Saints Row

Saints Row is back, now The Saints will try to conquer Santo Ileso and the hearts of old fans of the saga and newcomers alike. Can it accomplish its goal? Its positive qualities make it highly possible.

Saints Row is a big, over-the-top, extremely fun game and if they can sort out the bugginess quickly it’s an easy one to recommend.

Which gang you fall into will be completely up to you. For us, we’ve always been on the side of the Third Street Saints and with the rebooted Saints Row, will continue to do so.

However, the bugs should certainly not remain unnamed and it stands in the way of an even higher final score. Saints Row really does a lot of good and Volition successfully uses the reboot to bring the best of Saints Row to the fore, namely building your own crime organization. The result is a game that is perhaps even closer to classics such as Vice City and San Andreas in terms of ambiance and structure than its successors, but in terms of finish it just doesn't come close to those games. Saints Row will also not go down in the history books as a classic, but there is no doubt that there is a lot of fun to be had with the game.

I didn't really know how I felt about Saints Row until I hit the open world segment, and this current team showed me what it is capable of.

The Saints Row reboot offers a fun experience, made even more varied by the numerous Criminal Enterprises and capable of bestowing smiles, given the presence of crazy weapons to discover and out of the ordinary Skills. In addition to the journey of brotherhood at the base of the story, the real element that pushes to extend the stay in Santo Ileso is the boundless customization, which will allow you to have the last word on the look of characters, weapons, cars and the Saints HQ. Anchored in some ways to stylistic features of the past, the latest Volition effort is affected by some critical issues both on the playful and purely graphic front and more generally fails to make the series reach new evolutionary peaks. That said, if you're a lover of chaos and easygoing, manageable criminal travels, get ready to end the summer with a bang.

Saints Row is not really what we can call a total reboot of the saga, but rather a soft-reboot: it is very similar to Saints Row The Third which, even if appreciated, is nonetheless ten years old. In fact, this is felt and this new adventure is still struggling to impose itself through its technique, its gameplay or its creativity which remain anchored in a certain immobility despite some novelties: it is however a game of effective action that never takes itself seriously, rather funny and with damn generous content, which we can never blame him for. Volition finally delivers Saints Row 3 with far-west sauce, which remains appreciable without breaking three pieces of dough for a gunslinger.

A fantastic addition to the Saints Row catalogue, though it’s marred by a bunch of glitches and bugs that keep it just shy of excellence.

Saints Row is a new take on the franchise, one that focuses heavily on the RPG aspect of the game. It’s a fun underdog story set in the beautiful Saint Elos about this new version of the Saints. The customization options to make your boss truly your own delivers in such a remarkable fashion. However, it is the number of glitches and bugs that hurt the game’s reputation.

Saints Row is the perfect solution for those who seek to scratch that GTA 6 itch. The plot is extremely enjoyable and brings the series back to its roots just as i hoped it would, mixed with supreme cutscenes filled with action and energy. And speaking of action, as much as i like shoving grenades down someone's pants and tossing them to a group of enemies, the combat system just feels like it fits to a game released a decade ago. Overall, the game is a lot of fun, and that is all that matters.

Despite all its flaws (and there are more than a few), Saints Row is undoubtedly fun and explosive in its over-the-top presentation. While its punctuated with memorable moments, they are often diminished by the repetitive nature of its side content, which makes up a significant portion of what Saints Row has to offer. If you’ve been a longtime fan of the series’s previous entries, you will find plenty to enjoy with this latest installment – just don’t expect much in the way of innovation.

Saints Row doesn't try to reinvent the wheel, but it doesn't need to — it's a solid open-world adventure with loads going on, and one that is really only a good helping of polish away from sitting among the genre's better games.

In short, Saints Row is a very good game. It’s got highs and lows, with some flaws hopefully set to be patched out by its release date. While it may not blow players away, it’s an enjoyable open-world title with lots to do. Side characters are charming, there are plenty of funny moments, and it’s a perfect game for simply messing around in.

Saints Row does a lot of good in terms of personalization, clunky action and stupid physics, and is therefore somehow also a successful reboot that offers hope for the future of the franchise. Unfortunately, the game is held back by mediocre open world activities, a mediocre story and a laundry list of bugs.

Saints Row successfully reboots the much-loved franchise, although things don’t feel as wild or chaotic as I was expecting or hoping. The main campaign is a short but enjoyable romp with some decent creativity, but the open world template doesn’t innovate beyond the trappings of the genre. Side missions and distractions are amusing yet repetitive, and the adventure is lacking in polish overall. Still, being able to play the entire experience with a mate by your side makes for a lot of laughs, and if you can forgive the cringe dialogue, there are some fun moments between all the meandering that still makes it worthwhile. I can’t say that the Saints are “back and better than ever”, but gearing up for a modest romp with a lot of explosions and strong personalisation will certainly set them up for a roaring sequel if given the chance.

The new Saints Row doesn’t break any new ground, however it's still a relatively fun time. If you’re a fan of the series, there’s no reason not to give this one a spin.

If 2022’s Saints Row had been an open-world game with fewer pawns on the board when it comes to enemy factions, a bit more time to bake in the development oven to iron out the assorted bugs and issues, and a story that doesn’t end up feeling forced and confused in regards to who it’s for, it would have ended up being far more likeable and worth recommending.

Saints Row (2022) succeeds at returning to the roots of its predecessors by paring back the outlandish absurdity without losing an ounce of chaos, but sometimes feels as if it's holding on too tightly to a past best left forgotten. Plus, it has a distinct lack of polish.

Saints Row is fun, enjoyable experience to play, but in therms of innovation, Volition should have gone further, bringing new things to the Saints Row franchise. Even with that in mind, the game is a must-have for those fans who have been waiting to play another Saints Row game.

