Saints Row 2 officially unveiled

By Robert Purchese Published 24 September, 2007

Online co-op, darker story, yo.

THQ has officially de-cloaked gangster sequel Saints Row 2.

It's due on PS3 and 360 in 2008, and brings with it significant improvements on the 2006 free-roaming original.

Chief among these are co-operative online gang-banging for you and a chum, plus lots more customisation options like gender, age, voice, crib and gang bits and bobs.

The world has also swollen to include lots more locations, and you will be able to enjoy riding around in things like boats, helicopters, planes and the all important m070rb1k3s. We love them, the way they have two wheels and go very fast. Ooh, pretty motorbikes.

Saints Row 2 will also look better thanks to a beefed up engine from developer Volition, with the environments looking not too dissimilar to Crackdown's. You should find there's much more depth of choice across the board, too, intertwined into a much darker and more sinister storyline - albeit underpinned with a sense of humour.

"The team at Volition is leveraging invaluable experience gained on Saints Row to build Saints Row 2 into a game that sets the standard for combat, player freedom, customization, vehicle game-play, team-based co-op and the most compelling online open world experience to date," boasted Scott Guthrie, marketing boss at THQ.

Saints Row was released in 2006 and was surprisingly good - especially given it was Volition's first open-world effort, as you can see for yourself in our review.

However, it launched in a period without any real competition, and filled a GTA-style gap for many of us. Next year, of course, it will go head-to-head with the mega franchise itself.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (43) Latest comment 5 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • the_dudefather #1 5 years ago

    I actualy liked saints row

    (hides)

  • DFawkes #2 5 years ago

    I'm sure many did. I thought it was okay, even if it felt a little soulless. GTA has a spark to it that most clones lack.
    Edited by DFawkes at 24/09/07 @ 16:07

  • Scimarad #3 5 years ago

    I quite liked what little I played of it.

  • Darren #4 5 years ago

    Saints Row was a good attempt at copying GTA on the current gen systems but it was a bit buggy (disappearing cars and bridges from time to time) and the tearing pre-patch was horrendous. I'm looking forward to playing a more polished sequel but I hope the devs do more to inject the game with a personality of its own rather being content to just borrow liberally from Rockstar's classic and just adding lots of sexual references and over-the-top swearing.

  • Phattso #5 5 years ago

    Co-op could be a stroke of genius by Volition on this one. Crackdown in single player wasn't a patch on the shits 'n' giggles to be had in co-op, and the scope of Saints Row could lend itself well to that.

  • bioreit #6 5 years ago

    I agree with DFawkes.

    Saints Row wasn't bad by any means - quite enjoyable, really, but it just didn't grab me the way GTA or Crackdown has.

    But for a first effort, top marks.

    But just to hijack yet another thread with this topic, Volition should really be concentrating on either creating Freespace 3 or re-releasing Freespace 1 and 2 as XBLA/PSN games. All other considerations for the company are secondary.
    Edited by bioreit at 24/09/07 @ 16:11

  • Keza #7 5 years ago

    Online gang-banging!?

    Someone call Jack Thompson!

  • Moz #8 5 years ago

    can't say i gave the first one much of a chance, main cos the frame rate was a disarster! Also gangstar rap for my tastes

  • IAmBatman #9 5 years ago

    > the most compelling online open world experience to date

    So not the tiny little arenas that multiplayer used last time?

  • richardiox #10 5 years ago

    Hopefully they can get a stable framerate of 20fps+ on this one....without tearing as i seem to remember Saints Row being one of the first 360 games to give us taste of what was to come as far as tearing is concerned.

  • andromeda #11 5 years ago

    why doesn't someone remake 3d Ant Attack?

  • optimusprym8 #12 5 years ago

    I liked the original just not the gangsta bullshit, same for GTA:SA

  • Monkey_Puncher #13 5 years ago

    Enjoyed the first one and the addition of a proper open world co-op mode sounds promising, sign me up!

  • Barry619 #14 5 years ago

    GTAIII is my favorite game for the time, but i really beleive Saints Row improved on the "Sandbox - Gangsta" game beyond any GTA so far, i'm sure GTAIV will reclaim the crown, but i think it will be very interesting to see how Saints Row II is compared to GTAIV.

  • Kiigan #15 5 years ago

    Saints Row did a few nice things, stuff that GTA should have adopted years ago - a "retry mission yes/no?" option, a nice sat-nav style map instead of just a marker for a location. Of course many of the missions were just as bad as GTA ones (or worse) and overall it presented a deeply unpleasant, hateful view of the world. A bunch of middle aged fat white nerds giving us their take on gangsta bullshit. It's a shame there's a market for this sort of thing, but it was certainly playable and fun in small doses.
    Edited by Kiigan at 24/09/07 @ 17:02

  • dynarama #16 5 years ago

    Hey I loved Saints Row - cracking game

  • jonsaan #17 5 years ago

    I liked Saint's Row too. However it'd be nice if the sequel was a little less cheesy.

    'Lets show these Mutherfuckahs what time it is' etc etc. Very unconvincing.

  • Yossarian #18 5 years ago

    Where are my Dead Rising 2 and Crackdown 2? No one care about a Saints Row.

  • Scientist #19 5 years ago

    "The team at Volition is leveraging invaluable experience"

    US marketing bod in every-sentence-must-include-the-word-leveraging-shocker. The whole quote seems to have been focus tested before publication. The English language is doomed...

  • Guv #20 5 years ago

    needs more boobs

  • LOLLERS #21 5 years ago

    "The team at Volition is leveraging invaluable experience"

    experience in gang banging ho's?

