Saints Row: The Third details; has it become too OTT?

“Realism has been thrown out the window,” says Volition Games’ Drew Holmes, as a woman is savagely beaten to death with a purple dildo on the screen behind him. Switching to the “apoca-fists”, a passer-by is given a mean left-hook, exploding into bloody chunks on impact. Afterwards, instead of prising a car door open like most mild-mannered hijackers, the Saints Row protagonist jumps through the windscreen feet first, conveniently landing in the driver’s seat.

OTT doesn’t begin to do Saints Row: The Third justice.

The 20-minute demo showed off a variety of silly wrestling moves, a fighter jet with a laser, and a van with a large plastic Johnny Gat head mounted to the bonnet, a flame-thrower poking out of its big white teeth (Gat is the leader of the Saints, if you recall). Embarrassed laughter spread through the audience as the function of a new sex appeal slider was revealed in the customisation screens – the size of the character’s junk/breasts increasing as the slider moved from left to right.

Later in the demo, pedestrians were sucked up by a van with a Ghostbusters-like hose and nozzle, which then spewed them across the city. Now, perhaps I’m developing an aversion to fun or something, but I couldn’t help but thinking it was a little too OTT, at times. Open world games appeal to me because they’re grounded in reality – even if they’re only loosely so. What I saw of Saints Row: The Third lacked something I can’t quite put my finger on. But, that’s not to say it didn’t look great fun.

While GTA IV delved into the criminal underworld of drug rings, political conspiracy and immigration amongst other things, Saints Row is all about the sandbox. That’s not to say there isn’t a plot to give it some context: The once humble Third Street Saints have sold out. The gang has its own groupies, energy drinks (Saints Flow) and there’s even a movie in the works. One of the stars from this movie, a method actor looking to immerse himself in gang culture, joins the Saints in the very first mission of the game: a bank job.

Dressed up in oversized Johnny Gat bobble-heads, which jiggle comically as the heist turns into a gun brawl, the Saints shoot their way through to a vault full of cash. Things don’t go to plan. After SWAT teams and helicopters are sent in, the Saints are captured and thrown in the slammer. Incarcerated, the Saints learn that banks around Stilwater are now under the control of an organisation known as the Syndicate, led by one Phillipe Loren.

Relocating to Steelport after breaking out, the Saints begin their mission to take down the Syndicate and claim the downtrodden city as their own. Although you’ll probably be more concerned with beating people up with the dildo-bat.

Customisation plays as big a role as ever. Let’s Pretend clothes shops make a return, and this time they stock the same items as every other store, removing the hassle of having to travel miles for a specific item of clothing. More options have been made available in the vehicular department, too. Rim Jobs (ha!) offers alloys, body kits and fresh paint jobs, as well as new parts for under the bonnet.

While it wasn’t shown in the demo, Holmes also confirmed that the popular Insurance Fraud mini-game from previous instalments will make a return, as well as drop-in, drop-out co-op. Celeb vocal talent was also confirmed, but this was not something Volition was ready to share.

Saints Row: The Third is due for release on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in October.