Original Saints Row was released on Xbox 360 and for many owners of this console it became one of the brightest and most interesting games of that time. Unfortunately, they didn’t port San Andreas’ competitor to PC (although they planned to). Instead, the developers decided to focus their attention on the second part, which was released on consoles – namely PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 – in the fall of 2008. As for the PC version, it was delayed and only appeared on sale now. Apparently to prevent the "rule" of Grand Theft Auto IV.
It should be immediately admitted that the “killing the king” mission was a failure. Creation Rockstar sequel Saints Row not a competitor. The first thing you pay attention to, willy-nilly, when you launch any game, is, of course, the graphics. Unfortunately, Saints Row 2 frankly ugly. No, this is not the “glossy” next-gen that you expect after Niko’s realistic adventures. IN Saints Row 2 visually everything remained at the level of the first part. With the exception of shiny water and passable (at times) special effects, nothing reminds us that this is a product of modern software creativity.
Fuzzy textures on the gray-green walls of houses, buildings consisting of a couple of hundred polygons, cars that literally drove into the Stilwater metropolis from GTA the times of the PlayStation 2 and, worst of all, the characters. You automatically begin to wonder what the developers wanted to say with “this”. It also seems to you that the original idea was to give the game a cartoon (not without grotesque) style, but then, suddenly, unexpectedly, the artists Volition decided to “create” in a realistic manner, but at the same time they did not “clean up” after themselves and stuck new drawings on what was. We expect the result – heroes Saints Row 2 look ridiculous. And they move the same way. Apparently, foam dolls with wooden limbs were used as actors for motion capture.
The physical model only confirms https://luckyhavencasino.co.uk/withdrawal/ this assumption. Try to push your shoulder against some grandmother walking peacefully down the street. And you will see how she will fly away a couple of tens (in the most egregious cases, hundreds) meters, spewing curses. Or crash into a tree at a speed of about 20-30 kilometers per hour – you will immediately fly out, breaking the windshield. On the other hand, if you fall out of an airplane, it is not at all necessary that you die. IN Saints Row 2 completely different laws of physics apply. Not like on planet Earth.
The huge number of mistakes does not do the programmers any credit. The city of Stilwater is literally infested with nasty bugs. Moreover, the port from consoles turned out to be so crooked that even the PC version of GTAIV will seem polished to shine. By the way, on Xbox 360/PS3 Saints Row 2 no longer distinguished by high stability and “integrity”. Here and there, textures fell out, pedestrians, cars, entire buildings disappeared into nowhere, the hero could fall through the asphalt into endless “nothing” or die from a bullet fired at the other end of the city. Getting stuck in a tree or your car, choking in the fresh air 100 meters from a body of water is always welcome. Surprisingly, the PC version has several "exclusive" bugs. System crashes, freezes and, most importantly, incredible system requirements and brakes, sometimes simply preventing you from playing (3-5 frames per second). You should not think that if you have Core2Duo, 4 gigabytes of memory and a GeForce 8800-level video card, then Saints Row 2 will work smoothly. Brakes are an integral part of the game, regardless of what you run it on.
But, if with the engine and stability in Saints Row 2 problems, then everything related to the game as such, on the contrary, deserves exceptionally high marks. Firstly, unlike GTAIV, they are not trying to tell us a serious, dramatic and tearful story. Absurdity, humor, blacks – all in the best traditions of the legendary San Andreas. The storyline tells the story of the hero of the first part, who, waking up in the hospital, is immediately drawn into the war of four clans. Your opponents are the Ronin (something like the yakuza), the Brotherhood (rabid Indians) and the Samedi Children (drug addicts). The ultimate goal is to capture the entire city, destroying everyone. Thus, at the end we get three stories with their own characters and an exclusive script. Stupid? Undoubtedly. But it’s exciting, interesting and really makes you laugh.
In addition to the story missions (which are surprisingly varied), the world Saints Row 2 there is a huge number of different side-quests. Again, absolutely absurd. For example, you can try to get insurance. It looks like this: the main character goes out onto the roadway and in a certain time must get under the wheels of the maximum number of cars. You can also get hired as a security guard for a porn star (the goal is to beat up fans) or try to burn as many people as possible by riding around the city in a compact flamethrower on wheels. And much, much more. In terms of diversity Saints Row 2 head and shoulders above its main competitor. And much more fun.
Anything is truly possible here. Go shopping, choosing a better wardrobe for yourself, buy real estate in different parts of the city, buy expensive cars, modify them in workshops (which really affects the characteristics of the cars), and then take part in races. Finally, you can furnish your homes the way you want (expensive plasma panels, swimming pools, luxury furniture at your service). In addition to cars, Saints Row 2 You can operate boats, jet skis, helicopters and, most importantly, huge airplanes (it’s easy to take off, but landing it requires skill). Not without video games inside the game itself. You will probably like the very advanced "Zombie Invasion". And if you suddenly get tired of the image of the main character, then you can go to the clinic, change your gender, race, height, hair color, hairstyle and everything else you can. Fortunately, the character editor allows you to create literally anyone (cute girls like Beyoncé are included).
It truly is a world of endless possibilities that is fun to explore, where you get the pleasure of simple shopping and wardrobe changes, flying in the sky, swimming in the sea and driving around the city with great music (soundtrack in Saints Row 2 impressive). Yes, it is more exciting and varied than GTAIV. The only trouble is that it’s almost impossible to run it on an average PC. A great game, unfortunately made by hands that grow from… You read that right.
Pros: humorous, exciting, diverse; truly a living city.
Cons: is riddled with errors; looks bad; amazes with system requirements.