Review of Saints Row: A Enjoyable Reboot

It’s good to see chaotic open-world action again.

Saints Row’s first hour didn’t leave a good impression. The protagonists of this latest trip were hard for me to care about in the slightest, and the game didn’t feel as polished as I’d hoped it would. The hours that followed the first, nevertheless, saw a significant improvement. If you’ve ever played a Saints Row game, don’t anticipate any radical changes. Having said that, this year’s remake was based on the strengths of the series’ better films, and I ended up really enjoying it.

After things eventually take a turn for the worst, it’s time for you and your motley crew to start building the Saints. Saints Row’s opening minutes set up some of the important factions and crews you’ll be dealing with throughout the game.

You’re tasked with creating a criminal empire that will syphon every last dime from Santo Ileso, the new location for this year’s edition, with four specialists serving as the co-heads of the Saints (one of whom is particularly opposed to wearing a shirt).

There are numerous empty lots located all throughout the city, and you must purchase them in order to expand the Saints’ criminal enterprise. Many operate under the idea of routine enterprises, but underneath lie a number of money-laundering methods that assist you and your staff members line their wallets. As a result, the team is able to add more players, upgrade the Saints base, and give you the option to buy more lots to increase your profit.

Businesses, often known as criminal enterprises, must fulfil a specific set of side tasks before they may fully occupy a district in Santo Ileso. You can continue to monopolise the city by earning more money by completing these assignments. Veterans of the series will be quite familiar with several of these side missions, with insurance fraud being a particular highlight.

There are certain side missions for each expedition, and they don’t actually alter as you advance. If you have to do a particular number to advance in the story, which is sometimes the case, this makes for a somewhat monotonous grind and slightly hinders the game’s narrative.

Criminal venture missions—which are distinct from side jobs in Saints Row—should also not be confused with side jobs. You’ll be tasked with a variety of tasks, some of which involve protecting drug traffickers and others that involve using a helicopter to move automobiles across the city. You can also participate in fun small history lectures, foil gang threats, and take pictures of famous places across the world that you can later use as décor inside Saints HQ.

If that wasn’t enough, hitman missions are back in the wanted app on your phone, which presents you with a list of bounties to accomplish in exchange for additional money.

Every action you do in Saints Row rewards you financially, which you may reinvest in more nefarious schemes or into the endless possibilities for character customization. The sheer level of customization offered really astonished me. Saints Row is a significant improvement over past games in the franchise since it offers an incredible amount of customization options, from vehicles to weapons to the Saints HQ.

This year’s game supports co-op play, although my attempts to use it during the review time were unsuccessful. I wasn’t able to test how the game operated because it wouldn’t send the host player a final confirmation notification. This is unfortunate because these tasks look to be suited for some fantastic cooperative fun.

I did had my fair share of problems with the game throughout the course of my about 15 hours with it. The absence of any cover element in particular looked like a strange omission because it appeared that foes had plenty of room and the capacity to hide from my character’s bullets.