Saints Row

By John Walker Published 18 July, 2006

Hands-on with the multiplayer.

There's undoubtedly something of a dilemma when first playing Volition's Saint's Row. It's too easy to yell "It's a GTA clone!" and be done with it - you want to rise above that. But, erk, Saint's Row is so similar to Rockstar's series in so many ways that it's beyond impossible to ignore. The look, the map design, the animations... the gameplay, all walk that incredibly tenuous and crumbling pathway along the cliff edge of Inspiration above the fetid waters of Copying.

There are, however, two decent arguments in its favour:

1) If you make something very similar to something very good, you make something that could possibly be very good.

2) And if you do it on next-gen tech, and add in the multiplayer that was so sorely missed in San Andreas, you justify a fair amount of attention.

So let's give that multiplayer some attention. Revealed to us only last week, we had the opportunity to sit down and experience all four multiplayer modes in a competitive environment: we were playing against people from other magazines and websites! Ick!

City Slickers

'Saints Row' Screenshot 1

Fire is surprisingly contagious.

Saint's Row is set in the city of Stilwater, loosely based on Illinois (Go Sox!), in a world of gangs and pimps and hos. Its single-player game (recently explored by Kristan) sees you progress from low-level gang dogsbody to ultimate kingpin, as you take over the city section by section, pitting gang against gang in an almighty battle for territorial bling. This is a big, living city, and unlike the hollow lies of recent freeform city-based games (look at the floor, Tony Hawk's American Wasteland), there are genuinely no load times as you explore. This is next-gen put to good use, with all the futuristic lighting you'd expect for a game with day/night cycles, all the Havok 3 physics you could ask for, and player customisability beyond our expectations. But more importantly, since it's a 360-only release, it's Xbox Live put to good use as well.

Played in smaller sections of the city, the multiplayer games are a pleasant surprise. While we're still a bit worried that the single-player game might not be distinct enough from the source of its stem cells (we believe they only needed to take two of them to create it), we are relieved to report that the multiplayer is far from the tacked-on afterthoughts that plague modern gaming. Not only are all four modes rather fun to play, they're all embedded in the context of the game, inventively expanding upon the central themes in a way that could only be realised via group play.

Further attracting our attention to the multiplayer potential is the character creator. More elaborate even than Oblivion's face-contorting, and with costume options matching City of Heroes' in terms of range (if not nearly in style), there's no doubt that you'll be able to generate a character remarkably unique to you. My baseball cap and jacket wearing average Jo (with receding hair, most peculiar nose, and a worrying overbite) competed against the likes of a foppish, big-headed weirdo suited all in white, with a floppy white hat, and a balding, hugely overweight middle-aged man, wearing only red spotty boxershorts, his hairy belly flopping over - ew. This individuality is then further embellished by the game's system of rewarding victory. Rather than a high score table, Saint's Row presents winners with 'bling' - new items and accessories for their character unavailable to life's losers. The idea is, as time progresses, the very best players will look the very best, earning respect via their personal pimpage. An excellent idea. It's like having a giant purple sword in WoW, but without the nerdy shame (or deeply disturbing double-entendre).

Wanna be in my gang?

'Saints Row' Screenshot 2

Yo mother, yo shizzle my buzzle fozzle something something.

There are four modes in which your avatar can bust caps (or something): Gansta Brawl, Big Ass Chains, Protect the Pimp, and best of all, Blinged Out Ride. And pleasingly, there's a holding area between them all where players hang out while the game prepares itself, allowing you to shoot your buddies for fun - far better than a loading screen.

Gansta Brawl is perhaps the most obvious of modes. Up to twelve players enter a sectioned-off region of the city and then kill each other a bunch. Deathmatch. The level we were in played like an arena - a dirty wasteground with half-finished building projects, and best of all, little battery-driven vehicles to hop in. As you'd expect, there are weapons hidden all over to improve upon the starting pistol, allowing a well-executed third-person free-for-all. Necessary, but not nearly as interesting as the rest of the modes.

