Each video game has its own objective: just as a management software pushes the player to manage resources in every way, a first-person shooter has on its side the desire to throw liters and liters of adrenaline at the player. Each title has its own inspiration, something that differentiates it from the others, and to all intents and purposes a Saints Row this is not missing. We are talking about a game that, although it is now preparing for a reboot, has existed for almost 20 years and over time has brought many interesting ideas. We had the opportunity to deeply flesh out the title, playing it on PlayStation 5: here is our review of Saints Row.
Not to be confused
Let's start from an assumption: if the combination between Grand Theft Auto and Saints Row could be triggered automatically, the reasoning that leads to distinguish them for a multitude of things should be equally automatic. However, if this deviation is not clear, let's analyze well the kind of game that this Saints Row is: you are faced with a openworld sandbox where you can actually do it all. Steal cars, kill people, do missions and jump from buildings in your wingsuit, all practically fast and without interruption.
If, however, the distinct competition advancing in the chapters has aimed at an ever greater realism, Saints Row is the life of the party: fun, pop culture jokes and a bit of healthy madness replace everything that has made this genre of games as realistic as possible over time. Obviously all this reflects on the Volition game for better or for worse: if on the one hand it will always be hilarious to riddle hundreds of enemies with shots, the chaos generated by the game sometimes leads to not fully enjoying the moment, complicit in the somewhat annoying bugs. .
In this Saints Row reboot you will find yourself checking out the protagonist, accompanied by three of his friends and companions, Kevin, Eli e Nah. Each of these will be characterized by its own psychology: if in fact Neenah will be the lover of the four wheels, Kevin will be the soul of the party and Eli the rational on duty. Together, however, they will form the Saints team, a group born almost by chance that will have to contend with the Panteras, the Idols and the Mashall corporation.
During the game, the primary missions will be joined by those dedicated to gang groups, and to all this there will be a management system for the gang's activities, starting with quiet things like waste disposal to even get to a war of Live role play. Each of them will give additional missions, and completing them will allow you to conquer an area permanently. A multitude of secondary activities are then scattered throughout Santo Ileso: doing the shoulder to a driver on the run, instead of recovering some means, will be small jobs that will help to round up to be able to buy weapons, clothes or to open new illicit activities.
Shoot as hard as I can
Full-fledged Saints Row might pass as a pure sandbox, but it actually hides a soul from third person shooter decidedly marked: although the aiming system is not the best - thanks to the fact that the game uses some systems of the previous games, without innovating too much - it is satisfying to take down hordes of enemies with firearms, special attacks and brilliant finishers (also if in the long run they will always be that dozen).
We found some bugs during the missions, mostly conflicts of action between one activity and another, things that will surely be fixed over time, so there is no need to worry. Finally, it should be noted that the main story of Saints Row it will not occupy more than fifteen hours: in effect less than a third of the game, the one that is occupied by the main story (and related necessary secondary missions). Everything else, on the other hand, will be pure and healthy pleasure of discovery, between crazy secondary missions, armed assaults worthy of the best action movie and some chauffeurs from one part of the city to the other with rather strange means.
A true Saints Row… for better or for worse
We have already said in the beginning how this Saints Row took different paths from title AAA similar: if in fact many over time have tried to highlight realism as a winning card - even showing the private parts of a horse, just to contextualize everything - in all respects Saints Row cares highly, and replaces this hunger for reality with inside the game with hilarious delirium. No wonder how the protagonist manages to kill 20 enemies that surround him (when literally it would be enough for one of these to shoot), because before you come to think of it he will have already said some completely crazy jokes that will make you laugh, time needed to then enter the scene and start jumping between somersaults, final attacks and special moves.
Finally, the package concludes the package co-op mode, designed to be able to play the whole campaign in two players: unfortunately this is the only effective team-up component, which from the trailers seemed more marked but which in the end does not show up so often with the rest of the teammates. Only the co-op mode gives this semblance, but being it played with your character, it will end up being a destructive combination instead of a real team effort. However, it is positive that the cooperative mode will save individual progress for missions, allowing you to skip them once you return to play in single player mode, even if this is far ahead of where you are. Convenient to do the secondary - since the main story a bit 'would be ruined - to all intents and purposes the system is well thought out.
Finally, from a technical point of view, we are faced with a game that does not focus on graphics and on finishes, but which proposes a whole that in the long run will make you forget to look at the technical side. Fun as never before, it must be said that a higher quality on the faces of the characters and on the clothing - which however adopts a poorly defined and almost cartoon style - would have made everything more beautiful to see, especially considering that some scenes are shot in ingenious way. We tested the game mainly in performance mode (2K), so it has to be said that the visual quality definitely increases in 4K mode.
Review- Saints Row (Tested on PS5) 8.3 Final grade
The reboot of Saints Row takes a different path, which remains on its classic stylistic features - both technically and in terms of concept - but offers dozens of hours of good fun. Even the main storyline becomes secondary in comparison to the myriad of activities you can do. Do not expect realism, because in Santo Ileso there is only chaos, of what is really fun.
