Saints Row
Xbox360
Volition

Comparing any game to the monster of a franchise 'Grand Theft Auto' can be harsh, but when a company goes after the genre with the subtlety of a steamroller like Volition has done with 'Saints Row', it's not surprising.

With the exception of those under the proverbial rock, every gamer has given one of the many 'GTA''s a go at some point and, through that experience, would be pretty safe in deciding whether or not they'll enjoy 'Saints Row'.

Making no attempts to disguise its influences, 'Saints Row' gives players everything they'd expect from 'Grand Theft Auto' and then some. Improving on almost every aspect of its spiritual predecessors, gone are the conveniently out of commission bridges and roads to other areas - every inch of the map is available for your inevitable felonies from the get go.

'Saints Row' offers players the opportunity to sculpt every physical attribute of their character, from ethnicity to the size of their brow - just don't go looking for the gender option, 'males only' for whatever reason.

Once your avatar is tweaked up and good to go, he's thrust in the middle of a gang war between four rivals filled to their brims with expected stereotypes - thankfully these characters, who on the surface seem to lack the depth to carry a gamer through 30 plus hours of game time, are voiced by some excellent talent, including the likes of Michael Clarke Duncan, David Carradine, Tia Carrere, Daniel Dae Kim and a number of others that all do an admirable job in keeping the world of Stillwater full of life.

Multiplayer is where 'Saints Row' steps out on its own, offering players the opportunity to take their customised characters online for some lively eight-on-eight gang warfare via a traditional death match to protect the pimp modes and the favourite, the blinged-out ride, giving each team a rusted-up old car to upgrade to a souped-up hotrod, complete with fuzzy dice.

If you enjoyed 'GTA', or thought the free roaming gang genre sounded interesting, then 'Saints Row' is a safe purchase, delivering on all its promises and providing gamers with exactly what they expected - good and bad.

Lyndon Cullen-Reid