Thug Life
Saints Row 2 is hip urban culture designed by a committee of the unhip.
Published: October 24, 2008
The audio in Saints Row 2 is a mixed bag. The voice acting is excellent overall, which is nice, but it's hard to enjoy because of the way the audio is mixed. Dialog alternates between being inaudibly quiet and eardrum shatteringly loud, so be sure to keep the remote control handy, and turn on subtitles if you don't want to miss anything important. Sound effects are serviceable if not memorable.
One of the best features of the original Saints Row was the musical soundtrack. The available radio stations had an interesting variety of music, and the hip-hop station, K RHYME, particularly stood out. In the first game, K RHYME sported forty seven tracks, covering a wide range of styles and eras of hip-hop. K RHYME in Saints Row 2 features a paltry fifteen tracks, some of which aren't even hip-hop; the bastards snuck some R&B in there. The other stations are all quite good, but nothing is more apropos of a gang warfare simulator than hip-hop. I wouldn't be whining about this so much if the game supported custom playlists, but alas, it does not. (In case you're wondering, there are no trophies either.)
Although this review has thus far primarily dealt in negatives, Saints Row 2 is not a bad game. In spite of its many and significant presentational shortcomings, playing it can be quite entertaining. Saints Row 2 contains a wealth of amusing activities (performed to earn respect, a prerequisite to unlocking story missions), ranging from the expected criminal operations to utterly ridiculous nonsense. One such activity, Trail Blazing, involves wearing a fireproof suit and driving a flaming ATV through checkpoints, making everything in your path explode. Septic Avenger tasks you with riding around in a septic tank cleaning truck and spraying the city down with poop. The fan favorite Insurance Fraud returns from the earlier game, which is a fun way to play around with the ragdoll physics. It may not have the advanced physics-based animation of Grand Theft Auto IV, but there is still a certain charm to that old Benny Hill dummy action.
The story missions are generally entertaining, and they are framed by well directed cut scenes. The basic thrust of the proceedings is to wipe out a series of rival gangs and to liberate the city of Stillwater from the Ultor Corporation (a reference to the Red Faction series, also developed by Volition). This process requires a lot of driving, boating, flying and killing. Missions can be a bit frustrating, because the chaotic nature of this kind of game means that a single freak accident can unexpectedly take your life at any time. The artificial intelligence displayed by both allies and enemies is on the remedial side of the bell curve, with characters generally standing around waiting to be shot.
