The reboot of Saints Row wants to pick up fans of the action series and newcomers alike. In the test we see many good ideas, but also some big flubs.
With one hand, we desperately claw at a truck as it roars through a raging sandstorm the likes of which even Mad Max rarely experiences. Bullets whistle around our ears as we struggle to pull ourselves up. And then our countless opponents pull out rocket launchers – again, it was obvious.
What sounds like the worst moment in our entire lives is actually a normal Tuesday afternoon in the game”s editorial office. We are currently in Santo Ileso, the open world of the new Saints Row. The reboot of the long-time GTA competitor wants to offer us a chaotic open-world playground to let off steam again, but at the same time noticeably steps on the brakes in terms of extravagance.
This change of course was necessary after the predecessors had run into a dead end because of their action enthusiasm – how can you top crazy alien invasions and superheroes? The developers” answer: not at all, we start from the beginning and tell how the Saints were founded in the first place. But don”t be afraid of too much realism. Wherever Saints Row is written on, there is still Saints Row inside: explosions, shoot-outs, a lot of self-irony and crazy settings are still the core of the game.
So is this the perfect opportunity to (re)enter the series? Not a very easy question. In our test you can find out what Saints Row has to offer you this time – and where the game suffers from old and new weaknesses.
Table of Contents
Cowboy, cyborg or model: who are we?
If you were to ask Saints Row who our game character actually is, the game would shrug and throw a fart cushion at us. “Just do whatever you want!” the massive character editor screams at us.
Crazy combinations were already possible in the predecessors, but this time the selection really puts everything in the shade; so much so that the “Boss Factory” was even released as a standalone programme. Pictures say more than a thousand words:
While we enjoy fool”s licence when it comes to appearance, our character”s personality and story are fixed: We live with three friends in a shabby flat-share, are permanently broke and make our living as murder tools for the Marshall gang. When a job goes wrong, the clique decides to start their own criminal empire – you guessed it, the Saints of course.
The housemates will divide fans” minds. Because yes, the trailers have already conveyed pretty well that they behave more like super-cool college hipsters from a recent Netflix series instead of wacky full-blooded gangsters. That humour runs throughout, and you”ll have to deal with it if you want to have fun with Saints Row. Want an example?
Our flatmate Kevin is always running around topless, his trademark so to speak.
NPC: “You”re not wearing a shirt”.
Kevin: “I always say less clothes, more power!”. Throws himself into superhero pose.
If you can overlook the cringeworthy sayings, all three at least develop some character depth later on. We learn more about their past on missions and support each other in building our criminal empire. That”s good, because the road to the top league is sometimes rockier than expected.
The Grind Road to Glory
The breakdown of mission types will be familiar to Saints veterans, but for newcomers here”s a quick recap: We advance the story by completing main missions. These are usually about our fortress, our crew or gaining more power and prestige for our gang.
What about co-op? The entire campaign is also playable in co-op mode with two people. Your progress will be taken over if you want it to be. We have not yet been able to try out the function ourselves, so it is not included in the rating.
The story about the founding and rise of the Saints is told in a cool way, has some surprising twists and turns and of course many crazy moments in which something usually blows up. However, in a less overwrought framework than in the predecessor – more of the calibre “We tie a porta-potty to the car and use it as a wrecking ball”.
It”s annoying how frustrating some of the main missions are designed. For example, a chase where we have to outbrake opponents without destroying their vehicle. But the AI drives so recklessly that we only manage it on the fifth attempt – and each time we have to listen to the start dialogue again. Another quest cost us even more nerves because we were dragging a cow (made of metal, don”t worry) behind our car.
The thing is extremely fragile and crumbles after a few collisions, sending us back to the checkpoint. That would be bearable in itself, but during the entire transport journey, extremely aggressive policemen are breathing down our necks, constantly ramming us and respawning permanently. This no longer has anything to do with an exciting challenge, it simply sucks. At other points, the artificial “intelligence” forces us to restart missions, you can read more about this in the bug box.
Technique & Bugs: Graphics and some animations of Saints Row seem outdated, especially the wax faces of the characters stand out negatively. Occasionally, small glitches occurred, such as our weapon disappearing after reloading. We did not notice any crashes or really serious dropouts on our test system. During the test, however, the AI messed up missions for us several times. For example, because enemies spawn outside the mission area but then don”t come within range. Or our companion decides in a mission with a time limit that she would rather stand around than repair our getaway car. The only thing that helps here is to restart from the last checkpoint. We devaluate Saints Row for these sometimes very annoying interruptions, more on this in the evaluation box. The developers have confirmed a large day-one patch that should fix many problems. We”ll keep you posted on how much the update actually improves.
In addition to the story itself, there are hundreds of side missions and other things to do, such as illegal rubbish disposal, wingsuit trips and insurance fraud via throwing yourself in front of cars. You have to complete some of these tasks to unlock the next main quest – and that”s where Saints Row sometimes turns into a real grindfest. You have to steal eleven cars to progress? Whew. This creates unnecessary length and slows down the story.
There are also criminal ventures that can be completed more quickly, but you”ll still repeat certain mission types over and over again. For every really cool idea (LARP missions for nerd-hearts!) there are dull quests where you drive for miles to shoot some people, collect some stuff and deliver it again.
At least the radio soundtrack is really fantastic, which makes long drives more entertaining. You switch between hip hop, country kitsch, booming club beats and classical Beethoven concerts, you even get to create your own playlists on the virtual mobile phone.
