Saints Row

I'm almost ashamed to admit it but I genuinely had some fun while playing Saints Row.

From huge YouTubers like Skill up to major companies like IGN, the reviews are almost entirely negative surrounding this game, and while I totally disagree on people giving this a 10/10 I also equally disagree with the 1/10 reviews. I'm going to break down what worked and what didn't for me and why I found myself enjoying it while still being fully aware of its glaring mistakes.

Bugs: This is the perfect topic to start with, most of the negativity surrounding Saints Row comes from the "overwhelming list of bugs" however most of these issues seem to stem from the PC version of the game while my time on Xbox Series X was relatively bug free. Let me say however the first bug I encountered was right at the start of the game when making your "boss". Upon trying to edit my character the game soft locked me and I could not exit, select or do anything apart from zoom in and out and spin my character. Not a good start at all. I had to resort to loading up the "boss factory" game which allows you to create your character and export them to the full game. This would easily put off the casual gamer who would request a refund. Not a good look to start with. Once the game loaded into the first mission however I progressed normally. The second and only other bug I encountered was a clothing bug which removed your color choices on your characters clothing whenever you purchased a new item. This was mildly frustrating as you had to redo your color choices for your characters outfits each time. Again this was patched in the first update for the game since launch. I was pleasantly surprised that all of the takedown animations showed normally as what I seen online was nonstop comically awkward buggy animations when PC users initiated takedowns.

Story: 5/10 Too short and the storyline is hampered by awful writing and even worse characters who make even the strongest person cringe up into a ball every time they speak. Story missions themselves were relatively fun with lots of action and some cool transitions where a variety of scenarios play out. Particularly like the feature that allows you to start a story mission from anywhere on the map simply by selecting it from your phone, this is an idea other open worlds should take note of.

Writing: 0/10 Probably the worst writing of any game I've ever played. Not only do they fall flat on their face when it comes to trying to tell "jokes" but the game is infected deeply by agenda pushing politically motivated writing that inserts corrupt real world views into a fictional game. This is slimey and manipulative on the highest of levels and every person who does so in all forms of media deserve to be called out for their twisted actions which only serve to fuel the flames of an already turbulent society. Phrases spoke by pedestrians such as "I'm not paying for a border wall" only act to divide and draw you out of the fictional game and leave you feeling anger at how this has became extremely common in modern media especially within video games and movies. Fortunately the media who push these agendas almost always fail and that's what we see with the backlash to this game.

Characters: 1/10 Honestly laughable. Awkward and hysterically bad writing leaves these characters among the most hated in all of gaming based on the online feedback. I have seen nobody who enjoyed these characters or found them entertaining whatsoever.

Map: 8/10 Fantastic. A great sized map that's finds itself in the Goldilocks zone wherein it's big enough to explore and constantly find new areas while also being small enough to makes travelling from one side to the other relatively quick and not a 30 minutes drive like some other games.

The various zones are all unique and offer some great landmarks that really stand out and make the game feel very unique. Cool little features like NPC's setting off fireworks while you drive past especially at night is a nice little addition that I haven't seen in any other game. Nice weather such as sandstorms and was very impressed with the day/night cycle and how it looked with HDR on.

Graphics: 8/10 This is where I disagree with most reviews I've seen. Most say the graphics's aren't great but on Xbox Series X the visuals were very good in my opinion. Brilliant HDR effects and some of the most realistic nighttime scenes I've witnessed in a game. The neon world lights up beautifully and the detail in most of the world and characters is very high. Also the graphics options were brilliant, giving you full control of what mode you wanted to play with 5 different settings to chose from. Personally I went for 1440p Max Framerate as it offers great visuals while trying to also maintain 60fps.

Side missions: 7/10 Can totally see where people are coming from when they say these are repetitive and not fulfilling but from someone who is very OCD and simply has to complete every task in a game these offered the right blend of variety and challenge to keep me playing for a lot longer in-between main missions. Particularly liked the review bomb missions where you leave a bad review for a business and they send lots of bad guys to your location to take you out. These can be pretty difficult early on especially if you dive in at the deep end and leave a 1 star review.

Driving: 6/10 Marmite driving where some will absolutely hate it but I found myself pleasantly surprised. Very arcadey and floaty cars but the addition of the drift and "quick turn" mechanic made it fun to try and master drifting round corners and land the perfect turn. If done successfully you feel like Han from Tokyo drift but if done wrong you plow straight into a wall or off the road. I guess that progression and desire to improving my driving made me appreciate it overall but I do understand people who disliked it. One thing I didn't enjoy was off road driving and most cars instability on this surface.

Gunplay: 6/10 Very average gunplay but I found myself tweaking a few settings, specifically deadzones from 30 down to 10 which improved the shooting experience. I enjoyed the variety of weapons and each felt somewhat unique and having their own special ability adds another level of progression and gameplay. The addition of character perks allow you to experiment with different options such as nades, proximity mines, special takedowns or a health boost. This again adds a little bit more variety however like every games gunplay it does get repetitive when you've played long enough.

Customisation: 10/10 Easily the best part about Saints Row and some of the best customisation I've experienced in any game. Not only is there lots of clothing options for your character to choose from but you can fully change every little detail from color of specific regions of that shirt or pair of jeans but also add different materials. The variety of clothing is also amazing. The same is true for car customisation which is honestly better than most standalone racing games. The options are so large that I can't name them all here but you can change every single little detail of your car including things like rims and rim color, interior, window tint, decals, NoS, off road upgrades, tow attachments and so much more. The variety in paint options was superb and it truly felt like you were creating a totally unique car every time you modified your vehicle. Offering overall car upgrades which improves them in multiple areas such as armor, speed and handling is very nice to have and the option to turn your cars special ability on or off is something that works well. Weapon modifications was just as in depth with a fantastic set of sliders such as metallic which allows you to use the slider to make your weapon look like a nerf gun or like a realistic metal weapon. Particularly liked the option to make your guns gold right from the start without any nasty microtransactions like other games would do.

Music and sound: 4/10 Very poor choice of songs that consists mainly of lesser known artists and music that simply wasn't to my taste. When the radio isn't on the soundtrack that plays is acceptable and offers something other than silence which is nice. The sound itself is very poorly implemented and feels completely off. From vehicle engines sounding ultra quiet to guns sounding non impactful and poorly recorded the sound as a whole feels like it was added by someone who is triggered by loud noises. Certain game audio needs to be ramped up about 2 times especially when it comes to car engines. The character audio is laughably bad and it sounds like the voices belong in a different game. You can clearly hear that the audio was recorded in a sound booth even when the scene calls for speech while someone is outside or talking over ambient noise. Not great at all. 100% needs a patch to adjust levels.

Overall: 6/10 A wild variety of absolutely awful writing, a poor story, embarrassingly cringey characters, but a game that features some decent and fun gameplay, simply astounding customisation and a great map. This leaves Saints Row in such a unique place in my gaming library. A game that I hope fails miserably to stop the disgusting push of political views and agendas into fictional media, to stop companies from releasing a game early to make a quick buck even though it's not fully finished, and to hopefully push the team at Volition to go back to the drawing board and put their full effort into making a much improved Saints Row should they be given the chance. As much as I want to hate this game and everything it stands for I have to admit I found fun along the way and in the future if this game is heavily discounted and several updates have taken place to fix some annoyances and bugs then I would recommend this for some of the most casual base level fun you can have with a game. 6/10.