Saint's Row 2

Volition is one busy developer right now as they are also working on Saint's Row 2 for the Xbox 360 and PS3 platforms. The original Saint's Row was the first true open world action game for a next-gen console; it debuted on the Xbox 360 in September 2006 (a planned PS3 version was canceled, making Saint's Row an unintentional Xbox 360 exclusive). The sequel looks to expand on the features that made the original memorable; namely the tons of customizations you can do for your character.


Saint's Row 2 will allow players to create pretty much any characte they want. For the first time you can create either a male or female playable character in the game, and sliders can determine its visuals; how tall or short, how fat or skinny, and even how young or how old your character is can all be handled in the character generation menu. Your can even customize your character's living quarters. Depending on how much money you have while playing the game, you can put in items like a bar, a pool table, or a stripper pole. You can even give your pad an overall makeover; would you like a drap and dreary hangout, an ultra-modern look, or a hip-hop artist crib?


As far as playing the game, one of the big innovations is being able to play the single player missions and campaign in a full two player co-op mode. Your online pal can come on board at any time and join you while you shoot up a drug lab, destroy a trailer park and more (other online modes are being kept secret for now). We got to see players grab NPCs and used them as human shields during fire fights and then throw the body through glass windows and walls. We got to also see sticky bombs that you can throw and attach to cars, buildings, and even people. One move is to attach some sticky bombs to the hood of a car and drive through a building and blowing it up (of course you can throw yourself out of a car before this happens).




Saint's Row 2 won't lack for vehicles to operate in the game. In addition to ground-based vehicles like cars, truck and motorcycles, there will also be boats and jet skis to use on the water and biplanes and helicopter to use in the air. One cool thing we got to see demo’ed at the press event is having you and your co-op friend in a mission where one steers the helicopter and the other shoots its on-board rockets. You have to protect a colleague who is driving on the streets of the city and is being attacked by both enemy cars and planes. Visually the Xbox 360 version of Saint's Row 2 has a lot more detail than the original game, with more refined character models and better textures for the city's structures.


While Saint's Row 2 looks like a promising game, the big question is how will it compare to Grand Theft Auto IV? Rockstar's first true next-gen open world game is set for release less than a month from now, and we have to wonder if fans of the genre will want to pick up Saint's Row 2 once GTA IV is out in the marketplace, and how it really will compare with Rockstar's latest entry in their own series. We will hopefully learn more about the game in the months before its scheduled August 26 release date.