Saints Row 2

Saints Row 2 is a 2008 action-adventure game developed by Volition and published by THQ. It is the sequel to 2006’s Saints Row and the second installment in the Saints Row series. The game was released in October 2008 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, January 2009 for Microsoft Windows, and April 2016 for Linux. Saints Row 2 directly follows from the events of the first game, as the player’s custom character awakens from a coma after five years to find that their gang, the 3rd Street Saints, has been disbanded, and their former territories taken over by newly-formed criminal syndicates and a corrupt corporation.

Description

Saints Row 2 is an action-adventure video game set in an open world environment, offering the player a large open environment in which to move around. The player’s character is capable of maneuvering through the environment, utilizing weaponry and engaging in melee combat warfare. After successfully completing the first game mission, the player meets the Third Street Saints and begin their devious schemes with the gang. Missions are unlocked by earning ‘Respect’ points from minigames and side-missions and although completing missions is necessary for game progression, players can complete them at their own leisure.

The player is granted the option of instantly retrying the missions should they fail an attempt. Numerous checkpoints save progress in each mission, and missions can be replayed from locations within the environment. Aside from attempting missions, the player can explore the environment, purchase items at shops and participate in the aforementioned mini-games and side-missions. The player can also wreak havoc on the city of Stilwater, incurring violent reprisals from the authorities. The player can recruit members from a friendly gang and use a mobile phone to contact friends and/or businesses, as well as to input cheat codes.

Entering cheats will disable Xbox 360 achievements. Players drive vehicles that are stolen, bought or unlocked. Aside from automobiles, players can use boats and water craft, helicopters, fixed-wing aircraft, and motorcycles. A cruise control system can be activated while using land or sea vehicles. Waypoints can be placed on the pause-screen map, leaving a GPS route between the player character’s location and the set destination. Players can hail taxicab services and pay a fee to quickly navigate the city. By taking land vehicles to Mechanics, players can apply paint schemes, body mods, hydraulics and nitrous oxide.

Players create their own character through a system that allows them to modify gender, ethnicity, fitness, voice, face and hairstyle. Walk and fighting styles, and personality traits can be assigned. Players purchase clothes, tattoos and piercings, and set outfits can be bought or created and saved to the player character’s wardrobe. “Cribs” (safe houses) allow players to withdraw earnings, change outfits, replay missions and save the game. Cribs can be customized by applying themes and purchasing objects like TVs and pool tables. Boats and fixed-wing aircraft can be stored at purchased docks and hangars.

Players select the outfits, vehicles, gestures and graffiti styles used by street members of the Third Street Saints. The combat systems from Saints Row have been updated but many of the basics remain unchanged. While engaging in melee-based combat, the player character will perform combos and charge up attacks, and can execute a finishing move if three consecutive hits are dealt. With a gun equipped, the player can perform a groin attack, and can zoom in for a finer aim reticle. The player can also employ the use of human shields, and can use makeshift weapons pulled from the environment e.g. fire hydrants, cement blocks.

Should the player either commit illegal activities or incite rival gang members, they will provoke potentially fatal attention from authoritative figures or rival gangs. The notoriety bar is a visual representation of the proactivity of the opposing figures’ response and continual inciting of these groups will bring about a more powerful response, such as SWAT teams from the police. The player will continue to be chased by these groups until captured or killed and must reduce the notoriety bar by either hiding from the police or gang and wait for it to “cool off”, or by seeking out a drive-through confessional which will clear the notoriety bar for a small fee.

Should the player character be apprehended or killed, a small percentage of the player’s earnings will be removed and the player will respawn at law or healthcare institutions. The game contains over forty different weapons, many of which have been recycled from Saints Row. The game allows the player to utilise new weapon types, examples of which include satchel charges, laser-guided rocket launchers, chainsaws and more. The player has the ability to dual wield handguns and submachine guns. Weaponry can be purchased by the player from specific stores or unlocked throughout in-game progress.

Four years after the explosion on Richard Hughes’ yacht, the player character (Charles Shaughnessy, Kenn Michael, Alex Mendoza, Katie Semine, G. K. Bowes, or Rebecca Sanabria), who was the sole survivor, awakens from a coma within the infirmary of Stilwater’s maximum security prison after undergoing extensive plastic surgery. They escape to Stilwater with the help of Carlos Mendoza (Joe Camareno), the brother of a former 3rd Street Saints member. Carlos explains that the Saints have since disbanded, with most members being arrested by Troy Bradshaw (Michael Rapaport), an undercover cop who had infiltrated the gang as a lieutenant and has since become chief of police, using his influence to protect the imprisoned Saints.

In the gang’s absence, three new gangs have taken over the city: the Brotherhood, a metalhead gang who conduct gun-running operations; the Sons of Samedi, a Haitian Vodou gang who run drugs operations; and the Ronin, a Japanese bosozoku gang who conduct gambling and porn operations. Also, the Saints’ former base of operations, the Saint’s Row district, has been redeveloped into a pristine commercial and residential area by the Ultor Corporation, who have further plans for Stilwater.

The player works to rebuild the Saints, rescuing former lieutenant Johnny Gat (Daniel Dae Kim) from his trial. The pair then recruit new members, including Carlos and Gat’s acquaintances, Pierce Washington (Arif S. Kinchen) and Shaundi (Eliza Dushku), as lieutenants, and set up a new headquarters in a hotel destroyed by an earthquake. Afterwards, the player steps up as the Saints’ new leader, now going under the moniker of “The Boss”, and declares war on the rival gangs, assigning the Saints lieutenants to discover more about each.