Saints Row Demo - available now on Marketplace

Saints Row Demo – Demo available now on Xbox Marketplace

Published by THQ, the makers of the MOTOGP series.

This is a GTA clone, and as such has an 18 certificate. Advisedly so, in my opinion, as it is definitely an adult theme. But that doesn’t detract from the game, trust me.

You start with the obligatory “Character Creation” screen which seems to be prevalent in games today. However, this is quite good. Allows you to fully customise your character and this also applies to the clothing within the game. This is a very good idea, especially when you consider the on-line side of things. THQ have obviously learned that personalisation of a character is important if you want a successful game. They did it with the MOTOGP series and realised that this was an important part of the appeal. A pity they didn’t extend on it more with MOTOGP ’06, but that’s a different story!

This is a blatant GTA clone, in almost every way, but with subtle and, in my opinion, better improvements.

For example, you have a map. But you can pan the map and set waypoints so you don’t get lost! (A problem I found with GTA sometimes, unless you learnt the map by heart, and I didn’t like it enough to do that.) In addition, the map displays a nice SatNav effect with a blue trail showing you the route to your next objective, easy.

And when you ‘acquire’ a vehicle, you can either drag them out as GTA, or alternatively equip your pistol, press ‘Y’ near the vehicle you wish to borrow and your character will open the door, ‘pop a cap’ in the unfortunate driver and pull the lifeless body from the car and climb in. Fantastic! (Games are escapism, after all!)

And before you start lecturing me about violence in video games, it is certificated 18 so it’s for adults. If parents are either a) Stupid enough to buy this for their kids or b) don’t monitor their children’s gaming, then it’s their own damn fault, in MY opinion.

The sound is excellent. The in game music fits the mood of the game perfectly. And the ability to swap radio stations is another ‘borrowed’ element from GTA. But if you are fortunate enough to have your Xbox laden with music or are using Media Connect/Media Centre, then you can obviously customise your soundtracks to suit, another important feature for a successful game.

The mission structure is familiar, but with some nice touches and, in my opinion, some genuinely funny cut scenes and mission intro’s. Well, they made me laugh?!

For example, your first mission is to get ‘canonized’. Depending on how quickly you complete this, the cut scene is different. Nice touch.

Graphically, it’s good. By no means is it perfect though. There are noticeable drops in frame rates when the screen gets ‘busy’ but this doesn’t deter from the game. The locales are good and fit in well with the theme of the game.

Stereotypes abound in this game, be warned! You have your typical “ho’s” and “bro’s” but this game isn’t pretending to be anything else, so it works well.

Controlling the car is standard too. Accelerate, brake etc. But trust me, try ‘Left Trigger’ for handbrake turning! Fantastic! Now that’s what I CALL a handbrake turn! Made me feel like The Stig!

The NPC’s (None Player Characters) are prone to the familiar ‘randomness’ that was seen in GTA. But it’s not too often, and as a whole they fit in well and act normally, although their driving skills leave a lot to be desired.

I like this game, A LOT! Pure escapism! And the online will be a blast – hopefully!

Definitely one for my Wish List.

If you want to see more, visit the Official Saints Row Website.

Hope this has been informative, look out for ‘Dead Rising’ review real soon.

Shoot ‘ya later…….

Nem