Although nobody asked for it, Saints Row: The Third has joined the pantheon of remasters. The game’s original developers, Volition, expanded on previous titles’ mechanics while rounding out the series’ game loop. Saints Row: The Third furthered the outlandish antics and refined the style popularised by the earlier installments. In the process they garnered some critical acclaim and a mostly pleased fan base.
This remaster was spearheaded by Sperasoft and features retextured environments, character models and visual effects, enhanced graphics and a new lighting engine. Alongside that we get remastered versions of the game’s three expansions and DLC.
Graphical Mastery
SR:TT never tried to reach the same fidelity as open-world contemporaries like GTA IV. Instead it focuses on streamlining the open world process so players can quickly jump from mission to mission allowing the comical story and frenetic, albeit, easy gameplay to do all the talking.
Considering this I can almost ignore the absurdly low view distance but when enemies literally spawn into view at half the distance of other AI already in view, that’s where I draw the line. And ask the developers why didn’t they draw the line a little bit longer?
Saints Row: The Third Remastered uses the same engine as the original and it’s possible the devs have reached the limit when it comes to draw distance. To their credit, Sperasoft managed to increase AI population on the streets of Steelport.
New textures and models look great, and the lighting rework really adds to the polish. But taking away from this is a lack of depth while driving, model pop-in when flying above the streets and the camera getting stuck at the worst of times.
Gameplay
This reviewer has thoroughly enjoyed his time bombing through the streets of Steelport. Having played the original I was already a fan of the humour, story and wacky mission types.
Not much has changed on this front, the driving is still very much grounded, especially in comparison to any driving game from this decade. The real fun to be had with driving is with the custom vehicles you acquire through completing missions. Whether it’s a flame-throwing car or a person-throwing car, there’s always something to create a little mayhem.
Many of the things that make the game a more streamlined open world game are still present in the remaster. These include Racing Game arrows that stop you missing that turn you can’t see on the GPS. And finishing missions is easy, with the win parameters being extremely loose.
Fine Spread of Weapons
I think some of the weapons could have done with an overhaul, while the weapons are creative in design they’ve never had much situational use. I found myself constantly going for the pistols on the PC version because it’s so easy to tap heads, every other weapon has such insane spread that even though you hold your crosshair on an enemies head they will take shoulder shots and just flop around like a fish until you empty a clip into them, also, why do hit markers keep popping up on dead AI?
Gathering a Clergy
While co-op is a perfectly stable experience with only minor de-sync between players at times, it still maintains the same “third wheel” feel for the joining player, as during missions they’ll find themselves stuck in a vehicle with nothing to do but take in the carnage around them.
Considering most of the missions have the AI driving while you shoot or vice-versa, I’m disappointed they didn’t give this job to the co-op player and force the AI to sit in the back twiddling their thumbs instead.
Performance on PC
Using an Intel 6700K and Nvidia 1080ti with all graphics set to ULTRA, in the thick of explosions, crashes and AI spawning in on every corner SRTTR maintained an observed average of 80FPS.
Re-Ordained
SRTTR is everything it ever was, but not much more. Sperasoft did an amazing job reworking the visuals. They polished up the Third with beautiful models, textures, and lighting but, unfortunately they left the rest of the game in 2011. Saints Row: The Third is ultimately a good game, but a lazy remaster.
