Saints Row

Saints Row is a game for the Xbox 360.

Open cities, multiple storylines, on-foot and in-car action, plus Havok physics and online play.

Storyline
It's about this main protagonist joining a gang a then becoming the leader. After being betrayed he suffers an explosion in a yacht and is presumed dead.

Characters
Julius Little-Founder of the third(3rd)street saints.Recruited the protagonist in the middle of a gang war saying "We Need More Help."

Troy Bradshaw-Julius's right hand man.Decorated undercover police officer who has been eye-balling the 3rd Street Saints for a very long time.Although,very good at what he does.

Johnny Gat-Blood hungry and has no remorse for anybody that he kills or injures.Loves violence and likes to perform it publicly.

DEX-Lieutenant.Dex is probabaly the smartest one in the whole gang.He uses his brains over his brawns.Even though he's a little naive,he always comes through when the saints need him the most.

Lin-Lin is of Chinese-American heritage, is the sole female lieutenant in the Saints, and is teased as the silent protagonist's potential love interest.The self-proclaimed "Best Racer In Chinatown" also loves her customized Voxel car.

Gameplay
Saints Row consists of elements of a third-person shooter and a driving game, affording the player a large open environment in which to move around. On foot, the player's character is capable of walking, running, swimming, climbing and jumping, as well as utilizing weapons and basic hand-to-hand combat. Players can also drive a variety of land-based vehicles like automobiles, trucks and vans.

The open, non-linear environment allows players to explore and choose how they wish to play the game. After a short cinematic-based prologue, the entire environment can be fully explored. Although storyline missions are necessary as they are part of in-game progress, players can complete them at their own leisure and after filling up a bar of 'respect', which is in-game currency used to unlock missions. As missions are separated into three linear mission arcs with different storylines, each mission can be completed at the player's leisure or played through in respective order. In addition, the player can replay any mission or cutscene through use of an in-game movie theater. Should the player ever fail a mission in Saints Row, the option of instantly retrying the mission is given to the player, instead of having to drive back to the point in the city where the mission originated from. The goal is to wipe out other gangs.

When not taking on a storyline mission, players can free-roam and explore the environment, spend money on various shops and participate in eleven mini-games called activities which in turn earn the player money and respect. However, creating havoc can attract unwanted and potentially fatal attention from the authorities and rival gangs.

Combat and response
Combat in Saints Row allows the player to engage in basic hand-to-hand combat and utilize a variety of weapons. A 360-degree free aiming reticule appears when a weapon is equipped, allowing for fast and responsive aiming. The player can still move around freely with a gun equipped and still has the ability to run while firing as the game does not feature a fine-aim zoom mode, except on sniper rifles. Weapons are selectable from a one-touch inventory system, rather than toggling through each weapon. The player can also perform a melee attack with a gun equipped through use of the alternate-fire trigger on the Xbox 360 controller. The player's health will slowly regenerate over time, however food items can be bought to help regenerate health more quickly and efficiently.

The game incorporates the use of a vast array of weaponry. The player is capable of firing over twenty different weapons, including melee weapons, pistols, submachine guns, shotguns, rifles, an RPG and thrown weapons. Many weapons can be bought from weapon stores across the city however some need to be unlocked throughout the game. The player can tap into their own private stash of weaponry through in-game progress, available at their crib for use at any time.

The game uses a "wanted level" system and a bar is gradually filled up when authorities and rival gangs are provoked. Each bar filled is represented by the provoked enemy's logo, be it a star to represent the police or a "gang sign" to represent an enemy gang. One bar of notoriety will result in non-lethal retalliation however two, three, four or five bars of notoriety will result in a gradually increased lethal response. Over time, however, notoriety will go down but until all the notoriety bars are fully depleted, the enemy will continue to be aggressive towards the player. When arrested by the police, the player will reappear outside a police station with a small bounty collected from their earnings, but will not have any items revoked. The player can recruit members of the 3rd Street Saints as "homies" who will follow the player around and respond to any attacks made on the player, serving as personal bodyguards.

Activities and respect system
The player can also partake in a variety of side missions. Such activities help players earn respect, which unlocks story missions throughout the various districts of Stilwater, as well as granting special abilities (i.e. more hit points, more effective weaponry, etc.). The player's attire also reflects on the respect level, such that a "clothing bonus" is awarded upon successful completion of a mission when a sufficient number of stylish or gang-appropriate items are being worn. Once the player has earned enough respect in a neighborhood, another story mission or location of an enemy stronghold is revealed.

