r/SaintsRow • u/Disclaimer_II • 18h ago
Saints Row The Third Retrospective
Me and my wife just replayed the entire series together, and what stuck out to me the most, was how abysmally bad SR3 is. I'm gonna pick it apart, mostly just to get my own thoughts out, but also to see if anyone feels the same about this overrated mess.
And that's just what it is, right? Overrated. SR fans hold it up as some kind of wonderful compromise between 2 and 4, when it's really the worst of both, a game that does nothing uniquely well. It's characters are just ugly caricatures of the 2010's, it's story is nonsensical and borderline non-existent, and it's open world is, no contest, the most lifeless, boring, personality-less, dead thing I've ever seen. The whole game is a hollow vehicle for the dev's cornball GenX chungus humor and very little else besides.
I'm not bound to nostalgia by any means, but playing it right after 2, it's impossible not to compare. Impossible not to notice just how much less there is to do in 3. The effort from the devs is just not here. The activities are incredibly dull and frustrating, the customization is half what it was, the interiors and map variety are gone, the illusion of freedom in a big sandbox is lost. Not to mention, it's buggy as all hell, especially in co-op.
What surprised me though, is how even 4 was a step up. 4 at least KNOWS what it is. It gives you some fun stuff to fool around with, and despite how absurd it is, actually takes its premise and characters seriously at times. Weirdly, it treats the OG games with much more reverence than their direct sequel did. It also at least remembers to be a fun game first, rather than JUST a parody, which was such a relief after toiling through 3.
I couldn't believe how much time and, I guess, nostalgia had warped my perspective of SR3. Couldn't believe what a chore it was. It's a crass, gray, ugly dick joke wrapped up like a video game. It peaks in the first hour and then nosedives off a cliff, never to recover. What a sad hunk of shit. Should've turned it off as soon as "Power" wrapped up.