PS3 News: Volition On Saints Row: "We Are Not A GTA Clone" - PS3 News

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Volition On Saints Row: "We Are Not A GTA Clone"

We told you in our review that Saints Row: The Third wasn't a Grand Theft Auto clone. We tried to ram that point home with an explanatory editorial.

And now, the developer is saying what we - and many other critics and gamers - have been saying for a while: Saints Row has become its own thing; it really isn't ripping anything off from its competition.

In speaking to VG247, Volition lead designer Scott Phillips said the fans are saying the studio has created their own niche with Saints Row: The Third.  Said Phillips:

"And I think with Saints Row: The Third, we're starting to hear from fans, reviewers that we have created our own niche. We are not GTA, we are not a clone, we are our own thing."

It's all about the chaos and the style, which is unique to Saints Row.

"That direction of over the top has been set very early on from Saints Row 2, and I think Saints Row: The Third reset that direction and reinforced that we are over the top and we that sort of fun, guilty pleasure sort of game."

Phillips added that he saw the GTAV trailer and said- "Those guys can really build a world, they are fantastic at that." But he said he soon got tired of GTAIV and and he thinks his team has Rockstar beat in creating "fun gameplay." At the same time and with a more diplomatic stance, Phillips said there's certainly room for both games in the genre, which we certainly agree with. We definitely wanna play both.

However, be careful with that term, "fun." ...that's about as subjective as you're gonna get, Mr. Phillips.

Related Game(s): Saints Row: The Third

Tags: saints row the third, saints row 3, thq, volition, gta

11/22/2011 9:36:44 AM Ben Dutka

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Comments (24 posts)

Beamboom
Tuesday, November 22, 2011 @ 9:54:13 AM
Reply

"guilty pleasure sort of game" -> That's *exactly* what Saints Row is.
It's so wonderful to hear from devs that so totally understand what their game is and who their fans are.

Agree with this comment 2 up, 1 down Disagree with this comment

dillonthebunny
Tuesday, November 22, 2011 @ 9:55:44 AM
Reply

...and as soon as Ive done just a lil more Skyrim, Il start on it.


but not just yet...

Agree with this comment 1 up, 1 down Disagree with this comment

Mr Bubbles IGR
Tuesday, November 22, 2011 @ 11:16:01 AM

did the exact same thing. waited till i played more skyrim and then went to saints row

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chedison
Thursday, November 24, 2011 @ 2:58:59 AM

It's so much fun

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Oyashiro
Tuesday, November 22, 2011 @ 10:28:07 AM
Reply

I've had more fun in the first few missions of SR3 than in the entirety of GTAIV.

GTAV is really going to have to do something special for me to care about it.

Agree with this comment 6 up, 3 down Disagree with this comment

chedison
Thursday, November 24, 2011 @ 3:02:54 AM

My thoughts exactly. Not to mention the PC version looks incredible.

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TheWuziMu
Tuesday, November 22, 2011 @ 10:40:29 AM
Reply

I agree with Oyashiro 100%.

To continue this thought: Whereas both games removed activities, SR3 replaced them with fun, while GTAIV replaced them with tedious activities such as playing darts and pool, or watching cut scenes of comedians or watching TV.

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GoldenShadow
Tuesday, November 22, 2011 @ 11:16:09 AM
Reply

They might want to tell their advertising department, pretty sure I saw the phrase "does GTA better than GTA" in one of their commercials.

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Beamboom
Tuesday, November 22, 2011 @ 11:57:02 AM

I think that was for a SR2 commercial years ago.

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Killa Tequilla
Tuesday, November 22, 2011 @ 12:19:33 PM

Still Saints Row.

Out GTAs GTA?

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Beamboom
Tuesday, November 22, 2011 @ 12:49:19 PM

That campaign was one of many for a different release, years ago.
And on top of that they received *tons* of flak from fans for that stupid campaign, and I imagine one of the devs even went public to say that was one idiot marketing guys stupid idea and had nothing to do with Volition.

Last edited by Beamboom on 11/22/2011 12:54:11 PM

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___________
Wednesday, November 23, 2011 @ 10:00:44 AM

no its not, i saw that add for SR3 today.
dunno WTF has happened to volition after RFG released, but every game after that has been a rushed, cheap pile of sh*t!
RFA felt so rushed, and really buggy.
this feels so rushed, really cheap, and really buggy.

