
	Platform Playstation 3 Genre Action / Open World Publisher THQ Developer Volition ESRB M (Mature) Released November 15, 2011

- Insanity in digital form - Does not take itself seriously - Lots to see and do - Character creation - Taking screenshots

- Side missions are lacking

Review: Saints Row: The Third (360) Review: inFamous 2 (PS3) Review: L.A. Noire (PS3)
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Saints Row: The Third

Score: 9.0 / 10

Saints Row: The Third is the digital form of what your 7-year old brain created as you made up Laws of Nature and built cities for your GI JOes and He-Man figures. Nothing was impossible and there was always some kind of counter-balance to any kind of threat.

"My guys just blasted your guys with an atom bomb!"

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- Playstation 3 Game Reviews
- Action Game Reviews
- Games Published by THQ

"Then it was a good thing they were all in a special atom bomb proof van!"

Action figure life was and is one great big pool of nonsensical ideas. That's what Saints Row: The Third is and you get the idea that the design document began many paragraphs with "Wouldn't it be cool if..." then they followed through with it and

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managed to escalate the insanity of each encounter so that by the end of the game it's pure id on display.

The tone is set very early on with opening mission and deep character creation that includes so many options it's almost overwhelming. I mean, c'mon, it has a slider for "septum."

Main story missions traipse from one outlandish setup to the next. Blowing stuff up with a helicopter or getting your game show on with Professor Genki's Super Ethical Reality Climax, which felt a little more more like a realized version of Smash TV, or just clearing out rival gangs, it's a good assortment provided you stay on the story path. The side missions are essentially pieces of the main story repeated again and again. Tackling those side quests are basically ways to pad out your upgrades, and earn Respect and Cash. Of course, doing a lot of these early on can make your character basically unstoppable. You're the guy (or gal) in the atom bomb proof van.

I'm not qualified to write much about the multiplayer options simply because I was having so much fun by myself. From what I hear from other players, playing with a buddy simply ups the insanity (just in case you thought there was a ceiling on these kinds of things).

With DLC on the way, there's potential here to bring more crazy to the table for a game that is serious about not being too serious and I'd slap a gold star sticker "Editor's Choice!" on Saints Row: The Third if that's how we scored things just because it's so reminiscent of those action figure battles of yore.

- Aaron Simmer

(December 6, 2011)