Saints Row Series Review (Xbox, PlayStation & PC)

I learned to walk with Grand Theft Auto, but I learned to fly with Saints Row. Bottlenecked, yet courageously ambitious and willing to quell its looming shadow, the mischievous Third Street Saints made a decision that would ultimately lead to one of the most illustrious feuds in gaming history: Grove Street versus Saints. It was around then, after the launch of the first chapter in Deep Silver’s open-world sandbox, that a field was established—a chess board that, at least for a while, consisted of two major pawns vying for dominance. On the one hand, you had Rockstar Games’ poster child—a series that, at least prior to the Saints arrival, had amassed universal acclaim across the globe. But then, on the other hand, you had the underdog—a ragtag jack-off-all-trades that looked like a vivid clone, but had a special ingredient that made it just that little bit more alluring.

There’s a fence here that has two weighted audiences, one of them being with the mindset that Saints Row was better as a tongue-in-cheek version of its primary influence, and the other being more oriented toward its evolution as an independent, albeit ridiculous superhero-like subsidiary. Frankly, I’m on something of a rollercoaster, in that I often find myself steering more towards one side of the aforementioned fence, but then alter my train of thought and opt for the other side. The way I see it, you have two perfectly equal two-piece jigsaw pieces, with one of them being gang-based doppelgängers (the first and second, that is), and the other being comical, almost ballsy open-world underlings with a completely separate tone that has little to no connection with the original series whatsoever. However you choose to slice it, you can’t deny that Deep Silver knows how to keep you on your toes. Maybe that’s why it has done so well for itself. We can just ignore the reboot.

From Saints to Icons

Of course, given the rapid progression of the Saints, it was inevitable that Deep Silver would eventually reach a fork in the road. A dime store gang was formed, and before long, that same gang transformed into a media empire. Fast forward a couple of years, and that same gang weirdly inherited superpowers, and rival factions somehow managed to pivot into alien life forms. A weird journey, but like I said — it kept us guessing. The said truth was that, while it could’ve gone just a couple of steps further, Deep Silver ultimately decided to cut the wire and reboot the system. That decision, sadly, was what rang the death knell for an otherwise epic saga. The OG Saints were out, and the sprightly hipsters were in.

While I’m still ambivalent on the decision to sideline the Saints in favor of a cleaner, more inclusive gang, I will say this: Saints Row lost its charm with the reboot. It was almost as if Deep Silver didn’t want to rock the apple cart, and therefore decided that it would be a better move to remain vigilant and simple, rather than stick to old habits and do something a little “out of this world,” so to speak. It shouldn’t have, but it did, and that’s something that’ll forever sully the series’ reputation.

Icons to Ashes

Dial it back just a notch, and you’ll find four genuinely brilliant standalone open-world games beneath the spotlight. Sure, the third and fourth chapters were a little unorthodox, but that didn’t make them bad games. On the contrary, it made them experiments with original qualities. The superhero schematic was, eh, different, but it was also apt for the series and the direction it was headed at the time of its arrival. I can’t imagine how it would’ve evolved from that, but again, it would’ve given us something to think about. Instead, what we received was a soft reboot, a plain and somewhat barren world, and a bunch of people with no defining characteristics whatsoever. And that, really, was Deep Silver’s biggest mistake: thinking that the series had nowhere left to turn in the wake of its supernatural infusions.

Prior to the rather disastrous aftermath of the reboot, Saints Row had some some truly fantastic features—a jam-packed open-world playground, hundreds of jobs and wacky activities, eccentric gang members and odd cameos, and an outrageously good mission structure that would allow for fledgling kingpins to find chaos and adventure in the most creative ways imaginable. Frankly, the third and fourth chapters delivered on all aspects of that blueprint, tenfold. But, it was the first two games that incubated the format—the world and its vast potential as a standalone experience that could challenge the likes of Grand Theft Auto and inject its own identity into its bloodstream.

Of course, the second and third installment in the Saints Row series are of an entirely different style and tone. Case in point, where the initial batch of games delivered on a rugged and somewhat dark tale about gang warfare and sandbox mayhem, the third and fourth opted to take dubstep guns and aliens for a wild ride through the waters. And yet, both found a solid balance between being both stupidly bashful and humorous, pointlessly entertaining and memorable. It could have gone a lot further, too, should Deep Silver had been open to the idea of expanding the lore and taking the Saints to another dimension.

Verdict

Although the death knell has been well and truly rung for the Third Street Saints and the franchise’s hopes of ever resurrecting that signature wackiness and witty charm from the ashes of its four-piece saga, Saints Row will forever remain one of the best and most memorable open-world sandbox series of all time. Sure, it’s a little “out there” and far-fetched, but that’s sort of why we love it. It’s absurd and it’s satirical, and as equally comical as it is memorable.

It’s a shame, really, that Deep Silver wasn’t able to continue shaping the Saints universe with a handful of additional faithful sequels, but the fact that it still left a mark in the realm of modern sandbox storytelling is something we ought to celebrate. The Saints may be dead, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they’ll be forgotten any time soon. I think we can take that as a win on Deep Silver and Volition’s part.