Big Ass Chains represents the first step up in inventive play. It's Capture The Flag if flags are chains and there's loads of them everywhere. Still you versus everyone, the aim is to return as many of the gold chains, scattered about the streets and houses, to a roaming base (located on the map), while preventing your opponents from doing the same. Kill them and all the chains they're carrying fall to the ground. Pick them all up and you're very vulnerable to attack from everyone else. It's an interesting balance of tactics, risking gathering more gold over finding your drop-off point, and the back-and-forth nature of garnering the dropped chains of fallen opponents means things remain frantic and engrossing. Lots of shouting, "OH YOU BASTARD!" is to be expected for those playing via the system link.

The other two modes are team-based (or perhaps more properly, gang-based). Again, remembering that simplicity in action multiplayer is vital, both modes introduce more complicated tactics while maintaining instant nature of non-stop action.

'Saints Row' Screenshot 3

Remember, murdering people is still illegal in real life.

Protect the Pimp splits those playing into two gangs, and a member of one team is randomly assigned as the Pimp, the rest charged with escorting him to the level's exit. The other team has to prevent the Pimp from escaping the level by killing him and his cohorts. The Pimp is very vulnerable, but not helpless - he is armed with the Cane, a one-hit-kills melee weapon for last-ditch desperate survival. Or twatting players who can't aim. Clearly this is a mode that will become increasingly interesting as players learn the layout of the buildings in which the levels are set, and develop tactics for escape or the prevention of it.

Finally, and definitely most entertaining, is Blinged Out Ride. (Look, you're doing very well coping with all this "bling" nonsense - bear with it). Once again players are split into two teams, charged with stealing a car and upgrading it a number of times. In order to do this, money must be earned to pay for the car-pimping. Nicely, this is executed by applying elements of other multiplayer modes - killing other players or blowing up their cars to steal their cash, or collecting gold chains and returning them to base. Once you have enough cash you can drive your car to an upgrade shop and have it souped up to the next level. Reach level 4, and drop it off at your final base to win.

But, of course, there's the slight hindrance of the other team attempting to do exactly the same thing, and preventing you from succeeding by the rather effective means of blowing your car up. So blow theirs up first, silly. The volume of team-based tactics to apply here are extremely enticing, and our amateur attempts revealed a lot of potential. Four members of your team can get in a car at any time, and then you can go off to perform a drive-by execution of the rival gang members. Or perhaps you'd rather hide your car in a garage and sneak around gathering cash, avoiding the enemy's bullets? Or how about creating a motorcade to protect your main machine from the other gang's fire? Or... See, there's potential here.

It's a tribute?

How much hindrance Saint's Row will face for its unsubtle and uncanny similarities to GTA remains to be seen. While the developers are keen to explain that their game takes the focus away from a single, linear plot (check out our forthcoming interview with the game's lead designer for more details), and instead focuses on elaborating upon the freeform elements of its inspiring source, it's hard not to feel an extreme sense of deja vu. However, there's no doubt that the multiplayer is original to the genre. And better, rather than simply relying on that, Volition have ensured it's inventive and imaginative multiplayer with a decent long-term potential. We'll have the definitive answer to these pondering thoughts closer to the game's release.

Saint's Row is due September 1st, but we'll be back long before then with an interview with lead designer Chris Stockman. And probably cappin' yo bitch ass if we see you in the street.

Picture of John.

About John Walker

Read more articles from John by visiting the John Walker archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (51) Latest comment 6 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Glitch #1 6 years ago

    Great game, great multiplayer, the fact it is just like GTA doesn't bother me, infact bring it on! GTA needs some competition and something to beat. I saw some very interesting videos of Saints Row over at IGN and the multiplayer really does look fun! the whole concept of bling = level is great and I think GTA might conquer the single player but struggle beating Saints Row's multiplayer.
    Edited by 1 at 18/07/06 @ 09:13

  • reality_cheque #2 6 years ago

    Wow, some of that looks pretty bloody cool. This game just jumped up my "most wanted" list quite a few places :D

  • spidermanalf #3 6 years ago

    Sounds good, it's just the Gangsta thing puts me right off!

  • Chtulie #4 6 years ago

    Does it have any of the humor, a really fun driving model/well executed core gameplay mechanic and an extended game universe (hearing an ad for a product over the game's radio, seeing an ad for the same product in the games world, being able to buy the adverised product, and the game product actually having a gameplay effect)?

