Saints Row impressions: TERRIBLE

[BabyHeadCrab]

I recently hopped onto X-Box live to give the soon to be released "Saints Row" a whirl. The first thing that came to mind when the opening cinema began was "just how much will these guys rip off GTA" and as I predicted, even things such as the HUD and placement of text, hell, even font used was a carbon copy of GTA:SA. I began to walk around and try to do my usual GTA routine: steal a car, hit people, beat random pedestrians and generally stir up shit

The most shameful aspect of game: the developers managed to take all the fun out of this kind of mayhem; starting with the fact that the game stutters at less than perfect frame rates, slowing down not only the games movement but the fun factor of beating a hooker to death. And as if this wasn't bad enough; simple things like the running animations looked unpolished, awkward, and just plain stupid. A friend of mine walked into the room as I ran to steal a car.... he laughed off the game claiming the protagonist ran like he had CP and his legs were glued together, no arguements there. Initiation into the gang is as simple as beating up a few of it's memebers, after the stale combat sequence is over the samuel L Jackson looking gang leader welcomes you, apparently earning respect and loyalty is as simple as a street fight with thugs that all look the same.

On to the fighting, if you can imagine punching a board, in slow motion - repeating the same exact punch in the same exact fashion until the board fell to the ground you'd be having as much fun as you would beating somebody up in Saints Row, no further explination necessary.

The real stupidy starts when you realize that not an OUNCE of the originality or flavor that GTA carried with it is present. It is a complete generic ghetto gangster game, no unique characters, no feature that sticks out as particularly gritty or "gangsta". Just blacks and mexicans flexing muscles and shooting hollow points, zzzZZzzzzz.

Conclusion: Terrible GTA clone, generic as they come, avoid this like it's herpes.

It is all too pathetic when a game comes out trying to be the "GTA killer", almost directly copies the tried and true formula, and completely fails, creating a bland piece of occasionally pretty horse shit.

 

[DeusExMachina]

We've all come to the conclusion it was a fun as hell demo and don't give a goddamn.

 

[BabyHeadCrab]

We've all come to the conclusion it was a fun as hell demo and don't give a goddamn.

Relax, it's just my opinion

 

[Warbie]

I actually enjoyed the Saints Row demo. Admittedly i've done little else than play 'pig killer' (which is all I ever did in GTA) and the fighting has been more explosive/frantic/enjoyable than with the 3d versions of GTA.

There's little doubt that GTA4 will be the better game, but I'd rather play Saints Row than any current GTA.

 

[DeusExMachina]

Relax, it's just my opinion

Sorry, but I'm getting sick of everyone saying it's a copy of GTA. I mean, yeah, its obvious, but the game's fun. It doesn't really bother me.

 

[BabyHeadCrab]

Sorry, but I'm getting sick of everyone saying it's a copy of GTA. I mean, yeah, its obvious, but the game's fun. It doesn't really bother me.

If you read what I typed, what bugs me is that I believe it FAILS at being a GTA clone.

 

[DeusExMachina]

But its better than all the GTAs out right now D:

 

[BabyHeadCrab]

But its better than all the GTAs out right now D:

more opinion!

 

[KU_]

more opinion!

Just like your whole first post. He likes the game, you don't. Moving on.

 

[DeusExMachina]

Just like your whole first post. He likes the game, you don't. Moving on.

Relax, we're joking around.

 

[satch919]

I think the demo is tons of fun. I never played San Andreas because I figured that it was more of the same stuff that I was used to in Vice City. Having taken a break from the gangsta type games for a while now, Saints Row is just what I need to get back into the genre.

 

[Warbie]

It's more enjoyable than San Andreas imo.

A friend of mine who loves GTA tried this demo today and thinks it's ace - he preordered a few hours later. In one fight he shot a police man through the front windscreen causing his car knock over a lamppost which then crushed a fat women XD. Watching everyone flee from the scene was superb - 3 people shat their pants and simultaneously scaled a 6ft fence to escape, others scrambled for cover waving their hands about. The police were shooting wildly, pipe bombs were flying, and cars were exploding everywhere. One driver managed to escape the destruction only to crash into various vehicles and pedestrains in a mad effort to escape. By following a trail of damage we later found his car a few streets away, in a ditch and on fire

Good stuff, and more carnage and mayhem than any GTA has managed.

 

[63]

I fail to understand why you had to play the game to reach that conclusion.

Because making assumptions is for idiots.

 

[Axyon]

First of all, I'd like to thank you for making your own thread on this matter when there's already one on the first page of General Games. That was really necessary.

Second of all, you're completely wrong. This is a fantastic demo, and judging by it, the game itself will be just as good. You have to look past the whole GTA-clone debacle that everyone's already tarred the game with, and realise that it does do things a lot differently to that series. The cars feel good and weighty, the combat is fantastic fun - both gunplay and melee, and there's a wide range of weapons to be found in the demo. If you push hard enough, you can get an AK47 and a Tec-9, which are both formiddable and great to use. The missions themselves are well-planned and interesting, and the voice acting is way above par - I actually find myself wanting to play the rest of the game, it's really got me engrossed.

