Saints Row: The Third (2011)

Graphics are perfectly fine. Nothing breathtaking (although the cityscapes at night with all the neon lights flashing are gorgeous), but there's nothing wrong with them. If you're the type of person who would get more enjoyment from more modernised graphics, there's a remastered version I haven't tried yet but hope to get around to that I'd suggest going for.

It has a genuinely endearing and funny group of characters. Most are returning characters from the previous games, but there are some new faces thrown in there that add some more variety too. Shaundi is very different from her SR2 counterpart, which is explained in-game, but some players still dislike that change.

The voice acting is great. The protagonist's voice options are all varied and each of them has distinctly different responses and personality traits, which adds some pretty neat replay value. Pierce is also a stand-out for me. The game managed to make me genuinely connect with my custom character to the point I liked him more than the actual NPCs.

The plot technically carries on from the previous games, but it's pretty easy to jump into with this as your first and follow along, you'll just miss some references. It's still grounded in crime and gangs, which I vastly prefer to SR4's more bonkers sci-fi stuff. Some of the scripted moments are genuinely amazing, and the only mission I'd say sticks out as unengaging or annoying is the zombie horde one, which is unavoidable and something I dread getting to every time I replay.

The gameplay holds up VERY well for a game from 2011. I found the combat and gunplay smooth and coherent, and movement works fine for me. I didn't experience any clunkiness or any mechanic that felt like it unfairly affected my chances at succeeding or winning encounters etc.

I've only briefly played the multiplayer, but you can go through the campaign in co-op mode. Only the host's character will appear in cutscenes which is a bit of a bummer, but it works fine as some fun with friends.

Intro

Saints Row is GTA's goofy cousin. You walk/drive/sail/fly around a city doing missions and stealing/shooting things.

The Good

SR3 is a weird game. It has lots of things i hate about video games. Escort missions, (some) timers, no fast travel and lots of generic upgrades that seem grindy. But somehow most of these aren't a problem. Escort missions are actually fun because you get to blow up tons of enemies with rocket launchers. Timers always seem fair and i never ran out. The upgrades work well too because you easily get XP ("respect") and money.

The main strength of SR3 is that it is considerate of the player. End up in the water somehow? You can just warp to shore. Sick of being chased by enemies? Literally call them off with your phone. Don't want to deal with certain kinds of damage? Buy enough upgrades and become immune to it. There are only a handful of things i disliked about the game that i could not buy my way out of.

Also, the game is just so much fun. Crazy street battles that tend to escalate into all-out warfare. Lots of silly costumes. Missions where you just have to blow up as much stuff as possible. All kinds of support options, from zombies to tanks. It takes the best elements of GTA and Just Cause and turns them into over-the-top gameplay.

The Bad

• The remaster sucks. There are still some bugs and i often had problems with audio not playing correctly. I don't remember the minigun only having a rotating sound in the original version. The game looks better but they kinda botched the rest.

• No fast travel. I really wish you could just warp to cribs, or even just between them.

• No "refill all" option for ammo. Refilling 6 weapons and 4 throwables is annoying, especially since you get a popup when one is full, which is hard to see.

• Some missions are obnoxious. Tiger Escort sucks, i didn't even bother with the flaming hoops and all main missions involving fighting Killbane are weak (some even involve QTEs).

• No option to call in a jetbike, and helicopters/VTOL have serious trouble landing. One time i had to hijack one with my hijack remote to make it land.

• The radio sucks. It was fine in SR2. I even discovered Paramore through it. SR3's radio is sorely lacking, especially compared to GTA5. It's not just the music, the DJs/reports too.

Conclusion

The Epic Games launcher doesn't let you hide games. When i get a game i've already played i'll install it so it shows playtime in the launcher, which makes it easier to ignore. I was curious about the Remaster however, so i decided to just see how much better it looked. Instead i ended up replaying the game (~25 hours). Because SR3 is just a lot of fun. Silly, wacky fun. Unlike Rockstar, Volition didn't forget that games are supposed to be fun.

I'd say it's not as good as Saints Row 4, but very enjoyable nonetheless. Running around creating mayhem is fun, but the activities get repetitive a bit too fast. Open worlds tend to have this issue and Saints Row The Third is a textbook example. There's half a dozen different activities, some more distinct than others, and almost all missions --including story missions-- are build on that basis. There are some cool exceptions, but for the most part gameplay feels uninspired.

But what really saves Saints Row is the fun tone and charismatic characters. I wised you get to see more of them, but what is there is fun, endearing and makes you want to live in the world. There's plenty of wacky stuff and fourth-wall breaking that keeps things fresh.

(played Steam version of Saints Row the Third Remastered)

Yes, it's a true knockoff of Grand Theft Auto. But I actually enjoyed my time with it more than any GTA game.

While much of the game is completing a checklisty checklist of tasks, there's a lot more variety in these tasks than your typical modern day Ubisoft game. You can play weird Japanese TV gameshow murder games, you can fly around in helicopters taking out tanks with a rocket launcher, you can hurl yourself in front of moving vehicles to commit insurance fraud, or you can fight through a virtual world as a MegaMan-blaster-toting toilet. There's even a badass luchadore wrestling mission that's way cooler than it has any business being, where you can beat the crap out of people with a shark.

The humor is not at all 2021-PC-friendly, and I'm mildly surprised that they chose to remaster this game in an era when people on the Internet (especially gamers) are craving the next thing to get offended about. But, I'm a stupid idiot who grew up in the the 80s & 90s, so it's right up my alley. And the way they often incorporate the licensed soundtrack to go with the stupid storytelling is just perfect at times.

The Remastered Edition's graphics overhaul looks pretty, but the game definitely does have the feel of a 10-year-old game with a fresh coat of paint slathered onto it. Character animations are a bit stilted, and models can sometimes look a but chunky. Some modern conveniences like fast travel are notably absent; but the character customization -- including even multiple voice options -- is actually quite nice.

It's also a little weird that what seemed like the "bad" ending is canon.