Generally, we like the mix of empire building and story missions, it”s supposed to feel like we”re gradually leading the Saints to wealth and greatness. But the story itself is already extensive and varied enough, so there was really no need to artificially stretch so much, half of the necessary side missions would have been easily enough. Our tip: Choose criminal projects that can be completed with little effort and put the brakes on your inner completist. Otherwise, frustration will set in very quickly.
The main thing is to bang!
While we”re on the subject of slaying: Of course, action is the lynchpin of Saints Row, with most missions boiling down to brute force. And the combat system is once again a lot of fun! With unlockable skills such as smoke grenades or fire fists, we build our own tactics, which we can change again at any time, whether as melee fighters or marksmen. Especially cool: The finishers are worthy of a John Wick, we never got tired of them. However, the difficulty level drops quickly, on “medium” we were already pretty untouchable before level 10.
This is mainly also due to the fact that many enemies act strunzdoof. The enemy AI hasn”t used the waiting time since the last part to go to school for tactics, but still acts as stupid as in the predecessors. Apparently our enemies have simply accepted that they have to serve as cannon fodder, they like to remain calmly behind waist-high cover and let us blow their heads off.
With a few skilful dodges we can avoid almost all attacks, only large groups of enemies can be dangerous. If you want more of a challenge, set the difficulty in the main menu to “Sensei” or “Boss”. But beware, some missions unexpectedly increase in difficulty and our life bar suddenly melts away like ice in the burning sun of Santo Ileso. Such fluctuations don”t happen all the time, but often enough that we noticed them.
More could definitely have been done in terms of enemy variety, we are once again fighting huge clone armies – that just feels weird in 2022. Even if the enemy gangs are clearly different from each other, most of the enemies are just plain shooting gallery material with baseball bats or firearms – just in a different uniform.
Every now and then, a crunchy boss enemy with special abilities makes an appearance, for example a member of the Idol collective. These would-be anarchists make life difficult (but also colourful) for us with dazzling neon attacks.
Most of your time in the game is spent with your gun drawn or performing stunts behind the wheel, but there are plenty of other things to do. Much of it is very reminiscent of GTA Online. The reboot of Saints Row is not a direct clone, but at least a little brother with very similar features.
Welcome to Santo Ileso, your playground
The sunny open world of Saints Row has always pleasantly surprised us with its diversity: there are exciting things to discover in every neighbourhood of Santo Ileso, from the iconic spiral bridge to Wild West saloons and futuristic skyscraper canyons that give off a hint of cyberpunk atmosphere. We see many more cool locations in the course of the campaign, but we don”t want to give too much away.
It goes without saying that we will unleash pure chaos in the streets again! No lamppost is safe from us, we are killing trees faster than climate change. The sometimes questionable physics won”t knock anyone”s socks off, but it”s fun to fly twenty metres into the air with a fire hydrant. If we knock over passers-by or knock off someone”s bumper in the process, it usually doesn”t bother anyone. Only if we go too far in front of the police or attack too many NPCs will the blue light army appear. But don”t expect realistic behavioural simulations and eternal chases like in a GTA, the cops of Santo Ileso give up pretty quickly.
When you”re not out ploughing, you”ll have plenty of other stuff to do. A partial list: Snapping photos, finding drug packages, hunting wanted men, shopping for clothes and weapons, looking for new car parts, and so on. Most of it is fun a few times, but then it”s good again – who seriously wants to collect 125 drug shipments? What really motivated us were the shops selling clothes, jewellery or guns. Each shop has a different offer, mostly in keeping with the respective district.
Those who like to tinker with cars will get their money”s worth in the garage. From the tyre diameter to the bonnet model, you can customise almost everything to your liking. Little by little, you”ll unlock more practical vehicles. Motorbikes, for example, are great for weaving through city traffic and the helicopter is ideal for covering long distances quickly. We don”t have to explain what your own boat is good for, do we?
Light the fireworks?
So is Saints Row now a successful reboot that takes the series to new heights? Yep, it depends a lot on your preferences. The young “student Saints” already scared off many fans in the first trailers and in the game they behave just as youthful and hip – the humour is, as so often, simply a matter of taste. If you were able to live with the hipsters from Watch Dogs 2, then chances are good that you will also be able to overlook the pseudo-joke in Saints Row. If you”re directly annoyed by it, save your money and fire up one of the predecessors again.
The humour is really tiring in places, but behind it all is a really fun open-world game. If you”re interested in something like GTA, but prefer a fluffy setting, you should enjoy the trip to Santo Ileso. You don”t need any previous knowledge. Just be aware that this is not a game that you can comfortably shoot through on a long weekend, you will have to spend quite a bit of time playing.
It can be fun for many hours if you enjoy exploring all the corners, collecting and unlocking stuff – and if you”re up for a lot of wacky bang-bang action with question marks popping up above your head. For those who are interested in GTA but would rather experience a fluffier setting, Saints Row is a real alternative. You”re in for a fun open-world rollercoaster that sometimes squeals quite a bit on the turn, but will still make fans of simple adrenaline kicks happy.
Editor”s verdict
I”ve only been marginally exposed to the loopy universe of Saints Row. The insane character editors and the choice between cancer and world hunger have of course burned themselves into the collective gamer memory, but it never really picked me up personally. And then the reboot came along and surpassed all my wild hobbyist dreams with its editor. Damn, the advertising trick really worked on me. But now I”m even glad about it.
I really had fun in Santo Ileso. And after a few hours, the hip slogans didn”t trigger any heartburn in me either, I just decided to take it as a brilliant satire on GenZ culture. Unfortunately, I couldn”t wrap my head around some of the design decisions so easily, especially in some of the main quests. I think that stupid metal cow will haunt my nightmares for years to come.