Oh, and the framerate issues are fixed for the retail game.

 

[Agent.M]

I recently hopped onto X-Box live to give the soon to be released "Saints Row" a whirl. The first thing that came to mind when the opening cinema began was "just how much will these guys rip off GTA" and as I predicted, even things such as the HUD and placement of text, hell, even font used was a carbon copy of GTA:SA. I began to walk around and try to do my usual GTA routine: steal a car, hit people, beat random pedestrians and generally stir up shit

The most shameful aspect of game: the developers managed to take all the fun out of this kind of mayhem; starting with the fact that the game stutters at less than perfect frame rates, slowing down not only the games movement but the fun factor of beating a hooker to death. And as if this wasn't bad enough; simple things like the running animations looked unpolished, awkward, and just plain stupid. A friend of mine walked into the room as I ran to steal a car.... he laughed off the game claiming the protagonist ran like he had CP and his legs were glued together, no arguements there. Initiation into the gang is as simple as beating up a few of it's memebers, after the stale combat sequence is over the samuel L Jackson looking gang leader welcomes you, apparently earning respect and loyalty is as simple as a street fight with thugs that all look the same.

On to the fighting, if you can imagine punching a board, in slow motion - repeating the same exact punch in the same exact fashion until the board fell to the ground you'd be having as much fun as you would beating somebody up in Saints Row, no further explination necessary.

The real stupidy starts when you realize that not an OUNCE of the originality or flavor that GTA carried with it is present. It is a complete generic ghetto gangster game, no unique characters, no feature that sticks out as particularly gritty or "gangsta". Just blacks and mexicans flexing muscles and shooting hollow points, zzzZZzzzzz.

Conclusion: Terrible GTA clone, generic as they come, avoid this like it's herpes.

It is all too pathetic when a game comes out trying to be the "GTA killer", almost directly copies the tried and true formula, and completely fails, creating a bland piece of occasionally pretty horse shit.

You crazy nigga :afro:

 

[satch919]

This is a fantastic demo, and judging by it, the game itself will be just as good. You have to look past the whole GTA-clone debacle that everyone's already tarred the game with, and realise that it does do things a lot differently to that series. The cars feel good and weighty, the combat is fantastic fun - both gunplay and melee, and there's a wide range of weapons to be found in the demo. If you push hard enough, you can get an AK47 and a Tec-9, which are both formiddable and great to use. The missions themselves are well-planned and interesting, and the voice acting is way above par - I actually find myself wanting to play the rest of the game, it's really got me engrossed.

Oh, and the framerate issues are fixed for the retail game.

I agree with ya 100%.

I've gotten the Tec-9 but I didn't even know it was possible to get the AK in the demo. How'd you get it? I also heard that the framerate problem was fixed. Yay! I can't wait to play "Protect the Pimp" on Live. lol.

 

[DarkStar]

You silly little headcrab.

Didn't you think that the aiming system was about 1000x better than the console GTA's stupid lockon bullshit? I sure did.

And complaining about the framerate in a game that isn't even finished yet is like going to the set of an action movie and complaining about the bluescreen.

EDIT: Also, no loading screens when going indoors = ace.

 

[smwScott]

From the limited time I had with the demo ... I can tell he's 100% right. I don't know what you guys are thinking. As if it's not bad enough that the developers had no creativity and shamelessy aped a far superior series (made by a far superior team) almost verbatim, they completely failed to retain the same fun factor. This game is just plain bad, and whatever minor advantages it has over the current GTAs is due to the developers having had the benefit of stealing someone else's originality and tacking shit on as well as the obvious fact that they stuck it on a next-gen system.

The current GTA games are much better than this very mediocre GTA knock-off. Not only that, a few of the other GTA style games are a lot better too, such as Mercenaries, The Getaway, and Driver.

 

[DeusExMachina]

Speaking of GTA, everyone check out www.gtapsp.com

Vice City Stories info and screens. RAGDOLL. On PSP. I'll never figure that out.

 

[smwScott]

Wow, thanks for pointing me to that. I'm especially excited that they said VCS will be "much bigger" than Vice City. LCS was only about 20 hours which is short for a GTA game. And yeah the ragdoll should be cool.

One thing I'm a bit disappointed in is that they aren't putting the wall climbing from San Andreas in. I assumed the reason it wasn't in LCS was the same reason you couldn't pilot planes or helicopters - the rooftops weren't finished and they didn't want you finding ways to glitch the game. With this game I just don't get it.

 

[Iced_Eagle]

As Axyon hinted at, this demo is months old (you see, they had to get it ready for press showings and also for including it in OXM magazines and stuff, and those guys get the demo a month or two in advance to start making disc copies of it)

So the final game is what you see here + 2 months of extra work, and those 2 months are what will make this game awesome.

