Saints Row is looking...ok_ I guess_ (Hands-on Impressions)

 this video is brought to you by thebrand new apex pro mini keyboards whichcome in both wired and wireless variantsclick the link below and use offer codeskill up to get a 12 discount or stickaround to the end of the video to learnmorewhat's up nerds uh saints row i playedfour hours of it it's looking fine uhyeah i was invited by the publisher to afour hours hands-on preview event wherei got to play the opening chapters ofthe game on a laptop pc there werealmost no restrictions on what i couldcapture or discuss with the exception ofjust some story related stuff they wantto keep under wraps full props to deepsilver volition for being really openwith this preview process because oftenyou go to these things and they'rereally stage managed and there's heapsof stuff you can't show or talk aboutand you can't capture your own footagedeep silver volition put on a straightup honest to goodness preview event thatis going to help people properlycalibrate their levels of hype for thisone and i always appreciate whenever apublisher or developer does that idefinitely had my hype levelsrecalibrated for this as i was playingi'll be honest and say that i went inexcited because the preview footage i'dseen all looked pretty cool and also thepromise of a reboot of this franchisereally intrigued me it's been a longlong time since the last gta game andsaints row has always kind of existedunder the shadow of gta like a parody ofit but also its own self-awarecompletely over-the-top ridiculous thingthat only got more ridiculous as timewent on seeing things re-baseline to amore terrestrial affair here in thisreboot was something that i wasinterested in but also the prospect of anew entry in this urban open worldsubgenre that really interested me wedon't get many of these games like gtawatch dogs mafia sleeping dogs saintsrow i think that's about it that's abunch of games but they're all spreadout over the past two decades andthey're increasingly spread out thesedays as few publishers dare try tocompete with the absolute juggernautthat gta 5 has become so all of this isby way of saying i was keen for thisbecause i was interested to see how thissaints row reboot might not only advancethe saints row franchise but also bringsome new ideas to this urban open worldsubgenre after four hours with it myinitial impression is that it isn't muchof an advancement in either regard andthat term reboot probably sets the wrongexpectations like when video gamefranchises get rebooted they typicallyfeel substantially different residentevil 7 rebooted the franchise afterresident evil 6. assassin's creedorigins rebooted the franchise aftersyndicate god of war 2018 is verydifferent to the previous trilogy etcthese reboots all said okay everythingbefore this was last gen what's the newgameplay template we're setting down forthis current generation saints row isnot that kind of reboot it is in thesense that it's got a new cast ofcharacters and it's bringing things backdown to earth but it still feels likethose old open world games from back inthe day and in my view not in a good waybut let's be clear though this is funsaints row games are about doing crimesblowing [ __ ] up and having a laugh youwill be able to do all of those thingshere in this video game absolutely forsure especially if you're playing co-opwith a mate which will certainly be the best way to play through this but as i said my time with it really tempered my expectations so far it does feel like stepping back in time to that 2010 model of urban open world game design and gameplay something that i think some people will find novel and refreshing to me it felt a little tired i really struggled with the writing and the cast of characters and i was also frustrated by a number of technical and quality of life issues that i suspect won't be fixed or changed in time for launch later parts of the game may change my opinion on all of this stuff as this is a very sandbox driven game and i only had access to a small portion of that sandbox i really hope that's the case because right now saints row is looking like it's gonna make a bunch of people happy but i'm personally not really feeling this one

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we'll talk technical stuff first since there are a few red flags to call out here i was playing on a laptop i wasn't able to confirm the specs of that but playing at 1080p max settings were smooth performance was good that the laptop did struggle with 1440p i didn't have any crashes no stuttering or slowdown these are all encouraging signs i also note the recent digital foundry video on the topic of the pc port and they were very impressed and that gang is nothing if not extremely reliable good pc ports are sadly a rarity so hats off to volition for putting in the work here and hopefully the final release of the game holds up as well as this preview build did consistent with the overall theme of this review i think saints row looks fine this is a reboot and given that we're well into the next console generation at this point i was hoping for a larger visual leap than the one volition have served up here this is a title that is also shipping on ps4 and xbox one so it is going to be constrained by that last gen hardware but even then comparable experiences have far surpassed