| Our score | 4/10 |
| The good | Despite being a reboot, there’s still some classic Saints Row fun to be had |
| The bad | Boring gameplay wrapped in a city with no depth |
| Publication date | August 23, 2022 |
| Developed by | Want |
| Available on | PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Google Stadia, PC |
| Judged by | Playstation 5 |
Saints Row had become known for its wacky gameplay and outlandish missions, and frankly, that’s what I liked most about the series. Living in a world full of Grand Theft Auto clones, Volition’s tenacity in putting their own spin on an over the top formula was like a breath of fresh air.
Like many of the previous Saints Row games, the 2022 reboot is all about building your criminal enterprise from the ground up. This means making your way to an operations base, building a crew, opening several drug and money laundering businesses in the city, and just becoming a self-made badass.
So you’d think it would be great to become a criminal entrepreneur and build your own empire, but Saints Row somehow manages to make it a pretty boring and forgettable adventure. Which is really saying something when you consider that Scarface: The World Is Yours did better on the concept way back in 2006.
When you consider that video games give us all the chance to live out our wildest fantasies without consequences, how did Saints Row take such a crazy fun concept and make it feel like a chore? Well, through unimaginative gameplay, repetitive missions, a boring city and some of the most dragging video game media in history – that’s how.
My experience with Saints Row immediately started off badly when I tried to transfer my created character from the Boss Factory app to the full game, but I realized that the clothes and accessories I had used at the start of the game. While this is pretty standard, it felt like a total waste of time creating a character before launch, just to use a standard character anyway, because nothing I selected was still available to use. A small indication that certain garments would not be available would not have gone amiss.
But that said, the customization options within Saints Row are incredibly extensive. This isn’t just tied to your character, both weapons and vehicles have a variety of options to choose from. Though it was disappointing to find that there was no way to buy cars and motorbikes as the only way to get them was by completing missions or stealing them.
After recreating my character, I was ready to dive into the city of Santo Ileso and be immersed in all it had to offer. Unfortunately, it soon became apparent that the open world of Saints Row didn’t have much to offer in the way of immersion… or whatever. It even made me a little uneasy at how quiet the city was when you walked through the streets; the lack of atmospheric audio left Santo Ileso feeling lifeless. In terms of size, there was plenty of distance to cover, but most of it was just sepia-toned desert and scattered buildings that were mostly inaccessible.
Despite a lackluster town, there’s definitely fun to be had with Saints Row, even if it’s essentially a stripped-down version of the series. Although Volition wanted to bring players back to the roots of the series, you can still expect some over-the-top action. But these moments seem to be sparse, with many of the main storyline missions being incredibly repetitive and downright pointless.
I’m all for silly missions to have fun with, but a good percentage of Saints Row’s missions had objectives like “retrieve the stolen packages” and “wait in line for donuts”. Not exactly the kind of objectives you want to see in an action-adventure game like Saints Row. There was a subpar effort to make these missions fit back into the story, but they felt like they served no real purpose while taking up a lot of game time.
“Saints Row is just a watered-down version of what was once an over-the-top and exciting series”
There is, however, a strange charm to Saints Row, something I couldn’t quite put my finger on. Despite the unimaginative gameplay, I found myself coming back more and more (and not just because I had to finish it for this review). The story of an emerging criminal enterprise isn’t original, but I got curiously involved in the story of the Saints, even though their dialogue is incredibly cringy and often difficult to listen to.
Unfortunately, despite the odd charm that kept me coming back for more, Saints Row is just a watered-down version of what was once an over-the-top and exciting series. Graphically, the game could also have been released on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. I saw buildings and cars render around me and often found myself looking at character models and wondering where the definition or detail was. For a next-gen title, it was just incredibly disappointing.
I tested Saints Row on a PlayStation 5 and every next-gen game I’ve ever played has taken advantage of the DualSense controller’s capabilities, such as the adaptive triggers and improved haptic feedback. For some reason, Saints Row didn’t use any of these features.
As for the actual gameplay, the shooting and driving felt clunky and outdated. But there were some elements that were refreshing, like taking down an enemy. Not only did it replenish your health, but it was also incredibly satisfying to watch. Unfortunately, this wasn’t enough to cure the boredom of most missions that revolved around killing hordes of enemies. Out of about 30+ main missions, only a handful felt like they offered a variety of gameplay.
Saints Row sadly takes away some of the most iconic parts of the franchise, and instead of replacing these stripped-down elements with new and refreshing ideas, you’re left with what feels like a game that should have been released between 5 and 10 years ago. .
0 Comments