  • octo #5 6 years ago

    Some of the multiplayer videos look like fun. Floating around in the forum somewhere there is also a video of the a train being derailed by a molotov cocktail. Slightly bouincy physics aside, it looked great.

  • Cappy #6 6 years ago

    Gansta Brawl? Big Ass Chains? Protect the Pimp? Blinged Out Ride?

    Managing to insult the intelligence of everybody in one fell swoop. Thank god its an Xbox exclusive.

  • Zuiyo #7 6 years ago

    "Remember, murdering people is still illegal in real life."

    Uh-oh.

    /hides body

  • El_MUERkO #8 6 years ago

    Sounds interesting but what i really want from a sandbox game is sandbox multiplayer!

    I dont know how hard it is to code but just drop a few players into the game world as you would see it in singleplayer but without the missions and let them make their own fun, "Last person to the top of that skyscraper is a ladyboy!"

  • spindizzy #9 6 years ago

    That looks interesting actually. I just wish it wasn't gangsta ... I fucking hate that bollocks. I gave up on SA purely because I couldn't stand any of the characters. VC was so much more fun (for me at least).

  • Perry #10 6 years ago

    Agree re. San Andreas. It took me about 5 hours before I started to like the characters. I actually couldn't understand some of the conversations at the start!

    But looking past the gangsta aspect, San Andreas was an immense game. I'm thinking of pulling it out again and trying to soak up the story some more this time through.

    I will be getting this game. Has high hopes, but as someone above mentions, GTA's charm is the humour throughout. Not just ordinary humour either, clever, witty and well executed humour. In fact, I'm struggling to find a game that has made me laugh more times than Vice City

  • steoc4 #11 6 years ago

    I agree that sandbox multiplayer should be included. Most of my enjoyment from World of Warcraft these days is derived from random ways of making our own fun that have nothing to do with missions or game objectives, more games need to just let players loose in the world to find their own ways of entertaining themselves - it's what makes GTA single player so great! This game is definitely sounding good though.

    Liberty City Stories wi-fi on PSP is by far the most enjoyable deathmatch game I've ever played, despite it's bugs and dodgy single-analog controls. This type of game properly done online could be huge.

  • Raziel #12 6 years ago

    I can see it now...

    "Saints Row made me do it!"

  • Triggerhappytel #13 6 years ago

    Sick of the whole 'gangsta' thing. This may be okay, but it's such a shameless copy of GTA it's hard to take it seriously.

    Not convinced at the moment. It reminds me of '25 to Life'.

  • Mildew #14 6 years ago

    A demo of this is on Marketplace from Aug 1st - not sure if just single player or multiplayer though

  • PearOfAnguish #15 6 years ago

    'Bling' ? Urgh. Hey, THQ and everyone else, Rockstar pulled off the gangstaaaa thing by having a sense of humour and enormous team of researchers who actually visited the places being simulated and spoke to actual gang members and rappers, not by watching Fast and the Furious and MTV2.

  • Eighthours #16 6 years ago

    The names of the game modes are tremendously embarrassing. We're not all 12 years old, THQ. And your target audience with the language won't even be able to buy the game over here.

    Nonetheless, the idea of a GTA-like game on the 360 is an enticing prospect.
    Edited by 1 at 18/07/06 @ 10:21

  • Hog-lumps #17 6 years ago

    And your target audience with the language won't even be able to buy the game over here.

    Why cant they?

  • gizmo #18 6 years ago

    One thinks that just maybe all this 'gangsta' dtuff is all just tongue in cheek guys?

    You know, having a bit of a laugh at it all, have you not seen the vids?

  • Xerx3s #19 6 years ago

    How is multiplayer original in this 'genre' when the first GTA already had it?

    Oh well, not for me I think. Guess that I will have to play the demo and see. :\

  • Eighthours #20 6 years ago

    Why cant they?

    Because all this bling stuff is targeted at adolescents, and the game's going to be an 18-certificate in the UK.

  • Hog-lumps #21 6 years ago

    bling stuff is targeted at adolescents

    That's a little sterotypical though? Surely the success of other mature rated 'urban' games such as fifty cent:bullet proof, Mark ecco et al. show that there's is an over 18 audience for 'blingin' MTV culture?

