Back in the September of 2011 I had the pleasure of
attending my very first EGX (Formally the Eurogamer Expo) in London, it was the
very end of the day and we were waiting for our pizzas to cook at the Pizza
Express kiosk when a nearby game caught our eye, the person playing was running
around a city dressed as a hot dog belting people with a massive purple dildo
on a stick, then we were approached by a PR person who handed each of us a pair
of branded sunglasses, inspecting these it seemed the game we were witnessing
was Saints Row The Third.
I had never played a Saints Row title before that point,
always likening it to a poor-man’s GTA, though I knew friends who had played
and enjoyed them, my path had truly yet to cross with The Third Street Saints.
The story sees your custom character, titled “Playa”,
working your way up the ranks and helping the Saints become the number one gang
in their home city of Stillwater, in the sequel set five years later, you and
the Saints are protecting your turf from rival gangs and a corrupt conglomerate
intent on clearing out the gangs and redeveloping the district for itself, both
Saints Row 1 and 2 proved popular enough to warrant another, with the second in
the series beginning to become more light-hearted and tongue-in-cheek, with the
third doubling down on the comedy.
Now I don’t want to re-tread too
much old ground here in terms of reviewing the 2011 Saints Row The Third,
following its original PS3, Xbox 360 and PC release, it went on to sell nearly
six million copies worldwide, spawning another sequel with a standalone
expansion, as well as a recent Nintendo Switch re-release, so to say that this
game wouldn’t have been played by at least one person you know is slim, it’s an
open-world third person action adventure, full of swearing, violence, nudity
and all other things we enjoy in our video games.
The Saints have now become legends in Stillwater,
evolving into a media and consumer
organisation replete with their own brand, even their own “Saints Flow” energy drink, but when a bank heist goes wrong,
the Saints find themselves facing a new foe in the form of The Syndicate, a
criminal fraternity with global reach, they offer the Saints a deal, hand over
66% of their assets to The Syndicate or die, Saints’ figurehead Johnny Gat refuses,
this results in him being killed and our character leaping from a crashing
plane and finding themselves landing in the neighbouring city of Steelport, a
once thriving factory city, now under the control of the syndicate, and it’s
down to you to regroup the scattered Saints and take things back for
themselves.
Progressing through the game
introduces you to newer and increasingly unique characters and factions, The
musclebound Luchadores headed by the walking apocalypse “Killbane”, the neon-clad
Deckers, who specialise in money laundering and cybercrimes, and the Special
Tactical Anti-Gang Unit (STAG), a technologically-advanced paramilitary force,
each out for the Saint’s blood, luckily you’ll find yourself more than equipped
to take the fight to your oppressors as with each action you perform and
mission you complete will earn you respect, this is what levels you up and
allows for improved skills, new abilities, and above all more dangerous weapons.
The major difference you’ll notice
in this remastered release are the graphics, previously everything felt a
little flat despite being 3D, there was no real depth to any of the textures
within the world, here’s where that has all changed, streets and buildings have
a genuine presence to them now, with higher detail in surfaces giving a more
realistic and solid appearance, puddles appear genuinely wet when the weather
has taken a turn for the worst, and even the many vehicles whizzing around gleam
as they pass by, or as you fly over the bonnet if you’re not careful.
All this new look is also aided by
completely new lighting and effects, most notably the sunshine that can beam
through trees and between buildings with crisp shadows cast beneath objects,
vehicles and characters, neon signs and bright
animated billboards puncture the skyline, out-stretched highways and suspension
bridges glow with overhead lights and bustling traffic, as tall skyscrapers
loom ominously off in the distance, it’s the Steelport you remember, but not
quite.
This is all backed up by the over
top soundtrack, the various excellent radio station as you drive, with the humorous
presenters and adverts punctuating the songs, in fact all of the voice work is
well performed and just as outrageous as the gameplay, the various dubstep-style
incidental music might feel a touch dated, but a lot of the excellent contemporary
songs used over the top of the larger set pieces just help to bolster whatever
mayhem is occurring at the time.
Running and gunning around
Steelport’s shiny new sights and sounds isn’t all peaches and gravy I’m sad to
report however, a couple of minor niggles took the sheen off for me, the first
and worst are the controls, I don’t recall having as much of an issue when I
played it originally on PS3, unless it’s just how controls for these such games
have evolved over the years and become the new normal, adding in the option to
remap the buttons would negate the occasions I found myself crouching when I
wanted to sprint and wound up peppered with bullets.
Secondly there are moments when characters
and enemies will clip through scenery and objects, which in turn meant I was
stuck between a shop door and a Syndicate Brute, with my health rapidly deteriorating, and lastly the distance the camera sits behind a vehicle when you’re driving is a tad
close too, it can make it tough to see what is in front when you’re travelling
at high speeds, none of these are deal breakers for me personally, as
no doubt I’ll carry on playing until I get the platinum trophy, much like I did
on PS3.
There’s a fine line between remasters these
days, too little and there’s no reason to buy the game again, too much and you
start hitting remake territory, producing a title that appears the same on the
surface, but underneath it’s essentially a new game, Saints Row The Third Remastered
walks that line masterfully, whilst similar open-world titles have evolved over
the years perfecting the formula, SRTT set a high bar at the time for its characters
and world, taking the ground-work of the GTA titles, and adding its own twist, a
hyper-reality of over the top action and irreverent humour, arcade-style
driving and shooting, and its countless parodies of movies, TV, and games, it’s
nice to see a remaster receive such attention, Third Street 4 Life!
Saints Row: The Third Remastered is out now on PS4, XBOX ONE, and PC