The player can engage in whichever activities he prefers to increase the 3rd Street Saints' kill level. One can make the same amount of progress through the game by choosing this route than if one had done the same amount of street racing. Essentially, the game is tailored to reward the player for whatever he enjoys doing the most. By fully completing all of the levels of a given activity, the player can unlock jewelry, designer clothes, tattoos including the developers tattoo and other bonuses.

Customization
The game allows the player to create a customized male character using a number of different features, including facial and body makeup. Furthermore, the player can dress their character in numerous styles of clothes available from shops around Stilwater. The choice of color and style of the clothes can affect the game, as by dressing in the Saints' colors (purple) will earn the player more respect for completing missions. The player can further customize their character through facial hair, jewelry and tattoos. Additionally, the player can perform custom body work and paint jobs on their cars, and purchase new in-game music through the city's stores.

Communication and navigation
The use of an in-game mobile phone features in Saints Row. The phone can be accessed from the in-game menu. The phone allows the player to call different services around the city, including emergency services. In addition, the phone can be used to input a variety of cheat codes which can then be activated through the "cheats" menu, but will subsequently disable Achievements. The phone can also be used to call up special "homies" which are unlocked through in-game progress and depending on the player's location, the "homie" will arrive in his/her vehicle within seconds.

The game makes use of a large pause-menu map&mdash; and also an in-game minimap; which allows the player to view a graphical representation of the streetscape and view each district with its subsequent neighborhoods, shown in different colors indicating which gang controls that territory. The map also filters numerous icons used to represent unique points on the map such as shops, activities, missions and cribs. Saints Row is the first game of its kind to adopt an in-game GPS navigation device. Through the use of this, the player can set a waypoint anywhere in the city and a directional line will indicate the quickest route to the marked destination.

Downloadable content
During the X06 Convention in Barcelona, Spain, in September 2006, the "Funky Fresh Pack" was released on the Xbox Live Marketplace as the game's first downloadable content. The item, which costs 100 Microsoft Points, added 23 different clothing and tattoo items for use in both the single and multiplayer modes. In December 2006, the "Ho Ho Ho Pack" was released, adding Santa Claus themed clothing items. The pack is free to download. In January 2007, another free downloadable pack was released. The UnKut pack installs clothes designed by UnKut and features shirts, jackets, overshirts, pants and hats.

Reception
Prior to the retail version of Saints Row being released, the demo set an Xbox Live Marketplace then-record for being downloaded more than 350,000 times in the first week of its release.

The game has received generally positive ratings. Although most critics have noted the striking similarities in gameplay that Saints Row shares with releases from the Grand Theft Auto series, they have also praised the game for the inclusion of new features and its improvement of existing ones from GTA. Saints Row has received ratings of 95/100 from GamePro, 8.75/10 from Game Informer, 80/100 from Official Xbox Magazine, 8.5/10 from IGN, 8.4/10 from GamerNode, and 8.3/10 from GameSpot. GamePro called it "the best reason to own an Xbox 360 this side of Oblivion", while IGN noted, "Hate it if you want to, snicker at its obvious me-too qualities, but don't forget to recognize impressive, kick-ass gameplay as you walk out the door." Saints Row has received an average critic score of 82% on Game Rankings and 81% on Metacritic. The Australian video game talk show Good Game's two reviewers gave the game a 7/10 and 8/10.

Most critics have praised the "Activities" and the online multiplayer, as well as the free-form control scheme. Common complaints about the game are over issues with glitches, unsatisfactory car physics, cartoonish graphics and forced, hit-or-miss humor. While the robust character creation mode was praised, several gaming publications also complained about the main character's lack of dialogue.

Although welcomed by critics and fans alike, the online multiplayer suffered from significant lag upon the game's debut, making it difficult to play. This issue was mostly fixed by a patch that took 2 months to develop.

As of November 2006, Saints Row had sold more than 1 million copies.

Saints Row received awards from GameSpot for "Most Surprisingly Good Game of 2006", as well as Gaming Target for one of 52 Games We will Still Be Playing From 2006 selection.

Saints Row has since joined the Xbox 360 lineup of "Platinum Hits" games, being rebranded and sold for US$19.99.

Possible Feature Film
Rapper Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson has expressed interest in developing a screenplay for a Saints Row film in collaboration with THQ.