I waited this game for a long time, and though it's OK it was still solid let down.
I waited this game for a long time, and though it's OK it was still solid let down. I'm about 20+ hours in, but I'm playing relatively slow, by trying to do side contracts or whatever.... 'Cause otherwise it feels very repetitive.
Anyway.... Here are the key points that i can mention:
1. This game has better graphics yes, but story line is very linear which kills any graphics pleasure 'cause the "game play" is being repetitive
2. Amount of shops is less than in SR2, by 20+ hours in SR2 i had tons of different things. Here in SR3 i only have a part of that gear amount. Cause a lot of it it's just not available. I cant even find but 2 clothing store types.... And jewelry store i haven't come across yet at all. Rusty Needle has only medium amount of Tattoos, a lot of them are so-so.
3. Weapons are good, there seems to be a good variety of weapons and you get more as you progress. Ability to upgrade weapons is a very nice feature. I guess they had to get SOMETHING right.
4. Most cribs are NOT upgradable like in Saints Row 2. I only saw 1 tower crib which could be upgraded with very little variety. So pleasure i took in building my crap load of cribs, upgrading them and having a feeling of "expanding my empire" is not there anymore.
5. There are no more clear mission related and gang related control zones zones. You keep buying shops and keep going to Gang Fights but it just falls short of the SR2 where you could clearly complete an interesting story-line missions for different rival gangs and gain territory by it as well. There are a load of "General Property" buildings which dont do anything except give you profit if you own them...
6. There seems to be not much done for vehicle customizations, it's almost exactly same as SR2 except i think under-glow of a car is new, guys could've improved vehicle stuff a bit more.
7. Upgrades to your abilities is a nice feature. You can buy extra abilities for yourself and for your gang. Like dual wielded weapons, longer spring, more health....
8. A lot of missions that should be Story Line missions 'cause you're getting them from your "compadres" are just regular "activity" missions. You talk to your boy about a mission, and he makes you do Mayhem activity. Sheesh guys being lazy about Missions at all? In SR2 you could move your story line in few directions at once, here sometimes you don't move story line at all, your gang members just make you run activities. And did i mention it's very linear compared to SR2?
9. Some things are very unbalanced. While one really expensive assassin mission was simple to do, other one for less money i spent 3 hours trying to accomplish, 'cause i couldn't find a fat hooker in the specified area. Annoyed me a lot, and from reading forums I'm not the only one who had problems with that target.
Somebody mentioned that this is a biggest disappointment since Dragon Age 2, and all i can say that truer words have never been spoken! I felt exact disappointment with Dragon Age 2 - where people added more flashy stuff like new graphics, new fight animation and then castrated content and game play. Basically over half of the things which made previous game great is missing in it's successor.
I can also add another comparison.... Witcher and Witcher 2, i loved Witcher! I counted seconds till Witcher 2 was out. Then the game was over when i just really got into it, though i completed all side quests and everything. Huge disappointment, i would've preferred Witcher 1 with new 5 episodes, rather than this new flashy money-maker which lacks substance.
At least Saints Row 3 seems to still have a lot of hours in it, and i will keep playing it. But honestly bottom line is this - i was disappointed.
And i got the $20 expansion DLC from Stream which was another waste of money. Only added couple of vehicles to my garage, and i saw nothing else change - total rip off, by the way.
Don't buy it now, get it when it reaches $19.90 'cause that's what i think real price of this game is. While SR2 for it's time was definitely worth full price.
Good luck guys.