  • Paukl #22 5 years ago

    Good stuff. I was enjoying the first one until my 360 chewed up the disc. That was the day I learned the seemingly obvious lesson: do not move the thing with a disc spinning in it.

  • Walshicus #23 5 years ago

    Saints Row was better than San Andreas in my opinion... well except for the lack of planes. Had it been given the GTA label I doubt many would have raised a fuss.

    Anyway, loving the inclusion of co-op in the sequel!

  • Grom #24 5 years ago

    Anyone who uses the word 'leveraging' should immediately have the word CUNT stamped on their forehead in indelible ink.

  • Walshicus #25 5 years ago

    @Grom;

    What if they design levers for a living?

  • Monkey_Puncher #26 5 years ago

    They definetly need to work on the script for the new game. Enjoyed Saints Row but all the gangster talk sounded like it came straight from a middle class wide nerds wet dream. At times the script just tried too hard to be funny and crude, not a scene went by without at least 10 expletives and an unfunny innuendo or 6.

    Good game but a better story and script would be nice in the next game.

  • thegamesthething #27 5 years ago

    fucks per second?

  • morriss #28 5 years ago

    I liked it. It was a good laugh, I thought.

  • Brogan #29 5 years ago

    "Anyone who uses the word 'leveraging' should immediately have the word CUNT stamped on their forehead in indelible ink."

    no fan of see-saw manufactures then?

  • sharpfish #30 5 years ago

    "Saints Row 2 officially unveiled"

    And?

  • Miths #31 5 years ago

    Just started playing the first one less than three hours ago (hey, I've only had a 360 for a few weeks :)), and so far I'm really liking it - although it's of course a tad too soon to say if that feeling remains.

    I absolutely hated the 15-20 hours I managed to get into GTA:SA - the storyline, the characters etc., while on the other hand I loved Vice City, courtesy of Tommy Vercetti being a hell of lot more cool than any of the annoying "gangsta" guys in SA, and the radio stations being a wonderful nostalgic throwback to a lot of the music I grew up with.

    Saints Row is a tad too "gangsta" for my taste as well (I can't even use that word without feeling I've stepped into a world I can't emphasize with at all, and frankly feel comes off rather silly in games and movies alike, unlike say the mafia) - but the game mechanics seem very solid, the graphics (as expected of course) a whole lot prettier than the GTA games, and the voice acting I've heard to far pretty good.

    If they can improve on all that in Saints Row 2 - and hopefully replace the "gangsta" theme with something else - I'll be looking forward to see how it's going to fare against GTA IV. Well, except in terms of sales - that one is probably a given :).

  • IAmBatman #32 5 years ago

    > world I can't emphasize with at all

    Empathise.

  • Hell_Toupee #33 5 years ago

    Saints Row was good, undemanding fun, a bit short of ideas but it did the job in filling the gap still yet to be filled by GTA. I just hope to christ they've dumped the whole 'Gangsta' theme for the sequel as that was old long before the first game ever got released.

  • SHPanda #34 5 years ago

    The first was god awfull, why make a second? The only slightly fun part was the insurance fraud. The game took itself far too seriously, a trap the guys at Rockstar haven't fallen into with GTA, if it's too serious it's boring, plus all sandbox games always turn out to be poor immitations.

    Just scrap all these Saints Row's, Just Causes and True Crimes and just have GTA, it's the only decent one. The only slightly similar game that was good was Crackdown, and lo and behold who was that made by? The creator of GTA III. That's no coincidence.

  • Miths #35 5 years ago

    "> world I can't emphasize with at all

    Empathise."

    Right you are :).
    Edited by Miths at 25/09/07 @ 01:13

  • dave06 #36 5 years ago

    saints row was a really fun game and im really glad theres a sequel. i am lso glad that gta's will be takinga much darker tone with the next one, was a getting a bit sick of the cartoony bullshit that gta was becoming. now you play a human trafficker and the graphics are fantastic it should lead to some really intresting missions other than go pick up these hookers and drive em somewhere or go to this place shoot some random gays and bugger off again. Also why do people call other games like gta "clones", how ar they clones? they would have to be exactly the same to be clones? is every other fps a clone of doom? or wolfenstein 3d? anyways the next best open drive and shoot-em-up from gta3 is mafia (unless u had it on console). that game kicked ass becasue that game had a story.

  • Dukkha #37 5 years ago

    I'm looking forward towards Saints Row 2. The voiceacting and the radio was not as good as it normally is in gta but in my oppinion the gameplay was much better in Saints Row. Did not have any problems with bugs but the tearing was sometimes quite bad.

  • Dizzy #38 5 years ago

    When I hear "darker story" I know it has a good chance of sucking.

  • BadBoyBonner #39 5 years ago

    @andromeda

    why doesn't someone remake 3d Ant Attack?

    They did.

    [link url=http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=74994
    ]http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?art...[/link]

  • andromeda #40 5 years ago

    @BadBoyBonner

    i stand corrected :)

  • Les #41 5 years ago

    What's the point of a Saints Row 2 when there will be a next gen GTA?!

    Don't plan on picking up either BTW.

  • Triggerhappytel #42 5 years ago

    I'd rather Volition just concentrated on Red Faction 3, so long as it's more akin to the first and not the awful sequel.

    EDIT - agrees with BlackLodge. Am I number 2 of 5?
    Edited by Triggerhappytel at 25/09/07 @ 10:14

  • afghan_jones #43 5 years ago

    load of shite.

    taking the first load of 'edgy' gangsta crap and adding in a 'darker' storyline just sounds bloody awful.

    just play GTA, ok.