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The Grand Theft Auto series needs little introduction. The
Free Roaming kill-fest that places you in the shoes of a small-time
gangster looking to make his way to the top of the game is widely
loved by gamers and abhorred by parents. Selling by the million, the
series has basically invented its own genre and as such spawned many
titles looking to mimic the style and, more importantly, the sales
of the original. Although it is said that imitation is the highest
form of flattery, most games that have copied the formula have
rarely come close to the heady heights of Grand Theft Auto: Vice
City – although the mass market press insist that the series hit
it’s climax at Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - with
Mercenaries: Playground Of Destruction widely considered the
best of the bunch, perhaps due it’s diversion from the crime related
subject matter of Grand Theft Auto.
Grand Theft Auto IV is still a long-way off and as such there
is still time for another Free Roaming experience to shine. Coming
to Xbox360 are three such titles, Just Cause, Crackdown
and on September 1st, 2006, THQ’s Saints Row. An Xbox360 Demo
has become available from THQ for direct-to-drive download, so
Electronic Articles decided to investigate exactly how things
have progressed since the Marketplace launch. Making no excuses for
its existence as Grand Theft Auto clone, Saints Row
allows player to create their own character using a Player Creation
System similar to
SmackDown! Vs Raw 2006, and charges them with the
responsibility of capturing as much territory as possible for your
gang; The 3rd Street Saints. Saints Row plays very similarly
to the 3D iterations of Grand Theft Auto, with the staple of
the series - Free Roaming mayhem - playing a huge part in the
proceedings. Players can shoot people, mug pedestrians and steal
cars just as they have done in the past, albeit with a wealth of
changes, which, for the most part, seem to be improvements.
Each Mission the player must undertake are clearly sign posted
through a GPS style arrow system on the Mini-Map. While d riving,
or on foot, players can see the shortest route to each objective. A
welcome improvement and one that helps make the game more fun,
which, as we all know, is really what matters. The player can also
earn Respect through completing Missions, with bonuses for
professional players. This Respect is then used to unlock other
Missions making the game more free-form than Grand Theft Auto
where players must advance the story to continue. Players can also
enter into unexpected situations where the right course of action
can earn them a great deal of cash and Respect. For instance, if a
player steals a car and the passengers are unable to escape, a
successful evasion of the police, will allow the player to ransom
the hostages. Also, players can shoot from almost any angle whilst
driving, making awkward drive by shootings a thing of the past.
Obviously the main advantage Saints Row has over its
competitors is the power of the hardware it runs on. Next-Generation
systems have a lot to offer the Free Roaming genres and although
Saints Row is no graphical masterpiece when compared to
Prey or even
ChromeHounds, the Draw-Distance is a vast improvement over
the Current-Generation, as are the explosions and Real-Time
Lighting. Unfortunately there
are a few infrequent drops in Frame-Rate and occasional flaws with
Anti-Aliasing, but hopefully these will be fixed in time for
release.
Saints Row looks very promising and the Electronic
Articles staff are very keen on playing the final build. What we
have seen in the demonstration lead us to believe that Saints Row
is no cheap attempt at cashing in on Grand Theft Auto’s
popularity, more a fully-fledged assault on Take2’s stranglehold and
a solid attempt to bring the ever popular genre to the Xbox360.
Given the titles destination format has only sold five million units
so far, it’s unlikely Saints Row will be taking the crown
from the multi-million selling Grand Theft Auto series any
time soon, but it’s clear that it’s going to worry a few people at
Take2. |
