The follow-up of a classic I really enjoyed must be at least as good if not better than the original, right? Well I got some good news for you! Saints Row 2 builds upon the first game in every way but improves almost everything about it while being its own thing with its own individual identity.
Saints Row 2 follows the events about 5 years after the ending of the original Saints Row. Your goal is to get the gang back together and work together to gain back control over the city against 3 new gangs who, while you were gone, took over most of the city, with the main area from the first game as well as the area the name of the game is derived from - Saint's Row - being taken over by a capitalist conglomerate and gentrified to the point the only thing that would tell you this is the same Saint's Row from the 1st game is the church, the only spot from the area that still exists in 2, now used as a tourist attraction.
The game's overall different bloomier and more pale atmosphere alongside all the changes made to the city gave it a unique uncanny yet familiar feeling, a very "everything is eerily familiar yet entirely different" and I think that helps solidify how much of a tight grip the Ultor corporation has on the city and how much they want to transform it into a capitalistic utopia of sorts. Playing the 2nd game after the first makes you really miss the Saints Row 1 Stilwater, especially the classic version of Saint's Row and how colorful everything was in contrast to the 2nd game's pale colors on just about everything.
Saints Row 2 fixes just about every one of my complaints with the first game: It has a checkpoint system for its missions (which the first game did not have whatsoever), it has been changed to be a lot less grindy than the first game (gone are the times you have to do a couple side-missions to level up your respect. now one side mission or two at most could level you up easily. the game also adds a very convenient system that awards you points whenever you do various activities such as dodging cars, killing gangsters and bailing out of a car at a high speed) and also the side-missions themselves are much more fun - there's new side missions that are fun to play on their own and the returning missions have been tweaked here and there to be more fun, and to give out rewards that do help you outside of said side-missions a lot, such as infinite pistol ammo or the police/gangs forgetting about you much faster.
The story was pretty simple, maintaining the same format as the first game where you have a few prologue missions, then a number of missions of each individual gang that you can tackle in any order you desire and then a few epilogue missions but also including one secret mission that is meant to tie loose ends with the ending of the first game, giving some extra context as to what happened and why.
I know a lot of people who complain about Saints Row 3 taking the story towards being a bit too out there and wacky might dislike my answer but that started with the 2nd game. Everything is more over the top and a bit of a self-parody and while at times it can work in favor for the game (such as the over the top missions and some plot elements) there are some parts where the game has taken a few nosedives, particularly with the writing. Many of the returning characters (specifically the player character and Johnny Gat) have either changed a ton or have become a bit too flanderized. Johnny Gat sometimes acts so edgy it feels like a 12 year old's OC and the future games do play into that even more. Sure, Gat was always a bit more out there and more violent but it was not to this extent. Also the fact the player went from a voiceless character with 0 agency or personality to a character that has maybe a bit too much of both (to the point they're very much a self imposing asshole with little regard towards anyone they're not close with). At first I was not a fan of what they did with Julius but as I thought of it more, it really made a lot of sense and his intentions were ultimately more or less justified (I do think he was definitely very right about the Saints becoming the very thing they fought against).
Shaundi and Pierce didn't have a lot of significant writing at that point so they're kinda reduced to a few traits, such as how Shaundi is known to have had a lot of exes and is a huge stoner and Pierce is kinda some sort of a goofier version of Dex from the first game who doesn't get enough credit for the work he puts in. I think the characters being a bit cartoony and/or one dimensional is the biggest flaw with the game, really.
The story overall isn't much to write home about but does what it's supposed to do. The missions are fun and you get a lot of entertainment from the cutscenes and the action but just don't expect a storywriting masterpiece from Saints Row. I'm not going to expect everything to be Homer's Odyssey but as a video game and neither should you. The story is simple and that is the goal. Most of the charm is in the action and the story does a good job with that.
I really liked the themes of anti capitalism and anti gentrification and I kinda liked how you can see Saints Row 2 as a villain story of sorts if you think about it given the change of character motives between the games.
Also, if you play as a woman in SR2 and onwards the character is canonically trans and the game acknowledges that.
Saints Row 2 is a really fun game and I definitely recommend it. I recommend people to play the first game firstly for better context but it's not a must. It's more than your typical gta clone or whatever and it really shows. Volition went above and beyond to make Saints Row the best experience possible by fixing all the flaws of the first game and improving just about everything. Saints Row needed a stable comfort area to be in and the 2nd game does just that. It's a fun experience I do not regret having and playing both SR1 and 2 made me appreciate the series in a way I didn't get to by playing SR3 (SR3 is still a good game IMO don't get me wrong). This may not be able to capture all my thoughts on the game but it's pretty close. I've typed about 6200 characters in this review so I think I've sold the game well enough. Play it if you have an XBOX or a PS3. If you're on PC try to look for any mods that improve the shoddy port. I wholeheartedly recommend the game to anyone who wants to have a truly fun experience with an open world game
Saints Row 2 follows the events about 5 years after the ending of the original Saints Row. Your goal is to get the gang back together and work together to gain back control over the city against 3 new gangs who, while you were gone, took over most of the city, with the main area from the first game as well as the area the name of the game is derived from - Saint's Row - being taken over by a capitalist conglomerate and gentrified to the point the only thing that would tell you this is the same Saint's Row from the 1st game is the church, the only spot from the area that still exists in 2, now used as a tourist attraction.
