Some Background/Saint's Row 2 (Possible Spoilers) in Gamer's Gaming

Thanks to a note on my other entry I wrote today, I was reminded that, for some who goes by the handle "The Wandering Gamer", there is a distinct and noticeable lack of talk about my favorite hobby, games. I enjoy games of all kinds: card, board, athletic, but my favorite is video games. I am the definition of a life-long gamer. I had an Atari 2600 that I got from my aunt. I had one of the copies of E.T. that wasn't buried out in the New Mexico desert (true story, they just unearthed it recently). I got my Nintendo back in '89 I believe. I have owned the following systems: Atari 2600 and 5200, Nintendo, SNES, N64, Gamecube, Wii, Xbox and Xbox 360, PS1, PS2, and PS3, as well as a Sega Saturn. I also have owned the handhelds: Gameboy, Gameboy Advance, Nintendo DS, and 3DS. Most of these still work, remarkably. Every now and then I will sit and play something on one of the old systems for nostalgia purposes. I am a big fan of RPGs, my favorites being Crono Trigger and the entire Kingdom Hearts series, which I actually did mention in my other book, and I can promise it will be talked about at length here also. In fact, I just finished my 6th of 7 games in the series a couple weeks back, Dream Drop Distance. The only one I haven't played and beaten is the only one I don't have a system for, Birth By Sleep, which will be released as part of the Kingdom Hearts 2.5 HD collection sometime soon, and, at that time, I will have all 7 released games. I am a bit of a fan.

But, as you will soon learn, I am also a huge fan of open world games, like Grand Theft Auto and Saint's Row. Probably cause it is one of the few genre's I truly excel at playing and beating. Just the other night, I finished beating Saint's Row 2. I will try to avoid spoilers as much as possibly, but I am a story guy above all else. I'd feel worse about it, but I usually play games that have been out for a few years already, so if you managed to make it this far without hearing something about a game and I ruin it for you, sorry. To keep it brief, in the first Saint's Row, you are saved and brought into a gang called the 3rd Street Saints, who are in constant war with the other gangs around the city of Stillwater. Through the course of the game, you wipe out the other three gangs and take control of the city. However, at the end, you are betrayed by the leader of your gang and are sent to a boat that is blown up. Saint's Row 2 picks up five years later as your character, who is fairly customizable but cannot carry over from the first game, comes out of a coma in prison. After an escape aided by the younger brother of one of his former gang cohorts, he returns to his city to find his old gang disappeared and the city in the hands of three new gangs: the Brotherhood, the Sons of Samedi, and the Ronin, as well as the Ultor Corporation, who's goal is to revitalize the city by having the four rival gangs, including the newly reincarnated Saints, wipe each other out to drive down property values, which will let them buy it all up and turn out at a huge profit for their investors. Damned 1 percenters. Anyhow, you spend most of the game doing exactly what you did in the first game: working your way through each gang in an effort to wipe both the gang and their leaders out. When all is said and done, it is time to deal with Ultor, who have been using the gangs for their nefarious purposes. When all is said and done, it is the Boss, as he is dubbed in the game, and the Saints who once again rule Stillwater.

In terms of the tone of this game, it is the Evil Dead 2 of video games. Like the first Evil Dead, the first Saint's Row attempted to be serious, to the point of being a GTA clone, though an amusing GTA clone at that. Saint's Row 2 and Evil Dead 2 both realized the potential of the humor that was inherent in their properties and, while still being somewhat serious, embraced this humorous side more. Of course, for those of you familiar with Army of Darkness, or either Saint's Row 3 or 4, you know that the humor became the main focus of both properties. Still, Saint's Row 2, when it was released, was very well received, both critically and commercially. If you are a GTA fan, or just like games that can make you laugh, this is a good choice for you, though I would recommend starting with the first game first. It is not absolutely necessary, but it will help you familiarize yourself with the controls. Good luck and good gaming!