Reboots are tricky things to get right. Go too far in one direction and fans will not like losing what they love about the series. Don’t change enough and the comeback will feel stale. It’s a path littered with many pitfalls. And Saints Row – a reboot of what was known as an over-the-top open-world blast – is more of a damp squib, than an epic boom.

Predestination

Saints Row reboot has watered down a lot of what made the series great, and to be fair they had to. As after being superhuman in the last main line game, there wasn’t much room to really change things.

The game starts with you building or importing your already built character to the game. You are known simply as ‘the Boss’ and the leader of the Saints, introduced as friends who are all on the wrong side of the law.

Things start out with you working for a private military firm, which sees you doing a number of bombastic missions and over the top actions, before you get fired and you and your mates decide to form their own gang…The Saints.

So it’s very much an origins tale of rags to riches as you build your gang, set up businesses and cross paths over-the-top rival gangs. All of which are trying to take over the game’s new city, Santo Ileso.

Each gang has their own look and vibe from the tech-driven Marshalls to the neon power hungry Idols. However, each gang is an uninspired cookie-cutter of a set theme really. And you’ll have seen the themes a hundred times before.

Overall writing in the game is also a real hum-drum affair. The game will make you laugh out loud sometimes, then make you cringe for the voice actors. Someone should have told the writers that swearing for swearing’s sake is not edgy anymore.

Showing its Aged Roots

Main mission and gameplay is a bit dated, but does have a few highpoints. Saints Row takes a bit of time to get going and way too many mission having you driving away to someone or somewhere. Just mowing down hordes of nameless thugs and then doing it all over again.

This wouldn’t be an issue if combat was fun, but gunplay is sub-par. Saints Row reboot falls back on the powerful bombast of rocket launchers and the more powerful kit to speed things up. Additionally, the AI is buggy at times killing the flow of fights.

Keep fighting and you’ll unlock new skills and powers that will try to keep the endless fighting fresh. Perks and unlocks give you a greater array of combat options. A menu that eventually includes throwing mines. Or grabbing an enemy and throwing him back at a group as a live grenade.

Vehicular combat is a significant part of the game loop. For the most par, car carnage mechanic hold together well, if a little too ‘arcade’ in its handling. But once you have jet bikes and helicopter gunships, you’ll never be seen driving a three-door hot-hatch again.

Side Row

A huge part of that elder Saints Row series experience was its side missions. The series reboot delivers a healthy offering to get stuck into. Side content is more varied than the main missions.

You’ll be riding shotgun and giving cover fire while escaping a number of slap-dash jobs. Flying a chopper and stealing “items” from your enemies. It’s often a fun distraction from the mundanity of the core tale, but nothing mind blowing – which is a bit of a shame given the series’ bloodline.

The main focus of your time outside of missions will be growing your empire, setting up new businesses, which give you a constant flow of cash. You can spend this wonga on adding more to your kingdom of thuggery. This then unlocks missions in turn, doing these helps up your empire rank. As your empires grows you’ll get new opportunities to “invest” in.

Santo Ileso is a mixture of cities, towns and a fair slice of nothing. The world of Saints Row is set in the desert but the whole place just lacks the feeling of life. More often than not feels like the backdrop to a video game from the mid-00’s, rather than a living breathing world that you are running amuck in.

A Mixed Presentation

Saints Row, at times looks great but often looks like an inconsistent, almost unfinished mess. The beauty of the sun setting as you drive through the streets will be quickly interrupted by a blurry character model. Detail is lacking is places while abundant in others.

Audio-wise, Saints Row features solid voice acting across the board and some interesting licensed songs on the soundtrack.

The game is buggy and needs a good bit of patching. As an vast open-world game, technical issues are more likely. However, I was hit with everything from visual glitches and falling through the map. All the way up to game-breakers like missions not starting or finishing.

Saint Row as a series was always facing huge challenges to follow up the last game. A reboot was the right move, but a reboot that has the same vibe and love for life as the series became known for. Not this.

Saints Row reboot a by-the-numbers open world title. The title does very little new beyond serving as a reminder as to how much open-world games have evolved. Saints Row is stuck in a largely forgotten past and doesn’t live up to its legacy.

Review code provided by publisher