• Publisher: THQ
  • Release Date: Aug 29, 2006
Saints Row Image
Metascore
81

Generally favorable reviews - based on 74 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
7.6

Generally favorable reviews- based on 279 Ratings

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  • Summary: Welcome to Stilwater, a city where the streets are everything but tranquil. Divided by rivaling gangs, you’ll need to adopt savvy street smarts to build respect, make money and gain notoriety, let alone stay alive. As a member of the 3rd St. Saint’s, you need to push back against a cityWelcome to Stilwater, a city where the streets are everything but tranquil. Divided by rivaling gangs, you’ll need to adopt savvy street smarts to build respect, make money and gain notoriety, let alone stay alive. As a member of the 3rd St. Saint’s, you need to push back against a city looking to wipe you out, in order to rise up the ranks and eventually control the streets. If it takes theft, extortion or tried and true brute force, then that’s what ya gotta do. Only then will you rule the streets. BUT watch your back – on your purpose to rise as the city’s controlling syndicate, reputable and powerful gangs, including politicians have you in their crosshairs. [THQ] Expand
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Xbox 360 TGS 2005 Press Conference Montage
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 63 out of 74
  2. Negative: 1 out of 74
  1. This is a game guaranteed to offend and entertain in equal measure, but it is emphatically not for children.
  2. Play Magazine
    90
    The nature of the game's free-form design coupled with its devices also make it an extremely personal experience, more so than any of its predecessors. [Sept 2006, p.50]
  3. Game Informer
    88
    The one area where Saints Row really goes outside of anything that "GTA" has to offer is through its amazingly diverse and highly enthralling online. [Sept. 2006, p.95]
  4. The missions to the story are extremely well designed, and the tasks are considerably varied. The shooting missions are joy to behold too, set out in true 3rd person shooter style with no automatic lock on. But once all the razzmatazz of the story has gone, and the dust has settled on “the Row”, there isn’t enough variety to keep you coming back.
  5. Official Xbox Magazine UK
    80
    Solid - but lacks the intelligence of "GTA"... Without a doubt, Saints Row's biggest contribution to the genre is multiplayer. This also happens to be the most fun part of the game. [Sept 2006, p.8]
  6. Volition tries and fails to re-create GTA’s sense of style, but their attempts at humor, from the naming of the businesses to the radio commercials, just comes off as even more derivative and less-inspired than its current gen doppelganger.
  7. netjak
    22
    I don't want to see anyone play this badly built junk even once, let alone own it for the "joy" of multiple playthroughs. The single player experience was so bad I refused to even try the online mode. I don't want to see anyone else go through the pain of being tempted with such an immersive experience just to have it ripped away by the shortcomings of whoever was responsible for these game-breaking glitches.

See all 74 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 50 out of 70
  2. Negative: 4 out of 70
  1. BlueFalcon
    Nov 9, 2007
    10
    I hope gta4 is this much fun. At the moment this is the best game on the xbox 360 (yes better than gears of war, yes better than halo 3, and I hope gta4 is this much fun. At the moment this is the best game on the xbox 360 (yes better than gears of war, yes better than halo 3, and yes better than bioshock, oh and yes better than the orange box). To address some other comments i see... after 30+ hours of gameplay I haven't come across any noteable glitches. Calling this a gta clone doesn't do it justice. It improves upon the sandbox formula in a lot of memorable ways. Expand
  2. MikeT
    May 10, 2007
    10
    amazing, sure lots of people call it a gta clone, and well, it is. But who cares? why should gta own the whole freeroaming game world? saintsamazing, sure lots of people call it a gta clone, and well, it is. But who cares? why should gta own the whole freeroaming game world? saints row completely beats gta in every aspect, graphics are fantastic, anyone who has played gta knows that theyre graphics have always sucked, and only now, for gta 4 are they redesigning them. as for gameplay, its waaaay more fun, punching and kicking has never been so fun (except for godhand, but that has nothing to do with this) because the graphics and physics are so good, the first time you kick out an old womans shins and her walker falls on her, you will be in love with this game. unlike gta the characters actually seem like real people, in gta they walked, responded if you attacked them and very rarely fought each other, but saints row is great, people will go get a newspaper from those machines and read it at a bustop or walk with it, cops eat donuts occacionally lol, people talk to each other, and the dialoge is hillarious (such as when you punch a black guy and he goes "AHH N*GGAS GONE CRAZY")

    ok sure gta has bikes motorcycles and planes, but the cars and car customizing in saints row is waay better. I could go on about why saints row wupps gtas A*S but I wont, so ill just break it down.

    you can hold up any place you want

    there is no auto target which makes it more fun than holding L1 and repeatedly shooting.

    the special homies are awsome, and you can call em up with your cell, and they all are unique helpfull and funny as hell

    it has an mp3 player!!! now go buy music and listen to a wide variety of music whenever you want!

    you can create your own character and make him as pimped out or as fugly as you want.

    the cheats are way more origional and fun/funny

    the characters are unforgettable, as you play through the game you will love the characters, esspecialy the saints

    No one buckles up theyre seatbelt!! yay! hit someone hard enough and you or them/or both will fly right out the windsheild yay!

    lots of kick a*s activities to do when your bored of the story, such as insurance fraud, or stealing hoes from pimps

    the online is fun as f*ck and has downloadable content!

    gangs are not dumba*s g*y peices of crap anymore!, remember how in gta you would pimp out a new car and on your way to your home, no more than a 30 second drive, you would get shot up and have your car nowhere near perfect condition, well in saints row, the police work like gangs, piss them off and theyle beat you up, pull out a gun, they pull out a gun etc. So now you have some security if you just wanna screw around in the city without any lame interuptions.

