By Ned Jordan

Saint’s Row was on display at THQ’s Summer Gamers’ Day and those lucky enough to attend the show were treated to a close up look at the upcoming Xbox 360 action game. I was one of those lucky ones and after seeing the game in action I can tell you that it will probably be one of the early hot, must-have titles on Microsoft’s new system.

A thug on the rise.

First of all I just want to get the obvious out of the way – Saint’s Row very obviously and very heavily draws upon Grand Theft Auto 3 for its inspiration. You’ve got the rags-to-riches story of a street thug fighting his way up the underworld ladder of success. You’ve got the living, breathing city loosely based on a real-world city (in this case, Chicago), complete with street traffic and pedestrians. You can hijack any car that you see and use it to complete missions, attack rivals, race, or simply cruise the streets. There’s a police force patrolling the streets, and your illegal activities will progressively increase your wanted level to the point where they’ll eventually call in SWAT and helicopter units to take you out. Yep, there’s no hiding what game Saint’s Row is emulating. However, this is not a knock against the game at all. GTA is so popular because it is so much fun to play, and there’s no telling if and when a GTA game will ever make an appearance on the Xbox 360. In fact, Saint’s Row could be the game that will make Xbox 360 owners forget all about Grand Theft Auto…

The city in Saint’s Row is a city whose control is divided between five rival gangs, and your goal is to lead your gang to dominance over the entire city. Essential to your goal is your ability to earn street cred so that you can take the helm of your own gang and serve notice to the others that you will soon be in charge. You earn cred in a number of ways – completing missions, winning mini-games such as races, and amassing cash through illegal enterprises such as breaking and entering. The really cool thing about Saint’s Row is that you are given a good degree of freedom in pursuing your goal. You’re not forced to make your way through a linear set of missions if you want to come out on top.

At the show I got a glimpse of some of the different aspects of the game. A race was initiated by driving onto a specially marked hotspot and the race took place on the city streets with the route marked by lines of flames at each intersection. Winning the race against the three other racers earned the player both cred and cash. Another way to earn cash was shown with a little old fashioned breaking and entering. A back door to a store was jimmied open at night long after the store had closed. Unfortunately this tripped an alarm and the race was on to grab the cash before the cops arrived. A quick smash and grab at the register and the player ran out into the night a little richer than he was a few minutes ago. Lastly, one of the game’s missions was demonstrated. The player was tasked with taking out a couple of jury members safely stashed away at a rival gang’s headquarters. The game transitioned smoothly between outdoor and indoor environments without a load screen in sight as the gun battle moved into the hideout itself. After much gunplay the jurors were located and promptly dispatched. All three episodes resulted in more cash, more cred, and moving the player closer to his goal of domination.

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