After blowing those up this allowed my team to finish first and get the prize money. I picked up some heavy artillery and started to shoot at all of the cars on the other team. So, to help get my team through, I raced way ahead not worrying at all about the gates.
#STILLWATER SAINTS ROW 2 MAP SERIES#
Here's an example that I witnessed firsthand: both teams were tasked with racing through a series of gates (Midnight Club-style), however it wasn't important that everybody finish the race. At first I didn't see the strategy behind playing as a team, but I quickly realized that in order to win you're going to have to come up with plans and work as a single unit. If this mode is even half as good as I played, then this is going to be one heck of an addictive online game.The key to this mode's success is in the teamwork.
I was impressed with the amount of different tasks you had to complete, each short enough to never get boring. So what are these tasks? Well, they're random, which means that you can go from trying to protect a "ho" (their term, not mine) to competing in a race to finding yourself in a demolition derby. This isn't one of those modes that just has one or two things to do, instead you and your team try to complete a bunch of random tasks before the other team does, ultimately giving you money, which in turn leads you to victory. The big news was a new mode called "Strong Arm," which is a four on four battle for money and respect. Of course, if that was the extent of Saints Row 2's online mode then there wouldn't be a reason to invite us game journalists to San Francisco to play the game. You can play it with up to eleven other people, giving you a room with a dozen competitive gamers. This mode is a lot like what you found in the original and should not be a surprise to anybody that has picked up a first-person shooter (or any other type of shooter) in the past ten or fifteen years. There's the obvious stuff, such as a deathmatch-style mode that you can play either by yourself or with teams. Will this be the game that everybody quits playing Call of Duty 4 and Halo 3 to play? Probably not, but those looking for a unique online experience need not look any further than Saints Row 2.Īs with the original game, Saints Row 2 offers several different online modes to play through. This game may not be breaking new ground in the genre, but at least the multiplayer mode was interesting enough to warrant a look. The question is: how does this style of gaming translate to a competitive online arena?Īs the original game (and this year's mega-selling Grand Theft Auto IV) proved, the open-world sandbox game is ripe for online gameplay. It is still a Grand Theft Auto-style open world sandbox game, the type of experience that allows you to go anywhere and do anything. At first glance this Saints Row looks and feels a lot like the game that came out back in 2006.
With a few strong drinks in me, I was just about ready to listen to the developers talk about what sets this game's multiplayer apart from all of those other online-enabled games on the market.