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Saints Row 2
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When Saint’s Row was released back in 2006 a lot of us gamers took one look and said «GTA clone, next please» But the rest of us, who actually played it had an entirely different view «GTA clone, awesome». Saint’s Row was praised as the first open-world sandbox game for the next-gen consoles but so far had only been described as a new GTA clone. But trust me, this game is not a grand theft auto clone.
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Ok, now for the news. Saint’s Row 2 is coming to the Xbox 360 later this year, and we have been lucky to catch a glimpse of what Volition have in store for the gaming community. The sequel takes place a few years after the evert of Saint’s Row. Saint’s Row 2 entails you returning to the city of Stillwater, which was just finished being rebuilt after the unreal carnage and mayhem you caused in the first game. The saints are scattered and humiliated and to fill the power gap left by them and the other gangs you destroyed a bunch of new «ruffians» have come in and took over. In Saint’s Row 2 the gaming community have to face three new gangs, each with its own fighting style, vehicles and illegal business.
Almost exactly the same as in the first one, you begin your
gaming session by creating your character. This time
around you can be a guy OR a chick. The amount of detail put
into your look and likeness has also been enhanced and can be
defined more finely though a system of delicate sliders.
Visually, you can notice a lot of detail to the characters,
further enhancing the gaming experience and showing
that this is not a GTA clone. You can make your
gaming other look young or old, fat or muscly, etc. You
can also choose your characters fighting style and what kind
of taunts they can throw out. Taunts are hilarious
animations that include flipping someone the bird, an old
gaming favourite tea-bagging and other ridiculous
activities not fit for family or more specifically parental
viewing. You can even select you players voice, which means
your gaming other wont be a silent old bugger this
time around.
Those of you gaming fanatics who played the previous game know that to unlock missions you had to get rep by performing activities etc around the world. This included things like racing, hijacking shipments and committing fraud. You also got respect bonuses if you wore some sweet clothes in your gangs colours. Well, the system is basically unchanged, but now the respect challenge has been made easier and you gain respect for completing diversions. You can do these at any point or time by pulling off cool or funny stunts and tricks. Taking your car of huge jumps, shooting a guys testicles of or dragging someone behind your car are just a few in the huge list of possible diversions.
The «crib» system has undergone some significant changes too. Instead of unlocking better cribs as you go along you can now upgrade the crib you already own with cool furniture and awesome appliances. This Sims style activity in the world of gangsters improves your overall style lever, and gives a bonus to your respect much like wearing the right clothes did in the first game. In the squeal though, bonuses are based on everything you own, not just your clothes.
Fighting has been significantly tuned up, allowing for more complex and better looking hand to hand combat. Each gang possess its own specific style of martial arts that it follows, each with its own array of finishing moves. You can now grab people and use them as human shields, letting them take the rain of bullets meant for you. Shooting has also been vastly improved, with an over shoulder aiming view that should make gunplay a lot more easy and also a lot entertaining for us gamers. Of course there will be new weapons including sticky bombs which you can use for a lot fun activities, such as turning cars into guided missiles.
Volition has refused to disclose to us the storyline, for now, and also what celebrity voices you might hear in this gaming sequel. But, they did assure us that the budget for celebrity voices and licensed music has sky rocketed since the last game. They also confirmed that some of the characters will be making another appearance, including Johnny Gat, Troy and Aisha.
If you compare Saint’s Row Saint’s Row 2, then you will see that the second promises so much more. You can control more vehicles now, including boats, helicopters and motorcycles. Also the world of Stillwater will be created and portrayed in much more detail. It will take up as much map space as it did before, but also add over 130 interiors so you get a lot more to explore. We here at xNineLivesx are looking forward to visiting the new and improved Stillwater when Saint’s Row 2debuts later in 2008.
- MarXisT