Just about any boundary you can think of, Saints Row 2 is more than willing to give a nudge or two (or an elephant-stomping in some cases). “As is true with pornography, as is true with violence, the subsequent products tend to push the envelope even more.” -longtime game critic Jack Thompson And if players pick up a prostitute, a sex minigame lets them listen in as their avatars build their way to a sexual peak. When gamers aren’t lowriding their way to the next bloody shootout, they might stop by the local club for a striptease or lap dance. The majority of missions are over-the-top, run-and-gun levels that essentially amount to driving around the city and butchering everyone with breath. Straight away the unrepentant thug flexes his or her (somehow healthy) muscles, kills doctors and guards, and makes it back to the streets of Stilwater to rebuild a gang and retake dominant power. Gamers create a male or female avatar to represent them and then jump into the game as an amoral dirtbag who wakes out of a multi-year coma. “There quite possibly no other game that can come close to the sheer number of explosions, bullets, murder and vulgarity on tap here.”. What’s the upside there, you ask? Well, he made it through 15 seconds without a problem. Sexually vulgar comments, references and sounds aren’t just heard from the lips of prostitutes and johns, they’re also uttered randomly by not-so-innocent passersby-soccer moms, grandpas and children included.” Yet after a while, even those words seem tame compared with some of the despicable, unprintable phrases used. “Only 15 seconds into the game the f- and s-words make their first of countless appearances. In fact, the best Marcus could say about it was:

But two years ago, when the first game in the Saints series bubbled up from a city storm drain, Marcus Yoars and Kevin Simpson waded through the Grand Theft Auto wannabe and found precious little light at all. No matter how content-ridden the game is, there’s usually something about the story, or an interesting twist in the conclusion, or perhaps even a unique game mechanic that I can put in an affirmative light. Writing game reviews for Plugged In, I always like to find some aspect in each title to talk positively about.

“It is a morality-free alternative to GTA IV, an unremorseful descent into mindless mayhem.”. There are some video game titles out there that don’t require hours and hours of play for reviewers to get a crystal clear understanding of what it is intended to be and do. “The game requires you cast your morality aside, and I’m sure the intended audience (you know who you are) will relish this celebration of depravity.” -Electronic Gaming Monthly

Saints row 2