I already thought that Saints Row was a weird series of games. It felt like it came from some strange universe where the general feeling was that Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas didn't go "far enough." Saints Row: The Third seems like it's just getting weirder with a premise that's been optimized to get you into the most ridiculous gear as soon as it possibly can.
I'm not just talking about stuff like rocket launchers and assault rifles. I'm not even talking about the big dildo bat that the developers showed off at an event I attended awhile back. I'm talking about air strikes. And the "Apocafist," which is a pair of gloves that make pedestrians explode when you deck them. Or how about a VTOL jet that shoots laser beams? At some point descriptors like "over-the-top" just don't go far enough. Saints Row: The Third looks fucking crazy.
The story doesn't appear to be interested in normalizing things, either. At this point, your gang, The Saints, has become extremely popular. So much so, in fact, that they've completely sold out. There are Saints-branded energy drinks. A Saints movie is in the works. You can get masks with Johnny Gat's face on them. In fact, the Saints themselves are such celebrities that they decide to rob a bank while wearing those masks during the game's first mission. While that's going on, bank patrons are stopping you for autographs. When the robbery goes totally sideways and the cops are called in, even they're shouting things like "please autograph and then drop your weapon" as you attempt to escape via a helicopter that's trying to lift the bank's vault right out of the building. It's completely stupid, but I'm not sure that I mean "stupid" as a bad thing.
== TEASER ==
The robbery goes bad because the bank was owned by an organization known as The Syndicate. They, as you might have guessed, aren't too happy about getting robbed, so they start striking out at the Saints and the game progresses from there. It appears to still be Stilwater, and a lot of optional missions--including old favorites like Insurance Fraud--will be available to you. Of course, there's plenty of gunplay, and what was shown looked just fine. You'll also be able to purchase businesses. In the demo we saw, a costume shop was purchased, opening up plenty of clothing options, like a Saints-colored spacesuit.
It was a brief demo that held a lot of promise for the future of the franchise. I actually skipped most of Saints Row 2, primarily because exhaustively playing the first game burned me out on the minigames and secondary missions that the series has become known for. But now that more time has passed, I think I could come back to that stuff... especially if I can do it all while blowing apart the opposing gangs from the comfort of a hovering jet. Actually, if Volition is willing to show the VTOL jet and those other weapons right now, what sort of stuff must they be holding back for the final release?