Saints Row 2 -- Final Opinion.

Magus and I have completed Saints Row 2 for the Xbox 360 with a total time of one-hundred and three hours. That's one-hundred percent through the story, all of the activities and diversions, and all of the collection. Saints Row 2 is a massive game. You should know the drill for a sandbox title. A large open world to roam and cause mayhem within. Saints Row 2 retains the structure of the original Saints Row. You need to earn enough respect to advance through the story. Each activity or story mission nets you more respect. After initially messing around the world those first few hours Magus and I set about going through all the activities and diversions. That took us roughly seventy hours. As we did this we would paint a tag when found, or collect a CD, or do a stunt jump. And as we worked our way through the activities and diversions we were constantly rewarded for our efforts. New weapons, unlimited ammo, cars, improved sprinting, fire resistance, and a plethora of other rewards. That's one of the best things about Saints Row 2, you're constantly rewarded with unlockables as you go. Once we were done we set about finishing off the collection aspect. This took roughly another twenty hours. And then we set about completing the story which took roughly thirteen hours. Saints Row 2 is largely Saints Row unchanged. It's still the wildly fun sandbox filled to the brim with stuff to do. What's actually new is very substantial. The most important of the bunch being able to play the entire game in online co-op. While Crackdown might have done it first, Saints Row 2 is a major step up considering just how much there is to do and how much story there is. Having Magus along provided for some great comedy, the prevention of retrying missions by being able to resurrect each other, and some great and instant commentary. Talking about something as it happened or right after is superior to telling a story later on or comparing situations once the other had played through whatever game potentially months later. It'll be rough going back to a sandbox game without co-op. As for the particulars of the game, the graphics are decent. They get the job done but they're not going to win any awards. The design of Stillwater is however quite impressive. It's a great sandbox city filled with interesting locations. The sound is great all around. The voice work is top notch. The sound effects are great. The music is really good. Albeit there aren't a lot of tracks per radio station overall. But the selections are all around awesome. The game offers a large multiplayer versus mode. Unlike the first game's more stand alone versus mode, Saint Row 2's encompasses the core game and world. The versus has everything from the game and adds a large amount of strategy to team play. The game's story is again much like the first one. Smaller interconnected stories based on the different gangs with an overriding arc towards a main story. The game relishes in the over the top and pulls no punches. It's just all about the bombastic and fun. It doesn't even begin to take itself even remotely seriously. The game openly mocks itself. There are some flaws to the game however. A mention of just how buggy and glitchy the game is must be made. You will encounter a glitch or bug. Not the game is buggy and you might hit a glitch. No, you will be hit with a glitch. Luckily none of them were game or achievement breaking for us. And Gary Busey wasn't in the game. After those amazingly insane promos for the game, I was expecting him to be in the actual game. I really enjoyed Saints Row 2. I am giving the game a 9. I can't wait to see what they come up with for Saints Row 3.