Saints Row: The Third may take place in a different city, but it feels a little too much like the second game.
GAMEPLAY - Aside from this being an open-world game, this is a very ridiculous look at a life of organized crime. I don't want to go into anything in detail due to spoilers, but needless to say, this game is full of off-the-wall activities and missions that will have you laughing out loud. Some activities from the second game such as the Escort Service and Insurance Fraud return, while some of the most enjoyable activities like Septic Avenger are nowhere to be found. Unfortunately a lot of the new activities are very repetitive, while some unlock in the game before they are supposed to unlock from a storyline perspective. Of course, I spent a lot of my time doing side missions towards the beginning of my game.
As for customization, I have to say that this game is surprisingly lacking in that department. There are only 3 or 4 different clothing shops in the game, and car customization is also very limited. After seeing so many different ways to customize your character in the second game, I would have thought they would have done a good job of easily expanding on that here. Even cribs seem very limited in their customization.
One thing they have introduced here that I really like is giving you more opportunities to spend your money. Namely with improving your character and your allies. As you gain more respect, you gain levels, which unlock new abilities that can be purchased. Most of these really do come in handy, but most are also very expensive. As a tip from someone who has played already...I would focus on getting some periodic money flowing in before you start buying up these skills, because they are pretty pricey.
As for other miscellaneous stuff, there is a new enemy in the form of a brute who is basically a super strong, super fast enemy. These pose much more of a challenge than what you usually go up against, which makes for a nice change of pace. There are also some new guns, enemies, and gangs that make for a nice change of pace here. Some glitches also return here, such as your companions not doing things they're supposed to do, and a few other oddities. Finally, the difficulty is pretty similar to the second game, so unless you want to punish yourself as you play through this game, I would recommend playing this on the easiest mode. There aren't any trophies that have to do with difficulty anyway.
Overall the gameplay is very familiar, but has just enough wacky things going on to keep you entertained. - 8/10
STORY - The story is also very similar to the second game, with one little twist. You begin the game with the Saints being pretty much world-wide stars. Something occurs, however, and you end up in another city where you have never been heard of. As the story goes, you end up trying to capture this new town and eliminate all of the rival gangs. The only difference here is that the story is much more linear than in the second game. You can't just go after whichever gang you want to when you start off. Also, the first gang you go after, which is called the Morningstar, is really uninteresting and doesn't have anything that sets them apart from any other gang. The other two major gangs, however, are much more unique. I found myself enjoying the story here more than in the second game though, so something should be said for that, at least. - 8/10
GRAPHICS - The graphics here are noticeably better than the second game, but you can tell that they used the same engine here. While this game doesn't look as good as other contemporary games coming out these days, it still looks great. It's just too bad that in the past few years they couldn't have gone with an improved engine over the second game. - 7.5/10
SOUND - The voice-acting and sound effects are as good as ever. This game definitely has the edge over the second game when it comes to laugh out loud dialogue. As for the soundtrack, it is still really good here. I would say that the second game has a slightly better soundtrack, but that is mostly because I enjoyed the 80's tracks they had. But including heavy metal tracks here is a big plus also. - 8.5/10
LENGTH/REPLAY VALUE - While there are some trophies that you will need to get by playing through certain missions more than once, there really isn't much of a reason to play through again once you have completed this game. While it lasts though, this is a good game in terms of length, and it has plenty to do. Those craving a long and fun open-world experience should get just what they want here. - 8.5/10
BOTTOM LINE - Saints Row: The Third doesn't do a whole lot that the second game didn't. In fact, I would actually say that I prefer the second game to this one. There are, however, some new features here that do give this game more personality, and it is less-ridden with bugs and glitches, though not completely without them. My major problem with this game was that it didn't feel like a huge step forward since the previous game, and considering the other game was out for a good three years, that should have been the case. Still, this is what you'd expect, which is another great Saints Row game. It has everything you could ever want, and it should keep fans of the series happily entertained as they play through it. - 8/10