn’t push the sandbox envelope very far, but manages to tighten on some of the less admirable aspects of similar titles that have come before it. The fact is, Saints Row is a GTA title in all but name, and given the pretenders to the throne who have been, tried and failed; that’s the biggest accolade I can give it. With such a solid effort from Volition you have to wonder whether Rockstar will take this lying down? Lets hope not…

Final Score: 8 out of 10 - Good (how do we rank games?)