I also sort of wish they would have released a small portion of MP with this, just to show that it goes beyond what the current GTA's do...

Oh, and also I'm sure everyone will agree with me that GTA4 will probably come around next year and wipe the floor... Well, as long as they don't f*ck up or anything (which I certainly hope they won't)

 

[DreadLord]

Second of all, you're completely wrong. This is a fantastic demo, and judging by it, the game itself will be just as good.

LOL, Oh noes BHC!! Your opinion is WRONG! Axyon said so! There will be no opinions but his!

 

[Cole]

LOL, Oh noes BHC!! Your opinion is WRONG! Axyon said so! There will be no opinions but his!

Basically.

 

[Axyon]

LOL, Oh noes BHC!! Your opinion is WRONG! Axyon said so! There will be no opinions but his!

Well, when someone makes such an unintelligent, misinformed post, I feel I have to do something about it. Hey, just like yours!

 

[BabyHeadCrab]

Well, when someone makes such an unintelligent, misinformed post, I feel I have to do something about it. Hey, just like yours!

Why are you so hateful and pompous? You act like a forum troll when you are a super moderator. Your posts are no more intellegent or meaningful than the person you quoted or myself. In fact you have successfully furthered the derailing of this thread.

 

[VictimOfScience]

Interesting take on this demo. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Axyon]

Why are you so hateful and pompous? You act like a forum troll when you are a super moderator. Your posts are no more intellegent or meaningful than the person you quoted or myself. In fact you have successfully furthered the derailing of this thread.

Because all your 'rant' contained was a rehash of what other morons have been spouting for months. You've played three missions out of the entire campaign, and you've already labelled it as generic. Let's face it, your beloved GTA's not exactly winning any originality prizes either - an Italian-American in an 80s Miami, and an African-American 'gangsta' in a 90s turf war. Jeeze, I wonder where they thought that up

You also rant about the framerate problem, and I call you uninformed here because the developers have been plastering the fact that the framerate is significantly improved in the full game... either way, with the knowledge that this is a demo made from month-old code, do you really think they'd leave the framerate like that for retail?

Finally, as I mentioned before, you entirely glazed over the Saints Row demo thread already on the front page, and decided yourself important enough to make your own thread without thinking 'Hey, this demo's just recently been released, I wonder if a thread's already been made on it'. This really annoyed me.

 

[^Ben]

The same people who had a hookup before the demo was released about the similarities to GTA are the ones who can't look past that and try to blast the demo for it.

GTA is a brilliant series and SaintsRow is like GTA+1 meaning it is much better then what GTA is at the moment, no doubt the next GTA will be super sweet.

Jeez you guys are like the people we see on forums like "zomg darkmessiah is like oblivion that must mean it sucks!" or "omg portal ripped off prey it sucks and they have no originality!" You come over as an idiot like that.

 

[DreadLord]

Well, when someone makes such an unintelligent, misinformed post, I feel I have to do something about it. Hey, just like yours!

Ah, however I don't have to search for unintelligence and misinformation, I simply go here:

:thumbs:

 

[Sebastian]

I thought the gameplay mechanics were very similar to GTA in this game, but it does do a few things better. Its like the GTA that you've always imagined, with shiny cars and ragdolls. But the whole gangster things is getting a bit old IMO. They should try to deviate from that formula and create something original instead of the rehashed gang war thing.

 

[Asknoone]

I haven't played it, but I'm sure it will be fun. I really don't think it'll surpass GTA though.

 

[Axyon]

Ah, however I don't have to search for unintelligence and misinformation, I simply go here:

:thumbs:

So, you don't have to search for it, you just use the search feature? Shit, I just got ice burned there, nice one genius.

 

[DreadLord]

So, you don't have to search for it, you just use the search feature? Shit, I just got ice burned there, nice one genius.

Quite! I'm not searching for it. The said search feature is searching for it. You noob.

 

[f0rked]

Is it just me or is this really petty? Why can't we all just get along? Or at least agree to disagree.
*ducks to avoid flames*

 

[Warbie]

No being sensible allowed, f0rked, not in this thread!

 

[BabyHeadCrab]

So, you don't have to search for it, you just use the search feature? Shit, I just got ice burned there, nice one genius.

Why do you participate in flame wars and banter when you have a position of power here, start acting like your title suggests and moderate. That means close this thread, in case you forgot your job here. This thread is little more than flames and no longer needs to be alive.

 

[Axyon]

Why do you participate in flame wars and banter when you have a position of power here, start acting like your title suggests and moderate. That means close this thread, in case you forgot your job here. This thread is little more than flames and no longer needs to be alive.

It was a stupid thread to begin with, and you didn't even address the points that I originally made in the thread, instead focusing in on how I retaliate to someone trolling me.

I didn't close this thread, for the record.