Saints Row is accesible and very fun, despite some rough edges.
The story part of the game which is about taking over the city from the other three gangs is pretty enjoyable, sporting well designed and decently varied shooting and driving missions coupled with an interesting story. I do have a complaint about howerver. You see Grand Theft Auto games had you complete the first few missions, then have the option to work for someone else or finish the missions at that location. You never knew in those games wich series of missions lead to a dead end in the story and wich progressed the story towards the ultimate ending. In Saints Row it is like that but divided into three sections for the most part, the missions against the Carnales, the missions against the Vice Kings and the missions against the Rollerz. Your struggles with these gangs are separate and have nothing to do with eachother. Basically, your going to be playing through three separate stories rather than one. This seems disjointed but you could argue that having to play throught three different stories with mainly completely different characters refreshing. In the end it's just a matter of opinion. Note that nearly all the story missions have you working for the Saints, you won't keep making new friends and recieve phone calls from random strangers who need your help. (At least not until the climax of the game). The map icons that indicate a mission's start show the crest of whichever of the three rival gangs your up against or if if your up againts two gangs or just some cops, it'll just show the Saint crest. Whereas in GTA they showed the employers intials.
The controls are tight and the game will have you aiming at your enemies rather than relying on auto aim all the time, as opposed to GTA. The downside to this is that there is no lock on button. You won;t need one when your using guns but this does cause your punches and kicks to miss alot when you're in a melee battle. Also, most enemies can be beaten up with four or five puches. Did I say beaten up? The game classifies it as killing them. Granted it's a bit daft but with so many guns so cheaply available, melee is not a major part of the game anyway. It's just another way to piss about.
Pissing about is very fun in Saints Row, what with the great variety of weapons and destroying cars never gets old becasue the explosions look so fantastic. The graphics are generally pretty good and an HDTV will do justice to this, weather you run it in 720p,1080i or 1080p. This said, there is unfortunately a lot of clipping, a bug where your car dissapears when your driving and your sitting in an invisble car unable to moves and alot of artifacing, wich I think is the technichal word for when the textures slice up. This mainly happens when your moving quickly and looking at the surface beside you. It brings the presentation downs a bit but don't let it put you off. It might just be my TV
The bonus activities are the most fun part of Saints Row. There are three locations for each type of side mission, each containing eight levels. From Drug Trafficking and and Snatch,(stealing whores from pimps) to Insurance Fraud and Mayhem, all the activites are a blast to play. You need to do some of them to eran the respect do to missions but I was virtually never told that I had to earn more respect to do a mission because i had earned it anyway because I had so enjoyed the activities.
Sound-wise, everything is great. The voice acting and the sound effects are perfect and the radio stations are very good too. Just like GTA they are filled with good music and funny commercials and talk shows.
I was saying earlier that the game copies and improvises on the GTA formula. The things it takes away are motorcycles and flyable vehicles. Only cars can be driven in Stilwater. Volition are probably saving those things for the sequel, which has me excited already! It also doesn't have Viilante mission or cab missions or anything like that. All the side missions are about illeagal activities, wich makes sense. You can also fit unlimeted vehicles in your garage. The greatest improvement it throws in is being able to save mid game. Mission progress can't be saved and reloading will take you tho your nearest crib, not exactly where you saved but that would make it to easy. Allthough it's certainky better than having to get to a safehouse just to save your game.
Finally, I'm going to tell you about the multiplayer. The maps are well designed for their game types wich are a whole lot of fun and when playing on ranked matches you can earn money for completing matches, winning, not dying and getting killing streaks. You can use the money to buy clothes for your multiplayer wardrobe. The two two player co-op missions are fun too and you can download an additional mission called heist, my personal favourite. You have broken into a bank and the Swat teams have you surrounded. You have to crack all four safes before you and your buddy run out of lives. The catch is that you have to waith 40 seconds before the locations of the vaults are revealed and suring that time you will have to fend of the numerous Swat members. One player must crack the vault wich is done automaicaly and also takes 40 seconds and the other must defend them. This could have been done as a multiplayer match allowing players to play as Swat officers but Heist a great diversion just as a co-op mission.
If your a sucker for free roaming action games, then Saints Row will fit your bill. There is plenty of fun content to keep you on your toes and some neat new ideas that are rarely found in such games.