Saints Row is a critically acclaimed open world action adventure game released in 2006 on the Xbox 360. It spawned quite a few followups, the third of which was cleverly entitled, Saints Row: The Third (released 2011). Fast forward to today and the Saints Row series is still a fan favorite. So much so that we’re seeing remastered editions of their earlier games, such as the just released, Saints Row: The Third Remastered. The upside to this is that it opens up the earlier games to a whole new audience, along with updated graphic enhancements and every DLC (30+) that was released for it.
We are checking out Saints Row: The Third Remastered on the PlayStation 4, but it is also available on Xbox One and PC. This version of the game improves pretty much every aspect of the original game including graphic enhancements, improved lighting, reworked environments, and visual effects. Basically that means the game is supposed to look as good as most games do on this generation of consoles, even though the game came out almost nine years ago.
STORY
Saints Row: The Third Remastered gives you control of the Saints at the height of their power, and you live the life to show for it. This is your city. These are your rules.
Years after taking Stilwater for their own, the Third Street Saints have evolved from street gang to household brand name, with Saints sneakers, Saints energy drinks and Johnny Gat bobblehead dolls all available at a store near you. The Saints are kings of Stilwater, but their celebrity status has not gone unnoticed. The Syndicate, a legendary criminal fraternity with pawns in play all over the globe, has turned its eye on the Saints and demands tribute.
Refusing to kneel to the Syndicate, you take the fight to Steelport, a once-proud metropolis reduced to a struggling city of sin under Syndicate control.
And that’s pretty much all I’ll say about the story. It’s a nine year old game that has been reviewed before. The story hasn’t changed nor has the gameplay. We are just now getting it in a much prettier package so we’ll be focusing on that here.
GRAPHICS
Graphically, Saints Row: The Third Remastered sees a huge improvement all around in the way it looks. I’ve never played the original, but judging by old Youtube videos of it, the graphics do look much better. Specifically the lighting really brightens things up and makes everything look more realistic. You can really see this with the way the sunlight looks, the sky, fiery explosions, and anything else that has a light source.
Apparently some elements in the game have also been completely reworked, such as new high-resolution textures, some environmental details, and vehicles.
All of this makes Saints Row: The Third Remaster feel like almost an entirely new game. Looks wise, it’s up there with Grand Theft Auto V, though GTAV still looks a tiny bit better in my opinion. However if you’ve never played this game before, you wouldn’t be able to tell that this is a last gen game. They did a really good job with the remaster bringing it up to current gen standards.
Even the character models look better, though a bit plastic looking. The added lighting and shine makes them look a tiny bit on the weird side, almost like walking mannequins.
GAMEPLAY
Not much to say here that hasn’t been said about this nine year old game other than that the game is still pretty fun. It’s an open world game so you pretty much know what to expect. Basically there are main missions along with side missions scattered around town.
It’s pretty standard fare and much of it mimics what has been done with the Gran Theft Auto series. The only difference is that everything in Saints Row: The Third Remastered is over-the-top and wacky. That’s the main draw of the series where you aren’t really supposed to take the game too seriously and just enjoy how crazy it is.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Saints Row: The Third Remastered is still a fairly good game, even by today’s standards. Those who have never played the series before would think that this was an entirely new game built for this generation of consoles, which is a pretty good compliment for an almost ten year old game.
The gameplay still holds up, although parts of the story and humor here and there might not. Aside from that, it’s still a very fun game and will appeal greatly to those who enjoy open world, do pretty much whatever you want, type games. Apparently this was the height of Saints Row, so this is a good place to jump in if you’ve never played the series before.