what saints row is delivering here watchdogs legion's fully ray trace rendition of london was regularly very visually arresting and i was never arrested here in saints row literally or figuratively it's not just the geometry lighting and draw distances though overall art direction is a little flat everything i saw kind of looked the same and it's possible that i was just hanging around the one part of this map at the start of the game and that everything starts to look really different and distinct later on but so far santo alesso is absent the landmarks borrows and landscapes that really see themselves into your mind as i wrote this paragraph i scrub through the whole four hours worth of footage that i had just to see if i'd forgotten some really standout location but i hadn't again this may change as i get further into the game and i hope it does in terms of gameplay bugs glitches quality of life etc i found these to be a little rough facial animations were a little undercooked lip syncing was sometimes not synced which really took me out of cutscenes animation pairing during takedowns was really bad and more than a few of the takedowns i performed had some janky pairing issues that looked pretty silly we played on controller and at this point you're probably like dude you've given that doom polygon guy a run for his money you're not wrong but two things in my defense number one i don't play on controller much these days i can do it i'm just not the best at it however and this brings me to point two the controller aim is terrible i played around with stuff like dead zones to try and improve that it really didn't make much of a difference it just feels so sensitive and without nearly enough snap to support given the number of targets you're rapidly switching between just so you don't think i'm alone in this austin came with me to this preview event and he was sitting right next to me and i leaned over and i was like so what do you think of the controller aim and he was immediately like oh my god it's so bad and it was it was really unpleasant to shoot stuff in the controller to the point where some missions actually include shortcuts to shoot explosive items sometimes you get a prompt to press the y button at which point your character will automatically target and shoot explosive barrels or whatever if you had good responsive aim controls why would you need this two other gripes related to camera so firstly when you're on foot and shooting a gun there's no option to switch the side that you're aiming from you're always always always shooting over your right shoulder that means if you want to shoot from behind cover you can only do so from the right hand side of that cover if you want to shoot from the left side you need to move completely out of cover because you can't switch hands that's pretty lame that's a pretty basic third-person shooter mechanic that's been around since third-person shooters were a thing surely wouldn't have been too hard to have implemented that second issue is controls and camera while driving so there are no camera toggles while driving there isn't like a higher up view a lower set view first person view nothing there's just the one perspective and that camera perspective isn't locked to the back of the car as you are driving you need to constantly control the camera because if you just turn the car the camera remains in a fixed position this is really annoying as i was experiencing it i was like am i going crazy is this how most of these games handle driving cameras and i just forgot so when i got home i downloaded and installed gta 5 and watch dogs legion and sure enough they have normal cameras that just follow you so you can just drive rather than having to constantly massage the camera angle i also emailed deep silver to confirm that there wasn't any missing settings or options and they confirmed for me that no additional camera options are available this is it so this is a 2020 urban open world game it's a reboot of a two decades old franchise it's a game where a huge chunk of it is spent either shooting stuff or in a car or shooting stuff while in a car and it's absent some pretty basic features that i don't think are unfair expectations at this point facial and combat animations lip sync control issues and missing camera options are all things that on their own can be looked past but pile them up and they start to cause a problem and i definitely felt that during my playtime are we going to make rent we'll make rent we just got to be a little more creative last time we got creative i got stabbed three times hey it would have been four times if nina and i hadn't shown up it would have been zero times if you were on time one area where we can't contest saints row's reboot bonafides is the narrative department this is an entirely new storyline with a new cast of characters set in a new location i'm well aware of the discourse surrounding these characters it hasn't been a positive reception to say the least  really went into this with an open mind because i was never particularly attached to the old saints row crew so i was up for anything unfortunately i struggle with these characters but again it's early days and it's very possible that by the end of the game i love them so i don't want to jump to conclusions the premise for this is that you the boss