OK, I admit it. I was skeptical about this GTA clone when I first picked it up. But when a game starts with a bloody escape from prison, its kind of hard for me to not be interested. The story itself picks up 2 years after the first, with the former leader of the Saints waking up from a coma after surviving a massive explosion. He finds himself standing in a city that is no longer owned by his former gang, which has disbanded, and his leutinent and best friend is on death's row for an ungodly amount murders....seriously, with as many kills as this guy was sitting in jail for I am surprised a prison guard didn't arrange an "accident" but hey, its a game, and reality doesn't mean squat here.
The gameplay itself is pretty solid, but there is one thing that bugs me to no end, there is no lock-on feature whatsoever. when it comes to a gun fight you're best bet is just equip a shotgun, walk up and blast them with a face full of lead. This feature is most noticably absent when you find yourself trying to down helicopters circling around your location and it takes FOREVER for the RPG to fire after you press fire. The first time I tried this I wasted 30+ rockets trying to shoot down less than a dozen choppers, eventually running out of ammo and having to shoot them down with a pistol.... A PISTOL! Anyway, the carjacking/driving portion of the game isn't that bad at all, its fairly easy to maintain control, even at high speeds, which definately decreases the frustration factor on missions that entail drive-bys on moving vehicles, the cruise control feature, however, is more of a gimmick I only found a few times when it was actually useful. Oh, and just forget about flying, yes you can get into some airborn vehicles and take flight (even sky dive) but it is definately not worth the trouble, I'd rate it worse than the flying mechanics of the GTA games.
Ok, so the only thing left to really talk about is the missions, and this is where the sheer size of the game comes into to play, BUT it is also the part of the game that makes it seem oh so much more like a clone of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. You see, there are 45 territorties in the game and you have to attack the strongholds of the gang that currently owns the area in order to take it, some areas can only be taken by story-line missions, of which there are plenty to keep you busy for hours. At first the missions may seem like constant repitition, but after a while you start to notice subtle changes in difficulty and creativity, but most of the time the missions end up in a big gun fight, especially boss fights, but hey! Thats why we pick up a game about a bunch of gang bangers isn't it? to blow $#!& up.
The game, though holding its own flavor, still feels and plays like a GTA clone. It doesn't offer anything that really sets it a part. But none the less, I enjoyed it.
Final Verdict: B+
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