The saints have finally returned, and it feels like the new Saints Row is returned to its roots while receiving some updates and modernisations to bring it kicking and screaming into 2022.
The Saints Row games are an open-world, third-person crime-themed series of games beginning back in 2006, the games were originally seen as a Grand Theft Auto clone.
Saints within its series developed an identity of its own that was less of a violent satire and instead took its absurd comedy to the silliest and furthest point.
The protagonist of those past games eventually becomes President of the United States, then begins fighting Aliens and gaining superpowers and becoming trapped in a simulation, it goes really off the rails.
Each game further pushed the wacky bombastic insanity and it felt like they wrote themselves into a corner. Every Saint's game tried to up the ante, and a reboot feels like a much-needed opportunity to reign it in.
It seems like the perfect time for Volition's brand of mad off-the-wall humour to return, but can the series work without its crazy over-the-top chaos?
The new Saints Row is a reboot of the series with an entirely new cast and setting but keeps the explosive action and humour in a less ridiculous way than the past games.
While Saint’s Row’s utter insanity that 3 and 4 were known for is not present, that doesn’t mean it’s humourless if fact the humour is just more grounded but the game still has a lot of bombastic action and the fun made the series what it is.
Much like the past games, you take part in missions as well as activities out in the open world to help your criminal organisation grow and take control.
Instead of starting the game as the Boss of an established gang, you begin as a talented if reckless henchman for one of the local "gangs" Marshell industries as a military contractor, and the game's introduction has you play the first day as a henchman for Marshalls.
After impressing them with your maverick skills and one-liners you are promoted but sadly, it doesn’t last and you and your roommates decide to form your own crew.
You and your three friends Eli, Neenah and Kevin are all broke and trying to survive in Santo Illeso, a fictional city set in the southwest of America, including, cities, suburbs and deserts.
There are three dangerous warring factions and each of your friends is essentially working for the other gangs until you decide to form your own gang and take over this town.
The other gangs all have unique looks as well as weapons and vehicles from the party goer's, The Idols, tech specialists, The Marshals, as well as the brutal Los Pateros.
There is an emphasis on these characters caring for one another with some great writing that’s well acted, it can get a little quippy sometimes but not Joss Whedon levels or irritating and it genuinely made me laugh out loud serveral times.
One thing that surprised me was, this time round the cast was much more interesting and likeable, unlike the characters from the previous games who were deliberately obnoxious.
The Saints are seen less as heroes and rather just a group of friends and minor criminals trying to score some money to pay off their student loans and survive but end up caught in these crazy over-the-top, Fast & furious type car chases and shootouts that only seem to escalate and require you to just shoot or drive your way out.
Character creation has incredible levels of detail, with loads of options and customisation that allows you to create yourself of nearly any character you can think of.
With a plethora of skin tones, hairstyles, and whacky clothes you can be anything you want to be. You can also customise your weapons, crew outfits and vehicles to give them your own saints style.
The gameplay still follows that Saints Row third-person, action-packed crazy shooting but it all feels a little tighter and more grounded, combat was also a little more challenging with ammo a little more sparse and health didn't quickly regenerate while in combat like it did in previous titles.
Instead, you can get a small amount back when you are out of combat but to fully heal you need to perform special takedowns.
And you need to be aware of a meter that fills ups gradually when you successfully make kills, this allows you to do special takedowns that can usually one-hit kill goons and give you some health back.
Skills can be levelled up and assigned to quick slots that can give you passive boosts or allow you to perform special moves like dropping smoke bombs so you can get away or if that’s not your thing putting a grenade down someone’s pants and throwing them into their comrades is really fun.
Combat seems to emphasise constantly being on the offensive and moving around a lot to allow you to regen health and recharge takedowns quickly.
While the “Go here, kill these guys” mission is still a staple of the series, it being Saints Row means occasionally unexpected things happen, missions go wrong and you're forced to adapt.
There are also lots of side hustle missions including the return of the classic insurance fraud that has your character run into traffic and get launched from car to car and slammed into the pavement, while you rack up more points based on how much bone-crunching damage you receive.
The only thing that surprised me was how sparsely populated the Santo Illeso felt this could be because I was very early on in the game or as this was a pre-release version, as open worlds without people feeling sterile and boring, go ask Fallout 76.
Car, weapons and the world seem less cartoony and more grounded which actually made it funnier when something absurd happens.
Driving has also received some fun upgrades, with side swiping reminiscent of the Burnout games, now added so you can knock foes or police cars into obstacles or just wreck their cars, which is lots of fun.
Saint’s Row so far looks like a distillation of the best elements of the series but with more emphasis on characters and story and the game seems all the stronger for it.
Saints Row does feel like it still has that "Saints magic" and the feeling that anything can happen, which makes encounters and even traversing the world fun and memorable.
Let's hope Saints Row is a triumphant return for the franchise with its excellent characters writing and gameplay and no superpowers, aliens, or dubstep gun in sight.
Saints Row is out on August 23 for Xbox Series X / Series S and PS 5 / PS4 and PC via the Epic Game Store
