Saints Row: The Third was a game I had my eye on from when it was first announced to be coming to the Switch. An open world game similar to GTA? Count me in! Not as if the latter series is ever coming to Switch. However, it took me a year before I bought into it. I was still playing a lot of GTA V back then, with the Switch filling in for experiences different to both it and Forza Horizon.
With it being a year since it released on Switch, I took notice of the series again. By this time, I was playing less of both of those games on the Xbox One, what with Farming Simulator and the LEGO marathon taking up my time, so now the tables had turned. It was time for the Switch to get another true open world game.
The Third was the most obvious choice, as it was the one I had previously been looking at, and from opinions I had seen around it was the better choice to start with. From the ten hours I’ve been with it so far, I’m certainly enjoying my first taste of hanging with the Third Street Saints.
After that explosive and intense first mission following a bank heist gone wrong, I was within Steelport and ready to explore. And explore I did. Rather than follow any of the missions, I explored around the immediate area and almost immediately ran into a gang attack. Just barely surviving, I ran back to the safe house while trying to avoid one of the specials on my tail.
It was then I realised I had little ammo. Looking on the map, I saw there were stores and properties. These stores were sure to include somewhere to stock up on ammo, and sure enough I found such a place nearby. With full ammo, I then continued exploring, and soon found a clothing store, and a garage. I had also realised a mechanic of the game was to buy up all the property for an hourly income.
I jumped upon the chance to do exactly that, and as I continued to explore, more money was coming in which in turn allowed me to continue buying up more property. While also exploring, I found a few collectibles, more gang attacks (which I again barely survived), and an activity. Blowing stuff up in a tank. Lovely.
These activities range from good fun to frustrating in how they play, though that could be down to how vehicles control. They’re a bit… stiff, which makes the likes of Heli Assault hard to get to grips with. Out of all the activities, I find myself having the most fun with Insurance Fraud, where you jump into traffic to build up money in damages, trying to combo into other vehicles to increase the amount earned.
Having accrued a decent amount of hourly income, I then decided to jump into the first mission, which… was a tutorial on most of what I’d already done. Well, at least there is one. Other missions would introduce me to other activities, along with getting the story going and recruiting more people into the Third Street Saints. The story missions involve a lot of shooting, as you clear out gangs and perform ever greater stunts in order to start anew and rebuild what they’d had within a new city. The variety of enemies makes such missions fun, even if they can get a bit overwhelming at times.
Away from those missions, there are also assassinations and vehicle thefts to partake in, as well as various challenges to complete. The assassinations and thefts are fun, being side missions that will bring in more money to spend. The challenges are the usual range of headshot kills, vehicle stunts and destruction, and streaking. Okay, maybe that last one isn’t so typical.
There’s also a depth of customisation options to get into here, with not only your own character, but those within your gang able to be given a complete new look, along with the vehicles they use. While I haven’t fully got stuck in with such as yet, the range of options has certainly given me some ideas for styles.
There’s definitely a lot of fun to be had with this game, and I’m glad to have finally made the jump to it. Not without its negatives, but what game truly doesn’t have some? However, those negatives don’t ruin the experience for me, even if some of those activities will continue to never get completed.
With the Remastered version having released today, I’m going to say that this game deserves to be played by anyone who enjoys an open world action game. No matter whether it is that remastered version or this Switch version, it is guaranteed to give you plenty of enjoyment.
Images Taken From:
Saints Row: The Third (Original Screenshots)
