Saints Row  Preview for Xbox 360

Tuesday, November 08, 2005

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Title: Saints Row .............................................. System: Xbox 360 .............................................. Genre: Action/Shooter .............................................. Publisher: THQ .............................................. Developer: Volition .............................................. Release: 08/29/2006 .............................................. Online: Yes .............................................. ESRB: Mature (M) .............................................. Saint’s Row is set on dethroning Rockstar’s famous GTA franchise. You assume the role of a low-level gang member, and your vision is to become a feared gang leader. The mechanics will play similar to the Grand Theft Auto series, as players can go on-foot or select a multitude of slick vehicles. Gameplay As you play Saint’s Row, you have many weapons to choose from and even a bazooka to cause carnage on the streets. The game will be using the Havok 3.0 engine with rag-doll physics to bring a sense of realism to the game. Just imagine seeing a rival gang in their car down the street, you sneak up to the car and roll a grenade under the car, or even using a bazooka from a distance, causing a huge explosion. When a car explodes it sends different parts of the car flying in all directions; such as the door, wheels, hood and even the person driving and any passengers in the car flying into the air. Explosions are what the Havok 3.0 engine does beautifully and it is same engine used in The Outfit (Xbox 360) and many others. The rag-doll physics brings a sense of lifelessness to the bodies once they are dead. The rag-doll effect has been used in many games previously and seems to work very well with the Havok 3.0 engine. As previously stated, the gameplay will be just like Grand Theft Auto. You take missions to earn money and even reputation. You, as the player, can decide to do the missions carefully or just hang out on the streets. The city will be between San Andreas and Vice City in terms of size. THQ is aiming to have an open-ended type of gameplay. You will have total control of your destiny. One neat feature is “call-a-home”, which is accessible from your virtual cell phone. You’ll call up a gang member that you added to your address book, and within a few moments they will come up rolling in their ride and follow you around doing whatever you command them to. This is just one of the many gameplay abilities that are expected to be in the final version of the game. The cars will also have a very deep level of customization; from spinning rims, to window tints, to paints jobs, you can create almost anything you are looking for. The customization probably won’t be as close to say, some of the new Need for Speed games, but you will definitely have a large variety of choices. You will also be able to choose different clothes and physical attributes for your character to fit your own style. Saint’s Row is even going to take a step further and allowing players to receive plastic surgery to keep it one step above the law. Multiplayer Saint’s Row will definitely feature multiplayer gameplay, however the details are still “on the low”. We do have one juicy detail that the gamer will be able to play seven different online modes and play with up to twelve players online. One mode will feature players trying to pimp out their ride before the others do, and you will be able to kill and stop your opponents during the process. It is going to be very interesting to see what type of modes will be available as the gets closer to being completed. Graphics and sound If you have a HDTV then you will be enjoying Saint’s Row at a resolution of 720p with widescreen aspect ratio. It’s still very unclear how the game will scale on visuals for those with non-HD sets. The game is very clean looking and the 360 brings the streets of Saint’s Row to life. Saint’s Row is definitely a next-gen Grand Theft Auto, which means bad graphics are not an issue here folks. The game will feature voice acting from famous actors such as Michael Clark Duncan, and David Carradine. The soundtrack will have ten different radio stations with more than one hundred songs. You will be able to hook up your MP3 player to the 360’s USB port and upload your own play list. What’s the word on the street on release date? Saint’s Row will be an excellent game for the 360 by the looks of things thus far. It has the Grand Theft Auto themes to bring it to the public’s eye and the fans of the GTA series that have a 360 will have to check this game out. Saint’s Row should be a big hit for the 360 and give GTA a run for its money. Saint’s Row will be hitting the streets around first quarter of 2006.

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Luke