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Saint's
Row
  
It's true that Saint's Row, the Xbox 360
title due out around the launch of the system next month, does at first
glance seem to be nothing more than a Grand Theft Auto clone,
specifically GTA: San Andreas. After all, the story puts you on the
open-world city streets as a small-time gangbanger looking for some
street cred, where you can drive around in any vehicle in the game
(usually "borrowed" from
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the driver by means of a carjack), listen
to radio stations on the car radio, and perform all sort of
"activities," from drive-bys on rival gang members, to pimping out ho's,
to drug trafficking. Sounds just like GTA: San Andreas, doesn't it?
But the developers at Volition who have been working on Saint's Row take
offense to the notion that their game is just another GTA "clone." They
see their game as an evolution of the open-world genre |
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that happens to share a few qualities with
the best selling and most popular game that literally defined open-world
gaming.
First off, graphically the game is noticeably an upgrade over its source
of inspiration. Everything about Saint's Row, from the large city, to
the vehicles, to the characters, are rendered in an impressive graphical
style that clearly comes from having the jacked-up power of an Xbox 360
behind it, especially the dynamic lighting used everywhere, from the
daytime sunshine bouncing off of cars and Southern Cross itself to the
flash from weapon muzzles. Saint's Row incorporates the Havok engine to
introduce a high level of rag doll physics not seen in GTA. Another
feature that takes advantage of the Xbox 360 and its graphics ability is
the absence of loading times when you move from an outdoor environment
to an indoor environment, with a seamless transition between the two.
Secondly, the gameplay has similarities to GTA: San Andreas, but again,
it has enough clearly differentiated objectives and elements to say that
it doesn't just ripping off GTA: San Andreas, but takes open-world
gaming into new directions.
To begin, you can create your very own character from scratch. You will
be able to style your clothing choice and vehicles when in the game too.
The choice of wearing your gang's "colors" in your clothing choice can
actually impact the success and/or resistance you may encounter in a
particular "activity." The main goal is to start as a lowly grunt in a
small-time gang, and attempt to move up the ranks of your own gang by
taking on the other three city gangs and fighting it out in turf wars to
take control of the city's districts. In the end, the ultimate goal is
to rule the entire realm of Southern Cross.
  
While there are missions to complete to achieve the final goal, most of
the gameplay centers on "activities," sort of Saint's Row's
interpretation of the GTA mini-games. You upgrade your street cred
through 13 activities, with 12 having a branching system of variations
to accomplish, ranging from pimping, drug trafficking, insurance fraud
and racing. Speaking of racing, vehicles do play a big part in Saint's
Row. There are a few different vehicle-related activities, including a
demolition derby and arena racing.
Music will reach a GTA echelon, with over 100 songs of a predominantly
hip-hop flava playing on the 12 radio stations (including two talk radio
stations). One feature that Saint's Row offers through the Xbox 360 hard
drive is the ability to import your own music into the game and set it
up on the radio station playlists.
Where Saint's Row will really separate itself from being called a GTA
clone is in the multiplayer mode. This is where the title could
potentially become not only the equal of GTA in the gaming world, but
may surpass it. There are seven multiplayer modes that can support up to
12 players at a time and not just some deathmatch sort of multiplayer
modes either. Check this out: Big-Ass Chain mode has everybody in the
online game wearing a big-ass gold chain. The goal is to kill a player,
take his chain, and trade it in for money. But the catch is, the more
chains you trade in at once, the more cash you get. So the risk is to
keep attempting to kill more and more fellow gangstas, get their chains,
and trade them in before you get capped yourself. If you get capped
before you trade in your chain bounty, then your killer will be able to
get you hard-earned chains and trade them in for themselves.
Another multiplayer mode is Bling My Ride, where you must beat the other
team to the finish line in your vehicle. But you must trick out your car
by traveling to different stores in the city and buying parts. However,
your opponent has the same objective, and you must fend off your
opponent from doing any damage to your vehicle while at the same time
trying to inflict damage on theirs, bling it out, and get to the
checkered flag first. There will be co-op play and every-man-for-himself
play online. Another bonus will be the reward system for playing online.
The more you play, the more in-game money you earn, allowing you to
really pimp out your character with clothing and accessories. You'll be
able to tell just by looking who spends six hours a day playing Saint's
Row online.
Saint's Row isn't afraid to be compared to GTA. But just don't' call it
a clone, because it has enough new features, particularly online play
(which GTA doesn't have at all) or wrinkles on "borrowed" ones to
separate itself from the clone pack and blaze a new path in the
open-world genre. Saint's Row has the potential to be a killer app at
the Xbox 360 launch.
- Lee Cieniawa
lcieniawa@armchairempire.com
(October 21, 2005)
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