The last thing gamers need right now is another Grand Theft Auto clone, particularly in the wake of titles such as Scarface and The Godfather that took GTAs simple action and made it unnecessarily complicated. But in Saints Row, Xbox 360 gamers have a GTA-alike that refines the experience and makes the cop cappin, car stealin, thug blastin action fun all over again.
Crucially, Saints Row makes small tweaks to the traditional GTA formula that make for a more friendly experience: when you fail a task, you can start again by tapping a button, rather than having to backtrack to an earlier position; coloured lines on the map help you navigate between points in the city, eradicating the inevitable wrong turns that blight every GTA session; and the story boasts a rich variety of missions, a marked improvement on lesser free-roaming crime capers such as The Getaway that stick with repetitive, clichéd challenges.
However, Saints Rows biggest triumph is the online Xbox Live mode where you can take your mobster online and battle other hoodlums for kudos and laughs, expanding the digital world beyond your lounge and keeping you coming back for more.