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Tags: game review
Published : 8 months, 2 weeks ago (Thu, 30 Oct 2008 06:51:06 PDT)
Searched: game review
http://timu-kun.livejournal.com/6038.html 0 links
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I'm always comparing every First Person Role Playing Game to Grand Theft Auto games, and in this case my comparison is dead right. But I'm getting ahead of myself, let me start at the beginning, which is always a good place to begin, unless you like artistic segmentation, and I most certainly do not. "Stop it, Mr. Vicetti... I mean, uh, who are you?"
Saint's Row is a sandbox rpg produced by Voliton Inc., better known for ruining my love of space combats with their pathetic 'Free Space 2'. So already, off the bat my review is on a... Note of some kind. Now, onto the game. Saint's Row 2 picks up right off the end of the original Saint's Row. After the explosion on the boat, you, that unnamed main character miraculously survives (you know, because god just LOVES murderous gangsters) but the downside is that you're now in a coma... Oh, and you're being held in a prison hospital ward. After a whole bunch of surgery, you miraculousy wake up. So you break out with an inmate, a member of the third street saints, and head back to Stillwater, but after a magic earthquake, your turf has been taken by other gangs. So you blah, de blah, blah, blah. The plotline of a 'fuck-as-much-shit-up-as-possible' is never really that important. Just get me to 'Destroyable City' and let me run free, is my thinking. If I want a game with a storyline as a motivator for my actions, I would play something like Max Payne (terrible movie). So you get into the city which, like GTA4 is loosely based of New York city, just massively exxagherated and filled to the brim with people who are basically being killed by strong gusts of wind.
 "Explosions are always fun."
Before I start slitting its wrists by comparing it to GTA4 I will say this. The characters are crazy customizable, the game avoids getting too realistic, the satisfaction in killing a helpless old woman is still strong, the characters seem believable enough that you're somewhat interested by them, and overall it's an alright game.
WHAT? You ask! How can I claim it's an OK game when I said I don't like it. Well, the answer is easy. Grand Theft Auto 4 was an OK game. It's like when you make a good friend and then meet it's younger twin brother, who is trying desperately to be like his big bro. Of course you're going to like him too, because the same elements are there. The problem is that Saints Row 2 is trying too much to be like GTA, so it rarely displays anything new. There is always an interest when you see a new element in a game, or something you haven't seen before, but in Saint's row, nothing seemed 'right'. Alot of requirements for missions seemed like they were just a method to make you play the game longer. However, the game works, but that's because Grand Theft Auto works. It's easy to clone a game that works. "I wonder how this guy died. All I did was shoot a gun at him."
Now let's get to the meat and potatoes. Let's imagine that Saint's Row 2 was made in a universe without Grand Theft Auto, would I still play it? No, are you retarded. The key to games about violence is to try and separate the violence in the game and real-world violence. Manhunt made this mistake when it gave you insite as to how to go about killing people and the most effective means of doing so. Saint's Row 2, as far as the Wii is concerned, has an attachment which emulates a gun perfectly. Now while spouting that violent games equals killers is a ludicrous argument, the topic is not without its due. The game decides to let the player feel as though they're actually shooting at someone, and call me insane, but it would seem that letting a player get the feel of how to use a handgun is a counter-intuitave safety move. "GROVE STREET! I mean, Uh, go 3rd Street Saints."
In all, Saint's Row 2 is an okay game mostly because Grand Theft Auto is a series that has earned its merit. It's easy to copy a game, but game makers should be striving for something more than just a good knock-off. New ideas need to be developed, new stories, gaming styles, anything. Just don't slap a new logo on an old game, then get mad at me when I draw attention to it
 SKILLOMETER RATING:
8/10 |
timu_kun
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This is cached version of livejournal post retrieved by LjSEEK on 2008-10-30 06:51:30 . Post may have changed since that time. Click here for actual post version. LjSEEK.COM is not affiliated with author of this post and is not responsible for its content.
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