More on Volition's Saints Row The Third and on THQ

I have been surprised since I came back to playing Saint's Row the Third last week that it is as good as it is.

Okay, so the "plot" is not good and is just designed to feebly join the missions into some sort of coherent whole but the missions themselves are fun but challenging

What would normally be considered side missions are part of what you have to do to complete the game in SR3.  As I explained in the previous entry, you have to buy properties, clear out gang operations and perform various other violent missions which are marked on the map.  The completion of each of these causes another small area of the city to come under your sway.

Occasionally, when you are in a particular area, your cell phone will ring and you will be called upon to go and defend or attack a location where another gang is trying to impose itself.  There will be several waves of enemies and to get through each wave you will have to kill a certain number.  It is always tempting to attempt to run over them in whatever car you arrive in and as a started this is fine but if you keep going back over them in the same car in will get badly damaged and start to burn.  If it carries on being fired on you might not have time to get out before it explodes and if you have already taken a few yourself then the explosion will kill you.  If you can get through all the waves of enemies then this will also turn a section of city to your control.

I hate the rival gang called the Deckers.  One of their specialist types of enemy blinks very rapidly from one location to another and is very hard to kill as a result.  They attack either with a melee weapon that looks a bit like an (ice) hockey stick or with (I think - they so rarely stay still long enough to tell), dual Uzis.  When you are being fired on from all sides by normal enemies and one of these enemies comes from nowhere and  knocks you down with a hockey stick it feels more than a little unfair.

Saints Row - The Present and the Past.

The last thing I'll say about SR3 for now is about the picture above.

On the right is the version of the box-art for the game that I have and on the left is the version you can buy at the time of writing (see link in left column for my ebay store).  There are many differences between the two images but the most obvious one to me is in the bottom right corner of the box where the Deep Silver logo replaces the THQ one.  I was going to write that I was sorry about the demise of THQ but I am not sure what to say.  The list of second rate IPs they funded (most of which have now been off-loaded onto Nordic games - though I don't mean to imply that Supreme Commander is anything but brilliant) is substantial and the good games that were in their care will all be going to good homes - or at least to new homes where they will have a chance.  I only hope that those which are less good will not be followed up on.  If Nordic restarted the discontinued Red Faction series or failed to end the mediocre MX vs ATV it would be an opportunity missed.  I also hope that where series are carried on they will be taken in new directions.

While THQ's end is obviously a great shame for those employees who have trouble finding new work it is perhaps a clean section on the messy slate of the games industry.

I have bought a Gran Turismo 5 on ebay, a game which I am very surprised not to have played yet, and am quietly hoping it will arrive tomorrow.  I will write about it soon.