A "reboot" that doesn't even surpass open-world <em>GTA</em>-like games of the late '00s.
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Saints Row game review: An open-world mess beyond redemption
- Thread starter JournalBot
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The first Saints Row was just not fun. But 2, 3, 4, and Gat out of Hell I sank hours into. Story-wise, they wrote themselves into a hole. Ended up not playing Agents of Mayhem. Not that I should care about the story in a game like this, but I just lost interest after 4.
Saw this game at a GameStop this weekend, wondered if it was a remake of the first game or a standalone. If it was a remake, it's a no buy because the first game was so boring. Looks like as a reboot, it's also boring.
Shame. Coop in 2, 3, and 4 are some great memories.
Saw this game at a GameStop this weekend, wondered if it was a remake of the first game or a standalone. If it was a remake, it's a no buy because the first game was so boring. Looks like as a reboot, it's also boring.
Shame. Coop in 2, 3, and 4 are some great memories.
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Over a decade later and Volition still can't recall what made Saints Row 2 such a great sequel and open world game in general. Tongue-in-cheek moments and the well-timed laugh in an otherwise grounded setting is where the game excelled, unfortunately the team took the wrong message from it and turned it into a cartoon from part 3 onward. I had hoped this was their chance to rein it back a bit to its earlier happy medium, alas it seems they just made the same mistakes with a different coat of paint.
Gat burying Shogo alive and Boss mercy killing Carlos are arguably the two most memorable moments in that game and they were played without a single shred of humor. Those types of moments are nonexistent in every sequel that followed.
Gat burying Shogo alive and Boss mercy killing Carlos are arguably the two most memorable moments in that game and they were played without a single shred of humor. Those types of moments are nonexistent in every sequel that followed.
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Well... Shit, guess I can scratch this of my list for now. Maybe after a year or three they'll get it patchable into something that resembles a decent game. I doubt it though.
Shame too I was looking forward to this one.
Shame too I was looking forward to this one.
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Aw man, I haven't been this bummed by a bad review in awhile. SR3&4 are up there in my favorite games ever... after Agents of Mayhem being a wet towel they seem to have lost whatever it was they had
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3 seems to have been the best seller in the series, so no, Volition not aping the tone of 2 doesn't seem to be the problem. Setting a consistent narrative tone (whatever that tone is. I'm not here to dictate art and neither should you) and executing on tech and mechanics is how one makes a game regardless of whether or not it's Saints or anything else.
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Cyberpunk glitches generated some fun youtube videos for a few weeks. Look forward to those here as well.
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The previews and trailers looked awful so I can't say this is a surprise. Part of me was hoping I could at least ignore the dialogue and characters and still have a good time running around the map and doing mini games but if even that's bad then what's left?
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Because the other ones were absurd goofy fun? I mean in the second one a series of side missions had you spraying people down with shit out of a septic truck. Smart? I guess not. Fun? Yes.
Also a weird comment, there have been well written games that involve a character going on crime sprees, both Red Dead Redemption games as an example.
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From those screenshots alone if you told me this came out in 2008 I'd have believed you. That's 14 years ago.
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Equating sales numbers to reception is one of the main fallacious pitfalls of describing any work of entertainment. RE5 has the highest sales numbers of the Resident Evil franchise but yet very few people will point to that as the peak of the series. Financial numbers are largely more based on the previous entry than in itself, RE was riding high on a wave of popularity with RE4 and naturally the market was red hot for the followup, that's how it works more often than not. Same thing applies with Saints Row, there wasn't much of a wave of hype for 2 to ride off of in the same way 3 did.
Also keep in mind SR3 also "killed off" a fan favorite character in the opening minutes. People will point to some gems in 3, i.e. the Professor Genki activity is likely one of the best in the series but you will find very few fans that will rank 3 above 2.
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In the context of this review, the standard disclaimer "Ars Technica may earn compensation for sales from links on this post..." made me chuckle.
Lucky if they even get 5c after this.
Lucky if they even get 5c after this.
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I’ll join the chorus of disappoint. After Sam’s preview article a few weeks ago I was planning on diving into SR after having never played it before. This actually sounded kinda fun now that I’ve “completed” Ghost Recon Breakpoint.
Rats.
Rats.
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It's a shame it looks like it is so terrible. I've never played the original 2, but played the other entries a ton. They are always full of fun nonsense that is just really enjoyable.
