Game Overview
In terms of gameplay you are looking along the same lines as GTA, running about the streets, stealing cars, killing people, getting chased by the police and FBI and generally causing havoc! It's amazing that these kinds of games just don't get boring.

It's obvious that everyone who plays this game is going to compare it to the legendary Grand Theft Auto, but it's only fair and we all know how good GTA was/is, so Saints Row has a lot to live up to!

Skipping ahead of ourselves a little bit and in all honesty, however much we love the GTA series, Saints Row is miles better than any GTA released to date. It looks a million times better graphics wise, it plays better, the soundtrack is a bit more mixed and modern and in general the game just has a better feel about it.

In story mode you follow the story of four gangs, The Saints (your mob) Los Carnales (Mexicans), the Vice Kings (African-American with what seems contacts everywhere including the police), and the Westside Rollerz (It had to have a bunch of petrol heads, didn't it?) these four gangs are in a constant fight for supremacy in the town of Stilwater. You start the game out with quite a gory but exciting video clip which ends with you being cornered on the ground about to be shot before Julius of the 3rd Street Saints steps in and saves your life. Let the game begin!

One thing that stands out with Saints Row is the way the guns handle, you may remember in GTA that there is a lock on function which makes it easy to run through crowds of civilians with a shotgun and shoot everyone one in site, with Saints Row the developers have gone with a free hand system, no locking on all you have to do is hold b to select a weapon then aim using the left analogue stick and fire away! No worrying about locking on to the wrong target!

The online multiplayer modes are Gangsta Brawl (death match), Big-Ass Chains (collect chains from opponents and return them to a base for points), Protect tha Pimp (team-based attack and defend missions), and Blinged Out Ride (upgrade your vehicle and get to the rally point before your opponent), all of these can be team games as well so as you can see there is quite a choice if you are hooked up online, and we have to admit it took balls to take Saints Row online but they have pulled it off perfectly and is almost guaranteed to be a huge hit what with the popularity of Xbox Live.

Our Conclusions
GTA has a challenger at last; Rockstar may have to take a long hard look at Saints Row as they will need to make a one heck of a game to stand a chance of competing with Saints Row. A very brave effort indeed and despite Saints Row not really having any originality it's still a belter of a game!

Overall Score: 8.5/10

Thanks to THQ and Laura at Trilogy.