SeekerSaints Row
The new Saints Row features enjoyable open-world gameplay but bland characters and an overall timid story make it the weakest entry in the series.
-- As reviewed by Tom's Guide
Product details
- Discover the Weird, Wild, West - Dive in to Santo Ileso, the biggest and best Saints Row playground ever, spread across nine unique districts surrounded by the vast, majestic beauty of the Southwest Desert
- Build Your Criminal Empire - Take over the city block by block, wage war against enemy factions and tighten your grip on the streets with ingenious criminal ventures
- Fire Guns. LOTS of Guns - Shoot revolvers from the hip, fire and forget with a rocket launcher, or obliterate up close using melee heavyweights, complete with brutal takedowns
- Take to the Streets and the Skies - Blast through urban and desert environments in any one of the cars, bikes, planes, helicopters, VTOLs, hoverbikes, hoverboards, go-karts or equip your wingsuit to swoop around
- Unprecedented Customization - Create the Boss of your dreams, with the most extensive character customization suite ever seen in the series, then complete the look with incredible options for weapons and vehicles
PROS
+ Tight, smooth gunplay mechanics
+ Solid stylized graphics
+ Robust licensed soundtrack
CONS
- Bland, lifeless characters
- Repetitive side missions
- Narrative lacks edge
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Expert reviews and ratings
By Tom's Guide on August 30, 2022
The new Saints Row features enjoyable open-world gameplay but bland characters and an overall timid story make it the weakest entry in the series.
60
By IGN on August 22, 2022
For a game that gives us so much freedom to be exactly who we want to be via its superb customisation options, it’s odd that Saints Row itself struggles to forge its own identity when it comes to the types of wanton criminal activities it makes available to us. There’s definitely no shortage of shallow shoot ‘em up thrills to be had here, but it’s a very familiar and uninspired brand of sandbox fun that’s unlikely to wow anybody who’s played a Saints Row game before, much less a GTA. There are a few spectacular story moments and the city of Santo Ileso serves as a sprawling new playground full of surprisingly antiquated and non-interactive amusements, but the distinct lack of new gameplay ideas – and the frequency with which some of its least interesting ones are reused – means this Saints Row feels more like a repetitive retread than a proper reboot. It’s definitely a new gang of Saints, but they’re guilty of the same old sins.
60
By TrustedReviews on September 06, 2006
The poet TS Eliot once said that “talent imitates, but genius steals.” If Eliot’s words apply to games as much as they apply to literature or other arts, then there’s little doubt that Saints Row is one of the greatest works of genius that the medium has ever produced. Indeed, there’s a certain irony in the fact that a game that celebrates crime – Grand Theft Auto – has become the victim of one of the most blatant and impressive thefts of style, idea and game mechanics in gaming history. Saints Row is the Great Gianna Sisters of this generation, only without the stinking Nintendo lawsuit that kept that game off the shelves. I know Volition’s defence has been that Rockstar has created a genre and it’s only doing its best to expand it, but – really – just look at the cars, wander the streets, watch the cut-scenes and tune into the radio stations. Who are they trying to kid?
70
By IGN on August 29, 2006
Volition's Saints Row is an impressive game --in most respects. The core missions, side missions, the controls and flow of the game, the graphics and sound, they're all solid and smartly designed. This game feels and plays better than most, if not all, of the other GTA clones.
85