Saints Row: The Third

A VTOL (Vertical Take Off & Landing) affair, you can simply dive into the cockpit, take to the sky Harrier Jump Jet-style and literally go to war, tossing out the odd laser-guided rocket. Along with the Human Cannonball, another new weapon is the RC gun, enabling you to remotely take control of a vehicle, and should you wish, drive it off a cliff, killing its passengers instantly. Or for more traditional wheel-based action, you can now enter vehicles via the front windscreen.

Furthermore, cars can be tangibly customised, as indeed can people. The extensive customisation options are another area in which Saints Row distinguishes itself from 'other games' and the sky appears to be the limit - you can stroll into a shop and walk out wearing a spacesuit if you fancy. Body modification is also the order of the day, and as Holmes says: "If you want a super-fat woman with green skin and cat eyes, have it!" And get Channel Four to make a documentary about it while you're at it.

There is clearly a lot of fun to be had in simply pissing about, but if you want to 'win' the game, you will have to complete the missions, one of which we are privy to, namely "When Good Heists Go Bad." The somewhat convoluted story involves a method actor called Josh Burke who wants to experience some real life crime.

The Saints are now in the position where they rob for sport, not for money, and hence target a bank owned by The Syndicate, with everyone in Johnny Gat masks, and the hapless actor along for the ride. Predictably things go tits up, and it turns into an almighty gunfight, eventually featuring more exploding helicopters than Bruce Willis' golden period.

As ever, it's still played for laughs. As Holmes explains, "People have latched on to the humorous angle, making the game more cohesive and conducive to that sort of tone. Saints Row 2 had some darker, grittier storylines and felt a little schizophrenic in terms of what it wanted to be. This time everyone on the team knows exactly the tone we want to get across. Everything is about having lots of crazy fun."

of

Caption

Attribution

In fairness to developer Volition, it looks like that could be the case. The new engine seems tight, and an extra year's development than usual appears to have yielded a visually impressive combat environment, with bodies and explosions being tossed all over the screen with something approaching aplomb.

And if you've got one friend, or can find a welcoming stranger, two-player drop-in/drop-out co-op will be on offer, with the game's writer boldly claiming that it will be "the most robust co-op experience in an open world game." Incidentally, for those who were horrified by the PC port of Saints Row 2, this time round it's being brought back in-house and hence should be an improvement (admittedly not difficult).

That's pretty much your first look at Saints Row The Third then, a grammatically dubious, morally reprehensible clusterf**k bathed in the blood of the innocent. Or just some silly cartoony game where you go around blowing stuff up for shits and giggles. As the man says, "When you take a step back and look at it, nothing is serious, everything is tongue-in-cheek. It's not realistic." You heard it here first.