Well I did buy and play through it.
And it was fine, even good.
Yes, its got some bugs and glitches that will make you restart missions, but on a whole it was fun. I wanted a GTA3 era open world game and I got it.
Honestly, its a fun game. While I had some problems with how gameplay felt initially. Once I got into a grove and kept a slight auto aim on, combat became pretty fun. I think Mafia 3 is probably the best feeling funplay in an open-world game. SR does not match that, maybe not even close as aiming still feels a bit off. But its fast and frantic. The cooldown abilities are actually very useful. People commented on the lack of cover, well it shouldn't have it. Its not that kind of game, you are supposed to be out there run and gunning. It is old scool in a way how arcadey the combat is.
This really is the Saints Row 2 follow-up people asked for. Like it doesn't go insane and move away from being sholcky crime thing. It keeps that tone, it just feels a bit more "youthful".
The whole its woke shit discussion surrounding this game was lame. Look, Saints Row has always been cringe. The 1st game had incredibly lame writing. 2 was better but still goofy. 3 owned it and made it it's own.
SR 2022 is kind of lame in that it for sure feels like 40 something year olds trying to write something they think younger demos will relate to.
Like dialogue in this game goes like this:
"Boss you almost died back there"
"Yeah if the gangs dont get me my student loans will".
They can't help but throw some topical joke at you, but then again the previous games tried to throw crass and other jokes at you constantly as well. And just like in those previous games, sometimes something does hit.
Outside of that I don't see whats so bad about this game.
The city was nice. Looked great and was memorable enough. Its mix of Houston TX, Arizona, and Vegas makes for some cool sights. The city wasn't too big, nor too small.
Like SR it's full of mini games, which I could see some take issue. They are less personable and really uninventive. There's no real unique presentation given to them(like in 3 where one was like a death game reality show) and in the end, most of them are go here and kill things. Yet the combat is fun and some give you a cool weapon or vehicle to use, so it does spice up the gameplay here and there.
Perfectly solid game. There are some QOL changes that should be made though.
All businesses should be able to fast travel to.
Should be able to summon your car after you start a mission.
