Saints Row 2

Saints Row 2 is the second in the Saint Row series. You will once again be taking the reigns of a member of the Saints and try to reclaim the city that was once yours. You'll have a large variety of guns to choose from, as well as cars to drive. You'll have to start small, but as you go through the game you will be able to take control of sections of the city. With the over the top exaggerations, violence, and activities this is sure to be a unique treat.

Graphically this game looks on par with a Grand Theft Auto game on the same device (XBOX360). One difference, however, is the fact that you can customize your player to make him look like the player, themselves, or so hideous only a mother can love them. The generic bodyguards do make the game appear as if there has been a very serious case of inbreeding, but its understandable that there shouldn't be any confusion as to the allegiance of different gang members. The city has hints of the city that you once drove through in the first game, but there are subtle changes that I personally enjoyed in the game.

The music is always a treat simply because they have the different radio stations that you can listen to. Hopefully the player enjoys a wide variety of music, otherwise you're going to be hearing the same song over and over again as the game goes on. The voices in the game aren't too bad. I really enjoy the fact that you can choose from a selection of voices for your character, in my opinion that is another great enhancement to the game play.

The controls are a little bit clunky at times, but when it matters most, and that's when you're shooting up different individuals, you're not going to have a problem. I did have issues with how the player drives the car, which can be shown by the number of bullets I wasted almost every time I got into a car.

There's a lot to like about this game. Its over the top, the lead characters are quite unique, there's some old faces in the game, and of course there are rival gangs that have reclaim the city that you'll have to win back. I would have really enjoyed this game a lot if it hadn't been for the simple fact that it forced me to do the other side activities, lengthening the game, instead of just letting me do the story missions. I understand that each activity should be tried at least once, but having to do so many to rack up enough respect to do a mission gets old after about the fifth time, sadly there's a lot more story quests than 5. There was also the documented issue of the game freezing up at random spots that got me close to throwing a controller or two. For those out there looking for a solution, apparently if you install the game to your hard drive that'll help. Sadly for me, however, I've got a really small hard drive and that wasn't an option. Overall the game, when I got to play the story missions was fun and entertaining. 

If you're looking for a game that you're going to have to sink some serious hours into but in the process you'll get to off specific individuals, steal cars, vandalize property, ride on a flaming 4x4, cause havoc in a helicopter, race in several different environments as well as with different vehicles, and of course reclaim territory from rival gangs, then you're probably going to enjoy this game. This game gets a 7.6 out of 10.