are a former employee of a private military organization you get the arse which is australian slang for getting fired and so to repay your student loans or something you decide to start your own criminal gang with your three buddies two of whom are already part of local criminal gangs you of course can create your own boss in saints row's famously flexible character creator i didn't spend too much time here because i was keen to get into the actual game and also because there's a demo for this character creator already available on the epic game store so you can check that out for yourself if you're keen perhaps the most important decision you can make when creating your character is your voice which is also linked to your personality and voice lines your character will always do the same thing and make the same decisions but the things they say during conversations will change to fit the accent and personality you choose i spoke to one person who described their character as a mouthy mary poppins another described theirs as a texan with a deep drawl and some colorful turns of phrase my dude was a cocky shoot from the hip [ __ ] to be honest i couldn't stand him i really wish i went with the mary poppins option because if i had to listen to 20 hours of this dude constantly bigging himself up i think i would struggle dude what the [ __ ] i played a little fast and loose on the job and uh oh my ceo wasn't a fan you got to be kidding me swear to god this lady walked right off the set of an 80s action movie i was half expecting her to call me rook and threaten to take my badge your posse of buddies exhibit the same relentless bravado and it makes for a team that already feels really one note they're all really brash and really confident all of the time it feels like some different personalities might have been useful here guardians of the galaxy has your brash hero dude with deeply held insecurities your murderous huntress who's emotionally guarded the slow thinking ever literal comic relief the angry rat who's nursing his trauma and the tree these are all very different characters that play off each other you spend 30 seconds with them and you can immediately sense these traits and how they might click together to result in good storytelling i spent four hours with these characters here in saints row and all i got from each of them was the worst parts of star-lord's personality on repeat okay this is gonna suck buddy oh [ __ ] you're doing great you're being very brave [ __ ] you hey keep talking to kev like that and you won't get a star on the star chart what else surprised me about this posse is the way we're introduced to them this is an entirely new cast of characters and i'd imagine that we would see them meeting each other how they came together but no they're already best buds when you start the game with their own vibe and their own in-jokes and you as the player feel very left out of that i think if you're gonna make a switch like this from one very entrenched cast to another you really need to nail that introduction to each character and show the way the group bond forms there is no introduction to these characters whatsoever and the group is already well and truly bonded by the time you arrive perhaps there'll be flashback missions later on that fill those gaps because right now those gaps feel very big indeed outside of that you're looking at a ridiculous storyline of private militaries and stolen antique mcguffins and gangs wearing wildly and practical helmets it's dumb but it's meant to be it's meant to be silliness that's just funny window dressing for the chaos and the carnage is it funny sometimes on the whole it's not my brand of humor but whatever it's fine it's more the general tone of silliness that i'm okay with since sanestro isn't meant to be some deep probing psychological drama or societal commentary it's satire it's parody it's parody of parody it's fast and saintstro certainly has plenty of that to go around

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so how does this actually play well to be honest you kind of already know the answer to that because you've played it before or at least games like it there's a central storyline propped up by a number of main missions there are side missions scattered throughout the open world that are driven by either side character story lines or just the desire to do fun [ __ ] for shits and giggles there's a big map to leave your mark on there's new weapons and vehicles and abilities to unlock it's all that stuff so far what i'm not seeing is anything new from a gameplay mission or world design perspective but if we're going to approach things from that angle i think we first need to ask should it be new like what's the imperative for saints row to deliver new ideas and the answer is there's no imperative for that a lot of people are going to be really happy with the formula that feels like a throwback rather than a reinvention personally i'm generally interested in things i haven't experienced that's my personal bias and i expect that's how it's gonna break here in saints row where people who just want another fun urban open world game that lets them blow up cars and murder bystanders with an attack helicopter they're going to get what they want but those looking for something that they haven't yet experienced are