Saints Row: The Third

It's kind of disappointing as to what kind of reputation this game's gotten: Similar to how Grand Theft Auto games have been known as "a game where you drive around aimlessly and shoot people" by the general public when a good chunk of the games have been darkly comedic satires (not well-executed satires, mind you, but still satires), this has been known as "the game where you hit people with dildo bats" when there's a fantastic dark, absurdist comedy of a campaign in it. Granted, this is kind of understandable due to the fact that most people simply ignore the main storylines in these kinds of games and perpetuate the stereotype by just messing around, but said stereotype really does this game (and the series as a whole barring SR1) a disservice. Granted, I also consider this stereotype to be more disappointing in this case in comparison to Grand Theft Auto because I personally far prefer this over any game in that series, but that's not the point here.

Nostalgia overload. This game was rated M but made for teens. The writing is immature and the combat promotes humor instead of realism. There's really nothing good I can say about this game except that, for whatever reason, I had a really good time playing the story with my friends. The physics and animations are quite different than other games in the genre and it's not a good thing but it creates a different experience for sure. If nothing else, at least SR III is different.

While at times a bit buggy, very unfunny, or poorly designed, I'd be lying if I said The Third wasn't a blast. Recommended if you just wanna have fun in an arcade-y open world shooter, just don't expect a Grand Theft Auto story.

well atleast is isn't 4, right? its a step down in pretty much everyway from 1, and 2, it has the stupid memehumour type writing, a lot of the game is easy and dull, some missions are cool, it's not completely overblown stupidity though, you can tell they were holding onto some of the roots of the franchise, but this is obviously where it started to really go down hill.

5/10

SR3 feels like it's just a stopgap between Saints Row 2 and Saints Row IV. It retains Saints Row 1 and 2's three gangs, but the game actually suffers for it. SR1 and 2 had three separate fully-realised mission strands for each gang, which had their own buildup, rising action, and climax. SR3 has one narrative, which feels like it doesn't know what the fuck to do with anyone. The Deckers exist as a threat in the story for three missions. The Morning Star become irrelevant after act one, despite you recruiting Zimos to deal with them in act two. Where SR1 and 2 had multiple named characters in each gang, the Deckers and Luchadores have one each.
Adding onto this plot that has no idea what to do with its three gangs, STAG gives them even less time to shine. The plot bounces to and from antagonists willy-nilly. The penultimate mission is subduing a random-ass zombie virus for fuck's sake. The pacing is absolutely FUCKED. The game feels like absolutely nothing happened.

At least a third of the missions are on-rails shooting missions. There are also minigame tutorials wedged into the plot to kill time.
The game relies on the big "wow" missions to carry the day, but that really doesn't fly on a replay when you've seen the game's tricks.

The Saints Row series started out as a Grand Theft Auto clone, but then each iteration has deviated from it; including more comedy and over the top action. This game varies in absurdity from mission to mission, although the amount of enemies it often throws at you means your character ends up being a bit of a bullet sponge.

You play as the leader of a gang known as the 3rd Street Saints, who have evolved into a media empire; selling merchandise and starring in commercials and TV shows. After a bank heist goes wrong, the Saints are captured by the Syndicate and they lose control of Stillwater. In retaliation, the Saints move to conquer Steelport, taking over regions from the Syndicate.

Your new enemies are the Morningstar, cyber-Goth Deckers, and the wrestling crew Luchadores. Each gang has different aesthetic and equipment. Each gang also has a different Brute which are Hulk-like monstrosities.

You level up by accumulating respect which unlocks upgrades to your character or gang. There's loads of options to upgrade, including: increased health, health regeneration, damage reduction, ammo capacity and more. Once the upgrades are available, you need to spend cash to acquire them. You can accumulate cash by completing missions, and investing in real estate. This gives you cash over the in game hours. Purchasing stores also give you discounts on their services.

There's Gang Operations in the city that must be completed to cleanse each district of one of three particular gangs. These are small shoot-outs with a dozen enemies, which are fun to complete. The battles soon become intense as gang member reinforcements turn up in cars or helicopters. You can call a few 'homies' to back you up though.

There's a nice range of weapons including standard guns like pistols, shotguns, SMGs, assault rifles, sniper and rocket launcher. But there's also some humorous weapons like the Mollusc Launcher which fires mind-controlling octopi. Each gun can be upgraded for a more powerful version.

You can steal any vehicle with ease, often just dramatically jumping straight through the window and taking out the driver in one motion. Vehicles can be upgraded and delivered straight to you. The city is really large but you do get various helicopters and planes which make navigation pretty fast, and give you the option of causing carnage from the skies.

There's plenty of story missions, and plenty of optional side quests. Trail Blazing is a biking mini-game with a TRON aesthetic. Insurance Fraud sees you rag-dolling yourself into cars to cause damage. Snatch involves driving to locations, gunning down a few enemies to rescue a group of people, then delivering them to a safe location. There's plenty of variety across the mission types.

The graphics are reasonable, they definitely look dated, but the biggest problem is the pop-up. Cars appearing/disappearing is very annoying. There's the occasional crash to desktop, and a few glitches where you can get stuck, or the next part of the mission not triggering.

If you are looking for a realistic game, the Saints Row The Third is obviously not the game for you. If you want a fun open-world game, then it is a great choice, because there's lots of over-the-top carnage to be had.