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Regular
on 31/12/2011 at 10:48:47AM
Edited: 2/1/12 15:26 Total Posts: 140 |
The Third Street Saints are back baby! and the street gang are …..now a complete bunch of sell outs that tarnish the good names of “gangstas” and “ho’s” that work a lot harder for their illegal blood money.
The 3rd Street Saints merge with the Ultor Corperation turning the Saints into a world famous brand name, with their own Japanese Commercials, energy drinks and a movie deal in the works. Things turn for the worse when they try to rob a bank with an actor who tags along for experience in the Saints Movie role. The alarm is accidentally set off by the actor and they eventually get arrested. They are then bailed out by Phillipe Loren, leader of the group known as the Syndicate, who owned the bank. They are taken aboard his private jet and are informed that the Syndicate are a major force, owning a large part of Steelport. He asks the Saints to give them two thirds of the revenue that they make in Stilwater, the City that they took control over in the previous games or die. Events unfold which eventually leaves you in Steelport with no funds and you have to climb the ladder to take control from the Syndicate.
This brings me to my first complaint. The story unfolds to make the Saints feel insignificant compared to the syndicate, but after the first few missions you take on a military base and can rain guided missiles from above. Then in the next few missions you own a penthouse which is what you should own endgame when you have majority control and more money than god. This game doesn’t really pace itself that well.
Secondly, the previous games in the Saints Row series had you fight against three separate groups with each their own agendas and motives. In Saints Row the Third, all three gangs (the Deckers, the Morning Star and the Luchadores) work in unity against you under one umbrella of the Syndicate. This means that instead of a plot for each gang, there is only one main story that is worked through in a linear fashion besides the last mission.
The game also removes the online multiplayer component only allowing for co-operative play with another person through the campaign. Their reasoning for doing so was to be able to polish the single player campaign and co-op modes. This is quite hard to believe considering Saints Row the Third is less than half the duration of its predecessors, only has one story and they fail to balance co-op play. Single player when playing alone is pretty easy, but playing with a partner makes some missions a complete cakewalk as they don’t seem like they’ve been balanced for it.
Quite a few of the campaign missions are just side missions and some are very short. This is another reason why their reasoning doesn’t make sense. There are some of the bigger main missions that I also found to be quite tedious. I didn’t enjoy the “dekers.die” mission which actually decided to use lag as a game play mechanic!
The addition of Whored Mode doesn’t really make up for the omissions either, as it seems pretty repetitive to face waves of enemies over and over. If the lack of interest wasn’t enough, you don’t get rewarded for playing it, either through your campaign or through achievements.
There have been changes that I thought were pretty good though. My main complaint on these GTA style games is that you spend a large amount of time driving. You drive to the mission giver, you drive to the mission location, you drive to your safe house to save, you drive to pick up your friends, you drive to the event, you drive them home and then you drive home to save!!!!!
However, I like how Saints Row steals the concept from Burnout to reward reckless driving, such as near misses and driving in oncoming traffic. This managed to make the typically mundane driving in the game more exciting.
I also like travelling via aircraft and ejecting/parachuting down to where I need to go. It is quicker and more fun than driving to a location.
The game has many upgrades for your characters, your clothes, businesses, guns and cars which mean that you now have a money sink to throw money at. This is a positive compared to games where you have a mountain of cash with nothing to spend it on. The weapon upgrades increase weapon damage, clip size, reload time and can make bullets flammable. You can buy businesses to increase your money per hour. You can upgrade cars to have more durability, nitro speed boosts, wheel durability, and increased torque and change their appearance. You can upgrade your “Homies” that play with you in the main missions to have better weapons, increased health/health regeneration, increase the time you have to revive them and also allow them to deliver you vehicles, such as cars and helicopters.
I never once used the followers in the game, which is similar to GTA San Andreas where your respect allows you to have some extra followers to aid you on your mission. That said, I don’t think they were really necessary.
I would have complained that Saints Row the Third is a bit too easy, but I did upgrade my weapons, health and health regeneration to max level so I could have held back to keep the challenge. The only threats in this game are Tanks and Mini-gun Brutes and these are very hard to stop when you face them together without explosives, as tanks are only affected by explosive weapons which are why you need to stock up on RPG ammo or make sure you have another such as air strikes or plenty of grenades.
The only story based decision in the game is a pretty bad one. I won’t spoil it but if you really thought about the decision and managed to get the bad ending then shame on you! *Tut*.
It’s hard to not get the impression that the producers want to milk consumers for DLC considering how short the game is and how they have cut functionality in customising your characters appearance to sell as DLC as well.
The characters of the series have less development than previous instalments and are reduced to parodies of their former selves. The game goes straight for the extreme without thinking about the development which gives weight to the story. That said I did find some of the dialogue amusing and the set pieces that are there are varied and interesting for its duration, even if it is a lot shorter and I had fun.
Good
+ Lots of RPG customisation
+ Funny dialogue
+ Varied and Entertaining set pieces
+ Burnout style rewards for driving recklessly
Bad
- Shorter than previous instalments
- Whored mode is unrewarding and repetitive
- Shallower Characters
- Weak story choice on last mission
- Only one story instead of one for each gang
- Side Missions part of the main story
- Poor Pacing
- Lag as a game play mechanic
7.5/10
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Davidm4
Regular
on 31/12/2011 at 10:48:47AM
Edited: 2/1/12 15:26 Total Posts: 140
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The Third Street Saints are back baby! and the street gang are …..now a complete bunch of sell outs that tarnish the good names of “gangstas” and “ho’s” that work a lot harder for their illegal blood money.
