Are you ready to get your gangster on? THQs Saints Row has been released and I've been exploring the dangerous streets of Stillwater for hours upon hours. Saints Row is not a clone of Grand Theft Auto, as it has been pigeonholed, but a GTA inspired action game. For the first time Rockstar might have a strong competitor in the gangster gaming market. There's a new kid on the block, lock and load here is Extreme Gamers review of Saints Row.

The 3rd street gang, the Saints are about to bring the pain to the rival gangs in the fictional city of Stillwater. In this tale of street gangs, drug lords, and pop diva's, you will have the chance to cause a lot of mayhem and gain the respect of your fellow hoodlums. Saints Row doesn't pull any punches and right from the opening you'll know you're in for a violent adventure in the degenerate world of street gangs. You'd better be ready for some sex, drugs and rock n' roll, well hip hop, guns, and girls.

When thinking about Saints Row, I really didn't want to reference Grand Theft Auto at all, but that is nearly impossible, first because they are very similar, and two because there are no other games of this type. True Crime is the only other game that has come close to Grand Theft Auto, but that's not even a proper comparison. Saints Row is the first game to rival the almighty GTA series, and if they continue with the Saints Row title we might have a new lead pimp one day.

ALL ABOUT RESPECT
The theme behind Saints Row is all about gang notoriety, respect, and taking power from other rival gangs in the city. Like Grand Theft Auto the world is a free roam large environment that you can go wherever you want, whenever you want. There is a main story with revolves around three rival gangs, The West Side Rollerz, Los Carnales, and the Vice Kings. These main storylines have around 10 missions each that are varied and filled with in game cut-scenes. You can also do other mini-games in Saints Row which are labeled as "activities". There is definitely a lot to do in Saints Row and it won't be long before you unlock the achievement of playing Saints Row for 20hrs.

The activities or mini-games are all broken down into categories and are accessible through varies locations in Stillwater. Each Activity has an introduction cut scene and then leads into eight submissions for every Activity location. When you complete a grouping of eight you will be rewarded with an unlockable item, characters boosts, or cheaper prices at stores. To finish all these mini-games you're probably looking at the same amount of time that it would take you to finish the main story mode. This pushes Saints Row into an easy twenty to thirty hour game.

ACTIVITIES
I'll tell you a little bit about the ten different "activities" in Saints Row. Each activity usually requires you to be in and out of cars and when getting up in the levels it can get challenging. The self explanatory missions are Demolition Derby, Racing and Hijacking. Then they get a little more interesting with "Escort" missions that require you to drive around a hooker a her client while being chased by the media and usually a girlfriend or wife. These missions usually have some funny dialog lines and they will require hit unique objectives like damaging your car while driving, or dropping the client off a specific place. Continuing with the ladies is the "Snatch" levels. The Snatch levels which ultimate reward is a pimping out fit, weapon and car are my personal favorite. For these missions you have to drive rescue hoes from pimps and drop them off at a waypoint. The interesting thing about these missions is that you will have to make multiple trips while fighting off a rival gang and usually the 5-0.

Finishing off the activities is "Drug Trafficking", "Hitman", "Chop Shop", "Insurance Fraud" and "Mayhem". Out of these five mini-games, Insurance Fraud would be my pick. During this activity you have to go to a designated area on the map and jump in front of traffic to do injure yourself. The goal is to hit a dollar amount in injuries so you can sue for the big bucks. The rag-doll physics really come into play here and multipliers are given for distance and combo hits. It's a lot of fun and you'll have a few laughs as you bounce all over the pavement. I'll let you figure out the other mini-games if you grab a copy of Saints Row, I can't spoil it all.

COSMETICS
Saints Row also has a few areas where you can work over the cosmetics of your character and your ride. Upgrading your car really serves no purpose other than looking cool; you can upgrade everything from rims to custom colours. This section of the game really isn't too deep, certainly not at the level of Need for Speed. This small addition is like San Andreas and its car modes. In an innovative twist Saints Row put a respect meter that goes along with how well you're dressed. If you where the colour purple, the Saints colours, your rating will go up and in turn you will gain more respect when completing missions. The clothing aspect is pretty impressive with three layers of shirts, socks, hats, glasses; everything is included down to piercing and bling bling. The only downfall to buying outfits besides blowing your cheddar is that the variety is lacking, and because you'll be stuck wearing a suit just so you can earn more respect. THQ has released "The Funky Fresh" download over the Xbox Marketplace which has some new threads, so if this gets to you, buying extra content is a option.

Continued on PAGE 2