Saints Row the Third Review - Outrageous Brilliance

Saints Row the Third revels in being a video game in a way that most modern titles seem afraid to. In our obsession with gritty realism and complexity, we seem to have forgotten the simple fun of the insane. Volition has crafted a game that is the heir apparent to the days of cheat codes and craziness. Not a second of this game takes itself seriously and I wouldn’t have it any other way. 

Saints Row began years ago as little more than a lazy clone of Grand Theft Auto, albeit one with an amusingly in-depth character creator. I got bored of its stale antics quickly, but my friend managed to create a startlingly accurate portrayal of George W. Bush as his avatar and squeezed quite a bit more fun out of the game as a result. Perhaps this could be seen as an early testament to the game’s true strength - outrageous, unbridled fun. 

With the third installment, Saints Row has truly become its own beast. Hover bikes, VTOL jets, fluffy pink game show mascots going on murderous rampages through the streets, a streaking minigame, and more goodies that would be a shame to spoil here are densely packed onto this disc.

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Best of the Decade: Shenmue

Shenmue

Platform: Dreamcast

Release Date: November 6, 2000

Publisher: Sega

Developer: Sega AM2

Technically speaking, Shenmue shouldn’t have quite made this list. I value honesty, so I’ll put that out there before anyone calls me on it. Some people celebrated their best of the decade at the end of 2009. Fair enough. I like round numbers, so I did mine at the end of 2010, where the year ends with a nice zero. 

The downside to this is that the year 2000 was 11 years ago. Eleven years is more than a decade. Well, screw it I say, because I’m not going to let a puny couple of months keep me from celebrating this under-appreciated and influential title.

See, some people would have put Grand Theft Auto III in this spot. Truly it would be deserving, as I can’t think of a single game more influential over the last ten years than Rockstar’s first open-world opus. Hell, half the games on this list wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for Grand Theft Auto III.

But this list isn’t the most important or influential games of the past ten years, it’s those that I consider my favorites. My criteria may be subjective, but I happen to think that makes the list more personal and more interesting. 

So I’m choosing Shenmue. This forgotten Dreamcast classic did “open-world” before it was cool and paired it with a story that was gripping and epic to boot. It’s a story that was never finished because of poor sales and skyrocketing budgets, and that’s a damn shame, but I don’t think that should overshadow what Shenmue accomplished. 

Shenmue was a game before its time. Only later would technology and economics make games of this scale and depth successful on a broader scale, but Sega tried it anyway and forged a path for all to come.

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The 2009 List of Shame

The games below are not necessarily the outright worst games of the year. In fact, two of the three certainly are not. Frankly, I don't have the time, money, or incentive as a lone blogger to play what are actually the worst games put on shelves. Instead, these are the games that, for various reasons, made me very sad. And being a sad gamer isn't a fun thing to be.

Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned (DLC)

The Lost and Damned wasn’t a bad game. From all accounts it was a well-constructed addition to the GTA IV universe, with an interesting storyline, new gameplay, and all that other jazz.

None of that is why the add-on made the List of Shame.

It was through playing The Lost and Damned that I realized I don’t have any desire whatsoever to play GTA IV anymore, and this made me sad.

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