Saint's Row 2

E3 2008 Preview

Michael Schofield had a plan: to break his brother out of prison. He would start by firing an armed weapon in a bank, ensuring that he would get jail time. Schofield assumed that after being sentenced he could make one request: to be sent to the prison where his brother was being held. But once inside prison, he had to spend a whole TV season's worth of time scheming and pulling off unusual tricks to make it out of there alive.

Though it may have been an effective plan for Schofield, the ruthless thugs in Saints Row 2 aren't content with spending a year trying to sneak out. They want to bust out, gangster style. And they do, with guns blazing and cop cars exploding. Now it's the police officers who need to be served and protected. Blood, insane violence and an overabundance of vicious crimes are the primary focus of Saints Row 2. So begins the journey in THQ's vehicular action game.

Since the Grand Theft Auto IV comparison is inevitable, let's get that out of the way first. The demo shown at E3 08, which was hands-off for anyone except THQ employees, centered on the prison break that didn't involve any vehicular action. This particular battle was fought entirely on foot, making one difference between THQ and Rockstar's games very clear: in GTA, firing a weapon is secondary (driving functionality came first). In Saints Row 2 using your weapon is paramount.

The third-person controls and gunplay looked typical for the genre, and even more so when compared to the average third- or first-person shooter. But it was faster and more hectic than Grand Theft Auto IV and appeared to be a lot more intuitive. You don't have to hold down a button and wait for some ridiculous auto-aim function to kick in. The developers who demoed the game had full control over the weapon's aim. This may not be enough to push it above the cool things GTA IV did achieve, but it certainly helps.

During the prison break scenario, THQ ran the game in two-player co-op mode (the system linked version, but online play will also be available in the final version), giving us a taste of what it's like to see two friends battle cooperatively as thugs. That was the cool side of the action, and there's a strange side too. Character customization allows you to make your male or female character look and sound like a man or woman. I'm not sure if this is supposed to be viewed as a transvestite element, but one of the male characters did have a female voice. And the male aesthetic only appeared for one player on one particular screen. On the other one, the character appeared as a woman.

If you feel the need to make your character look tough, silly, pretty, or just plain weird, the new character customization features will allow you to do just that. One of the characters was caught wearing a hotdog costume, while another looked like a mime. And those are probably not the craziest -- chances are THQ is saving them for the final game.

Once the thugs had broken out and hit the streets, THQ stopped the game to prevent us from seeing what happens next. However, they were able to show off one more area of gameplay: fight club. This beat-'em-up mini-game gives you the opportunity to jump in a ring with multiple enemies. Though you may be eager to fight just for the fun of it, there is a reward involved: melee points. Earn these to increase your melee attack power, an upgrade that will definitely come in handy the next time the cops are on your tail.
 

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