I played this game over about a week (Xbox 360 version), and completed it with 91%, which means all the missions, most of the minigames, all chop shop cars, most hitman targets, and some diversions. It took me about 41 hours.
It's what they call a "sandbox game" these days, which means you get to run around in third person in a 3D environment, doing what you like. For example, a modern GTA game (but not Chinatown Wars).
I didn't play the first game, though I do own a copy (I got it in a special offer). I saw my boyfriend playing it for a bit and it didn't pull me in. The 2nd one got much more praise, including from some people I didn't expect to praise it, so I decided to give this one a go... when the price had dropped enough. I got it in a "2 for £25" deal. :D
The first thing that struck me with this game was that it is completely immoral. You start off waking up in a prison and shoot your way out, killing loads of police on the way. You then get to go off and play some mini-games to earn "respect" to play more plot missions, so I tried one called "Fuzz". You dress up as a police officer and go round hunting down criminals (e.g. litterers, peaceful protesters) and assault them until they lie on the floor in a puddle of blood. One example that was quite memorable was when we dragged a naked couple out of a closed van for having sex, then beat them to death. I then decided to play a minigame called "crowd control" where you are a bodyguard and need to protect a star from crazy people (who will beat the star with baseball bats or whatever). To do this, you need to do things like pick them up and throw them in front of trains, off of tall buildings, into baggage handlers that shred them, etc.
It's all rather over the top, but it's so far gone that it's just cartoon violence. The game does glorify the gangsta lifestyle, but it's cartoon gangsta doing cartoon murder and extortion and such, doing cartoon drugs and watching cartoon pole dancers... well, actually, no, those last things aren't so cartoony. I do see it as completely unbelievable fantasy and as such can only see it as comic, though. The constant need for minigames and points popping up on screen everywhere make it constantly clear to the player that this is all just a stupid game, which I suppose stops you from feeling guilty.
It seems too obvious and too easy to compare this game to Grand Theft Auto IV, but it's the easiest way to show the games strengths and weaknesses.
GTA IV is really well written, contains lots of hilarious satire and irony, but the core story is complex, sobering, maybe even depressing. I can't say the story was everything, but I have to respect the way it was written. The city teems with life and personality. Drugs and alcohol drive people crazy, and the protagonist just gets himself deeper and deeper into trouble by messing with gangsters.
Saints Row 2 has a perfunctory story - the type you get in brainless Hollywood action movies, the humour is very low brow (e.g. flinging poo at rich people's houses). The city is large and has different districts each with a different look, but the city and its occupants don't feel real; the gangsters are divided by race but don't seem like inhabitants of the areas they control, and relies too much on simple race/class stereotyping. Drugs play a BIG part in the story but never harm anyone (apart from getting shot at if they're in the wrong gang), and as the story progresses you just get more and more influence and freedom to do whatever you like, in your badass gangsta way.
On one hand that makes it a lot of fun, but on the other hand it leaves it feeling shallow, a little dissatisfying and empty. That and the fact it was a pretty easy game. I'm going to finish up with a list of pros and cons:
Pros:
* The character customisation features are incredibly good - you can change just about anything about the appearance of your character (face, body, hair, tattoos, clothing, ethnicity, voice).
* I like how the character you created is in all cutscenes as though it was pre-made, and dialogue is tailored to your character (gender / ethnicity / etc)
* Most minigames and diversions are fun
* Really friendly interface in a lot of ways, I especially liked building up a garage of cars, and the unlockable where you can call up and get them delivered to you wherever you are.
* Really nice character modelling. I'm not just talking about the pole dancers, but... yes, they were fun to watch too.
* Really nice diversity of vehicles available to use, and with different working functionality too.
* I was surprised just how many buildings they let you go into. Well detailed world.
Cons:
* BUGGY. You wouldn't believe the number of times it froze up on me, and all I could do was manually switch off the console. >:(
* The GPS is really stupid, a lot of the time.
* The stories in the game are really cliché, though the Saints gang member's personalities and banter somehow manage to keep it amusing.
* The minigames were more fun than the plot-forwarding missions.
* (Xbox 360) : You can't get most of the achievement points in single player mode!
* It's very easy, at least, on "normal" difficulty.... until you try and pilot a helicopter, in which case it becomes nasty because you cannot avoid one-shot-kill homing missiles. So the last mission took me ages!
* The comedy is very low brow, most of it wasn't funny but strangely enough I found it inoffensively unfunny, not complete turn-off unfunny. I mean like it's a million years before it's as good as GTA IV radio / TV comedy.
* Not enough to listen to on the radio, it got boring.
* After playing GTA IV, I wished I could taxi across the city.
