Saints Row Reviews
Check out Saints Row Review Scores from trusted Critics below. With 37 reviews on CriticDB, Saints Row has a score of:
Volition's gamble to reset and reground Saints Row pays off generously. A visual delight, with plenty of gameplay mechanics to keep players goofing off for days, and the Santo Ileso setting is one of the best in video game history. Sure, the shooting gets redundant after a while, but with so much to see and do you can go hours in between gun battles. Saints Row manages retain what players loved while feeling fresh and new. Other reboots, take note – this is how you do it.
The Saints Row reboot features a new cast of characters and a different location to explore, but its heart and soul haven’t changed: Players can once again expect an exciting crime fest, giggle-worthy humor, purple splattered everywhere, and an open-world chock full of things to do and secrets to unearth. The game also has a knack for blowing everything up. In other words, it is great fun in that traditional Saints Row way and even better when experienced with a friend.
You don’t have to be an action game devotee to have heard of the Saints Row franchise. In terms of popularity, the games aren’t all that many rungs below GTA. In terms of notoriety and all-out, envelope-pushing, nose-thumbing raunchiness, Saints Row Saints Rowhas always edged out Rockstar’s series. But the times, they are a-changin’. Brandishing oversized sex toys as weapons and using crude as a starting point doesn’t cut it anymore. So, in the spirit of these more enlightened times, Volition has rebooted Saints Row. How does this new version of the Saints hold up against its hilarious but sometimes embarrassing predecessors?
Saints Row is a franchise I’ve really liked but never loved, at least before. This reboot is different though, and after 20 hours in a few days, I keep coming back for more. Once the game is out in full, I’ll gladly play it all again, and often, in co-op. It’s a big, over-the-top, extremely fun game and if they can sort out the bugginess quickly it’s an easy one to recommend.
Saints Row is a decent open-world game that gets good when you forget the series it's a part of. And it runs quite well on the Steam Deck!
They say you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. The brand new reboot of the Saints Row franchise is a perfect example of this statement. Back when it was first announced, I cringed at its reveal trailer. It looked like a ton of things, EXCEPT the Saints Row I knew and loved. Clearly, it avoided the franchise’s absurdism in favor of a “millennial” approach, looking more like a mix between Fortnite and the “how do you do fellow kids” vibe from Far Cry: New Dawn.
When the issues of a game are rolled and stomped by its greatness, then it’s something to invest on if you have some spare.
Despite a couple of shortcomings and genre trappings in its open world department, Saints Row remains a thrill ride through and through - thanks to the supremely enjoyable core gameplay and varied mission locales.
After seven years of absence, the Saints are back and ready to blow shit up. But after so long away, can this franchise be relevant in a world saturated with open-world games, especially against the likes of Grand Theft Auto? Time to find out in our Saints Row PS5 review.
Anyone who was a fan of the franchise before this will likely still love Saints Row, as the comedy, goofiness, and chaotic gameplay is still at the game's core. And while I wasn't a fan of how they went about the story, there's definitely some promise in regards to its more grounded focus, as it seems clear this reboot was made to push the series into an interesting new direction.
With that illusive new idea becoming harder and harder to find, well made imitators can't be sniffed at. Saints Row even manages to show GTA a thing or two, and deserves a place in your collection.
The new Saints Row doesn’t break any new ground, however it's still a relatively fun time. If you’re a fan of the series, there’s no reason not to give this one a spin.
It’s been seven years since we last spent time with Saints Row, with the last expansion “Gat Out of Hell” having you wage war against the Prince of Darkness throughout the 5 unique districts of hell. Certainly a far cry from Saints Row’s relatively humble GTA-esque beginnings. So once the world has been destroyed and you’ve battled Satan himself, where can the franchise go, exactly? According to this long-anticipated reboot, you go back to basics, capturing the beginning of “The S...
Saints Row is the latest franchise to get the reboot treatment, but will a tamer installment still give you the fun you remember?
While much of this review may seem negative, there’s a lot to like about Saints Row. Its cast quickly grows on you, it has some entertaining set-pieces, and there’s explosive fun around every corner. Customisation is also a high-point: if you like creating zany characters, you’ll be in your element. But while in many ways this this the best Saints Row game to date, there are also multiple design decisions that pull it down. For a game all about building a crime syndicate, the fact that engaging in such activities feels so optional on the main path is a crime itself. It also won’t come as much surprise to Saints Row fans that this is just as scrappy as ever before. Still, it’s ridiculously enjoyable nonetheless.
Believe it or not, it's been nine whole years since Saints Row IV, and to be honest, not much has changed (minus the superpowers and alien invaders, obviously). The simply titled Saints Row is a reboot of the series, sporting an entirely new setting, new characters, and a fresh story — but the gameplay structure that the property has been peddling since day one remains. At its core, it's a mission-based, third-person shooter with a sandbox setting — but this is a sandbox that feels like it's flew straight in from the PS3 era of open world design.
After so many facelifts, there were fears Saints Row would fail to recapture the unconventional beauty of the earlier games, but this reboot proves how adept Volition is when it comes to reinventing their flagship franchise. This latest outing is my favourite game in the series to date, so while basic combat and dips in visual quality are disappointing, they did little to keep me away from Santo Ileso. You'll struggle to find anything ground-breaking though this sandbox is bursting with entertaining things to do, ideal for sharing with a partner in crime.
