E3 2005: Level Up
Saint Xbox
Product: Saint's Row
Company: THQ
Date: 05/28/2005
Avaliable On:

Expected to come out with the launch of the Xbox 360 is the immersive and fully developed city of Southern Crossing, where six street gangs battle for rule over the city. Your character is a new member in the 3rd Street Saints, the smallest of the rival gangs. Your mission in Saint's Row is to build up your rep, and help the Saints take over the city's hoodlum underworld.

To earn respect and enhance your gang's rank in the city, you will have to hijack cars, take out rival pimps (and take the women for your own biz) and overthrow the other gang members. Piece by piece, neighborhood by neighborhood, the Saints will take over all of the city. The world of Southern Crossing will move from day to night seamlessly, showing off the system's dynamic lighting features in any setting. Between the car headlights, muzzle flashes, grenade explosions and street lamps, the real-time lighting effects help to add realism to this game's already beautiful look.

The physics of Saint's Row are also noteworthy. The game's ragdoll physics makes everything from the flying bodies to cars with realistic crumple zone damage that much more authentic. As you plow your way through the streets and into other cars, the vehicles will dent, ding and bend just like the ones on the real streets. In the demo, the producer showed off the game's lighting effects and realistic physics by tossing grenades under the police cars that were chasing him. The results were stunning.

Saint's Row also gives you maximum customizablity, by letting you buy (or steal) clothes and bling from stores found throughout Southern Crossing. But your character's style is for more than just your personal enjoyment. The people in the world around you will actually react differently depending on how you are dressed. Dress well, and women will flock to you, don't and your rep will go down. With its high-quality graphics and free-roaming gameplay, Saint's Row is bound to be one of the top Xbox 360 launch titles.

Check back here for a full review once the game is launched.

J.R. Nip aka Chris Meyer

GameVortex PSIllustrated TeamPS2