I'll keep an eye on it to see if it ever gets patched into something resembling a playable game, but I won't be holding my breath. =S
I'll keep an eye on it to see if it ever gets patched into something resembling a playable game, but I won't be holding my breath. =S
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I'd recommend checking out some of the other more recent entries. They are all really fun and still hold up well to modern standards. I recently replayed 4 on the Switch and it was just as fun as when it first came out.
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And what constitutes a 'sale' for purposes of that metric?
Because the dirty little secret with sales numbers is that if you partner with -- say -- a video card manufacturer to make sure that a free copy of your game gets bundled and sold with their product as a promotional deal *THAT'S A SALE*. Even if that game goes undownloaded and unplayed because the end user never wanted it in the first place.
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The first game doesn't really hold up well, since it was a holding pattern until GTAIV came out. The second one is arguably the best in the series, or better than GTA IV/V depending on your feelings about Rockstar. Even though the co-op doesn't really work anymore, SR2 is still very much worth a playthrough.
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Reviews for this seem hit and miss. I was hoping it would be good to spite the haters, and to have a good open world game since Rockstar is really going downhill. I was always a bit doubtful though. I don't think I'm getting this next paycheck, it seems like even the more positive reviews think this needed more time in the oven. I know game dev ain't cheap but despite surplus of open world games, there's a demand for a new GTA or Saint's Row that's rarely itched. I liked 3 Remastered but avoided the PC port which is less buggy than it was at Epic Games Store launch, but still pretty buggy. Maybe another paycheck I'll see how they patch this or 3 Remastered.
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Figured this was going to be a stinker since it went Epic exclusive for the up front cash. Oh well, plenty of other fish in the sea.
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Thief 1 and especially 2 are still so, so good. I'm disappointed every single time I read about a "spiritual successor" that can't be bothered to account for sound beyond a simple detection radius or light.. well they don't ever do anything with light. Crouching behind a waist-high box or in tall grass two feet away is somehow more stealthy than immersing yourself in an abyssal black shadow across the room. Sigh. One day.
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It's rarely a good sign when a developer returns to the well after a commercial flop. Right from the announcement the game always smelled to me of a last-ditch attempt to save the studio from being shut down.
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I’ll give it a shot, I have to see this first hand, considering the worst game previously was so bad it’s good territory.
It’s a bummer if it doesn’t get some quality fixes and some more life/streamlining.
It’s a bummer if it doesn’t get some quality fixes and some more life/streamlining.
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I sincerely doubt anyone at Volition today was at Volition in a role that was related to core systems design in 2007. Which is likely part of the root problem. Skilled technical systems designers are not long for a mid-level studio like Volition. So you basically get one engine build in most cases, and once it's too far gone form the zeitgeist, you're washed up.
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You had me up until "Showgirls". For that, I'm pretty sure Verhoeven knew exactly what he was doing.
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IIRC it's available on GOG, which also bundles in the Gentlemen of the Row fanpatch that makes the game more stable than the initial release. It's also on Steam, but I think you'll have to download and install the patch separately. Just a heads up.
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I was hoping more that it would be good and online. And somehow eat into GTA:Online's income. To wake up Rockstar's butt and produce something. My only issue with the SR series is the one i tried to play they picked a Default FOV that induced motion sickness. The only saving thing was they allowed you to change the FOV on the PC version.
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Final fantasy xv looks way better than that. Yikes.
I wonder if this game was in multiple development Hells. The abrupt campaign missions could be made by a totally different team with the open world stuff, and maybe even from a totally different game grand design
I wonder if this game was in multiple development Hells. The abrupt campaign missions could be made by a totally different team with the open world stuff, and maybe even from a totally different game grand design
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Huh, well poopies. Review feels pretty spot on. Every new "Top 10 things you need to know about Saints Row" or "8 Minutes of Exclusive Gameplay" video that dropped just added to the feeling this wouldn't be good. I was holding out hope that it would be 'good enough' .
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Rage from 2010 manages to dwarf this, and (after the patches) played on some truly awful hardware from the era.
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I'm not so sure. But giving him the extreme benefit of the doubt, then maybe.
But I can say this: When people ask me my favorite movie, I struggle: there are numerous contenders, and my "favorite" movie today might be different than yesterday depending on my mood. When asked which movie is my least favorite, most god-awful, complete piece of shit movie EVER -- now and for the forever future -- the answer is easy: Showgirls.
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