Doing Crimes for Fun and Profit… and the Community Too, I Guess - Let’s Play Saints Row
When you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes back. Here’s why that’s a good thing:
Stilwater is plagued by three powerful gangs: the Westside Rollerz (yes, with a “z”), the Los Carnales, and the Vice Kings. Peace isn’t an option, so the next best option is violence. Julius Little, the leader of the small-time 3rd Street Saints, wants to put an end to the terror bearing down on the people of the city. And one night, he meets a man who is both the solution and an entirely new problem.
Hey, you’ve heard of Grand Theft Auto, right? Well what if you had an open world game kinda like that, but it was about gangs or something! This is the first Saints Row, a game where you can see the bits and pieces that make the later games stand on their own two feet, but also the bones of the games it was derived from. But the nice thing about this one is that it does have a character customizer, though if you’re expecting the MC to talk, you’re a game too early. Still, it was definitely a novelty at the time, and there’s something to be said about being able to customize the character who’s going to be sent to commit terrible/wacky atrocities.
All For Freedom, and for Pleasure - Let’s Play Saints Row 2
A few things have changed. No, it’s not just Playa’s hair.
The Saints’ victory was short-lived; after Julius disappeared and Playa exploded on a boat, the last gang of Stilwater was left without a leader, and before long its remains scattered. However, Richard Hughes wasn’t the only one with eyes for “improving” the city. With the Alderman dead, the Ultor corporation moved in and finished what he’d started. Over the course of five years, the Saint’s Row district has been rebuilt completely. Elsewhere in Stilwater, though, new gangs have moved in to fill the power vacuum left in the city’s crime scene. How could things get any worse in this city, which has so long been mired by gang violence? Well, today’s the day where a certain patient in the city jail’s medical wing finally makes a miraculous recovery…
Welcome to Saints Row 2, the one people actually talk about! With the first game as a base, 2 really shines as its own thing for capitalizing on what was good about that one, while really developing its own identity as well. Customization is even better in this game than it was in the first, both for what you can do with your character and in how the Saints look as a gang. And if you’re here for the story, you’ll be happy to know that the script also builds well off the first game’s while also coming into its own identity. It’s a lot punchier, and having the main character be a more active participant does wonders for the game’s presentation.
The Saints are back… in pog form!
After the boss’s stunning victory over Ultor, Stilwater hasn’t been the same. After a merger with their former enemies, the Saints have become famous. With freer reigns than ever, and several merchandise deals to continue bankrolling them, the once-small-time gang has become local celebrities. But even now that they’re on top, there are still challengers to their throne. With a movie about the Saints on the horizon, the gang is showing a jackass actor the ropes on how to better play a Saint. However, their planned bank robbery for such training may not go as smoothly as they think. It’ll also go less smoothly than most people would assume a botched robbery would go as well.
Welcome to Saints Row the Third! This one looks a little different! After the success of the first two games, Volition veered ever-further into their own lane. While it’s still very familiar in how it plays, a lot of the game’s plot and progression structures are notably different. So it’s still kinda GTA-like, because that’s just baked into a lot of this genre to some extent. But the style and humor are a lot different, and there’s a lot more spectacle to the main missions. A lot of that has also leaked into the vehicles and weapons of the game, all of which can range from incredibly goofy to over-the-top destructive. It is, to put it simply, a very wild time.