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Written by Anthony L. Cuaycong
Developer: Deep Silver Volition
Publisher: Deep Silver
Genre: Action, Shooter
Price: $59.99
For gamers steeped in action-adventure titles, their bias for the Saint's Row Franchise runs deep. While the first Saints Row release was nothing memorable, it was Saints Row 2 that convinced them of the series’ legs. The game had similar mechanics to classics like Grand Theft Auto, but its humorous approach to its open world helped it stand apart from the others. It strayed — and stayed away — from more serious topics its predecessors discussed, opting instead for a light-hearted, silly tone to color its urban environments. It boasted of bright, colorful atmospheres amid all the mayhem, effectively making Saints Row 2 a seminal title.
Fast forward to today, and the Saints Row series is still alive and well. It’s latest offering is Saints Row 2022, which, for the most part, seeks to reflect what has made the Saints Row series so beloved. It does have its own version of witty and charming dialogue, and is clearly aimed to capture the same types of audiences its predecessors had. Unfortunately, for all its good intentions, it suffers from a number of problems, and while some parts of it are enjoyable, it never manages to live up to expectations.
There’s the story, for one. In Saints Row 2022, you create your own character in the fictional city of Santo Ileso. Caught between rival gangs, you and three friends team up to make your own gang, and work together to take the city into your hands. You do this by going on odd jobs, doing character missions, fighting other gang members, and taking each district piece by piece until the whole city's yours. It's a neat concept, and it doesn't really have to do much more than that to become enjoyable. Insert a bit of humor, add a little justification (no matter how silly it can be), and you have the makings of a pretty good Saints Row game.
The problem comes in the quality of Saints Row 2022’s writing. It never really manages to be anything but annoying. None of your companions are really interesting, and what personalities they have seem to be based on pop culture tropes more than anything else. This would be fine if the tropes themselves were enjoyable or done well, but they're not. Instead, they try to pull funny modern references, all while setting it to the tune of gun-fighting, rampant gang-related violence, and constant criminal activity. It never feels like it fits; it's never fun when it's put center-stage, and it always feels out of place. The game throws heartwarming stories of finding gifts for orphans even as you gun down dozens of policemen in your attempts to escape them. It's a story trying to talk about struggle and hardship even as you mow down gangsters by the dozen. It feels like a parody that's trying too hard, and that ends up with the game feeling hollow. Its humor misses its intentions, and the characterizations of its characters are just not enjoyable.
Of course, this can all be forgiven if the gameplay is immersive, and to its credit, there are a few stand-up things that help keep Saint's Row 2022 somewhat enjoyable. The gunplay, for instance, has become more nuanced. It tries to be tactical when it can, addressing enemies that try to swarm and overwhelm you with sheer numbers. While you can stand up to their gunfire, you have to be a bit more careful in how you deal with them, as certain enemies are more dangerous and become high-priority targets.This leads to a pretty brisk pace during combat, forcing you to choose your targets wisely and take down your enemies in order of priority. Finishing moves can be done on some enemies, with the combat flowing around you taking down enemies one by one, doing your fancy stuff when you can, and relying on your arsenal of pistols, sub-machine guns, and rifles to finish the rest of them off. It all all feels pretty weighty, and while it's about what you'd expect from the genre, in theory, this does hold up well if the pacing of its encounters is finely tuned.
The problem that rears its ugly head comes in implementation. While the gunplay in Saints Row 2022 is enjoyable, if somewhat safe, in design, there are just way too many bugs to really find a proper time to enjoy it. Some of it can be visual issues, with annoying pop-in textures in the world or enemies' life bars flashing alternate colors. These are unfortunate but forgivable, and had the game stopped at minor details like cars appearing and disappearing in view, then the issues would stop there. The problem is, it doesn't, and often escalates into game-breaking concerns that just stop all progress. At the time of review, there were quite a few that negatively impacted the enjoyment level. From missions failing to continue due to triggers not happening, to zoom-in bugs that required a full console restart to get rid of, Saints Row 2022 was just a mess to behold. It was hard to enjo. There were reload animations that refused to stop, enemies that needed be killed but didn't spawn in the mission zone, and glitches galore that made some mandatory sequences unplayable. It's just a mess of issues that detract from the overall enjoyment, and these are impossible to ignore.
It's actually a shame. There are parts of Saints Row 2022 that genuinely entertain and come in line with the series' humor. The Insurance Fraud minigame where you have to throw yourself at cars is still pretty enjoyable. Driving around the city, even with its slippery controls, brings the right sense of scale into the world, and while the characters are dreadful, the moment-to-moment excitement you can have by causing mayhem is still present, at least when the bugs aren't rearing their ugly heads.
It’s just too bad that the bugs in Saints Row 2022 rear their ugly head time and again. It's difficult to ignore issues that need constant restarts and mission repeats and failures to get past. Saints Row 2022 is a mess, but not because its foundation is weak. After all, you can make jokes about anything given enough talent, and the writing, with a little more nuance, might've been saved had a little more time been put into it. Technical issues could have been fixed prior to release, with problematic missions redesigned and retooled to flow better and actually function. However, the amount of bugs present provides food for thought on just how much quality assurance actually went into ironing out the issues. Perhaps some more time and development could have saved the game and made it fun, because when it works, it's fine. It just doesn't work very often.
As it is, Saints Row 2022 is filled with game-breaking bugs that stop your progress. It rightly tries to echo the series' best parts, but it fails so spectacularly that it's just sad to go through. Perhaps with enough time and given enough updates, it can deliver sustained enjoyment.
THE GOOD
- Still has some enjoyable minigames
- Decent combat and gunplay
THE BAD
- Feels unfinished, with game-breaking bugs that make it hard to enjoy
- Very annoying characters that are hard to empathize with
- Mundane and too safe for its own good during the times it does actually work
RATING: 6/10
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