Saints Row Preview: Beacon or Glare?
That's how good the new action game is
Created: 2022-07-21Updated: 2022-07-21 4:04 PM
By: Janik Boeck
After nine years, the new Saints Row will be released on August 23rd.
Does it have explosive potential or does it fizzle out?
The preview gives the answer.
Hamburg – After nine years of being away from the big stage, it's almost that time again.
A new Saints Row will be released on August 23 for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and PC.
It should conquer the market and the hearts of the players alike.
The timing for this is extremely good: Watch Dogs is dead and GTA 5 is boring because everyone is waiting for GTA 6.
The polygon-turned satire on the hard life of a gangster is just right.
The preview reveals whether Saints Row actually has what it takes to be a cracker, or whether it just bursts like a balloon from too much pressure - explosion!
title of the game | Saints Row |
Release (date of first publication) | August 23, 2022 |
Publishers | Deep Silver Volition |
series | Saints Row |
developer | Deep Silver Volition |
platform | PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PC |
genre | Action RPG, Third-Person Shooter |
Saints Row Preview: Back to basics - the story
What is Saints Row about?
Nine years after the last main part of the Saints Row series, developer Deep Silver Volition brings the prequel.
In the new part, players experience the history of the origins of the eponymous gangster gang - the Saints.
As one of four aspiring gangsters in their late teens, the players in Saints Row are to create a new powerful gang and rise to the top boss.
Of course, there are a number of obstacles to overcome on the way to becoming the villain.
The players have to assert themselves against the four existing crime syndicates.
As is typical for Saints Row, morality and fairness are secondary as long as you can blow everything up with a snappy quip on your lips.
Saints Row: Marshall is a syndicate to defeat © Deep Silver Volition
The story is full throttle from the start.
In the first two hours alone you shoot down hordes of enemies.
Whether hanging from a flying jet, jumping over a moving train in Mad Max fashion, driving a container on the car á la Fast and Furious or walking through the museum with a minigun - everything that isn't in the tree by three is slaughtered is.
To be fair, that wouldn't do anything in Saints Row either, because you could just blow it up.
In other words: there's a huge bang - explosion!
Saints Row Preview: The Devil is in the Details - Gameplay
How does Saints Row play?
In the first few hours of playing Saints Row, it is immediately clear that the developers have remained true to the series in terms of gameplay.
Even the first steps and shots in the game feel like coming home after a long journey.
Players can wield a large arsenal, have some useful abilities to unlock and of course there are loads of things to blow up again.
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Saints Row: There are more than enough explosions in the game © Deep Silver Volition
Driving a vehicle also triggers a little kick of nostalgia.
What is new about driving, however, is that you have been given the ability to ram to efficiently keep pursuers at bay.
Other functions, such as the wingsuit shown in the trailer, were not included in the preview version.
The largest open world in the series:
Saints Row comes with the largest open world in the series.
Players can freely explore Santo Ileso after the tutorial and complete many small side missions and challenges.
This is intended to encourage and diversify exploration of the world and its content in Saints Row.
But if you want, you can also stick strictly to the story, because there are no annoying level limits that delay the start of missions.
In the open world, of course, there are plenty of things that can be blown up - blast!
Saints Row Preview: Good Prospects - Graphic
How good are Saints Row's graphics?
The optics of Saints Row are gaudy as usual.
Instead of only crooking through the nocturnal streets of a big city, this time it goes through a desert landscape with many small and large cities.
The new setting is less gloomy than the urban locations of the predecessors and therefore appears friendlier overall.
Saints Row: There's a lot of resistance on the way to the top of all gangsters © Deep Silver Volition
With a day-night cycle, developer Volition provides graphic variety when playing.
While this is all very pretty to look at, nobody should expect bombast graphics.
You can tell from the game's minimal system requirements that Saints Row is supposed to run on every PC.
Unfortunately, this also means that Saints Row lags graphically behind other modern games.
Only when blowing up all sorts of things does the graphics not have to hide.
The light and particle effects look bombastic at any time of the day or night, no matter what is about to blow up - blast!
Saints Row Preview: It has to be liquid – performance
That's how good the performance is:
As with the graphics, fans shouldn't expect monster performance from Saints Row either.
The game runs at 30 FPS or 60 FPS depending on the PC.
In the preview, however, Saints Row ran pleasantly smoothly - with the exception of a few stutters.
The preview was played on a PC, while the graphics settings were all set to the highest level.
However, this hardly detracted from the fun of the game and the bang effects - mini explosion!
Saints Row Preview: More is always better - craziness
How weird is the new Saints Row?
Finally, probably the most important question of all when talking about this series: How crazy is Saints Row?
In the new part of the series, the developers take a step back.
The sheer level of madness that Saints Row 4 displayed recently will not be found in the new Saints Row.
Nevertheless, the offshoot has not lost the humor typical of the series.
Saints Row: The Idols is a good illustration of how wacky outfits can get © Deep Silver Volition
The character editor tops everything:
there's a bang and a crack at every corner, followed by a light-hearted saying that's dripping with black humor.
The new Saints Row is undoubtedly over-the-top and over-the-top, especially if you take a closer look at the character editor.
From the outfit, the muscle definition, the beard, the gender and the equipped dance moves to the size of the nipples and genitals, as well as the skin color, you can really change everything - color explosion!
Saints Row Preview: Preliminary conclusion - will the leap back into the limelight succeed?
The good thing about Saints Row:
Putting it all together makes for an overall fun first impression of the new Saints Row.
The game reflects on the gameplay strengths of the series, but still comes with small innovations around the corner that bring a breath of fresh air.
The character editor offers just as much scope for creativity and experimentation as the open world.
Saints Row: The hope remains that the game will continue to gain momentum © Deep Silver Volition
The less good thing about Saints Row:
One negative point that stands out in the Saints Row preview;
is the missing madness.
In addition, technically and graphically, the game does not necessarily stand out from other modern games.
There is a risk that the game has lost a unique selling point here.
What gives hope:
fans of the series should not hang their heads.
In the preview, only the first few hours of Saints Row were playable.
So it's more than likely that the scale of weirdness will rise again significantly in the vastness of the open world of Saints Row.
At least the narrative pace of the first quests suggests that Saints Row knows how to let the shreds fly as the game progresses.
We're definitely excited to tears - blast!
