Saints Row 2

8.0

Format PlayStation 3

Developer Volition

Publisher THQ

Genre Action, Racing / Driving

The enjoyment curve of Saints Row 2 seems to be back to front. I was fully expecting to boot up the game and rattle through the first couple of hours no problem; it would be the best bit of the game, I was absolutely sure of it. Then my interest would wane and I'd get bored. Yawn even. But no! The first couple of hours were spent struggling, but that soon cleared. It turns out that Saints Row 2 is a bit bloody good!

As the game starts there's the sense that you've played it all before, that it's another retread of various games. There's the central character, fresh out of prison, looking to rebuild his empire. The city has moved on without him, old alliances and friendships need to be rekindled so the hard graft of resurrecting an overarching criminal network can be shared. Sounds all too familiar. And look! There's a big sandpit to play in - but it's all messed up and there's some other kid's toys in there.

Looks like Saints Row 2 isn't the first in to the 'pit. Finally in the 'haven't we seen this before' stakes there's the relatively freeform mission structure, 45 story missions which help to spread the Saints Row clan out all over the sizeable breadth of the city of Stilwater.

All ringing familiar bells then? Ho hum, I thought, I'm going to be stuck in a room playing a game I've played before with a different name. That's entirely true - but when that game is San Andreas, and when Saints Row 2 adds enough of its own spin to make it a stand-apart experience, well, I'm not complaining.

The advertising campaign hasn't done it any favours. It sets out Saints Row 2's stall by bragging about being more fun and more tongue-in-cheek than GTAIV. Yet it's not so far-fetched a claim. GTAIV was notably more po-faced than its predecessor, investing heavily in gritty modern-day realism, whereas Saints Row 2 is more of a Technicolor take on crime syndication. Characters are broad pastiches and there's little attempt to take them seriously. Stilwater is a collection of familiar boroughs and neighbourhoods brought to life with daft locals and simple, effective game design.

Immediately, the traditional urge is to fart about for a while before tackling the plot and side-missions. And Saints Row 2 provides plenty of distraction. There are stunt jumps to find, shortcuts to discover (which are then added to your GPS system for use at a later date), CDs to find and add to your personalised soundtrack - which is every bit the nostalgic equal to GTAIV's - and a load of quick-fire side missions which serve to drive the story missions along.

The words 'respect' and 'currency' were casually thrown about by the producers when we last saw the game - which led to much rolling of the eyeballs. It's not quite as hackneyed as all that though, thankfully. The respect thing never overshadows the game; rather than being flung in your face as in so many other titles (including the first Saints Row on Xbox 360), it quietly sits in the corner of your screen as a meter that needs to be filled in order to get more out of the game. You don't necessarily have to blow a rival gang member's brains all over the cracked pavement to get it either, though it always helps. Driving fast and dangerously weaving through traffic does the same job, as does performing stunts.

Making sure you scrub up nice helps too, and there's a real sense that the countless tattoo parlours, greasy mechanics and clothes stores all play their part in helping you progress though the adventure.

They couldn't feel less like tacked on bits with no bearing on the main game. It's a crafty way of making Saints Row 2's much vaunted character creation mode more relevant to the game. I spent a good half an hour or so making my character look as freakishly ugly as possible before embarking on actual gameplay, and agonised for a minute or two over whether or not to give him any clothes. I did in the end (though two journalists from our sister magazine didn't, which made for some fairly depraved co-op play I can tell you), purely to boost my respect levels. Turns out Stilwater gangsters aren't terribly open-minded when it comes to naturism. Who's have thought it?

Completing side missions is the most effective way of opening up the story. These range from racing through checkpoints to causing random destruction to acting as an escort. Most of them have a distinct sense of humour. One, which has you acting as a policeman so a news crew can bump up its ratings, includes tasks like stopping a couple getting frisky in a van and apprehending a streaker - is loose in every sense of the word. So while you're having a laugh, you're racking up the respect necessary to embark on the story missions.

As for those, as you can imagine that's where the most fun is to be had. Apologies for making the clichéd comparison again, but take the opening missions from GTAIV: you drive your new eastern European contact to his place, then you go and pick up some of his girls and go on a date with one of them. Then you've got the opening to Saints Row 2.

Within ten minutes of starting you've busted out of jail with your cohort Johnny Gat, decimated half of the city's police force from the back of a gunboat and taken out a courthouse full of cops in the process of getting Gat to freedom. After that it's almost exclusively fun. The missions themselves see you fighting to expand the Saints Row empire throughout the city, be it by doing something like destroying a drugs operation at a fishing dock, or taking a rival's casino by force.

The best thing is that Saints Row 2 strives to give you a good time at every opportunity - it's gaming at its most literal sense. There's no 'working' for your fun at all. If you're playing the game, you'll be having some. If you want to go a bit bonkers, it's actively encouraged. Up on that building is a death-raining attack chopper. In that car park is a ludicrously fast supercar. Outside that burger joint is an empty squad car. All yours to do as you please with. Really, go on and have a blast. Other games might make you fight battle after battle to level up, or complete loads of really inconsequential little jobs before you get a pop at the fun stuff. Not here. Saints Row 2 drops you in it.

The complaints come from the same place as Saints Row 2's strengths. Sometimes it's just a little too obvious where the influence stems from, and in many cases it fails to reach the quality levels of (picking a game completely at random) San Andreas. The soundtrack is a highlight, but the 'comedy' radio show callers aren't terribly funny and it's as if Saints Row 2 tries too hard to get you to laugh.

Similarly, vehicle handling isn't quite on a par with a certain other game's, lacking some of the bouncy, fender-bending fun. It is still good though, but it feels like a downgraded version.

AI is a bit rubbish - in fact very rubbish. I repeatedly shot countless Sons Of Samedi, Brotherhood and other rival gang members in the face, right in front of their comrades and their crews failed to react. This shouldn't be happening. I'd expected to have been hunted down, tortured and killed - but instead there was nothing.

Enemies are cannon fodder, put there for you to blow away with the minimum of fuss, the emphasis being on quantity over quality. Don't expect any palpable sense of realism - there isn't any. Those gripes do little to dent the overall sense of rollicking good times being had. Saints Row 2 is big and brash, it's a little dumb in places, but it's very loveable.

As an addition to the already overcrowded sandbox genre, Saints Row 2 can hold its head high - it keeps the level of involvement up and fun to the fore from the off - and it won't exclude anyone who hasn't played the first one. There's a good balance between crackers side missions, larking about, and more serious story tasks. Before I knew it I'd clocked up six hours in my first session, without thinking about it. These kind of games are rare, so Saints Row 2 comes with a big endorsement.

Simon Bramble