    the inventory is well organized and you can choose any weapon almost instantly, in addition to that, theyre also are different types of food to eat and restore health, and in a different category than weapons, so you wont accidently eat when you mean to bust out your shotty

    ok now for the 2 bad things, now bad only means not as good as it could be,
    ok the first problem is not as big a place as you would hope, its more the size of about 2 gta islands or so, but deal with it this game is great!

    the second problem is that somewhat of a lack of weapons, but come on! gta has tons of machine guns and ak's etc, can you really tell the difference? so this is a problem and a good thing at the same time, 4 pistols, all with different speed and power, 2 uzis one stronger than the other 2 rifles 1 sniper, 3 shotguns, 2 are similar but the other is a riot shotgun, 1 rpg, 3 thrown weapons, pipe bombs moltov coctails and grenades, all very different types of explosisions so great variety.

    so that last one wasnt really a negative for me, but for some they might think so

    I found it funny how many people complained abiout the story HAHA as if gta actually has a good story (its there but its no halo) and the same goes for saints row, so basically SSDD.

    i decided to buy this after i played the demo, the demo is about 1/50 the size with very limited to do, and i played it for hours, so obviously the real game blew me away.

    no co-op like gta san andreas, but pft the gta one sucked so much theyre was no point anyway,.

    lets see what else... Oh the clothes, the clothes tattoos,the whole customizing idea is fantastic.

    10/10 no question, the best....ok maybe second best 360 game (dead rising is about on par with it)
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  3. Jul 12, 2021
    9
    Ah, I'll always have fond memories of playing Saints Row, a more hip hop version of grand theft auto. It takes place in the fictional city ofAh, I'll always have fond memories of playing Saints Row, a more hip hop version of grand theft auto. It takes place in the fictional city of Stillwater, based on Detroit, New York City, and Chicago, and allows you to create your own player to roam the crime-ridden urban concrete jungle. The game's plot revolves around rival gangs competing over territory, and you join the 3rd Street Saints. You reclaim the Saint's Row district from their rivals. Owing to the increasing violence, Saints leader Julius Little assigns you to work under his top lieutenants, Dexter "Dex" Jackson, Johnny Gat, and Lin, in wiping out each rival gang. One of these gangs is the Vice Kings, an African American gang that primarily earns revenue from strip clubs and record labels. Then there is the Los Carnales, a Hispanic drug cartel that dominates the narcotics trade and gun-running. Then there are the Westside Rollerz, who operate the lucrative underground racing club. The game is a sandbox game like GTA, allowing you to roam around the steets of Stillwater completing side-missions, street racing, pimping, and just wreaking havoc in general. You can get drunk off liquor and 40's or get high off drugs in the game. The main story in the game is engaging enough, and the game has a good soundtrack with a pretty good song selection on the radio for when you are driving around, with a lot of hip hop. There are a lot of references to hip hop/gangsta rap culture in the game which is cool. Expand
  4. AldekJ.
    Jul 7, 2007
    8
    In some ways better then GTA; though, it does take a while to get in to the game. For $30 it
  5. Feb 26, 2022
    8
    This game is a great start to the series. You get introduced to a great cast of characters and a great story. The game has good gameplay forThis game is a great start to the series. You get introduced to a great cast of characters and a great story. The game has good gameplay for the time that it came out. The car customization is great for the time for this game, I spent a lot of money customizing my car. Speaking of customization, I Loved being able to layer clothing, being able to have a shirt and a hoodie with big golden chains was great for me to immerse myself in this world. I personally believe that they should remake this game. Though the hope for that is low with the new Saints Row coming out and the developers not really liking this style of Saints Row anymore as from interviews it seems it does not align with their current views, though this game would still be great as it does represent many neighborhood gangs today in America with how they feel and interact with the world they are in whether that be 2006 or 2022. I recommend that if you are bored and have a couple of dollars to spend on a game that you try this game out and see how the series all started! Expand
  6. Jan 7, 2016
    7
    Saints Row is the first episode of one of the most emblematic sand box game of the last (and probably current) generation.

    This first
    Saints Row is the first episode of one of the most emblematic sand box game of the last (and probably current) generation.

    This first episode truly represents the spirit of Saints Row, is fun and "offensive", the dialogues are really funny and the side activities entertaining. But unfortunately it wasn't as polished than in Saints Row 2 or 3, both driving and shooting are a little clunky, the side activities quickly become repetitive because you have to do each one 24 times without main changes.

    Graphically the game looks good for one of the first 360 games but it's also full of bugs and glitches that can harm the game experience (I hate when my car disappear and I'm here sitting on nothing). At least the soundtrack was great...

    All in all you can expect 20 hours for the main story plus 15 hours to finish the game at 100%, we're in the good average for a sand-box game.

    So yes it was a good start for the series but it needed to be improve and thank god it was, I advise to buy number 2 or 3 before this one.
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  7. Jan 27, 2016
    0
    This game SUCKS!!!!! why would anyone want this game? The **** in saints row 3 r better than this game this game is so boring and the graphicsThis game SUCKS!!!!! why would anyone want this game? The **** in saints row 3 r better than this game this game is so boring and the graphics suck ass. Halo 5 is better than this **** dont buy this game because it sucks trust me the cheat codes make the gAMe even MORE boring wtf is this it sucks dont buy it please!!!! Expand

See all 70 User Reviews