Alright, let's go back in time ten years. Queue cliché movie transition. The year is 2001, and yours truly is a youngin' about eleven years old. My friend just got a new game called "Grand Theft Auto 3" and I'm waltzing myself on over to his house in a joyous skip to get my little munchkin hands on this new game. Finally getting to my friend's house we spend the next few hours wrenching our guts in maniacal laughter and joy as we cause mass mayhem within a fictional world. As time went on we found ourselves saying "Man, wouldn't it be cool if they added this? or that?" Well ten years later, I find myself playing a game called "Saints Row: The Third." Instantly I said to myself "This is what I wanted GTA to always be" and what I always wanted GTA to be is simply mass produced hysteria made easy.
At any point in time during Saints Row: The Third I can ram a police car, hop out and take the officer as a human shield. Or I can drive on the side walk and mow people down for the hell of it. Hell, I can actually work on the campaign if I wanted to and that's what makes Saints Row: The Third an amazing game. I can do what I want, when I want. Now let's get onto this review.
Let's start off with how much time you'll be spending on the game. The campaign is about eight to ten hours maybe less, depends on how fast you go. But the campaign is only a quarter of this game. Most of the side missions tie in with the games main story and for once the side missions are actually fun! Activities like "Tank Mayhem" and "Trail Blazing" are not only challenging but also rewarding. "Whored" Mode is a ton of fun and a great breath of fresh air from the main game. Each wave is different; unlike the cliché "more and more enemies per wave" Saints Row has you fighting different amounts of enemies with different weapons and different abilities. For instance one wave on "Zombie Island" has you fighting around forty zombies with a chainsaw, but the next wave has you fighting about twenty BDSM guys holding the "Penetrator" which is a two foot long purple dildo. I'm closing in on about twenty hours of game play and I'm still far from done with the side missions and whatnot.
While Saints Row's graphics are not the best, there is no room for complaining. The environments, vehicles and main characters are all very well done. There are a few glitches within the game, none that are game breaking, but rather most of them are just outright hilarious when they happen. For instance, I was fighting off a gang of Luchadores when they just kept spawning. After around three-hundred and fifty Luchadores I ran out of ammo and then decided to steal a cop car. The only thing I could see for an improvement is destructible environments.
The customization within Saints Row: The Third is impressive, from the extensive character customization, to the vehicle modding. All of the customization is deep enough to please the hardcore but also quick enough if you wish to just make a random character and jump in. Most of the weapons within the game can be upgraded for bigger magazine sizes, more damage and better accuracy. There is also an upgrade system that at the level cap which is fifty can pretty much make you invincible, with upgrades like "Immune to bullets" and 'Infinite Sprint" the upgrade system really brings in the fun factor. The co-op in Saints Row: The Third is obnoxiously fun. There's nothing like causing mass chaos with a friend.
Saints Row: The Third is the game I've always wanted when it comes to sandbox chaos. From the ease of use, to the amazing combat system, to the hilarious story. Saints Row: The Third is a must have game. Once you play it, it's going to be hard to put it down. It gets my highest recommendation go pick this package of insanity up ASAP.
Saints Row: The Third was developed by Volition, Inc and published by THQ on November 15th 2011 for PC, XBox 360 and PlayStation 3. A copy of Saints Row: The Third was personally obtained from a local GameStop.
