One for the Hulkamaniacs. You know who you are.
We know it's fairly cliche to mention the comparison between Saints Row 2 and its main 'competition' in the introduction to this preview, but it's incredibly difficult not to given that a large chunk of the marketing campaign for Saints Row 2 has been specifically focusing on the differences between itself and GTAIV. Certainly, trying to rally gamers against one of the most critically successful games of all time is an interesting tactic, but really all the team behind Saints Row 2 are trying to do is say one thing loud and clear: comparisons are inevitable, get over it. Saints Row 2 is not trying to be anything other than Saints Row 2, and makes no apologies for being one of the most over-the-top, crazy and unrealistic open-world games ever made, with an emphasis on fun, comedy and insanity over the kind-of-depressing realism on display in Rockstar's recent effort.
There is nothing 'subtle' about this game.
One thing that has been apparent since day one with Saints Row 2 is the incredibly large amount of customization in the title. We had already had a chance to play around with the character creation system, but upon closer inspection we couldn't help but be impressed with how detailed it all is. Aging your character, male or female, creates obvious wrinkles, and the older they get, the more obvious it becomes that everything visually isn't as perky as it used to be. The differences aren't all cosmetic however; there are several fighting styles you'll be able to adapt to your character, depending on your style. From drunken punches to more technical karate-style moves, your character will fight differently based on your choice, and will also walk, talk and taunt however your heart desires, which means the more creative players could find themselves spending a large portion of time making sure their character is absolutely perfect for their needs.
Note: Nothing to do with 'Prison Break: The Game'.
While the emphasis of the game may not be on creating the most realistic experience, that's not to say that there isn't an entertaining narrative from start to finish. We got to experience the opening portion of the game, and Saints Row 2 wastes no time getting you involved in the action; after the incident at the end of the first game, your character wakes up in prison after being in a coma for some time. You'll very quickly find somebody to rely on, and a frantic escape from the jail begins, all the way from the inside to the outside, and then onto a boat to speed away from the Alcatraz-like prison in Stilwater. Opening the game with such a hectic scenario directly after what we're sure will be a long character customization process really gets you into the mood for some mayhem, straight away putting you on the run from the cops and placing you behind a turret to fend off police boats and helicopters as your own boat speeds away frantically from the prison.
Why does this always happen to me?
Within the combat, there's some gritty execution moves that have been added to the mix to make things that little bit more intense. Grabbing somebody from behind will still give you the option to throw them out of the way like we'd already experienced, but you can also feel free to snap their neck if you'd like to - even more nasty and sickly satisfying is the animation of your character pulling your victim to the side and shooting them right in the head, which happens so quickly and effectively that we almost fell out of our seat when we saw it for the first time. Yes, it's that cool. It really seems as if Saints Row 2 is going to prove to everybody that there is more than enough room in the market for another open world game of this type, and we can tell already that it will easily accomplish its goal of being one of the most purely fun and entertaining games to be released in the genre so far.
Loading...
