What if, in 2022, Saints Row FINALLY dethrones the King of the Hill of the open world, the King of the Hill which has dominated the genre since September 2013? I am of course talking about the multi-millionaire in games and dollars… Grand Theft Auto V.
Summary
- The world
- Le gang
- The style
- mayhem
- Can give
The world
Some swear by size. This is information that can certainly be important, but which quickly finds its limits. Comparing two video games through this simple prism makes very little sense, especially when addressing the concept of an open world. The massive Grand Theft Auto V doesn’t even fit into the TOP 10 biggest open-worlds ever, and Saints Row version 2022 does not have any pretension to go and rub shoulders with the big names of the open worldslike No Man’s Sky and its procedurally generated universe, even if Santo Ileso and its surroundings stretch as far as the eye can see.
Santo Ileso is not a copy of a pre-existing North American city. The GTA franchise generally takes up the main features of the country’s megalopolises. New York becomes Liberty City, Los Angeles – San Andreas, and Miami – Vice City. The city of Saints Row is a wild amalgamation inspired by the wider Southwest of the United States. Santo Ileso is not an ersatz city, or even regions, but rather a potpourri of influences. Bigger – Better – Stronger is here the creed of the artists of the Volition studios who imagined, then built 9 districts with very marked atmospheres. Whether in terms of architecture, street furniture, tones and sounds as well as activities, El Dorado, Financial, Montevista, Rodeo, and so on, have a charm that belongs only to them.
In terms of lifespan, the publisher Deep Silver promises “map cleaners” dozens of main and secondary missions as well as many activities to find during your walks in Santo Ileso. Between playing guitar in the middle of the street and robbing an armored van… why choose? For simplicity, Saints Row relies on a sandbox formula that has proven itself in a wacky open world, but more down to earth than its predecessors. The motto of the studios on this reboot is: “ultimate freedom”.
We must also recognize in Saints Row a certain desire to live with the times, and above all not to look “too much” in the rear view mirror. From a technical point of view, this means the development of a brand new game engine, specially designed for this reboot and designed to exploit the new generation of consoles. I mean of course the PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series X and S. At first glance, the environments are partially destructible while the vehicles are quick to fly apart. These chain destructions help to make the adventure highly explosive. However, only a grip of The Boss and a hectic ride through the streets of Santo Ileso will allow you to realize the performance of the engine.
Le gang
GTA V, the solo and not the online experience, relies on a trio of colorful characters. Saints Row is betting on something more classic with its only protagonist with an evocative name… The Boss. As the leader of the Saints, a newly formed gang, your goal is to take control of Santo Ileso. To do this, you will have to unify the different criminal empires that manage the city in order to see yours emerge. Where the destinies of Michael De Santa, Trevor Philips and Franklin Clinton intersect, collide, those of the members of the Saints dance in rhythm.
Eli – the planner, Neenah – the pilot, Kevin – the gunner, all from the other gangs of the city, and of course The Boss evolve in unison, share everything, even the worst galleys. These close relationships are an integral part of the adventure, and set the tone for the story, which can be summed up simply as “Become your own boss” and “dominate the city of Santo Ileso” by all means. The Saints are looking to unify the gangs, namely the Idols, Los Panteros, and The Marshall, and that’s not going to sit well with everyone.
The rise in power of The Boss and his gang is reflected in the game by a building that alone announces the color. The HQ, or headquarters of the Saints, is the place of all possibilities, or almost, and allows members to “chiller” between two missions. It is, so to speak, the head of a criminal empire in the making. Beyond the personalization of the places according to your tastes in terms of interior decoration, it is possible to buy weapons, improvements for them, to equip yourself, to change your style – we will come back to this point in due time – and to get hold of several businesses across the city. Simply put, these are legitimate shell companies that help establish the domination of the Saints.
Who says gang, says multiplayer and especially cooperation! Saints Row 2022 is fully two-player and cross-play. It should be understood here that PC, PlayStation 5 and/or Xbox Series X/S players can join a common game and collaborate for the duration of a mission and even during the entire adventure. No prerequisites are necessary to land in a game, provided that the host accepts your presence. Everything is supposed to happen naturally.
