Saints Row 2

Saints Row 2. It's the sequel to a game franchise originally considered a light-hearted clone of the effectively genre-monopolizing Grand Theft Auto series. In many ways it's a bridge tying the entire Saints Row saga together (with the possible exception of IV), building off of Saints Row's solid foundation and taking it further in a lot of ways.

This game was quite advanced for its time, adding much more substance than many had expected possible from a "GTA clone". This reputation would go on to help sell future titles in the franchise and establish Saints Row as its own paradigm.

Synopsis:

You are the leader of the Third Street Saints. You've awoken from a coma in Stilwater Penitentiary after rising to the top of the street gang food chain. A bomb to the face'll do that. Well, it's time to pick up the pieces and make Stilwater remember who owns this city.

Verdict:

Overall, I recommend this game. Due to its very well-executed and exciting story and its entertaining and memorable characters, as well as its greatly-expanded gameplay mechanics, awesome music selection, hilarious side missions and improved engine, there's a lot to buy here.

However, this port of a console game does have its flaws: there are a fair number of glitches, the audio bitrate and overall quality is subpar by today's standards and the controls on both keyboard/mouse and gamepad are a little awkward, especially after getting used to Saints Row: The Third's or Saints Row IV's control scheme. That said, none of this is game-breaking, just a little irritating at times and it shouldn't prevent you from enjoying what this game has to offer.

A word of advice: if you're coming into the earlier games in the series from Saints Row: The Third or Saints Row IV, you may be taken aback by the game's more serious narrative.

This game's still extremely entertaining, but it's a little less over-the-top than its eventual sequels and it lacks some of the absurd spectacle available in later installments in the series. This situation is largely due to major changes to the series' narrative by Volition after this game's release and because of this, you may either love the game or hate it depending on what you're looking for or used to.

Ultimately, I would even suggest you play this title before SR:TT or SR IV, as Saints Row: The Third's events were only set in motion after the Saints' success in Stilwater at the end of (both SR and) SR2, and to only experience the entire series' plot through the last two titles would probably be somewhat unsatisfying and kill much of the pathos. If you're a mostly-PC gamer like I am, starting the series at SR2 (as Saints Row is an Xbox 360 excusive) and possibly watching a SR1 Let's Play would give you the most bang for your buck if you don't own the console.

My final word:

Saints Row 2 is an ultimately well-designed, extremely entertaining and solid title that sets the foundation for the ridiculous events to come. If you're a fan of the series you need to play this game to get the most out of everything.

Originally written August 25, 2013 on Steam