    (edit for clarity)
    Edited by 1 at 18/07/06 @ 10:40

  • barchetta #22 6 years ago

    For anybody interested, Xboxyde has a 30min! (lo-res) clip of what looks like the demo at:

    http://www.x boxyde.com/news_3184_en.html

  • steoc4 #23 6 years ago

    Writing off the game because of the theme and the us of the word 'bling' is kind of like writing off Nintendo games as cartoony and childish...

    First impressions seem positive and gameplay is showing good potential, GTA is a brilliant game and if something manages to beat it at it's own game that will be a great thing.

  • Eighthours #24 6 years ago

    Writing off the game because of the theme and the us of the word 'bling' is kind of like writing off Nintendo games as cartoony and childish...

    First impressions seem positive and gameplay is showing good potential, GTA is a brilliant game and if something manages to beat it at it's own game that will be a great thing.

    Personally I'm not writing the game off, I just think that the whole "gangsta" thing is well past its sell-by date. If they play it for laughs it could be ok, but the voice acting is going to have to be very good for me not to want to skip past embarrassing cutscenes.

  • Darkedge #25 6 years ago

    gangsta annoying shite

    game however looks damn fun and I can't see it fitting into any other sort of style anyway... wasn't looking forward to but will definately check out the demo

  • markypants #26 6 years ago

    I'm hoping that they have embedded the option to release new mulitiplayer modes via Xbox Live. Well I'm pretty sure there will be live extras, but maybe that is where we'll get the 'Sandbox multiplayer' option that we all want. I agree that if we could get access to the whole city with a few of our mates, it wouldn't be long before we come up with a few game modes. That's what hapened with PGR2, cat and mouse and last man standing were all games that the community developed and have now become features of PGR3.

    At the end of the day, we are not going to see a next gen GTA until late next year, so I really hope that Saints Row delivers a fun sand box experience.

    M

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #27 6 years ago

    Pffft.

    If you want proper sandbox multiplayer, you want to look at Crackdown. You can play the whole freeform game of that in multiplayer over live, missions and all.

    And it keps the tedious Gangsta nonsense to a minimum.

  • glaeken #28 6 years ago

    If the gangsta stuff is Ali G style it could be OK. If it takes it seriously I guess you will just have to skip the cut scenes. Still there will be a demo so should be able to figure out if it is worth buying and skipping cut scenes.

  • Grom #29 6 years ago

    Fuck off, Saints Row

  • mankell #30 6 years ago

    /yawn

    Stopped reading half way through the article.

    What a pile of !!!!

    /can't even be bothered to get wound up. TOO HOT.

  • Fatnick #31 6 years ago

    "sounds good, it's just the Gangsta thing puts me right off!"

    Yes. Which is a shame, as i've seen the vids on the internet of people derailing trains and things.

    Who knows, hopefully with the emphasis on character creation you'll be able to create one which doesn't look like a tosser...

  • albundy #32 6 years ago

    The unspoken racism here is astonishing! It really is. I'm not all that big into gangsta culture myself. But Jesus, I ain't a sci-fi nerd either. Doesn't stop me from enjoying Halo though, does it? You guys need to chill out and lose this introverted balck fear. It's only a game ffs! Don't worry. Nobody's actually asking you to hang out with actual black people. Because that would just be scandalous, wouldn't it.....

    /rolls eyes

  • Fatnick #33 6 years ago

    Yes! if you don't wear your trousers round your ankles, you must be some kind of racist!

    /counter eye-roll

  • Ikari2001 #34 6 years ago

    I dont think people saying that the 'gangsta' element put them off necessarily means they are cupboard racists... but certainly seems an interesting sounding game...

  • albundy #35 6 years ago

    I'm not necessarily saying that either. After all, I wouldn't call an anti-driving game person race-ist (get it!). But there's a level of hysteria and commotion here that is not warranted. It's like they're saying "I COULD'VE been interested in this game, if only it wasn't gangsta". I just don't see what the big deal is. Gameplay over subject matter, no?

  • Nostromo13 #36 6 years ago

    personally i think this title looks great. As a big fan of GTA i am pleased that they are ripping it off, simply because our next real gta fix is coming in more than a year from now. So to fill the void this should do nicely.

