A proper GTA alternative
Saints Row was announced and released within the first wave of Xbox 360 titles. With GTA 4 being far off in the distance, THQ seized the opportunity to cater to a large audience craving some open world fun on their shinny new console. Fortunately, it turned out to be a win-win scenario for both the publisher and the player.
Anyone who has ever played a GTA game will be able to pick up and play Saints Row without skipping a beat. Saints Row obviously lifts it's basic structure from the beloved series. But make no mistake, Saints Row is far from lazy knock off material. The differences are present and significant.
The biggest difference is that Saints Row can actually merit some credit for playing like a legitimate third person shooter, eliminating much of the frustration usually found in a GTA title. Missions are much more reasonable and enjoyable as a result. There is also a great selection of side missions to take on to continue your mission progress and vary up the gameplay.
Saints Row also has a lot of character. The story is rather cliche, but not bad by any means. However, the characters are great and drive along the narrative well. The game has a good sense of humor, and your almost silent protagonist pipes in at just the right times. The in game soundtrack is also very intriguing, containing a lot of relatively unknown music asking to be discovered for the first time.
Saints Row's semi-plagiaristic existence is easily forgivable because it goes a long way to expose how much fun could still be had with the formula.
