Saints Row 2
by THQ
|
Our Price: $19.99 Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Buy Used: from $13.47 (click here) Category: Video Games See more product details |
|---|
Video Game Reviews of Saints Row 2
Customer Review: Saints Row 2 + GTAIV = Game of the Gods
Summary: 4 Stars
As the title implies, I found certain things between this and the GTA series that made the game great, and few things between the two that made me want to grind my teeth down to nubs.
SR 2 picks up rather well after the end of the initial release. You, a Hispanic/African American/oddly hispanic looking but with a cockny accent, awake in a maximum sercurity prison after being blown up at the end of the first game. After an alarmingly easy prison break (I'd expected the tutorial levels to consist of cafeteria fights and an eventual guard bribe, or at least something to reestablish the background other than a 2 minute dissertation), your character proceeds to rebuild the 3rd street saints. You've apparently also had a significant amount of facial reconstruction, as its commented on by just about everyone, and also manages to help you free your best friend and head lieutenant after walking past 40-something cops and security guards.
This highlights my only real problem with the games, which is its storyline difficulty. Its far too easy. I expect games to increase in difficulty as they progress, and to a degree it does, but not enough to be more than barely noticeable. Story missions can all virtually be done on the frist try unless you happen to stumble by an exploding car. Your health regenerates if you manage to dodge enough bullets, and you can take more punishment than Robocop, despite having no kevlar or any armor, even on normal difficulty. The diversions and jobs however, more than make up for this. They all consist of 6 levels, the 3rd of which can be completed with 1-3 retries, and the 6th apparently can only be done by people who obsess over these kinds of games to a degree thats unhealthy. The difficulty is also variable, as enemies vanish and appear at random.
Despite this nit, which is a big one, this game is fantastic. The jobs are fun, and some of them could make a game on their own. A few will make you wince, nmely the one where you spray poo on everything that moves, but aside from, the side missions are almost more fun than the story missions. The story missions are also fantastic. While none so far have made my jaw drop, they are unique enough to not feel repetitive, they are well voice acted, and have a compelling storyline for each of the gangs, and a few you'll gleefully replay over and over, as the villians get theirs in rather entertaining ways (Case in point: "Get up." You'll know it once you reach it)
The customization is fantastic, and creative, though a few points are obscure, namely why some items are more stylish than others. The guns are entertaining, and a bit too easy to acquire. Items are cheap, so you won't have to grind for 10 hours to buy new gear or houses. The AI for enemies and your allies is vastly improved. All told, if this was made a little harder, and a little gritter, just a drop or two, this would've been 5-stars, and probably a top ten of all time.
Customer Review: Entertaining game held back by some bugs
Summary: 3 Stars
First and foremost, I won't even compare this game to GTA IV because it's not MEANT to; Volition has come out and said long before the game's release that it's not trying to replace GTA.
One of the biggest selling points for me was that I could play as both a man or a woman. And once I learned that I could visit a plastic surgeon at any time and change my gender back and forth, I was even happier. I also appreciate the fact that Volition supplied six different voice tracks for the protagonist, each with its own personality and nuance, giving the game a distinctly different feel for each playthrough. For example, the British actor would read one line as "hey mate" when it's supposed to be "hey man." Little touches like this give the voice tracks their own personalities. I was struck at how different a cutscene feels when the hero has a different voice and attitude.
Pros:
-Be male or female (or a freak; be a man with a high, female voice!)
-Great VO work, engaging supporting characters with personality
-Variety of missions and activities (especially Septic Avenger; spraying sh** on people is hilarious!)
-New features such as human shield, cruise control, fine aiming, dual wielding
-More customization options (clothing, tatoos, hairstyles)
-Excellent GPS is back, plus now you can place "bookmarks" on the map as reminders (i.e. during a mission you find a tag spot, and want to remember its location for later)
-Stores are now open 24/7, meaning you no longer have to wait around endlessly to buy that one specific shirt you want
-Fresh soundtrack with songs you haven't heard in other games
-Instantly warp between a store and your wardrobe, making it easier to mix and match your clothes
-Some cool easter eggs to be found
Cons:
-Bugs/glitches from first game are back (such as cars disappearing, NPCs getting stuck in your vehicle)
-Idiot homie A.I. (guys, did you know you can walk AROUND obstacles?)
-No way to give commands to homies
-No auto-lock on or aim assist of any kind, making shootouts harder than they need to be (the option to toggle it on or off would have been nice)
-Digital music player from SR 1 has been canned (you can't listen to music when on foot anymore)
-Melee fighting system (Brotherhood style, Ronin style, etc) largely feels gimmicky and wasted; outside the "fight club" activity, there is no reason whatsoever to use fisticuffs when you could simply shoot your enemies
Customer Review: Good Fun Round 2
Summary: 4 Stars
As someone who loved the original Saints Row, I was glad they made a part 2. I am glad the player gets to talk this time around, though the British accent for a white male is really weird in a game like this. The concept is basically the same as the first game except now you are more of a leader than a follower. I like how they tied together the first and second games with all the characters as I was worried they were going to make this game its own entity with the "same character". I love Johnny Gat and he looks even cooler this time around. The graphics are a disappointment - I know its a cartoonish game, but the first one looked a whole lot better in my opinion. There seems to be this haze that makes it even worse when looking at things, no matter the time of day. I think fighting and the weapons are much cooler in their effects and how they are represented.
That being said, the originality between this game and the previous really isn't there. It's basically the same story and goals - earning respect, doing missions against rival gangs, conquering rival strongholds, etc. There is more variety with the respect challenges which I like and its not as easy to succeed in the early level of the respect challenges either. This game is fun, but still seems to be lacking something. I wish I got to choose how to attack the rival gangs for once in a sandbox game. It would also be nice to have the AI of my gang be smarter and have more of an effect with their guns. I watched Johnny fire 8 shotgun blasts into someone and it didn't kill the guy. Forget it when he uses a regular pistol. It's like the computer controlled gang members really have no effect.
I like the game, but I honestly felt more of a connection and interest in the original rival gangs than this one. These gangs seem very far fetched and weird to see on the streets just walking around like everything is normal. I like that my character is the leader and not just a silent runner for the big guys. I like that the respect bar adds up faster this time around through various methods besides respect activites. It's better than GTA in fun and replay ability but still not a perfect "gang" sandbox simulation.
Customer Review: Such a release
Summary: 5 Stars
I am going to keep this sweet and short. I work in retail and have a lot of built up stress. This game, you can grab people and throw them against walls or over ledges. I did that for 3 hours straight and feel so much better. This game is the best!Customer Review: Beyond Cool
Summary: 5 Stars
Everything that was cool in the first one is back in this one but with more!!! Helicopters, boats, jetskis, motorcycles, more cars, new weapons, alot of the roads have been fixed so you don't have to drive completely around a neighborhood to get to a spot you want to. You can customize just about everything in the game too like your clothes you can pick the pattern, the color of the pattern, the logo, your car's exterior no longer needs to be the same color all over the car. You can customize your crib, your gang, your gangs cars, your tag. Just awesome all over
small glitch I've found but when you're on the kenshin motorcycle (I haven't tried it with any others yet) if you pop a wheelie and stop and start doing a burnout (with the front wheel still in the air) and keep doing this until the camera tips back and is looking at the sky you then let go and it'll launch the bike and you like 17 feet up in the air like you just hit a jump, I dunno I thought it was cool. Still funnest game so far.