  • ralphwolfenstein #37 6 years ago

    "The unspoken racism here is astonishing! It really is... you guys need to chill out and lose this introverted balck fear. It's only a game ffs! Don't worry. Nobody's actually asking you to hang out with actual black people"

    Actually, no-one said that because this game was about 'gangstas' it must be about black people. That seems to be your assumption...

  • MasterThief #38 6 years ago

    I'm interested to see how the MP pans out.
    Edited by 1 at 18/07/06 @ 16:10

  • Drakron #39 6 years ago

    albundy is just being racist, he is a Microsoft supremacist.

    This type of games are targeted to wiggers, as GTA:SA was a look at LA in the 90's this type of games are about the gangsta "culture" we see in MTV.

  • albundy #40 6 years ago

    I just think that certain people need to look inside their soul, and question why they act as they do. Never have I seen a mass outpouring of annoyance when a shooter is sci-fi based. "Ugh! What's with the whole aliends and space thing!". But the amount of comments that I've read around the net bemoaning how Rockstar 'ruined' GTA with San Andreas, and complaining about Saint's Row big pimpin' stylee..... Let's just say that the vehemence has my ears pricked.

  • gaselite #41 6 years ago

    The whole gangsta veneer thing in this game is annoying because it's just a cop out on real hip-hop culture and is sending a bad message to, say, many guys here in the comments who don't know better. People who probably think rap these days is all about the bling-bling and gettin da bitchez and da hoez and bustin caps and all that bullshit which I can't fucking stand. As a rap fan, I find it irritating.

    Having said that, looking a bit closer, it seems to be a fairly tongue in cheek presentation, it's just that veneer on the surface which is annoying... it's also kinda hard to think of any other original ways to present the open-ended crime action genre these days, that would work reasonably well.

  • cyber_nicco #42 6 years ago

    I will assume the city of Stilwater is based on the city of Chicago. Illinois is an entire state, full of many cities and loads of farmland.

    /end of geography lesson ;)

    Oh, and I think this game looks quite good. Yes, it is hugely influenced by GTA, but it seems to have SO many improvements that I don't dwell on that. I mean, the free-form combat system we all wanted in GTA. The ability to shoot and drive is nice. Seemingly more interactive (read: destructible) enviornments. And the multiplayer.

    I don't think it will revolutionize gaming, but it could be a lot of fun...

  • botherer #43 6 years ago

    Oh oh oh, I need no Chicago lessons : ) (Go Sox!)

    Let's compromise and say I should have written "Chicagoland".

    To put the other tomfoolery to rest, the game doesn't take itself seriously at all. Don't worry - this isn't an attempt to whiteboy up the hiphop culcha. It's a tongue-in-cheek game. But more on this and so many other fascinating insights next week folks!
    Edited by 1 at 19/07/06 @ 01:13

  • tenma #44 6 years ago

    albundy: I think it's interesting that you associate a hatred of gangsta culture with a hatred of black culture (whatever "black culture" is - in my opinion, you can only have nationalistic or geographic cultures: chinese culture, nigerian culture, brazilian culture, etc). Some people might ironically read what you wrote as racist because your post makes it sound like you're equating one with the other.

    I don't think anyone here has a hatred for black culture, but rather a hatred for the commercializing and newfound ubiquity of gangsta lifestyle. The game seems to be doing the exact same thing that gangsta rappers do: making such a lifestyle seem entertaining and profitable.

  • albundy #45 6 years ago

    So you're all just moralists now, is that it!?

    But we all know that that reasoning is only bollocks anyway. Let's "get real" here for a minute. GTAIII and VC. Games that glorify violence, loved by all. GTA: SA. Glorifies violence just the same, but is disliked by many for "promoting the gangsta lifestyle".

    Now, you tell me how your argument even stands up?

  • tenma #46 6 years ago

    Now, you tell me how your argument even stands up?

    I don't know if you were addressing this to me or not, but I'll bite.

