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.

"Saints row 3 has POWER and yonkers on its soundtrack... THIS IS THE BEST GAME EVAH!!!" - gay fagg0t 2011

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.