E3 2008: Saints Row 2 Updated Impressions

Jul 16, 2008

Gangster-filled shooters are all the rage these days. We can all thank a little Rockstar creation for that, though it's been that way for some time now. It seems that every publisher worth a damn has tried to put their hat in the ring in one way or another, and now it's nearly time for THQ to unveil the second entry in the popular series known as Saints Row.

At this year's E3 I got a chance to sit down and run through the entire first level of Saints Row 2 with a co-op companion. Not only that, but I also got a look at a new activity called Fight Club. Any guesses as to what that entailed?

For those who don't know, Saints Row 2 begins with you waking up in a prison hospital from the explosion that acted as the finale from the first game. The scene begins with two cops talking about how a prisoner of particular interest has recently woken up from their forced slumber. Fast-forward a bit through some prison guard banter and the camera settles on a shot of your socks in your hospital bed. From there you're ushered to the player creation screen.

We've already reported on the character customization options so I won't go in-depth here. What I can say is that the build that I played at E3 had even more little additions that make the SR2 character creator unlike what we've seen before. Facial expressions, for instance, are now a part of the experience. I slapped an expression labeled "insane" on my gangsta lady (yes, I said lady) and what I got totally fit the bill. I then put what could only be described as clown paint around her mouth and gave her a male voice with a British accent and my character was ready to ride.

If you're wondering, and I would be, there are six voices in all. Three male and three female. What that means for the story is that THQ had to record every piece of dialogue with six different actors and there are slight differences depending on who you choose. It's nothing that will affect the storyline, but the effort should be appreciated.

You can also outfit your character with preposterous clothing like a ninja costume and a hotdog suit. And yes, the suits remain on your player model in cutscenes. Hilarity ensued when I was shown a cinematic that saw my character in an intense fight with the head of a rival gang. All while my character is wearing a hot dog suit.

When I finished tooling around the customization screen it was time to play the intro portion of Saints 2. Johnny Gat leaned over to my character and said that we needed to break out and reclaim The Row. Needless to say, my high rollin' gangster agreed. The cool thing is that during this short cutscene my co-op teammate didn't see my player model at all. Instead they saw theirs, just as they would in a regular single-player game.

Once I had control over my character I could clearly see my partner in crime running around the hospital. There were a few oddities, like doors that I saw him open on his screen not registering on mine, but that's an easy fix as bug testing progresses.

Our first victim was the poor doctor who graciously brought me back to life. It was more a tutorial of how to press the right and left triggers effectively to combo punches than a real fight. There's a cool execution move that takes place when you land three of the same punches in succession. The camera swings around slightly and gives a new, slightly more dramatic perspective on the pain you're inflicting.

Initially I went the foolhardy route and charged the guards, dispatching of those that remained inside the jail and making my way outside where there were plenty of fully-armed police offers waiting. I quickly hopped in a SWAT van and proceeded to blow the hell out of myself in a fiery mass of twisted metal as I careened down the road, bullets raining down on my chassis. The explosions are something that have obviously been improved since the first Saints Row and they were a common theme in my demo.

My next approach took a bit longer but proved to be worth it. Rather than running down the stairs, through the would-be attackers and outside to my death, I explored upward to find an armory home to a shotgun, M16 and satchel charges. As I made my way back outside, mowing down coppers with my automatic weapon, I noticed a group of cruisers parked in a pack at the foot of the winding road that I needed to traverse to make my escape.

I proceeded to lob a satchel charge with the right trigger, blow it up with the left and then sat back to watched the fireworks.

While my hasty and successful flee from incarceration was impeded by an explosion that lit my character on fire and sent her flying right as I was about to hop into my getaway vehicle, I was able to recover and make it to the speed boat. If I did happen to die, the new mid-mission checkpoints would have reset me somewhere more desirable than back at the beginning.

But I did manage to get up and hop in the boat where my co-op partner and I manned two massive machine guns and laid waste to police boats and helicopters as we sped into the night. Needless to say, Saints Row 2 starts with a bit of a bang.

The level ended and my time with the core story of SR2 was done, only to be followed by the Fight Club activity that I mentioned before. The Volition developer loaded my character into an octagon similar to something you'd see in UFC with two fighters breathing down my neck. They were easy to take down as I charged up punches by holding one of the triggers and performed execution neck breaks by waiting for them to fall, hitting Y (triangle on PS3) and then completing a button mashing quick time event.

The next level of Fight Club brought contestants with different fighting style than the first round. One was a mixed martial arts expert who dominated my character until I discovered that I could indeed block. The third round was my last and brought an extra combatant to the ring which I also dispatched with relative ease. I was rewarded for my efforts with respect (which unlocks new missions) and a 15 percent increase in my physical strength (ability to whoop ass).

Other new activities include the infamous sewage truck spraying of random pieces of property to devalue them and acting as a bodyguard for a celebrity. Now if only I had gotten the chance to play them.

Saints Row 2 impressed me with its exciting introduction and the over-the-top character creation options. It opens the door to change the gameplay experience in a fun way and hopefully the activities can stay fresh throughout. The action also feels like it's more frantic with more enemies attacking at once. Is all that enough to bring down the reigning champ? You'll have to wait until October 14 for your answer.