In sandbox games, the game lives or dies on being able to mess around in a fun open-world environment, and 'Saints Row' doesn't really succeed on those merits. Yes, there are plenty of side activities and missions to take part in, but in simply wondering around there is scant to do. When you do hit the open road, 'Saints Row' is a strange paradox it is a large open world with little to do. There is a lot to be said for the minimalist interface of 'Grand Theft Auto 5', and after a while, you just want 'Saints Row' to sit down and take a deep breath. In our review for 'Forza Horizon 5', we complemented the game for always pushing the players to achieve and push for more with counters on the screen, but 'Saints Row' takes it to the logical extreme, and at times the interface looks like an Excel sheet having a nightmare. In the moment-to-moment gameplay, the game has a bizarre obsession with leveling up and stats, which feels very out of place in a sandbox game. 'Far Cry' style 'clear the district' side quests populate the map, a wingsuit is lifted straight from the 'Just Cause' games, the core character group is lifted straight from 'Watch Dogs 2', and most damningly, the game plays like a 'Grand Theft Auto' clone.

'Saints Row' is a game with an identity crisis, as its gameplay is derivative of most sandbox games on the market. The iconography of the previous games are there, as well as references to other games developed by Volition such as 'Red Faction' and 'Agents Of Mayhem', which somewhat undermines the core premise of striking out on your own and forging your own identity. If the game wasn't called 'Saints Row' and was a brand-new game trying to start a franchise, we would be kinder to it, but 'Saints Row' invites the comparison to previous games. Indeed, when the game zeroes in on smaller character moments between themself and their crew, the game is a strong and engaging experience, with flawed, multi-faceted characters expressing their hopes, dreams and desires. When 'Saints Row' indulges sillier aspects it undermines the story 'Saints Row' has had the charm sandblasted away in order to make it like every other sandbox game on the market. Previous 'Saints Row' games weren't exactly Valve standard in being incredibly proficient technical masterpieces, but they were never Bethesda-style disasters. The game received a delay in late 2021 to receive one last bit of polish, and we fear the game may be a bit too well-polished, to the point of eroding the traditional 'Saints Row' spirit. The main note with 'Saints Row' is the game is an overbearing and overthought mess. Reviewing a game like 'Saints Row' is the most frustrating game to review because it isn't quite bad enough to warrant a trashing, but it has enough ideas to be a great game with a bit more focus. 'Saints Row' cannot pick a lane, because when it is a 'Breaking Bad' or 'Ozark' style story about making ends meet it hooks the player with clever writing and strong character work, but when the game becomes, well, a 'Saints Row' game, it becomes indistinguishable from every other sandbox game on the market. When 'Saints Row' brings in the flying bikes, jets and rocket launchers, all this is lost. When the 2022 version of 'Saints Row' focuses on the smaller character moments and wrestles with prevalent themes such as the gig economy, private military contractors, and living pay slip to pay slip, the game comes close to saying something profound about the genre it exists in. The time was right for a 'Saints Row' reboot that took the franchise back to basics, and it succeeds on those merits. 'Saints Row IV' was a final blowout for the franchise, taking its silliness to the nth degree by making players a superpowered American president, so a back-to-basics reboot is just what the doctor ordered. In the build-up to launch, we revisited the franchise that started life as a 'Grand Theft Auto' knock-off that went on to forge its own identity, but the franchise has been dormant since 2013's 'Saints Row IV'. The sandbox genre has been a genre in need of innovation for a long time now, and 'Saints Row' is the latest game to fall victim to the trap of overthinking something that should be simple.

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