The style
Winning in Santo Ileso is done by force, but also by style, and in this area, Saints Row sees things big. GTA V, when it comes to single-player, is chained to its three “heroes.” Here, The Boss is in your image, or not for that matter. Volition studios have developed a character editor steeped in options and with almost infinite possibilities. Understand one thing, if you want to create an albino vampire, a skinny bodybuilder, the king of bofs, a space cowboy, a neon gothic fashion, or even a mix of all that and much more, you will be served… en masse.
Everything is customizable on The Boss. It starts with height, weight, morphology, face, skin, eyes, hair, teeth, prostheses and of course sex, which can be defined or not. Gender is not enforced in Saints Row. If you want to let the visual do the talking and play the suspense card, that’s entirely possible. The style also goes through the undermining and once again, Saints Row borders on indigestion with hundreds of clothes and accessories, tattoos and other items to unlock in order to perfect your virtual ME. The ultimate freedom promised by Volition and Deep Silver is even found in the creation and customization of The Boss.
The leader of the Saints gang cannot decently walk the streets of Santo Ileso. After the undermining comes the pulling, and the garage has nothing to envy to that of the great hours of a certain Need for Speed. The title has no less than 80 basic vehicles, including cars, motorcycles, boats, jet skis, assault helicopters, yes assault, etc. You might argue that GTA V and GTA Online have a bewildering number of cars. We are talking about more than 600 cars available in the online version. Saints Row replica with several presets. These are alternate versions of the different vehicles available with their own unique abilities and behaviors.
Now is the time to let your creativity speak by modifying the purchased crates as you see fit. Everything is customizable, or almost, on the models in order to create cars in the image of the Saints. Beyond the aesthetic aspect, some modifiers impact the gameplay. The Signature Abilities, ideal for outsmarting the police or your pursuers, differ from each other, and allow you to adapt each vehicle to your style of play. There is no question of letting a racing beast gather dust in the garage .
mayhem
The mere presence of The Boss in the “street” is not always enough to make the gangs of Santo Ileso abdicate. It is therefore necessary to use the hard way to be understood and obtain a surrender in good and due form. Nothing to say about the fights in GTA V, they are effective, often intense, even if the weight of the years can actually be felt. As a reminder, the game was released for the first time in 2013! Saints Row plays the uninhibited nonsense card, and above all nervous to the last degree. If firearms are synonymous with life or death, the melee is not left out, and knows how to be useful in the middle of the fray. There are even Signature Moves dedicated to the art of savate!
No bigotry here though. Volition mixes gunfight and kick and fight within a 100% arcade gameplay made of dodging, cover, firefights and explosions of all kinds. The developers make it a point of honor to provide The Boss and the members of the Saints gang with the best in blasters. Aficionados of gunpowder will be able to have a field day. SMGs, pistols, assault rifles, grenade launchers, sniper rifles, etc. Of course, each weapon is fully customizable, and these modifications are not just cosmetic.
The Boss even has specific abilities and attributes, skills and perks, which will be essential in getting rid of the pesky peskys and surviving the war that is looming on the horizon. This “arsenal” will not be too much to overcome the three gangs that control Santo Ileso. The Idols, Los Panteros and The Marshall, not to mention the forces of order, represent a major challenge for The Saints and a rich bestiary made up of various and varied troops, but also mini-bosses. Something to let off steam as it should be!
Can give
This is not the time for realism with Saints Row. It’s fun time! It’s hard to quantify, or even define, “fun” in a video game. This results in high-flying gameplay sequences, Over the Top moments worthy of 80s action cinema from which emerges a strong smell of testosterone and frank camaraderie. Saints Row promises a series of madnesses bigger than each other. Gunfights, stunts, scenes that go “Always further, stronger, faster… to the end of the extreme limit.” But, because there is a pseudo “but”, this 2022 reboot abandons the giant dildos tapping the faces of passers-by and other miscreants, and rests its feet “a little” on the ground.
Its goal ? Propose an adventure described as absurd and more down to earth by Volition studios. Saints Row remains in a totally uninhibited universe that assumes everything and its opposite, but the time has come to de-escalate without denying the very essence of the franchise. Want an explosive pinata launcher, or an El Mariachi machine gun to slay your enemies? No problem. You want a Wingsuit to jump from a helicopter in flames with the possibility of bouncing on onlookers below to regain height. Nothing’s easier. The logic in all this? None, it’s Saints Row.
Saints Row version 2022 promises to be a credible and daring alternative to GTA V. It remains for the title of Volition and Deep Silver to pass the test of fire on August 23, 2022.