Saints Row

Volition’s gamble to reset and reground Saints Row pays off generously. A visual delight, with plenty of gameplay mechanics to keep players goofing off for days, and the Santo Ileso setting is one of the best in video game history. Sure, the shooting gets redundant after a while, but with so much to see and do you can go hours in between gun battles. Saints Row manages retain what players loved while feeling fresh and new. Other reboots, take note – this is how you do it.

In many ways, Saints Row is a game that looks back on its past with reverence, trying to keep much of what worked in the past while updating it for a new generation of players (and consoles). It manages to do it with many more hits than mistakes, but it's still a game that shouldn't please any player. If you are a fan of its tone and proposal, it is undeniable that there are dozens of hours of fun here.

While much of this review may seem negative, there’s a lot to like about Saints Row. Its cast quickly grows on you, it has some entertaining set-pieces, and there’s explosive fun around every corner. Customisation is also a high-point: if you like creating zany characters, you’ll be in your element. But while in many ways this this the best Saints Row game to date, there are also multiple design decisions that pull it down. For a game all about building a crime syndicate, the fact that engaging in such activities feels so optional on the main path is a crime itself. It also won’t come as much surprise to Saints Row fans that this is just as scrappy as ever before. Still, it’s ridiculously enjoyable nonetheless.

Saints Row had chance to be something much more, if only the team behind the game tried to take a more bold and careful approach.

Ultimately, Saints Row may not be the grand return to the franchise that fans were hoping for, but that doesn't mean it's not worth giving a look. Despite a poorly-paced story with average characters, it still has a ton of content and a sandbox that is ripe for hours of co-op fun. Even if you're playing solo, building a criminal empire is empowering and elevates Saints Row beyond being yet another open-world crime game. If it didn't take some steps back or feel buggy and dated, this game would get a more glowing recommendation, but unfortunately, it doesn't hit all of its marks.

Saints Row could be something special. It really could, but Volition still doesn't know how to treat this franchise, placing it somewhere between Grand Theft Auto and Just Cause, never managing to leave its own fingerprints on the open worlds it creates. The Saints Row reboot is so similar to the original franchise in tone, gameplay and content that it leaves you wondering why it was even necessary to hit the reset button. There is fun to be had, but it's hidden behind bugs, repetitive missions and a detached story that doesn't know whether it wants to be a caricature of other plots or a candid tale about a group of friends involved in the criminal world.

If you find yourself in the right frame of mind, the unhinged nature of Saints Row can be cathartic, particularly if you find yourself in a good series of missions where the writing and humour aren’t too manic, and the action isn't too humdrum. In the end, Saints Row succeeds in recalling and refreshing the affable personality of the dormant series, but this reboot is simply a return, not an evolution.

I'm speechless... The story, the cars, the missions, the customization, everything is perfect. Roughly 150 hours in, cannot get bored of it.

**Saints Row (7.0/10)** Saints Row attempts to reboot the franchise with a fresh cast and modern setting, but struggles to capture the charm of earlier entries. The open world offers some fun activities and solid customization, yet feels repetitive and lacking personality. Combat is serviceable but unremarkable, and technical issues hold it back. While it has moments of humor and creativity, the story and characters fail to leave a lasting impression.

Для меня это первая игра про святых. И знаете? мне понравилась эта игра, как гта подобная игра, но не гта ни разу. Просто другая игра. Но я считаю странным прятать самые весёлые штуки за довольно сложными челенджами, которые прямо надо задротить чтобы получить.

This game, I'm sorry to say, but it's awful, too many technical problems that make it unplayable, it also has an uninvolving plot and a nice gameplay, but nothing special, there's not much to say about this video game.

Worst mainline Saints Row game in the series by far as elements that makes a saints row game stand out like activities and gameplay are lacking with countless bugs that can interrupt gameplay making some parts of the game unplayable or annoying to complete. Story is also one of the worst in the series as it is very safe in comparison to the best in the series Saints Row 2, in this game characters feel one dimensional as you end up not really caring for any of them or the story the game is trying to tell. Story is also dragged down by cringy characters with stupid dialogue. The only positive things about this game is that the customisation of the boss and cars are pretty good and the city Santo Ileso is alright but lacks interiors and other things you expect to see in any open world title. This game could have been so much better had they decided to reboot with the original set of characters after the events of SR2 or even 3. This game shouldn't have even been called Saints Row as there is nothing gangsta or fun about it but it did as it was already an established IP. The game led to the closure of the studio Volition, which speaks levels for how the game sold and was received. I have no doubts that Volition wanted to do something better for the fans as there was talk of this game being Saints Row 2.5 but somewhere inbetween writers got lost and decided to appeal to a new audience either by themselves or by order of there publisher Deep Silver. Maybe they had a lack of time so put together any story they could which would explain the buggy state of the game but no-one knows. I hope this isn't the end of Saints Row as it is one of my favorite game series but will Deep Silver really want a game about gangstas. Will they allow another studio to create the game fans want? Time Will Tell.