Saints Row started as the little cousin to GTA, back in the days of San Andreas and GTA Iv, before the now times of GTA V and V and V and V. Set as a more comedic and sometimes cartoonish substitute for gang-related gameplay, SR appealed to an audience looking for flashy fun and one-liners, that GTA only really had a handful of over their runtimes. However, SR has recently been shown the reboot treatment, aiming to appeal to a new audience, but has it done that?
Third Street for Life
Saints Row (Reboot) starts with a glimpse into the future of our new protagonist, a no-name self-made gangster who owns it all. It isn’t too long till fame and money go against our character and we’re faced with retreading our past and how we got to this point. A short training section as we work through a private army job later and we’re in control of a down-on-their-luck protagonist who wants it all.
SR runs similarly to other games in the franchise, start at a relative bottom and work your way. The game does this in the form of experience and money, though through its story we’re making new contacts, getting invested in businesses, and rising through the ranks in different organisations as well as our own.
Taking over the fictional city of Santo Ileso will take you up to 30 hours or so, with additional content adding another 30 onto that. Your playtime will change based on how much of the game you explore, however, as SR has always flourished in side characters and building your empire. You could rush through just the main story in around 15 hours if you don’t find any enjoyment in earning big bucks or making friends.
As with any SR, the replayability of the game comes in the form of potential co-op or added content, though you won’t be making any different choices aside from completing content you hadn’t already.
You Have a WHAT BAT?
SR has always been a run-and-gun, third-person gangster romp, and the reboot is not that different. Most of your killing will be with a range of guns and an assortment of melee weapons, headshots typically killing on lower difficulties and bosses requiring you to break their armour. As you fight you will also power up a finisher move to instantly kill a foe and regain health, DOOM style.
Outside of the common weapons, you’d see in any other game with guns, SR throws in a few out-there options. From a bone club and medieval sword to guns that shoot out boxing gloves and exploding rugby balls. Sadly the diversity and outlandishness of past games, the you-know-what bat is missing, has been stripped from this release.
Adding in a bit more of a progression to the game, SR brings in experience to unlock levels as your progress. These grant new skills to use in combat, taking a different resource than your finishers, and allow you to kill foes in new ways or make combat easier for yourself. It doesn’t seem like it increases much else, so it’s more to gatekeep your powers until later, or after a good grinding session at the club.
A $35 Waffle Maker That Makes Waffles
The soundtrack of SR is mostly found within the radios of cars and cutscenes, as such your music taste will dictate if it’s good or not. There is a good range of radio stations to suit many preferences, but just running around will only grant you ambient noises or explosions. Playing through the story I didn’t really get attached to any track, nor did I notice many at times.
While SR looks quite pretty at times, the faces all seemingly lack detail, and that goes hand-in-hand with the new setting. As we’re playing in a mostly deserted area, you’ll be getting used to a lot of sand and cowboy aesthetics mixed in with some Mexican overtones. There’s too much of the map that feels empty, and since the cars are more durable you’ll just be blasted through trees all over to notice any minute details.
Talking about the vehicles, SR has gone more into the combat side of affairs with them, adding in a burnout-style ramming system. However, in this same vein, your vehicles are much sturdier, to the point where it seems you no longer crash through your windscreen, doors automatically close, and you’re glued to the seat of motorbikes.
The strength of vehicles, hand-in-hand with the bullet sponge enemy design, works towards the overall clunky feeling of the reboot. Walking around and engaging the enemy feels rather stiff at times, along with jumping and traversal feel really tied down with little fine touches to be made.
Another clunky part of this game is its cast and storyline. So many scenes feel like they’re straight out of a sitcom, minus the laugh track which is usually provided by the cast in the scenes. Your character responds to things they had no way of hearing or seeing when they enter a room, and everyone talks as if they’re reading from a script and not with each other.
The story also feels disjointed with its forced tutorial segments that cut up the story, making sure you understand the mechanics and leaving nothing to be missed. You’ll be following the main story only to be pulled aside to do what really boils down to a side-mission. Previous entries had this a bit, though typically you had a choice of letters on the map, not a mobile that has a linear path.
Overall, I give Saints Row Reboot a 5/10. It’s a valiant effort after the failed Agents of Mayhem, though even with its high sales that rode the fame of the name I feel as if it hasn’t lived up to that legacy. The whole experience feels under-polished and released far before completion, hoping that patches fix issues.
Fans of the series may see the roots of previous entries spring up from the ground here and there, but this isn’t our Saints Row anymore.
Grab your copy here https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/saints-row
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