Saints Row is not the reboot the series needed, significantly limiting the levels of insanity and comedy that are the hallmark of the series, while maintaining a gameplay that is now dated and in need of a serious makeover. This made it a decent but soulless title, definitely forgettable in today's landscape. If you're looking for a not-too-demanding open world it can still wring a few laughs out of you, but at the moment Saints Row smacks too much of a wasted opportunity. The series has great potential, but it needs a real leap forward if it is to have a future.

Saints Row is one of these reboot cases that fails to build upon the legacy of the previous games in the series. While it does bare the essence of the series, it utterly fails in other domains. The new adventure in the Saints Row universe is plagued by gamebreaking and other bugs, heavy repetition in exploration missions and character models, and feels bland and tasteless. Players looking for customisation options can find loads of features that can keep them happy; ultimately, though, they are not enough to guarantee an exciting time in Santo Ilesso.

Not a successful restart: The Saints Row reboot isn't really convincing either in terms of play or technology.

As a new start for the eponymous gang, Saints Row ticks most of the boxes, but falls short in offering up anything fresh. A litany of technical and visual bugs also conspire to spoil the party, making for a solid enough, enjoyable, but ultimately uninspired, return for the series.

For all my issues with Saints Row, I keep telling myself 'at least it's fun, and the reason people play these games is not for the characters, or the story, or the weak social viewpoint the game puts forward, but the fun'. It's become a mantra. Like a little train going up a mountain: At least it's fun. at least it's fun, at least it's fun. The further I got through the game, the less I felt that was true.

While Saints Row is messy, buggy, silly and often derivative, it also recalls a time in the early 2000s when the open world genre was a haphazard, joyful space with none of the codified, dopamine-fracking precision of modern titles. There are, in this frisky reboot, the ghosts of titles such as True Crime: Streets of LA, State of Emergency, The Getaway and Runabout – patchy, imperfect but gripping experiments in player agency that didn’t quite understand the conventions, but had a bash anyway. To me that is a far more interesting set of stablemates than the last couple of Saints Row titles. To me, this is a preposterously fun video game, despite its many faults, or more accurately, because of them.

Saints Row is a decent action game plagued by bugs, but offers a unique proposition: it’s an open-world game that you might actually be able to finish. It’s unlikely to be a GOTY contender, but Saints Row is a good opener for release season and often you’ll be having a blast.

While there are definitely elements of Saints Row that really annoyed me, I still generally had a good time with the game. It is great to have a game that is a complete package on launch with no microtransactions or exploitative monetization. If you consider yourself a Saints Row fan you’ll probably find plenty to enjoy in the newest entry, even if some of its elements are weaker than others.

The Saints Row reboot wants to tell a new, modern story, but the gameplay framework surrounding it is starting to show a bit of rust.

A brand new version of Saints Row, without most of the problematic humor. Well within the standards of modern open world, but doing so, the game content remains far too old school to impress.

Saints Row is a franchise that has its best days behind it. Consequently, the latest iteration is dull, dated, and lacking oomph. The open world is great, as are the side hustles. However, this doesn't make up for its many shortcomings. Fans of the franchise may overlook the tedium, but I could not.

Ultimately the new Saints Row is a disappointment, especially if you’re a fan of the series. The co-op mode, although highly problematic when trying to establish a game, was commendably solid once up and running, and fun for a while. The new location and characters don’t really land and the sloppy nature of just about every aspect gives the impression of yet another game released long before it was finished. And even though this might sound like a random aside, when a Saints Row game with multiple radio stations features only a handful of memorable or recognisable tracks - to the point where you don’t even notice driving around in silence - you know there are issues.

I am extremely sad at this reboot of Saints Row, while I wasn’t a huge fan of the absolute bonkers nature of the 4th entry, even if I did love the 3rd. With this reboot I feel like Volition missed a huge opportunity evolve this series for a new generation, not just of consoles but for gamers. As it stands, this game comes off just feeling like its clinging to the tone and design choices from the 360; even the graphics in this reboot from 2022 feel dated and frankly Johnny Gat deserves better.

Even if one doesn't experience these technical issues, though, Saints Row is still a disappointment. The mission variety, co-op, and criminal ventures are great, but the game feels like it's at least a console generation behind in every other category. It's not the worst Saints Row game, but it's also far from the best games in the series, and will likely leave most fans of the franchise unimpressed.

The new Saints Row stumbles when it comes to bringing its world to life, which is a shame, as the story of the new Saints would have benefited from a much better sandbox for them to play in.

Saints Row is ultimately an underwhelming missed opportunity. It's a shame, as this was a chance to do something big, bold and different – showing us where the franchise could be heading in the years to come. But instead, the end product is a basic and fairly tedious experience that is stuck in an era of gaming long past. There are a handful of fun moments, but these are fleeting and it's difficult to suggest anyone picking the game up.

Saints Row is one of the worst urban open world games we've played in recent memory, a bland, janky, old-fashioned mess of a game that fails to deliver on the promise held by a reboot of this zany franchise. Whether it's the buggy combat, boring missions, cringe-inducing dialogue or cookie-cutter side activities, there's always something to feel let down by here. If you're a huge fan of the genre you may well still find something to pass the time in Santa Ileso, there's decent character customisation, a strong soundtrack and plenty of baddies to kill and cars to wreck, but for everyone else this is one game that's virtually impossible to recommend and one of the biggest let-downs of 2022 so far.

Saints Row pairs a great open-world city and respectable gameplay fundamentals with repetitive, dated mission design, a story that never finds its footing, and too many bugs to count. Depending on what you prioritize in a game, you may get some enjoyment out of it, but at best you’re looking at a diamond in a whole lot of rough.