Saints Row: The Third Critic Reviews

The complete realization of everything this franchise has set out to do. Yes it's ludicrous and lewd, but it's also a joy to play, a streamlined sandbox that hooks the fun directly into your veins.

Volition has done an excellent job of giving you a place to play and toys to play with, so grab a partner, an SMG, and start making your own stories.

Feels like a game whose designers have found the note-perfect tone for the series while also wielding their own talents with razor-sharp precision. It's the game Volition - a studio whose successes go back 15 years to the original Descent - was born to make.

Saints Row: The Third is a game that takes everything that's fun about gaming and turns it up to eleven.

An experience unlike any other. It never takes itself too seriously, it remembers that games should be fun and they should entertain. It's not that any particular part stands out above the other, rather, on the whole, everything is just downright awesome. The character creator alone warrants multiple playthroughs and the story is literally only half the game.

An incredibly fun experience that fans of the series will have a blast with. The new diversions and ridiculousness like Professor Genki's stuff just appeals to the crowd. Never once will you take this game seriously, and you shouldn't, but when it grabs you it never lets go until you are simply done having fun. I was never frustrated at the game. If I failed a mission I simply went back in and did something more bizarre, which is the beauty of Saints Row. As long as you know that going in, you will have a blast. I can't recommend this game enough, though. It simply defines what it means to have fun playing games.

Volition has fully released grips on this one, letting the player do literally whatever they want as they complete missions and wreak havoc in the city. The presentation is the best yet for the series, and though the lack of competitive multiplayer may be a turn off for some, the inclusion of Whored Mode, Survival waves and co-op more than makes up for its omission. This is one of the wildest gaming experiences you'll have this year.

Saints Row: The Third is the ultimate sandbox, and Volition has given gamers a massive playground and the biggest and best set of toys possible to carve their own unique destiny in Steelport, both in the engaging single player story and the limitless fun waiting to be shared in the co-op game.

SR3 contains a lot off the wall violence that'll satiate your need for random video game fun for a number of hours. It's bookended by great opening and closing moments, and topped off by a competent co-op mode. You'll devote more time to the game than just the story fueled segments, and SR3 will certainly keep you interested past the end credits scroll.

Saints Row: The Third doesn't give a crap about precious modern design with its storyworlds, complex strategy-based gameplay systems, and magniloquent commentaries on the state of humanity. All it cares about is showing you a good time-how you want it, when you want it, and where you want it. It's instant gratification for days on end. I don't know about you, but I'm already sold on Saints Row: The Fourth.

It's a soothing respite from GTA's pompous self-seriousness and subtle social commentary, because it never takes itself seriously. Sarcasm aside, SRTT is remarkably adept at balancing Naked Gun-style zaniness with a joyriding celebration of gory headshots, radiant explosions, and consequence-free carjacking.

With the industry taking itself more and more seriously, Volition thumbs its nose at convention and gives you one hell of a ride. Expect that to escalate once you grab a buddy and hit co-op - just take my advice and keep friendly fire off, even if you're a masochist.

The game makes you feel like a badass from the word go, and it just gets even more out of control as things progress. Sure, there are some hiccups graphically, and sometimes things can be a little clunky mechanically, but there is no doubt that Saints Row The Third is crazy fun from start to finish.

On the surface Saints Row: The Third may seem just like a violent, over the top video game without any substance, but that is far from the truth. I quickly found the game is not only extremely violent and insanely fun, but it also carries an interesting and fairly compelling story.

As much as the game made me laugh, it wouldn't deserve such high praise without solid gameplay at its core. It may be easy to get distracted by the nonsense occurring onscreen, but Saints Row: The Third is thrilling as an action game. Missions vary wildly, and they're almost all bombastic, popcorn-movie affairs.

Steelport is a glorious sandbox with fun around every corner and the well-written story and easy-to-use design make Saints Row 3 a fantastic package.

There were some issues to be found here and there, but most of these unscripted bits of broken action make the game better and funnier - even if they are bugs - and make the whole thing an intensely amusing, high-octane action game that makes it seem like the whole engine's barely holding up, but it's generally doing just fine.

Saints Row keeps getting better with age, or should I say, with the element of "crazy." More intense, more chaotic, more bizarre; Saints Row: The Third offers up a sandbox of celebrity driven gangsters caught in the ultimate gang war.

A glorious example of how much fun there is to be had when you let rip with both barrels. Screw reality - ridiculous overblown madness like this is exactly why video games are so great. Thanks for justifying our pastime, Volition.

Saints Row: The Third doesn't play like recent THQ efforts have -- all bark and no bite -- but instead feels like a labor of love. It feels like the developers had fun, and they wanted you to feel it too. And I promise, you will.