Saints Row 2

Is the open-world genre big enough for Volition?

	Version 360, (PS3, PC)	Developer Volition	Publisher THQ	Genre Action

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Territory, meanwhile, functions much as you'd expect: other gangs own it, your gang wants it. Once you've taken over a stronghold (of which there are forty plus) it'll passively turn in revenue while you hare around setting fire to buskers or gunning down police helicopters and the like. You can also seek out and buy up "cribs" which then harbour your weapons and clothes, and store stolen vehicles for later customisation at your strongholds.

Technical lustre is not one of Saints Row 2's greatest achievements: the lighting falls pretty flat, frame-rate dips spot the streets like especially sticky road-kill and the tearing will have more fastidious gamers frothing at the mouth, especially when the action proceeds indoors. But you'll forgive it that, because by the time you remember to frown and tut it'll be 2am, and you'll be leading a pack of pipe-wielding homies onto a rival gang's turf, or unwittingly taking housewives hostage while 'borrowing' SUVs.

Besides, Volition has done a rather brilliant job with the online co-op. One player can drop into another's game on the fly, and any experience, cash or equipment earned in the process is retained afterwards in single player. Many of the aforementioned side missions - 11 varieties from Saints Row 1, plus six all-new types - are built with two player shenanigans in mind: our favourites include Crowd Control, which sees you protecting celebrity NPCs from unhinged fans, and FUZZ, which casts you as the star of a reality-TV cop show (needless to say, a "creative" attitude to law enforcement makes for the highest ratings).

The twelve-strong competitive multiplayer isn't quite as hot due to the unabashedly generic combat and somewhat imprecise camera. Balanced, focussed shoot-outs simply aren't Saints Row 2's strong suit, despite the inclusion of Gears of War's now industry-standard zoom view, and the modes which fare best are consequently those that fall back on the 360-degree principles of the single player. Our favourite was Insurance Fraud, with the idea being to enter a scoring area and rack up damage claims by throwing yourself in front of vehicles. Combos, team multipliers and bright neon pick-ups lend the proceedings a definite party feel, and let's not forget the Bitch Slap, a hilarious little toy which lets you backhand opponents thirty feet into the air.

Touches like this are what ultimately make Saints Row 2. Just when you think you've hit maturity, along comes the likes of Volition to remind you that not-so-deep inside, you still find the idea of smacking a carnival mascot over the head with a fire hydrant obscenely amusing.

Once again, it's not a patch on GTA IV, but frankly it doesn't need to be; if the open world genre isn't big enough for several interpretations we're not sure what genre is, and while THQ's slant isn't as smart or imaginative as some, it deserves a place on the podium.

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