Saints Row: The Third - The Full Package

I started shooting at a cop. The cop shot back. The people in cars started to drive away in panic. One of them ran over the cop. I saved a lot of ammo.

I can't remember that i've had so much fun with a game, EVER! Many laughs, nice, over the top humor, a weird storyline and very good graphics on Win7 64bit with looser-graphics-card. This is one of my favourite games and i have played a lot of them. Crashed only two times, which is ok imo.

Saints Row 2 was a better overall game, but if I just want to have mindless fun, this is what I tend to go for. I've probably beaten it 5+ times at this point and I still keep coming back.

Imagine Grand Theft Auto IV, except it actually understands why people play and enjoy crime sandbox games in the first place - that and all the shallow "satire" of American culture that's either mean-spirited or juvenile is replaced with a much more absurdist (though still juvenile) sense of humor. You don't play as some boring-looking pre-written psychopath who the writers expect us to sympathize with - nope, you make your own character and make him or her as ridiculous looking or sounding as you want. Want to play as Shrek or some kind of hideous humanoid version of Sonic the Hedgehog who runs around nude with his pixellated genitalia flapping in the wind? The character creator is that flexible - and your character will appear as created, full-voiced (with whatever voice set you picked) and animated in every gloriously ridiculous cinematic sequence. The gunplay and driving physics are goofy and exaggerated, but ultimately polished and satisfying. There's no cousins interrupting your mayhem with requests to go bowling. Nope, you're the boss and the other characters answer to you. Aside from the entertaining main missions, side-activities include (but aren't limited to) streaking, wacky Japanese game shows and score challenges where you're given a tank or unlimited ammo and are simply encouraged to go nuts. Over the course of the game, laser guns, hoverbikes, zombies, cyberpunk matrix dives and weaponized dildos are all introduced into the world and by the end you have an absolutely bonkers mess of a open-world action game, that will probably go way too out there for some people (like my brother, who still insists that GTA IV is a beautiful work of art) but is nonetheless a joy to play. The worst thing I can say about this game is that it had a ridiculous amount of overpriced DLC, which is all included here, so it's less of a problem. Just don't enable the Bloodsucker or Unlockable pack. They're broken as hell. Also, Saint's Row IV on GOG, when?

While 'Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas', Rockstar took the 'GTA' series in a more serious direction, Volition took 'Saints Row' did the opposite with 'Saints Row: The Third'. Doing so freed the 'Saints Row' series from being labeled as a "GTA clone" and developed a style all on its own. 'Saints Row: The Third' is an absurdly stupid, fun game. By not trying to be realistic, the game got away with dialling the action, humour and overt sexualisation of both male and female characters to 11. The result of that was a game that was actually enjoyable, albeit lacking an evenly strong story to motivate the player through the missions. I highly recommend 'Saints Row: The Third' to players who suffer from 'GTA' fatigue like me, especially after the mediocre single-player campaign in 'GTA V' and the chaotic 'GTA Online'. You may just find yourself enjoy the absurdity, fun, and humour that we have not seen in 'GTA' since 'GTA: San Andreas'.