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Alienange
Tuesday, November 22, 2011 @ 1:51:47 PM
Reply

"we are over the top and we" what ??

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raptassassin
Tuesday, November 22, 2011 @ 2:06:09 PM

are OVERRATED.
Last edited by raptassassin on 11/22/2011 2:06:48 PM

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WorldEndsWithMe
Tuesday, November 22, 2011 @ 3:13:36 PM

"we're" maybe?

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sha4dowknight05
Tuesday, November 22, 2011 @ 2:10:24 PM
Reply

Well the game saint's row is basically GTA gone wild, i mean gta has always tried to be be more realistics with the bit of some fun stuff everynow an then but overall it's a real game.


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WorldEndsWithMe
Tuesday, November 22, 2011 @ 3:14:07 PM

I'm sorry but what? GTA never tried to be realistic until IV. Before that it was fun.

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Killa Tequilla
Tuesday, November 22, 2011 @ 8:43:47 PM

Yea, but everything in previous GTAs was believeable. I mean, i understand that Voltion doest take anything serious in Saints Row, but sharks coming out of the ground in hard cement and eating humans? That's just nuts.

Yes, i do have the game. And yes it's fun. But sometimes seeing this things just makes me feel weird playing the game.

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sha4dowknight05
Tuesday, November 22, 2011 @ 10:27:24 PM

I guess should explain more, but the story behind GTA is what was realistic. It revolve around real world problems and has a great set of characters.

There is much more to explain but it would be too much to type.

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WorldEndsWithMe
Tuesday, November 22, 2011 @ 3:15:36 PM
Reply

Yeah I got tired of GTA IV too, it's hard to get tired of an SR game. I need some money to get The Third, I've been itching to go buck wild.

It may be different (far different) from what GTA is today, but if there never was a GTA there wouldn't be a Saint's Row.

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DarthSayver21
Tuesday, November 22, 2011 @ 7:28:50 PM
Reply

let me add my 2 cents.
i prefer GTA over SR anyday, but that doesnt mean i havent played it or enjoyed SR at all.
All im saying what GTAIV brought to the table was to me what Hideo Kojima did for the ps3. And i know theres alot of people who doesnt agree with R* on the new direction they seem to be taking GTA, i.e. more serious gameplay but thats why SR can exist now along with GTA because they sorta are polar opposite from each other now, no?
you can down me vote all you want because you disagree but it wont change the fact that i prefer GTA, even more now since GTAIV.

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___________
Wednesday, November 23, 2011 @ 2:36:25 AM
Reply

no?
then why is the game being marketed like that?
and i quote " out GTAs GTA" thats from the add.
its quite obvious saints row is a GTA clone, not that its a bad thing of course.
out of all the games this generation though this has to be the biggest surprise, and not in a good way.
i was expecting it to be like just cause 2, stupid, cheesy, mindless fun!
but its not.
its short, boring, cheap, lazy, and tedious!
when a assassination mission has you travelling A WHOLE ISLAND looking for a fat "hoe" you really know there running out of ideas!
i was so disappointed with it, i was expecting mindless cheesy fun.
i certainly would not call scowering a island for a muscle car just so i can get my target to appear mindless cheesy fun!
cant believe im saying this, but SR3 was a bigger disappointment then GTAIV, DMC4, RE5, LP2 and FFXIII put together!
only been playing it for 11 hours and im already bored and sick of it!
thats gotta be a world record, especially for a open world game!

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dkmrules
Wednesday, November 23, 2011 @ 4:07:44 AM
Reply

Yeah, this game is awesome! First few missions were off the walls insane, and I seriously can't stop playing this game.

The only problems I see so far are the lolunlimitedgrip driving physics, and gunfire is WAY too quiet (maybe that's my sound set up)
Last edited by dkmrules on 11/23/2011 4:13:18 AM

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brandonctl
Thursday, November 24, 2011 @ 6:56:44 PM
Reply

I still love GTA IV. It's easy to think of a game where you're passively blowing things up but it takes work to actually immerse a player like R* does. you can tell R* actually puts a lot of thought into their games.

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