Thug Life
Saints Row 2 is hip urban culture designed by a committee of the unhip.
Published: October 24, 2008
The best way to tackle the game is to bring along a fellow human via online cooperative play. Making this feature work well was obviously a huge priority in the development of the game, because it is beautifully implemented. For an example of how well thought out the cooperative system is, let's say you join a friend's game. It's a pretty seamless process, and soon you find yourself in his or her version of Stillwater. If your friend initiates a story mission that you have not yet tackled in your own game, you have the option of participating or just screwing around on your own. If you decide help out, you will be given credit for completing the mission, and when you reach it in your own campaign you will be offered the choice to skip it. Adversarial multiplayer is also present, and it is a solid diversion if not particularly interesting.
The basic gameplay of driving and fighting in Saints Row 2 is acceptable. The controls are a bit convoluted, but their complexity is more or less proportional to the amount of actions available. Melee combat has a little extra depth with a combo system and upgradable styles, and a grappling system. Using L1, it is possible to grab someone. Once grabbed, this unfortunate slob can be used as a human shield, executed or thrown. Throwing people has consistently hilarious results. Other objects in the world can also be picked up and used as improvised weapons, such as parking meters and fire hydrants. The protagonist is apparently very strong, because such items can be simply ripped out of the pavement. The only major issue with the melee combat is that you will often find yourself hitting the wrong target.
The weapons in the game cover the expected bases, with some blinged out variations. Returning is the pimp cane, an item that changes the character's gait appropriately and acts as a stealthy shotgun. Gunplay follows standard third-person shooter conventions, forgoing any Grand Theft Auto style target locking. The whole affair feels a bit slippery, because the aiming acceleration curves aren't as well-tuned as they could be. It is difficult to find a sensitivity setting that offers that perfect sweet spot between speed and precision. One does grow accustomed to it in time, however.
Driving is serviceable, though it lacks that sense of weighty physicality that Rockstar nailed so well in Grand Theft Auto IV. Drive-by shooting is cumbersome, but a cruise control feature makes it slightly more feasible.
Saints Row 2 is a very flawed game, but it does have entertainment value. For the player who has yet to tire of the genre, Saints Row 2 offers an abundance of activities and customization options. If you played Grand Theft Auto IV and didn't like the more serious direction it took the series in, you may enjoy cutting loose in Stillwater. If you have a friend whom you can trick into buying the game as well so you can play through it in cooperative mode, then you are likely in for an excellent time, provided you can both overlook the game's many issues. As my cliché-spewing Editor-in-Chief put it, Saints Row 2 is greater than the sum of its parts.
