Game Reviews

Fair Game Review: The Saints Row Series

Much like Bioshock I originally had a prejudice against the Saints Row games. I felt that they were designed more for dorky kids than cool dudes, and so I stuck with the GTA series. However, Xbox had a massive sale where it was less than twenty bucks to get all four of the Saints Row games. I discovered that my prejudices only really applied to the first game and once I got into the sequel and then continued with the series, I was pleasantly surprised with the franchise. In fact, it turns out that I love the Saints Row games and the best part was the ability to create your own avatar who then became the center of the action and drama for the story. My video review is long enough to explain my entire experience with the games. 

Bonus! - Marge Simpson and X-Men's Domino

The character editor suites in the Saints Row games are so advanced that I was given the opportunity to create some of my favourite characters from pop culture. I made two videos discussing the characters I made, and also go over other issues about identification and representation in games.

Phuzz the War Girl!

My character from Saints Row 2 was Phyllis aka Phuzz the War Girl. I got some inspiration from Mad Max: Fury Road. This is a gallery of some moments (and outfits) from that playthrough.

Phuzz Revanche!

I was able to use the awesome character editor to re-make Phuzz the War Girl for Saints Row The Third.

I decided to tone down the joker style makeup and all that and have her look a little more realistic. However, I did opt to have her very fit and voluptuous. In addition, I made use of the wide range of outfits available at the stores around Steelport. 

For the fourth game, the story had become so ridiculous and full of supernatural fantasy elements that I retired Phuzz and started playing as Marge Simpson.
In an ideal world, I would look like a young Arnie, and this would be my girl hehe...

A Selection of Saints Row Fanart

Unfortunately, most professional artists are either brooding intellectuals, passive introverts, or trendy snobs. As such, Saints Row has proven to miss the mark on attracting pro artists to create fanart pieces - they just don't have the temperament to play the games. It was very difficult for me to find professional works based on the Saints Row games which is a shame because there are so many fun designs in the game from character costumes to building architecture, to flying vehicles, to wacky weapons... and of course Professor Genki!

I selected a handful of the better rendered fanart pieces that were available at DeviantArt, ArtStation, Facebook, Tumblr, and ComicartFans.