Saints Row 2

 PlayStation 3
User Score
8.1

Generally favorable reviews- based on 189 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 144 out of 189
  2. Mixed: 31 out of 189
  3. Negative: 14 out of 189
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  1. Unsatisfried
    Aug 22, 2011
    7
    Having played the original "Saints Row", followed by "GTA IV", the second seemed tired. The reality was I played it out too fast. After ages having it lay on the shelf collecting dust, I finally started playing it again. This time I paced myself. This time I didn't bother doing stuff I found annoying or unfun just for the 'rewards'. This time I simply did what felt enjoyable in the moment.Having played the original "Saints Row", followed by "GTA IV", the second seemed tired. The reality was I played it out too fast. After ages having it lay on the shelf collecting dust, I finally started playing it again. This time I paced myself. This time I didn't bother doing stuff I found annoying or unfun just for the 'rewards'. This time I simply did what felt enjoyable in the moment. This time I had great fun.… Expand
  2. metalaries
    Jul 6, 2011
    5
    I can't, for the life of me, see how the hell anyone can give this game anything higher than a 5. the gameplay is horrible. there is no lock on, which bugs the crap out of me since aiming is annoying at times, more likely than not, although the game tends to be fair most of the time so I'll give it that much. the bad bugs here are REALLY bad sometimes. you try to beat up someone and theyI can't, for the life of me, see how the hell anyone can give this game anything higher than a 5. the gameplay is horrible. there is no lock on, which bugs the crap out of me since aiming is annoying at times, more likely than not, although the game tends to be fair most of the time so I'll give it that much. the bad bugs here are REALLY bad sometimes. you try to beat up someone and they fall into the floor?? I run into a biker and their body literally becomes part of the hood of the car, flailing around as if they've become a cylinder of the engine?? when you do the mission for the Ronin gang area, when you're protecting the car being driven by the game, there is SERIOUS issues as I had to restart this level more than twice since the car was driven off the bridge??? too many ultimately retarded things that go on with this UGLY as hell game to be tolerated. it's not "mesmerizing", it's not "better than GTA4", it's a flawed attempt at a great game, and it really could have been if it wasn't so damn stupid all over the place. oh, and the fact that on the back of the box it mentions trophies? THERE ARE NONE!! pathetic.… Expand
  3. the_blueprint
    Dec 18, 2013
    5
    Like all Saint's row games this one begins really funny and entertaining. After a while though it get's really frustrating because of too much chaos and technical flaws. Sidenote: one of the rare games were the sidemissions are actually fun.
  4. blakfayt
    Mar 29, 2019
    6
    I feel like the people saying the side missions were fun had to be stoned while doing them. The side missions are the WORST part of this game. They're designed in a very special way to screw the player. In one instance I had to avoid news vans that were trying to get pictures of someone having sex in the back of my car, how the news knew about this person getting a prostitute and how theirI feel like the people saying the side missions were fun had to be stoned while doing them. The side missions are the WORST part of this game. They're designed in a very special way to screw the player. In one instance I had to avoid news vans that were trying to get pictures of someone having sex in the back of my car, how the news knew about this person getting a prostitute and how their footage could see through tinted windows (a common thing since the 90's) I don't know, so it's stupid already in premise. But then as SOON as I pick this person up a T shaped intersection, three news vans spawn, one down each road, and they all barrel towards me. I'm at a DEAD STOP IN A SEDAN, and yet these vans can OUT RACE ME. I ... I don't have to explain how stupid that is. It's not funny ha ha stupid, it's nonsense. If they were paparazzi in actual cars I'd be like "Okay" but they aren't, they HEAVY NEWS VANS DOING 70MPH AND TURNING ON A DIME SPAWNING OUT OF NOWHERE.

    And you can't just IGNORE the side missions in 2. No, god no. You have to do them if you want the good upgrades like MORE HEALTH. Who thought locking upgrades being allegedly optional content was a good idea should be taken out back and fired so they can't steal from the company. This kind of thing happened all the time in my 20 hours of play time. I did about 4 story missions and spent the rest of the time sampling the bonus missions which ranged from difficult but enjoyable to infuriatingly broken by design. "Mayhem! Cause mass destruction for big points!" But only destroy fences, because your multiplier means more than what you blow up, fences are easy to run over and when you need to get 800k in 4 minutes and a cop car is worth a piddly 4k at best and takes forever to blow up but a fence can be knocked down in a single shot and a couple hundred rack up to 100k a pop, it's dumb. When the police spawn right in front of you and then run you over, and then back up and run you over again and kill you instantly, it's not fun. When the AI can easily and accurately pit check your car but attempting to do the same to them causes you to lose control, it's not fun. People say games like Furi or Dark Souls are "hard for the wrong reasons" but they clearly haven't played this ****

    SR2 has the best story in the series, I know that. It's dark humor, over the top, but gritty and leaves you with feelings. The gameplay though feels like it was made on a toaster for the PS2, then upscaled to the PS3 with terrible draw distances, AI that's too skilled (Please, I've beaten every other SR game except 1 which isn't available digitally, on the hardest settings. 2 should not be killing me this easily), and a lot of just not fun things. I mean, honestly, people complain about the lack of Septic Avenger in later games, but it was the slowest and most boring side mission I've ever done. It was also really annoying because the AI driving would get STUCK ON THINGS ALL THE TIME AND JUST KEEP DRIVING INTO THEM. It's a fun game at staged, but overall it's a half baked open world game with some minor charm. Looking at it from a 2019 perspective, it just does not hold up a single bit.    … Expand
  5. onewarmslime
    Oct 17, 2015
    7
    It's not a bad game, but the story mode seemed kinda empty, nothing like Saints Row 3 which had a really engaging and fluid story mode... I've seen people say this is the best game in the franchise but I don't really agree. What's true is, there's a lot more to do in the city than in the next games, the sidemissions are fun.

Awards & Rankings

36
#36 Best PS3 Game of 2008
28
#28 Most Discussed PS3 Game of 2008
23
#23 Most Shared PS3 Game of 2008

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
82

Generally favorable reviews - based on 50 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 45 out of 50
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 50
  3. Negative: 0 out of 50
  1. IGN
    82
    Players who enjoyed the action-packed moments in GTA will have an absolute blast with Saints Row 2. It's tough not to hate on the slightly lacking production values, but when you see the rest of the game it actually makes a bit more sense. The technical shortcomings are the only truly bad part of Saints Row 2, but the core gameplay experience is extremely enjoyable.
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  2. IGN AU
    80
    On the surface, Saints Row is an easy game to hate. Actually, I have a feeling that a lot of players and reviewers will write this game off for the sheer stupidity at play at all times. But to do so would be a big disservice to a game that tries hard to do a lot of things and show you a good time. Did we have a good time? Definitely.
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  3. Total Video Games
    90
    Packed full of rewarding and entertaining features, Saints Row 2 is an unadulterated videogame that makes no attempt to rival GTA4. Instead, it's quite content to offer plenty of fun and set itself as a worthy alternative to Rockstar's opus.
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