And Saints Row 2 just got even better

[Hitler Stole My Potato]

Read this. Customizable themed gangs. 

No matter how it turns out, I have to give Saints Row 2 props for one thing: It's bringing back the themed gang.
Remember the days of The Warriors, the Street Thunder gang from Assault on Precinct 13, or the punks from Repo Man? Days when gangs were outrageously dressed -- and often multiethnic -- bands of mischief makers and not just guys who talk funny while wearing gold jewelry. Those are the kinds of gangs you can roll with in Saints Row 2 (though if you prefer the modern urban thug, those kinds of bad boys are available as well).

Compared to the original Saints Row, the second installment lets you customize your gangs even further. Not only can you customize the types of graffiti your gang tags territory with, the cars they drive around in, or even the signs they throw up on the street, but you can also choose uniforms. Not just bandannas of a certain color or specific kinds of jackets, but full-on ensemble outfits for both ground-level thugs and middle-management lieutenants. A sample of the uniform themes that stood out include '80s (heck, yeah -- headbands, loud pastels, and huge hair), pimp-n-ho, bodyguards, "prephop" (I actually don't know what that exactly entails, I'm imagining Harry Potter's school uniform, but with more bling) and ninja.

Yes, that's right, in Saints Row 2, you can conceivably have an Escalade (well, its SR2 analog) roll up to the curb and unload a band of ninjas to regulate the streets. At the moment I'm having a hard time thinking of something cooler than driving an El Camino-analog filled with ninjas while looking for fast food. The ninja-ness is enhanced by other touches such as the "ronin" fighting style of melee combat (which gives you that kick-heavy kung-fu flair) or Japanese swords.

Of course, in my latest hands-on time with the game, I fully embraced the ninja look. While it was fun to kick fools and swing swords, I went for the un-ninja approach of firing automatic weapons in the later parts of the demo. I first played a rail-shooter-style mission, one where I sat inside a helicopter and unloaded the minigun into some rival gang members -- I first targeted their drug facilities and then their lieutenants, who were attempting to escape in a car. After that, I zipped around in a Jet Ski for a race sequence to get a feel for Sixaxis-controlled gameplay. It's pretty much as you'd expect: tilt the controller around to steer. The Sixaxis motion sensor can be used for watercraft, airplanes, and helicopters (but not cars -- the developers decided that cars didn't quite fit the motion controls).

I then got to play a signature Saints Row mission type: the Stronghold. Like in the previous game, the stronghold is a way to earn a huge chunk of turf for your gang. In this particular mission, I had to break into a private airport, transfer a bunch of money, and finally blow up a bunch of stuff. Lead designer Scott Phillips generously donated a high-end automatic shotgun, an assault rifle with a grenade launcher, and a bunch of satchel charges to my arsenal. In my first try I was able to dispatch the guards and start the money transfer, but I ended up failing because one of the rival gang members managed to pop the computer conducting the transfer with a lucky shot.

On one hand, I'd like to pretend that my awesome skills helped me finish this mission on my second try. In reality, the bounty of weapons, plus a bit of coaching from Phillips, was most likely the key factor in my victory. In the final segment of the mission (which involved a lot of explosion), Phillips advised me to take down gang members from a distance with the assault rifle and its scope. After cleaning up those fools, it was time to hit the supply trucks, and since they were all conveniently parked next to each other, this was obscenely easy. A few well-placed satchel charges did the work for me, but afterward, the final and most difficult objective came up: take down four planes. The first two received the ol' satchel treatment, but the third plane started barreling down the runway. Yikes. This is when I learned one extremely fast way to stop a plane from taking off.

Drive a car into it.

