(AfroGamers.com) While chatting with a good friend about open-world crime games, we got around to discussing Saints Row. From 2006 until 2022, the game was developed by Volition and underwent directional changes as the lore of the titular Saints gang grew.
Two strengths for Saints Row included always having fun locations and its turf war approach. We’re going to look at both.
Location, Location, Location
Open-world crime games typically run with a fictional location inspired by a real world city. GTA has Vice City (Miami), Liberty City (New York), and San Andreas (Los Angeles, San Francisco and Las Vegas) while Mafia has Lost Haven (Chicago), Empire Bay (mostly New York), and New Bordeaux (New Orleans).
Saints Row has its own fictional areas with Steelport and Stillwater being the two main focuses. The 2022 reboot introduced Santo Ileso which is based on Las Vegas. It’s another strong location but there were a few things that didn’t make this a contender for replayability for me. It wasn’t a dismal game but it wasn’t as fun of an adventure as the previous four were.
That’s for another time.
Stilwater in Saints Row 2 and Steelport in SR: The Third were my favorite locations in the franchise. The player spent the first SR game assisting in taking a small gang to the top of the city only to wake up from a coma and find the gang in shambles. Not only that but they’ve lost a lot of turf and parts of the city are changing.
Mind you, between the first and second game—canonically five years apart—the city grew in size. That just meant more room to groove, more space for chaos, and more activities! You could even go on the stroll in SR2. That was very new when you’re used to just picking up sex workers in GTA games and having them drain your money while the car rocks.
In SR: The Third, the gang has gone from a recovered street gang to gangsta celebrities. They’re in a different city away from their power base of Stilwater and the Ultor Corporation isn’t the threat here. Steelport is run by The Syndicate which is made up of three gangs. There’s also the threat of the government’s anti-aging task force which has shown up to drop the hammer.
At the time, there were grumblings about the new location but there will be grumblings about any particular feature or element of a game. I did find the city to be not as active as Stilwater while appearing to be larger—which is always a problem.
That aside, what you were able to do in the city and missions that had you out and about in Steelport were very fun. It also helps that the team you put together in SR2 are better rounded out which is something that would continue in SR4 with the characters having matured while remaining immature and bringing in some new faces.
Turf Wars in Saints Row
Turf wars or gang wars made their debut in open-world crime gangs with GTA: San Andreas. Saints Row, The Godfather, and to a degree Mafia improved on that mechanic. Of the three, Saints Row did the most with it because it was tied closely to the gameplay and story.
Volition got away from that element somewhat in SR4. Sure, there’s still turf to fight for but your main character The Boss is trapped in a simulation and the main opposition comes from an alien controlling things.
No, the first three Saints Row games and to a lesser degree the reboot got turf wars right. Rival gangs were introduced, they were prominent in areas they controlled, and the main missions focused on taking them down and taking over their spots. Success resulted in some perks for the gang, being able to go through a piece of turf without enemies lighting you up, and seeing Saints purple on the map indicating your territory.
Sometimes the battles were pretty spicy, especially if the law showed up or were just passing by. Most of the times, it was your usual slam all the enemies in this mission until you wipe the waves or achieved some objective. In some ways, it was very straight forward but it wasn’t purely “clap the ops to sleep.”
That was the San Andreas approach and sometimes it didn’t work when a stray Balla gang member was stuck somewhere or at the border of the block or turf you were fighting over and you couldn’t find them. It was always that one guy.
If you’ve played the Saints Row franchise, what was your favorite and least favorite title? Also, it was mentioned in passing but have you played The Godfather?
As always, let us know down below!
Staff Writer; M. Swift
This talented writer is also a podcast host, and comic book fan who loves all things old school. One may also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.