The game's overall different bloomier and more pale atmosphere alongside all the changes made to the city gave it a unique uncanny yet familiar feeling, a very "everything is eerily familiar yet entirely different" and I think that helps solidify how much of a tight grip the Ultor corporation has on the city and how much they want to transform it into a capitalistic utopia of sorts. Playing the 2nd game after the first makes you really miss the Saints Row 1 Stilwater, especially the classic version of Saint's Row and how colorful everything was in contrast to the 2nd game's pale colors on just about everything.
Saints Row 2 fixes just about every one of my complaints with the first game: It has a checkpoint system for its missions (which the first game did not have whatsoever), it has been changed to be a lot less grindy than the first game (gone are the times you have to do a couple side-missions to level up your respect. now one side mission or two at most could level you up easily. the game also adds a very convenient system that awards you points whenever you do various activities such as dodging cars, killing gangsters and bailing out of a car at a high speed) and also the side-missions themselves are much more fun - there's new side missions that are fun to play on their own and the returning missions have been tweaked here and there to be more fun, and to give out rewards that do help you outside of said side-missions a lot, such as infinite pistol ammo or the police/gangs forgetting about you much faster.
The story was pretty simple, maintaining the same format as the first game where you have a few prologue missions, then a number of missions of each individual gang that you can tackle in any order you desire and then a few epilogue missions but also including one secret mission that is meant to tie loose ends with the ending of the first game, giving some extra context as to what happened and why.
I know a lot of people who complain about Saints Row 3 taking the story towards being a bit too out there and wacky might dislike my answer but that started with the 2nd game. Everything is more over the top and a bit of a self-parody and while at times it can work in favor for the game (such as the over the top missions and some plot elements) there are some parts where the game has taken a few nosedives, particularly with the writing. Many of the returning characters (specifically the player character and Johnny Gat) have either changed a ton or have become a bit too flanderized. Johnny Gat sometimes acts so edgy it feels like a 12 year old's OC and the future games do play into that even more. Sure, Gat was always a bit more out there and more violent but it was not to this extent. Also the fact the player went from a voiceless character with 0 agency or personality to a character that has maybe a bit too much of both (to the point they're very much a self imposing asshole with little regard towards anyone they're not close with). At first I was not a fan of what they did with Julius but as I thought of it more, it really made a lot of sense and his intentions were ultimately more or less justified (I do think he was definitely very right about the Saints becoming the very thing they fought against).
Shaundi and Pierce didn't have a lot of significant writing at that point so they're kinda reduced to a few traits, such as how Shaundi is known to have had a lot of exes and is a huge stoner and Pierce is kinda some sort of a goofier version of Dex from the first game who doesn't get enough credit for the work he puts in. I think the characters being a bit cartoony and/or one dimensional is the biggest flaw with the game, really.
The story overall isn't much to write home about but does what it's supposed to do. The missions are fun and you get a lot of entertainment from the cutscenes and the action but just don't expect a storywriting masterpiece from Saints Row. I'm not going to expect everything to be Homer's Odyssey but as a video game and neither should you. The story is simple and that is the goal. Most of the charm is in the action and the story does a good job with that.
I really liked the themes of anti capitalism and anti gentrification and I kinda liked how you can see Saints Row 2 as a villain story of sorts if you think about it given the change of character motives between the games.
Also, if you play as a woman in SR2 and onwards the character is canonically trans and the game acknowledges that.
Saints Row 2 is a really fun game and I definitely recommend it. I recommend people to play the first game firstly for better context but it's not a must. It's more than your typical gta clone or whatever and it really shows. Volition went above and beyond to make Saints Row the best experience possible by fixing all the flaws of the first game and improving just about everything. Saints Row needed a stable comfort area to be in and the 2nd game does just that. It's a fun experience I do not regret having and playing both SR1 and 2 made me appreciate the series in a way I didn't get to by playing SR3 (SR3 is still a good game IMO don't get me wrong). This may not be able to capture all my thoughts on the game but it's pretty close. I've typed about 6200 characters in this review so I think I've sold the game well enough. Play it if you have an XBOX or a PS3. If you're on PC try to look for any mods that improve the shoddy port. I wholeheartedly recommend the game to anyone who wants to have a truly fun experience with an open world game