saints row 2 vs saints row the third

7/24/2019 Saints Row 2 vs Saints Row The Third

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Saints Row 2 vs Saints Row the Third.

Why Saints Row 2 is the Better Game.When I first brought a PS3 the game I played the most was Saints Row 2 (SR2).

It was not long before Saints Row The Third (SRTT) was added to my collection.

The following are some comparisons and impressions which I hope will help in

the creation of a better sequel(s) and possible improvement of SRTT.

Controls

Advantage SRTT

Having now got used to them, the control layout

for SRTT is a winner. The layout for SR2 was very good

but SRTT makes some very real improvements. Moving

the melee attack to R3/Right thumbclick and

Zoom/First person to a left trigger (L1) is a great idea.

It removes the problem of accidentally losing zoom due

to controller recoil, a common occurrence in many

games, not just SR2. It also prevents accidentally

slipping into first person view when you want to movefast, which sometimes occurs in SR2 during fast paced engagements such as

Mayhem.

Having a dedicated trigger for grenade throwing/launch is also good.

Sometimes when I had the rifle with grenade launcher I would try to melee and blow

myself up, which is embarrassing!

Having the Triangle button as human shield/grab/throw can cause problems if

you are near both a person and a vehicle since you sometimes grab someone when

you wanted to board a vehicle or board a vehicle when you wanted to grab. The only

way around that I can see is to add an additional prompt for when you are in close

proximity to both a human and a vehicle. For example, when you press Triangle you

are asked to press Square to board or Circle to grab.


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Customisation

Advantage SR2

With the exception of character appearance the level of customisation available

in SR2 is much better than in SRTT. The variety of clothing and how the individual

items can be combined is way better in SR2. This is important, since you will probablyonly create a character once during a game but will probably change clothing many

times. You also have a greater variety of stores in SR2, which makes shopping more

interesting. I am, however, pleased to see that in SRTT passers-by no longer nag you

about wearing an outfit for any length of time. If you want to do the entire game in a

dressing gown and gimp mask, you can.

Future SR games need to use the clothing system used in SR2, and needs a

good variety of stores. Perhaps even reintroduce the hairdressers, since it seems silly

to go to a plastic surgeon to change basic makeup, nails or hairstyle. Probablyappropriate to make the hairstyles of female characters cost more than for males.

Lack of customisation is also noticeable in other ways too. In SR2 I could

change the radio station playing in my crib. In SRTT I cantand it always seems to be

playing narcissistic gangsta-

rap. Just because Im playing

a gang character in the game

doesnt mean I should be

forced to listen to a certain

type of music. Im given the

option of customizing gang

members in SRTT but still

an overweight poseur in a

parka keeps turning up as a

homie.

Upgrades

Advantage SRTTI like the Respect/Money/Upgrade system used in SRTT. If you want a certain

capability you can buy it and more or better capabilities get unlocked as you level up.

How you earn the Respect and Money to do this is up to you.

This is a much better system than used in SR2 and many other games, where if

you want a certain reward you have to master a certain mini-game, diversion or


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activity. Inevitably there will be some games that certain people will not enjoy or find

difficult. The system used in SRTT is much better and more fun overall. I hope to see

this system used in future and more widely.

VehiclesAdvantage Mixed.

Vehicles are an

important part of games such

as Saints Row and GTA. I

really do appreciate that in

Saints Row vehicles do not

burst into fire if you hit a few

lamposts. SR2 did suffer a bit

from vehicle rag-dolling and

enemy vehicles playing bumper

cars with you. A Bear APC hit

by a police car should not be

thrown around like a toddler in a mosh-pit! I once got rammed by a vehicle I was

chasing and thrown two stories up in the air!

Vehicles in SRTT do seem to drive much better than in SR2. Not sure if that is

an improvement in the game engine or due to the new control layout but as far as

driving goes SRTT is much better. On the other hand, I find the fixed wing aircraftless responsive, so they probably need to bring back the separate rudder controls.

My main criticism of

vehicles in SRTT is the sound.

The Kaneda should growl, the

Justice should purr and the

Raycaster should throb. Instead

these vehicles have a whining

sound like a boy racers 50ccbike.

I was also very

disappointed to find out that I

couldnt change the colour of

the Bear in SRTT. Odd, since


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other vehicles could be customized. In SR2 I had a purple cammo Bear with wheel-

spinners, kneecappers and nitrous. That was a true Saints ride and the only thing it

lacked was Fleur de Lyse and Saints decals. I really hope future games rectify this and

that a patch or DLC becomes available for SRTT.

Replay Potential

Advantage SR2.

Both games let you replay Activities. A nice feature to see would be if the game

remembered your highest score and previous score. For some Activities this would be

the damage caused, money earned or the time taken. This would mean that Activities

such as Mayhem or Insurance Fraud would play out till their time limit and not

terminate when the target value of damage had been caused.

SR2 easily wins this category since in SR2 you can replay story missions using

the newspaper clippings at your crib. You can also replay most cutscenes on the crib

TV. I have certainly spent much more time replaying SR2 than SRTT.

Activities and Diversions

SR2 by a shade.

I actually quite like the way SRTT handles Activities. Rather than six

progressive levels you have multiple markers with the designations Easy, Medium


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or Hard. You can play the different difficulty levels in any order which is nice since

some Medium levels have been harder to beat than the Hard. Many of the Activities

themselves seem much more playable than their SR2 equivalents. My only reservation

is that completing the Activities is linked to your percentage total for taking over a

region. If you have trouble with a particular Activity you may not be able to take overan area unless you wish to use the City Takeover upgrade.

For Diversions and Challenges I like the accumulative system that SRTT uses,

which is much nicer than the Stars system used in SR2.

The reason I have given the advantage to SR2 is that there just seemed more to

do in SR2. While I never played a lot of Taxi or Tow Truck it was nice to know the

option was there. That said, one of the reasons I played so little Taxi, Tow Truck or

Zombie Uprising was the lack of game memory. If you played an activity in SR2 the

game remembered what level you had reached. If you had beaten the Activity it would

ask you what level you wanted to replay. For Diversions you always had to start back

at level 1, the only exception being Ho-ing. There was little point in squeezing ten

minutes of play in while dinner was cooking because any progress you made might be

lost.

Hitman/ Assassination and Chop Shop/ Vehicle Theft.

Advantage SR2.

This one was close to call. SR2 got the edge here since there was a nice element

of spontaneity into how this was structured. I once stumbled upon two other Hitlist

targets while hunting for a third and there is an excitement to seeing a target has

wandered onto your radar while you were doing something totally different. Likewise,


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it is fun to accidentally come across a vehicle that is needed for your chop shop list.

SRTT lost ground here since the development of the game conflicted with

some of the missions. To find the pimp Andreyou need to attack whores in Espina

to provoke a reaction from Morning Star. However, if you have reached the level

where Saints are walking the streets of Espina Morning Star gang members are absentand will not respond to attacks. To solve this problem you have to play an activity

such as Snatch or Trafficking, provoke Morning Star as much as possible and

deliberately fail the mission in or near Espina. On the other hand, I take great pleasure

that the majority of my Assassination targets in SRTT ended their days beaten to

death with a four-foot purple dildo.

The ideal game would probably have a mixture of missions, some that could be

performed while free roaming and others that must be actively hunted.

Theme Music.

Advantage SRTT

A note to all game developers out there. Use an instrumental track for loading

screens etc. The lyrics of the song used in SR2 are annoying on so many levels this is

actually one of the things I most dislike about SR2.

Phil West.

saints row 2 vs saints row the third

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