    People have different themes when it comes to various media that they enjoy. Some people love medieval games (I don't), others love sci fi games, etc. No one here is objecting to the violence in gangsta themed games, they're just objecting to the theme for various reasons. I'm black, but I still object to the theme because on the most basic level I find it very cliché now. On another level, I hate how the gangsta lifestyle gets extolled by some people in society and furthermore, how it's become almost synonymous with black culture in many people's minds. The reason I can play Vice City (which I thought was crap compared to SA by a mile) is because I'm not constantly bombarded with the "mafia" theme these days. There aren't mafia rappers, there are a scant amount of recent mafia-themed films, and I don't see the image being venerated to the same level as gangsta is so therefore I'm not utterly sick of it at this point. Whereas the correlation between "Italians" and the mafia may still exist, it's not as potent as the correlation between gangsters and black people. With the latter, some people aren't even acknowledging gangsta as a facade, but rather a reality.

    Furthermore, you still haven't justified how you can say that a rejection of the gangsta theme is a rejection of black culture. The last time I checked, black culture wasn't solely embedded within the gangsta lifestyle.


  • miiiguel #47 6 years ago

    I sesne it'll sell like hot cakes...

  • albundy #48 6 years ago

    @ Tenma

    I agree with most of what you say, particulalry the "gangsta culture =/= black culture" bit. But let's be realistic here. A lot of (ignorant?) people do band the two together, and like it or not, rejection of gangsta culture can often be taken as being an overall rejection of black culture.

    You must see it, surely? Yes, I now that people may be getting sick of the whole gangsta schtick. But there are waaay more sci-fi shooters released yearly than gangsta ones. Why no similar widespread animosity to sci-fi shooters?

  • tenma #49 6 years ago

    albundy: Perhaps the hatred of sci-fi themed games is to a lesser degree partially due to the same reason why mafia games aren't also hated: because sci-fi and mafia games are themes found almost exclusively in certain realms of media while gangsta culture is almost all-encompassing these days. You'll only find someone pretending to live out sci-fi in specific conventions for the most part, whereas with gangsta culture there are people who make it their life, therefore inadvertantly exposing the rest of us to the culture and making it more oversaturated than sci-fi themed games. But even besides all this, the sci-fi theme is also applied in more diverse ways. You can have sci-fi themed racing games, first person shooters, adventure games, RPGs, etc. The gangsta theme has only been applied exclusively to the realm of sandbox style action adventure gameplay and therefore doesn't have the same holding power that other themes do as well.

    This is the same reason why you see people complaining about all the World War 2 games out - because its simply a theme which has been overly-exhausted in such a small amount of time and has only been incorporated into one genre of games.

    I don't disagree with your notion that people often times lump black culture with gangsta culture, and that the rejection of the latter may be due to a hatred of playing in an environment with almost exclusively black players or other minorities. Hell, it was upsetting to see how many people were attacking San Andreas before it even came out just because the main character was black and the soundtrack was mainly hip hop and I doubt anything would have been said if the main character had just been another white guy and all the stations were rock. I'm just saying that it's not exactly fair to assume that everyone who hates the gangsta theme hates it on the basis of race.

  • cyber_nicco #50 6 years ago

    @tenma

    I understand your concerns, but I am not sure you should be so comfortable commenting so much on the Italian/Mafia thing.

    I believe you said you are black, and you are obviously somewhat bothered by the black=gangsta stuff that is being published. Are you Italian, as well? Anyway, I am. Truthfully, I don't give a crap about the the Italian/Mafia thing - we're still in an era of stereotypes in most video games. I imagine, with time, characters in video games will start to show more depth and complexity (I hope, at least).

    None of this is to suggest that you shouldn't feel the way you do. I just think that you shouldn't be so quick to assume that stereotypes of other peoples are acceptable, while stereotypes of blacks are not. That's all.
    Edited by 1 at 21/07/06 @ 03:14

  • b33rl0v3r #51 6 years ago

    I've just played the Xbox Marketplace DEMO and even though I hate Gangland culture I'm starting to aquire a taste for Saint's Row. I have never been a huge fan of GTA but I agree that it certainly owes an awful lot to Rockstar.

    However, the biggest turn off for me with the GTA series has always been the lack of a suitable multiplayer mode, which Saint's Row appears to have addressed and VERY exciting it sounds too.

    I never thought I would enterain myself by walking streets, killing, pimping and being all out anti-social but hey its only a game.

  • VinculumGate #52 6 years ago

    hehe. that's what gta as a real shooter will do to you. woo woo woo