The 3rd Street Saints merge with the Ultor Corperation turning the Saints into a world famous brand name, with their own Japanese Commercials, energy drinks and a movie deal in the works. Things turn for the worse when they try to rob a bank with an actor who tags along for experience in the Saints Movie role. The alarm is accidentally set off by the actor and they eventually get arrested. They are then bailed out by Phillipe Loren, leader of the group known as the Syndicate, who owned the bank. They are taken aboard his private jet and are informed that the Syndicate are a major force, owning a large part of Steelport. He asks the Saints to give them two thirds of the revenue that they make in Stilwater, the City that they took control over in the previous games or die. Events unfold which eventually leaves you in Steelport with no funds and you have to climb the ladder to take control from the Syndicate.
This brings me to my first complaint. The story unfolds to make the Saints feel insignificant compared to the syndicate, but after the first few missions you take on a military base and can rain guided missiles from above. Then in the next few missions you own a penthouse which is what you should own endgame when you have majority control and more money than god. This game doesn’t really pace itself that well.
Secondly, the previous games in the Saints Row series had you fight against three separate groups with each their own agendas and motives. In Saints Row the Third, all three gangs (the Deckers, the Morning Star and the Luchadores) work in unity against you under one umbrella of the Syndicate. This means that instead of a plot for each gang, there is only one main story that is worked through in a linear fashion besides the last mission.
The game also removes the online multiplayer component only allowing for co-operative play with another person through the campaign. Their reasoning for doing so was to be able to polish the single player campaign and co-op modes. This is quite hard to believe considering Saints Row the Third is less than half the duration of its predecessors, only has one story and they fail to balance co-op play. Single player when playing alone is pretty easy, but playing with a partner makes some missions a complete cakewalk as they don’t seem like they’ve been balanced for it.
Quite a few of the campaign missions are just side missions and some are very short. This is another reason why their reasoning doesn’t make sense. There are some of the bigger main missions that I also found to be quite tedious. I didn’t enjoy the “dekers.die” mission which actually decided to use lag as a game play mechanic!
The addition of Whored Mode doesn’t really make up for the omissions either, as it seems pretty repetitive to face waves of enemies over and over. If the lack of interest wasn’t enough, you don’t get rewarded for playing it, either through your campaign or through achievements.
There have been changes that I thought were pretty good though. My main complaint on these GTA style games is that you spend a large amount of time driving. You drive to the mission giver, you drive to the mission location, you drive to your safe house to save, you drive to pick up your friends, you drive to the event, you drive them home and then you drive home to save!!!!!
However, I like how Saints Row steals the concept from Burnout to reward reckless driving, such as near misses and driving in oncoming traffic. This managed to make the typically mundane driving in the game more exciting.
I also like travelling via aircraft and ejecting/parachuting down to where I need to go. It is quicker and more fun than driving to a location.
The game has many upgrades for your characters, your clothes, businesses, guns and cars which mean that you now have a money sink to throw money at. This is a positive compared to games where you have a mountain of cash with nothing to spend it on. The weapon upgrades increase weapon damage, clip size, reload time and can make bullets flammable. You can buy businesses to increase your money per hour. You can upgrade cars to have more durability, nitro speed boosts, wheel durability, and increased torque and change their appearance. You can upgrade your “Homies” that play with you in the main missions to have better weapons, increased health/health regeneration, increase the time you have to revive them and also allow them to deliver you vehicles, such as cars and helicopters.
I never once used the followers in the game, which is similar to GTA San Andreas where your respect allows you to have some extra followers to aid you on your mission. That said, I don’t think they were really necessary.
I would have complained that Saints Row the Third is a bit too easy, but I did upgrade my weapons, health and health regeneration to max level so I could have held back to keep the challenge. The only threats in this game are Tanks and Mini-gun Brutes and these are very hard to stop when you face them together without explosives, as tanks are only affected by explosive weapons which are why you need to stock up on RPG ammo or make sure you have another such as air strikes or plenty of grenades.
The only story based decision in the game is a pretty bad one. I won’t spoil it but if you really thought about the decision and managed to get the bad ending then shame on you! *Tut*.
It’s hard to not get the impression that the producers want to milk consumers for DLC considering how short the game is and how they have cut functionality in customising your characters appearance to sell as DLC as well.
The characters of the series have less development than previous instalments and are reduced to parodies of their former selves. The game goes straight for the extreme without thinking about the development which gives weight to the story. That said I did find some of the dialogue amusing and the set pieces that are there are varied and interesting for its duration, even if it is a lot shorter and I had fun.
Good
+ Lots of RPG customisation
+ Funny dialogue
+ Varied and Entertaining set pieces
+ Burnout style rewards for driving recklessly
Bad
- Shorter than previous instalments
- Whored mode is unrewarding and repetitive
- Shallower Characters
- Weak story choice on last mission
- Only one story instead of one for each gang
- Side Missions part of the main story
- Poor Pacing
- Lag as a game play mechanic
7.5/10
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