Sometimes repetitive, sometimes eye-rolling, and sometimes just plain busted, Saints Row 2022 is far from perfect, but that doesn't stop it from being a chaotic good time.
Every time Saints Row does something that reminds me how much I love the series, it follows it up with an issue that makes me frustrated with it. As much as I enjoy the gameplay and getting lost in Santo Ileso, the structural problems, both in open world game design and under the hood, make this a tough one to stick with. There are highlights, like losing track of time in how much fun a Saints Row game can be, but it’s lost under a pile of bugs and glitches.
The Saints Row reboot has a lot of action and activities to keep you preoccupied. Unfortunately, it's also bogged down by a middling story, repetitive mission progression, and a litany of bugs. With its silliness toned down by a notch, it struggles to find its identity in a crowded field of open-world action games.
The rebooted Saints Row could really do with a dubstep gun.
On top of that most of the story is locked behind a system called Criminal Ventures, locations that you buy to increase your hourly income. The more you have unlocked and completed the further into the story you can go. All of these ventures are really just minigames, one of which is the series staple Insurance Fraud, which is still fun, but the rest range from mediocre to insufferable. It’s a grind to finish them and it’s a grind to get the money to buy them, and unlocking them only unlocks another chapter in a loosely connected story that you have little connection with.
What baffles me about Saints Row, however, is that the many interesting landmarks and locations feel like window dressing and don’t factor into the story or missions in any way. Places like a massive football stadium, go-kart track, and medieval casino feel like they’d have been perfect for wacky missions, but they ultimately just sit there unused. I have to imagine the game will eventually get DLC that explores more of Santo Ileso, but as much as I enjoyed the town aesthetically, I wish it was explored mechanically a bit more. This visual breadth of the environmental design betrays a lack of depth to the whole experience.
As a new start for the eponymous gang, Saints Row ticks most of the boxes, but falls short in offering up anything fresh. A litany of technical and visual bugs also conspire to spoil the party, making for a solid enough, enjoyable, but ultimately uninspired, return for the series.
Found the 3rd Street Saints all over again in the new city of Santo Ileso
“Saints Row is a perfectly fine open-world game. Just don't expect any surprises, as the reboot lacks much character.”
You know, if it weren’t for all the technical issues I probably would have enjoyed Saints Row a lot more. The gameplay, though outdated and not really moving the needle for the series, is still pure fun, especially when I did get co-op to work. The story could have used more work for sure, but like I mentioned before I never played Saints Row for the story. Still, there are just too many technical issues to overlook to really give a solid recommendation. If you are a fan of the series, it might be worth the spin, but honestly you might be better off waiting for a patch or two. That or look into seeing whether the title works better on other platforms that aren’t either the PS4 or PS5.
Technical issues notwithstanding, Saints Row is not without its shortcomings, but it succeeds more often than it doesn't. Even with the release date pushed back it still doesn't feel finalized. The tech issues can hopefully be ironed out in a patch or two, but the characters could have also benefitted from further development and being more fleshed out. Santo Ileso is a great open sandbox to explore, but it seems like a greater emphasis was placed on repetitive criminal venture activities and less on the more exciting story missions. Still, what Saints Row does well is it does very well with memorable missions after the Saints have started to establish themselves. The banter between characters is generally entertaining and a lot of the humor is derived from this series never taking itself too seriously. There's a lot of potential with this reboot and new cast of characters, but it doesn't seem like it was fully realized in this title, making it a game that's fun for Saints Row fans, but isn't the spectacular reboot we were hoping for.
While there are definitely elements of Saints Row that really annoyed me, I still generally had a good time with the game. If you consider yourself a Saints Row fan you’ll probably find plenty to enjoy in the newest entry, even if some of its elements are weaker than others. If you were hoping for a major new take on the series or what it could be, however, you’ll be left sorely wanting.
The Saints Row reboot has its great moments but ultimately fails to provide a memorable experience.
Unambitious, dated, and dreadfully lacking in polish, only series fans eager for more classic Saints gameplay need apply.
Even if one doesn't experience these technical issues, though, Saints Row is still a disappointment. The mission variety, co-op, and criminal ventures are great, but the game feels like it's at least a console generation behind in every other category. It's not the worst Saints Row game, but it's also far from the best games in the series, and will likely leave most fans of the franchise unimpressed.
Saints Row is one of the worst urban open world games we've played in recent memory, a bland, janky, old-fashioned mess of a game that fails to deliver on the promise held by a reboot of this zany franchise. Whether it's the buggy combat, boring missions, cringe-inducing dialogue or cookie-cutter side activities, there's always something to feel let down by here. If you're a huge fan of the genre you may well still find something to pass the time in Santa Ileso, there's decent character customisation, a strong soundtrack and plenty of baddies to kill and cars to wreck, but for everyone else this is one game that's virtually impossible to recommend and one of the biggest let-downs of 2022 so far.
Saint Row hasn’t gotten off to the best of starts but now that the dust has settled a bit… Is it really that bad? Matthew John McCormick has some thoughts and feelings on the series is needs to talk out.
As a massive fan of the series, I have been waiting for this game for almost a decade at this point, even before I knew that a new entry was supposedly in development.
This latest iteration of Saints Row is a full-on reboot, taking bits and pieces of the previous games under the control of a whole new boss with a brand new crew. While the open-world sandbox nature of the game is still as fun as ever, nearly everything else is bland, boring, and filled to the brim