E3 2011 Eyes-On: Saints Row: The Third - Preview
by Alex St-Amour , posted on 12 June 2011 / 5,951 Views
If video game advertising were an indication of how anticipated a title is then Saints Row: The Third must be the most anticipated game in the history of E3. All over the convention center and surrounding neighbourhood we saw banners and promotions for the new title and people positively flocked to THQ’s booth to catch a glimpse of the third game in the crime spree inducing series. Now with all this hype is all well and good but does the game actually deliver when it counts or will it be death row for Saints Row?
Like the two games that preceded it, Saints Row: The Third is an open world sandbox style game. You are the leader of a gang of thugs known as the Saints. The Saints are regarded as celebrities in their city and therefore have pretty much free reign to cause as much mayhem as they want. The game embraces this by letting you do whatever your sick little mind comes up with. Want to drive a tank and cause as much damage as possible? Ok. How about a jet complete with a microwave laser and homing missiles? Sure. Want to suck civilians up in a giant human catapult and fire them out? Absolutely. What about beating a homeless person to death with a giant purple dildo? (I never thought I would write those words in the same sentence) Sure, go ahead. Saints Row: The Third is definitely one of the most over the top, ridiculous games to ever grace the genre (which is saying a lot) which is sure to please gamers looking for something a bit different in their sandboxes.
After the open world portion of the demo we were presented one of the missions in the game. Your group is intent on robbing a bank owned by a rival gang. How do they plan to escape with the money? Simple, lift the safe out of the building via a giant helicopter! What comes next is a huge firefight featuring well over 100 enemies on screen as your helicopter crashes through buildings. The entire set piece is pretty impressive and goes a long way to show how far the Saints Row brand has come since the original game.
Saints Row: The Third is a radical departure for the series. Sure it has always been a bit ‘tongue in cheek’ but the third instalment promises to take this to new heights, with huge set piece moments during the campaign and silly, free for all destruction in the open world portion. Saint Row: The Third looks to fill the need for a great open world experience filled with sadistic humour, a great cast of characters and loads of fun. Saints Row: The Third launches November 15th for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.
Stay tuned to gamrReview for all the latest previews of all the biggest games from E3 2011.