The bad dudes were silly enough to leave a bunch of SUVs and sports cars sitting around at the airport. With the plane becoming smaller and smaller in the distance, a sports car was the logical choice. While zipping down the tarmac, Phillips suggested that I try to get the car in the front of the plane to possibly force it to either slow down or at least veer off course, making it easier to target. I almost pulled that off. Instead, I turned a tad bit early, and, er, the plane's left wing became quite intimate with my car's frame. It wasn't a difficult decision to jump out of the now-flaming car; as an upside, the wing got torn off, and the resulting damage caused the plane to dangerously veer left -- and right into a hangar wall.

After that epic accident, the fact that I laid some satchel charges on the runway and simply detonated them as the fourth plane attempted to take off felt a bit anticlimatic. True, I felt a bit of pride for laying such an "ingenious" trap, but it lacked the spontaneity, luck, and excitement of using a car as a gigantic hammer on a plane's fragile wing.

The fact that I was an airplane-exploding ninja is already enough for me to keep Saints Row 2 on my watch-list until its October release.

GTA4 

[AdmiralViscen]

Game is going to blow away our expectations. I'm going to make everyone in my gang wear the hot dog suit.

[Mupepe]

SR2

[hyp]

sounds like evilbore's calling!!!  who's gonna be our ringleader?  MAF?  willco?  drinky?

[Himu]

That ninja gang better have hot ninja chicks

[AdmiralViscen]

I wonder if you can set rules for the ethnicity of your gang

[Howard Alan Treesong]

GTA4 is like single player Home

[demi]

sounds like evilbore's calling!!!  who's gonna be our ringleader?  MAF?  willco?  drinky?

It would have to be me, since neither of those three will play the game after a couple days

[Himu]

I wonder if you can set rules for the ethnicity of your gang

I hope so. I hope you can do sex as well. I'd make my gang an army of black chicks. I would be their leader a hot black cheeseburger.

[Grecco]

This game is gonna be amazing. Cant wait.

[cool breeze]

Anyone who doubts Volition should eat a dick. Not only have they outdone GTA4 but they look like they're going to beat the living shit out of Bad Company and Mercs 2 in terms of destruction.

I would love to work with Volition one day. They know how to make fun games.

They already have proven that everyone else fails at destruction except them.

Saints Row 2 is going to be awesome.

[BlueTsunami]

I never really cared for the Gang mechanic but being able to deck them out in shit will make me roll with them

[Trent Dole]

...So I can be in a ninja gang and fly around in a UFO in this game. I think this one is going on my buy list.

[The Sceneman]

sounds like evilbore's calling!!!  who's gonna be our ringleader?  MAF?  willco?  drinky?

this is going to rule! cant wait to front for EB online 

[Eel O'Brian]

haha, i forgot that i bought sr1 a while back, i need to get on that

[Sho Nuff]

You can play the game in co-op right?

[demi]

Yeah, pretty sure co-op is still in

[chronovore]

So weird... I loved SR1 but assumed GTA4 would rule the landscape for sandbox when it finally showed up. Instead it feels like SR1 is still more fun than GTA4, and SR2 appears to take the open-world stuff even further.

GTA4's "this is how you'll finish this mission" attitude is really grating on the 2nd playthrough. All those "it's a chase mission,  but you can't damage the car yet" sequences are just ... GAH!  !!

[Great Rumbler]

Saints Row 2

[ferrarimanf355]

Bitches see me rollin', they be hatin'. 

[patrickula]

 
Where do you preorder to get the UFO?
You can play split screen coop, right?
This gang customization is selling me, seems hilarious.

[BobFromPikeCreek]

The UFO is preorder only, and only with Gamestop? Gay. First bad thing I've heard about this game.

[Joe Molotov]

It may just turn out to be a cheat code that you put you in to get it. If nothing else, I think they'd be stupid not to offer it as DLC later on to everybody.

[Human Snorenado]

I want a gang of chavs getting out of some checked out classic vw bugs.

[cool breeze]

http://www.thq-games.com/uk/thqtv/index/1844

Now that is a game story!

[Great Rumbler]

http://www.thq-games.com/uk/thqtv/index/1844

Now that is a game story!

Michael Dorn!