Saint’s Row 2 is better than GTA4
In the past two hours I have done the following things that are not possible in Grand Theft Auto 4:
Gotten in an epic katana duel on a burning junk boat.
Watched a man accidentally crush his girlfriend with a monster truck because she was locked in the trunk.
Sprayed a church with liquid feces at the behest of a vaguely french sounding anti-corporate revolutionary.
Purchased a dapper purple argyle sweater vest, and accessorized it with a matching Roman legionnaire helmet.
Rolled around town with a carful of ninjas, listening to Fallout Boy.
Rockstar seems to have forgotten that video games, first and foremost, are supposed to be fun. Without question, GTA4 is a significant achievement in storytelling, technology, and scope - the only problem is that they forgot to make it, you know, not boring. Compared to tearing ass around the city in my purple ninja car, carefully making turns in my faux Honda Civic with realistic suspension suddenly seems pedestrian. I respect GTA for what it has done, I just don’t really want to play it.
Saint’s Row is a game that is dumb, bordering on irresponsibly dumb and probably racist. I shudder to think of the focus groups that were brought in for playtesting. But behind all the idiocy lies a certain kind of renegade “if it doesn’t make you go ‘fuck yeah’ it’s cut” design philosophy that I have nothing but respect for. Volition may not respect our intelligence, but they certainly respect our need for amusement.
