Saints Row 2 (Review)

I was very surprised by this game. Saints Row 2 is without a doubt a Grand Theft Auto clone in every sense of the word, but the game managed to do the impossible by beating GTA at it's own game. This is mainly due to GTA4 being fairly restrictive in what it allowed you to do. Saints Row 2 understands want people want from a sandbox game: freedom. The level of customization the game throws at you is almost too much. You can basically make you character look and act anyway you want. You're pretty much allowed to do whatever you want, when you want to and most of things the game has available for you to do are pretty damn fun, like driving around in septic truck spraying poo over everything, and posing as a cop who takes down law-breakers in the most damaging way possible.

I always wanted to play a game where you could take over a location and build an evil empire and Saints Row 2 is pretty close to that type of game. As you seize locations from rival gangs, you'll see your own men strolling down the street and as you buy stores, you gain a sizeable revenue from that store's sales. It really gives you sense that you own the town. One of the only things that bothered me was that helicopters controlled like crap and blew up too easily

I actually don't have have any other complaints about this game. The characters and plot aren't as well developed as a Grand Theft Auto 4's were and the ending is very weak and uninspired, but the whole game doesn't take itself too seriously and honestly this is the route GTA4 should have gone. I loved this game from start to finish and its become one of my favorite games of this console generation. Their apparently working on a Saints Row 3 and I'll definitely be up for more if they make it.