Saints Row: The Third is a nonlinear third-person shooter video game, being developed by Volition, Inc. and published by THQ. It is to be released during the fourth quarter of 2011 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Windows systems. It is the third title in the Saints Row series, after the release of Saints Row 2 in 2008. The player controls the leader of the Third Street Saints. The game world is the fictional city of Steelport, and the story centers around the conflict that arises between the Saints and The Syndicate, an international criminal group who have taken over the Saints' former home of Stilwater.
Having defeated the rival gangs of Stilwater at the end of Saints Row 2 and overthrown the influence of the Ultor corporation on the city services, the Saints have found themselves with free control of the city. They target a bank, attempting to airlift the vault out of it, but the plan goes awry, and the Saints are incarcerated. In prison, they learn about how an international crime agency called the Syndicate, led by Phillipe Loren, has taken over many of the banks (including the one the Saints struck) and bribed the Stilwater police force. Loren smuggles the Saints' leader (the player-character), Johnny Gat, and Shaundi out of jail and onto his private jet. While in-flight, he tells them they will be allowed to live if they turn over two-thirds of their gangs. The leader of the Saints rejects this offer, and a gunfight breaks out; ultimately, the player-character, Gat, and Shaundi all fall out the cargo hold of the plane, recover parachutes, and land safely.
With the Syndicate in full control of Stilwater, the Saints relocate themselves to the city of Steelport. Steelport is a city that was created as factories flourished with little city planning, and since has suffered from economic failure, contrasting the glamour of Stilwater. The Syndicate has already begun to take control of some parts of Steelport, focusing on vices like gambling and prostitution. To extend their reach, the Syndicate had divided their control of the city through three gangs. The Morning Star, lead by Loren directly, are typically European men with impeccable taste, selling guns and handling the prostitution rings. The Mexican wrestler Killbane controls the Luchadores who deal with selling drugs and gambling. The Deckers, led by hacktivist Matt Miller, are computer geniuses, and handle the money laundering. The Saints see the opportunity to wrest control of Steelport from these groups, and engage them to start to take control of the downtrodden city. As the gang war intensifies, a fourth group, the Special Tactical Anti-Gang (STAG) units from the government will attempt to halt any gang activity whether it be the Saints or the Syndicate.
In previous Saints Row games, the player would be able to approach each of the three rival gangs along separate storylines that ultimately culminated into a final conclusion. In The Third, the storylines between the three gangs are interconnected, and decisions that the player makes in dealing with one faction may alter the behavior of the other factors towards the player or missions that may be available later.
The Third retains the blend of third-person action and driving sequences in open world, urban warfare format that is traditional in the Saints Row series. The player, as the leader of the Third Street Saints, can explore the city of Steelport, performing main missions that progress the game's story, and side missions. These side missions include Activities, mini-games played on the streets of Steelport, Strongholds, rival gang bases that can be taken over to control a section of Steelport, and Flashpoints, on-the-spot gang warfare. Successful completion of missions can earn the player in-game money, weapons, cars, and gang respect. Unlike the previous games where respect was used to unlock new missions, The Third uses respect similar to experience points which the player can then spend to improve specific attributes of their character, such as melee combat or firearms skills. Money can be used to purchase clothing items, weapons and cars, or may be used to upgrade weapons and cars with unique features, such as adding scopes or extra barrels to a weapon, which then can be stored in the Saints' arsenal. Money can also be used to upgrade the Saints gang, customizing their appearance, outfits, and headquarters. Within The Third, the player can set up to four different appearance styles for their gang. Finally, money is also used to purchase shops and other properties within Steelport, which in turn will become a steady stream of income for the gang over time.
While completing some missions, the player may be given a choice of options to finalize the mission. For example, they may opt to destroy a rival gang's boat, including the prostitutes aboard, or instead capture it, and sending the prostitutes to the Saints' headquarters to boost the gang's morale. In another case, the player has the option of using a gigantic bomb to demolish one of the skyscrapers in the city; though they will gain a great deal of respect for the action, it will alter the city's skyline for the rest of the game and cause non-player characters to react differently to the Saints, while leaving the building standing allows it to be used as a headquarters for the Saints. New Activities, optional missions that can gain the player money and respect, include "Professor Genki's Super Ethical Reality Climax", a game show that combines the ideas of The Running Man and Japanese game shows, Tank Mayhem where players are tasked with taking out high value targets using a tank, and Guardian Angel, where the player must drive around the city while a tiger is in the backseat of the car.
In addition to the regular arsenal of tradition and novelty weapons, players will gain the ability to call down airstrikes on encamped enemies, or to use an remote control electric bug to control other vehicles such as for remotely delivering a car full of explosives to an enemies hideout. Unlike the first two games, there are no health recovery items in favor of improving the grenade throwing system; in exchange, the player's health will regenerate at a faster rate as long as they stay out of the line of fire. Nearly all actions in the game can be sped up by holding down a second controller button, dubbed by Volition as the "awesome button"; for example, when carjacking, holding down this button will cause the player-character to missile-kick the driver out of the seat in short order.
In addition to the single-player mode, the game can be played co-operatively with at least one other player. As in Saints Row 2, the second player can participate in all missions and activities, earning credit for their completion. Certain activities provide different rules when a second player is present; for example, in the Guardian Angel activity, the second player will have to control the tiger in the backseat while the first player drives. Because of their focus on the single player and co-operative experience, Volition has removed competitive multiplayer from the title.
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