perhaps going to be disappointed the linear missions that i experienced were all big on spectacle but very light on in terms of gameplay there were very standard third person shooter encounters where waves of enemies drop into locations and i kill them i move to the next room there's a tank to drive or a minigun to pick up or something that makes big explosions and i use it to kill even more dudes the most spectacular mission was one where i was chasing down a convoy and i had to jump from car to car to do that but it was all very simple almost quick time event like with random combat segments thrown in ah this one's burning too honest to god i am trying it was fun don't get me wrong but it was also very one note enemies lack distinctive capabilities they can't coordinate as a group your movement kit is very limited your weapons don't have advanced mechanics to deep in combat can't interact with the environment except to stand behind cover or blow up the occasional barrel your melee animations are really stiff and stilted you can't block or parry attacks at least i don't think you can there are abilities to use and they're definitely fun the pineapple express is easily the best one where you shove a grenade down someone's pants and hurl them in a direction you can also drop land mines and smoke bombs and tons of other things i wasn't able to unlock they're on a nice short cooldown so you can use them often more so if you're killing lots of fools but so far these things aren't deepening the combat experience or making it more appealing to me but as a reminder this is a sandbox driven game i only had access to a limited selection of weapons abilities and vehicles and i was only fighting early game enemies it's possible that all of this becomes vastly more interesting later on as the game opens up so i'm definitely keeping an open mind toward that finally on the open world missions and open world design saints row definitely gives you a hell of a lot to do even in the short time i had with the game my map was already covered in mission markers one of them was for a wingsuit stunt challenge the other was as a getaway driver the other one i had to leave bad reviews on a review app and then gang members would try and kill me because apparently they own that taco joint and they're just not a fan of free speech all this stuff is going to be great to play through for completionists who love the satisfaction of ticking off objectives but co-op players who want to get up to shenanigans with their mates or just anyone looking for relaxed low-stakes cathartic explosion fests the side quest i really enjoyed was the one relating to the criminal venture system this is the one that essentially allows you to build a criminal empire across the city setting up a number of businesses that look legitimate but they're really just fronts allowing you to commit even more crime this one had to do with setting up a chop shop which first began by stealing back some car parts for a buddy and then involved a shootout at the chop shop location and after we'd open our doors i had to go out and start stealing cars of a certain make and model this was cool this was me leaving my criminal footprint on this world in a meaningful way and i'd be keen to see what other ventures are available as my tendril spread further across and around santo alesso but outside of this i was looking to see how this world might respond to me more dynamically or more interesting ways that i could interact with it watch dogs legion for example not the most fun game but it had lots of ideas about an open world with lots of different ways to interact with it and the ability to play as different categories of people who each had their own unique combat stealth or hacking capabilities that all combined to create a really interesting means of interacting with that rendition of london like i said it was probably too clever by half but there were things we hadn't seen before saints row doesn't have anything like that red dead 2 is littered with dynamic events that unfold in towns or by roadsides meaning even routine routes could house new exciting opportunities to interact with the world saints row doesn't have any of those either at least not from what i could see like the combat mission design and narrative it's pretty one-dimensional and while i was having a good time some of the time i was often thinking how much this fails to reach the bar set by similar experiences stuff like gta 5 which ironically released nearly a decade ago or red dead 2 or watch dogs legion or even just cause or even modern far cry games which i think are the closest to what saints row is aiming for and i think far cry is just doing it way better i don't think that saints row is shaping up to be a bad game i think it has lots of things going for it that are going to make a bunch of people really happy going into the hands-on session i thought i was going to be one of those people but as time went on i realized i probably wasn't going to be and so i kept playing to see if i could find that thing to get me excited about that august 23rd release date sadly i couldn't find it during my four hours with saints row but i'm keeping an open mind and i'll let you know how it all goes when i review the complete package next month

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