Saints Row: The Third

Grandiose, many games try to capture this feeling, but few actually can pull it off. Saints Row the Third is one of the few titles that can. And it is not just because it has the player going through scenarios where they are sky diving through a plane or they are being gangsters in space. It is the fact that these situations work well and fit correctly into the game itself, making it a better experience by being there. While other games either shy away or fumble with being outrageous, Saints Row the Third doesn't seem like it knows how to be anything else.

A simple description of Saint Row the Third would be that the game is a open world action shooter with character progression elements. However, this description wouldn't give you a proper sense of the game since it is much more than just a summation of it's parts. This is mainly due to the excellent writing, characters, and design in the game. For example, Warning Spoiler, one of the missions has the player donning a mask in order to be a luchador so that they can fight a rival gang leader. And this is where most other games would have stop pushing their scenario's limit, however, and thankfully, Saints Row the Third does not. During the middle of the match, your NPC allied is taken down and swarmed by enemy luchadores. There are too many for you to just fight off with your fist, so the game gives your character a chain saw. It might a bit excessive, but that is part of the charm since it is fun to wield a chain saw in a wrestling match. And what further helps make this situation fit into the game is the great voice over by the announcers, and their reactions to these events, End Spoiler. It is rather easy to add crazy events to a game, but it is difficult to make those crazy events seem normal and appropriate to the game's setting, and Saints Row the Third is able to do that.

With so many videos of the game out there, I don't feel the need to go into much detail about the game's technical side since most of it can be judge by watching some gameplay footage. Generally speaking, the graphics for this game are above average since it has decent art assets and animations. There are moments where textures, or npcs, pop in and objects in the distant are fuzzy, but both of these are minor issues since they don't affect gameplay in a significant way. The audio is the game is great, mainly due to the awesome voice overs and witty writing. The game's design is also great be it the level design, great scenarios, or the gameplay, such as the ability to upgrade your guy into a duel wielding sub machine gun monster that can't be hurt by bullets. Lastly, the game is stabile, which I know many people take as a given, but considering the recent trend of companies releasing buggy software and patching it later, I feel that a special note should be given for this.

Overall, I would recommend Saints Row the Third to most people. It's a great game that doesn't take itself seriously, and instead focuses on giving the user an outrageous fun experience. With that being said, if a person was looking for a game that had a message, or a dramatic overtone, then this would not be the game for them. So basically what I am trying to say is that if you want a fun game to play that is just that, a fun game, then you should play this.