Saints Row 2: Even Rower

Okay, so that’s not the subtitle... but it seems in keeping with the spirit of the game.  Yeah, there’s really nothing spectacular about the game’s narrative or story – Volition has gone out of its way to tell you how pretentious and boring Grand Theft Auto 4 was – instead opting to make a game that was simply fun.  Your character isn’t a conflicted ex-soldier trying to find a better life – s/he is just a “gangsta” who wants to own the city through any means necessary.  Sure, there’s satire, but it feels more genuine and less contrived than Rock Star North’s particular brand of extreme Americanism.

And you know what?  In an open world game – that just works for me.  There is no narrative dissonance when I run over people or shoot down a police chopper with a wire guided RPG.  There isn’t an overwrought cutscene trying to convince me that the main character is more than what s/he is – a psychopath who likes to blow things up.  It’s completely unapologetic and it’s much better for it.

With a very thin plot then, what is there to talk about?   I just wanted to point out that if there was ever a game about ergodic/ludic/emergent “game telling” experiences, this is it.  The game is as fun as you want it to be and Volition went out of their way to make it accessible to as many people as possible.  In mission checkpoints, regenerating health, the ability to recruit CPU players to help you on missions and a Gears of War-like revival system in co-op – it’s a game that wants you to finish it.  Even the cars handle much easier, relying on a more arcade-like handling model that lets you do hairpin turns on a dime.

For all my talk about narrative in games, I just needed a reminder that games can just be “fun” and that I shouldn’t feel the need to apologize for the fact that I find it amusing to run around suburbia with a septic truck spraying raw sewage on people in order to lower property values.  As I make my way through GTA4: The Lost and Damned, all I can think is that I hope Volition is working on Saints Row 3.