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Saint's Row: The Third Preview - E3 2011

E3 11: Fans of the ridiculous, pay close attention

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Among the most risqué titles at the E3 2011 showcase would have to be Saint’s Row The Third (aka Saint’s Row 3). From risky advertisements to hilarious promotions, SR3 looked like a fun title already. After having a look at a live gameplay demo though, it’s a sure bet that this open world action game will easily find its audience. As the series has often been differentiated from other open world games like Grand Theft Auto thanks to a wide variety of random hilarity and randomness of the experience, SR3 aims to continue that trend. From what we saw, it will be a perfect title for those who seek an outrageous experience.
 
The action takes place in a fictional city of Steelport, where two rival criminal organizations, Saints and Syndicate, reside. It’s a city that’s not as glamorous as Stilwater from SR2, and the story also picks up where SR2 events left off. In the open world of Steelport, players will find all the expected gameplay on offer – exploration, side missions, interesting locales to visit, etc. The city is the player’s sandbox, and merely plays a passing role in the experience, together with the story. Main hook to play SR3 has to be the absurdity of it all.
 
Saints Row The Third
 
Drop kicking women in the street. Assaulting homeless people with an oversized sex toy. Using apocalypse gloves to explode victims to shreds in a single punch. If any of this sounds hilarious, that’s because it is, and Saint’s Row The Third is a perfect game for you. The sheer randomness of it all had the demo audience laughing rather hysterically. Now, you may think that this type of humor isn’t clever nor very engaging – and you’re right, it isn’t, but unless you’re some kind of high-browed serious man, it’s a sure bet that the shenanigans in Saint’s Row 3 will have you at least slightly amused. The gameplay possibilities are ridiculous, and it works.
 
Let’s say you’re faced with a group of enemies. In other games, you might start to consider your ammo, health, and escape routes before attacking – in SR3, you call in a personal airstike. Yes, you read correctly, a small airstrike to get rid of a helpless group from the enemy faction. The game includes a variety of side missions, based purely on destruction, such as a tank rampage in the city. The whole goal is to use the tank to destroy and kill as many enemies as possible. A clothing shop in the game will allow for endless customization – from being totally naked to wearing bunny suits.
 
City of Steelport will also have a full set of whacky vehicles at your disposal. Because the player is part of the Saint organization, a personal VTOL is available, which can be very useful in escaping or taking on enemy forces. The jet can fire both rockets and lasers, offering fun destruction possibilities. A special truck with a cannon on the roof lets you suck up helpless pedestrians, and then fire them up into the heavens. The developers promise that the world will be simply filled with similar outlandish tools to help players cause havoc in the most ridiculous way possible.
 
Saints Row The Third
 
After exploring the open world, the demo moved on to one of the story missions. In this setup, the player and his accomplices were to rob a bank. From here, it was a fairly straight forward action sequence, shootouts with armed guards, and making their way to the vault. Even then, developers threw in some fun stuff, such as bank clients lining up for an autograph and to take a picture with the bank robbers. Otherwise, it was a fairly generic third person action sequence. Upon reaching the vault, and being unable to open it, the team decided to airlift it right out of the building instead. However as more police arrived, the helicopter was overwhelmed and shot down, causing the team to get captured. At this point, the demo concluded.
 
If you’ve played previous Saint’s Row titles, you can already know what to expect. An open world with a ton of absurdity and crude humor, wrapped in a storyline and side missions to keep the action going. It’s certainly filled with potential of hilarious situations, but perhaps it faces a problem of repetition, as seeing someone kicked in the groin can only be funny for so long. Otherwise, Saint’s Row the Third promises to be a wild continuation of the franchise that will offer an alternative to the generic everyday third person action games.
 

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#4 Jun 12, 2011 09:16:16 (Jun 12, 2011 09:16)

with_teeth26
 I've heard somewhere that the PC version is the lead version. Red Faction: Armageddon by the same developers supports dx 10/11 and seems very well optimized so hopefully that is a sign of things to come. 
#3 Jun 12, 2011 00:32:30 (Jun 12, 2011 00:32)

SpectralShock
Hopefully the PC version isn't a mess this time (like teeth says). Also hope that it doesn't get old fast.
#2 Jun 11, 2011 23:56:46 (Jun 11, 2011 23:56)

sirdesmond
This game looks like an absolute blast. So much so, in fact, that it made me go out and get a copy of Saints Row 2, just because I had never played it (it's really fun, just low on graphical quality). Really surprising, but it just looks like non-stop fun.
#1 Jun 10, 2011 00:31:00 (Jun 10, 2011 00:31)

with_teeth26
+1
 This is high on my most anticipated list. SR 2 was great but a horrible port on the PC. It sounds like they have really expanded on absurd ways of dealing with combat. 
Saints Row: The Third
Saints Row: The Third box art Platform:
PC
Our Review of Saints Row: The Third
87%
Great
The Verdict:
Game Ranking
Saints Row: The Third is ranked #78 out of 1957 total reviewed games. It is ranked #12 out of 103 games reviewed in 2011.
77. Costume Quest
Xbox 360
78. Saints Row: The Third
79. FIFA 12
PlayStation 3
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Saints Row: The Third
22 images added Jun 11, 2011 02:43
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