Hands down this has gotta be the WORST PC port for any video game. It's riddled with unstable performance hiccups, like draw distance not loading up textures right or unexpected crashes happening right before you complete a mission, forcing you to readjust your settings on an offbeat basis to make it playable. Suffering as this experience may be, Saints Row 2 proves itself to be such a grand old time that it becomes more than worth it. From completing the game I can definitely say I will never turn back to GTA. Everything people praised those games to be is funnily enough lived up to be better here, at least better than the ones I've played. It still pulls many of the trademark hallmarks of GTA but it never once feels like a shallow knockoff like its predecessor seemed to be and in fact carved out its own identity from the growing subgenre of open-world GTA clones.

Stillwater is an engaging open-world sandbox to just drive around in and witness its sheer personality while causing so much destructive havoc. What I really love about it is how the criminal parts feel much more involved, gameplay/story-wise, with factions that feel defined and truly an obstacle to knock down in your epic comeback to being top dog again. The map is split into various territories, each controlled by rival gangs, which is smart in helping you familiarize with the open-world and where to conquer the city through nonstop gang warfare. How this is done aside from main story missions are mini-game activities which left me skeptical in how plentiful yet mandatory they were to progress the game. Fortunately, mostly, this feels very earned as side content to churn through. There's a lot of variety so there's bound to be something to give you some enjoyment at least. No matter how busy work they can end up being, I still like doing these missions/activities because of how fun they ended up being and how it still feels like it matters to the story. You have the simple motive of climbing your way back to the top by doing odd jobs and fucking with rival factions to prove you're a boss, which gradually hypes you the fuck up when shit gets real. And believe me, shit indeed gets real.

I was not expecting the story to be this damn good. When you have a series that shares and owes so much of its DNA to GTA my expectations get hindered usually. Part of my problem with games like GTA IV and GTA V is how the stories never felt captivatingly told. They're certainly functional rinse and repeat stories of a criminal upstart rising through the ranks in the world but that's where it ends, really. No matter how much I can appreciate Rockstar's bluntness in delivering the stories that work for them I can hardly take anything away from that. Like, I can respect GTA V's story being about three guys representing different phases of getting suckered into crime while struggling to form a genuine camaraderie but there's no powerful moments that sticks in my head with this. I can also respect GTA IV for trying to tell an interesting story with Niko Bellavic but it was so unbelievably boring and colorless that by the time the game actually started being more enjoyable I just gave up on it completely. Saints Row 2 is weird because parts of it on paper aren't too different from GTA but everything else feels like an earnest attempt to tell a more well-realized story. When the game goes unbelievably hard, it just goes unbelievably hard. When it goes absurd, it's willing to embrace it, in the healthiest of doses. What helps it out are some well-written characters, heavy hitting memorable moments, and the most uneasy yet successful grip on tone. To sum that up; Saints Row 2 works because it's a realistic world where all the goofy and insane shit sprawls out naturally. None of it should really work when put together but these awkward pieces make up a fine looking larger puzzle to admire.

Player customization is practically near perfect as it can ever get. It's still impressive even by today and should be the base standard of the unrestrained freedom that comes with character creation. Love the attention to detail in making the player be able to stand out in any cutscene imaginable (kudos to using gender neutral pronouns to refer to both male/female protags) and feeling like this is indeed your story. The rest of the gameplay is better than what you'd expect going into this. The customization also extends to player homes and your own gangs which is a really cool feature to have. Driving has the right amount of weight to it while still easily being as ridiculous as it can be. The shooting is fine but the lack of a reloading feature or proper over the shoulder aiming can be annoying.

Sucks that this hasn't gotten a proper port, remaster, or really anything that directly builds on the foundation built here. There's a lot of overlooked good shit with open-world sandboxes that I'd argue this is a great example for. As of now, it's pretty inaccessible unless you're the one still standing Xbox Stan.