2020 has been the year for the 3rd Street Saints to get back on the spotlight. After the release of Saints Row® 4 Re-Elected on Nintendo Switch, Johnny Gat and company take the mic again and come back through an enhanced entry of the third installment in the open-world series. Does it hold off against its successor or does the heist stop before it gets started?

The game does a great job on giving a fresh graphics to the 2011 title. Updated textures, models, lighting, everything. The game looks stunning, especially on PC, and in most instances looks better than its successor. Steelport in its prime looks great on modern consoles and does it justice during a big part of the game.

Despite not being a full remake, the detail added in comparison to the original version is night and day, and its definitely worth trying it out if you’ve already played the original.

Despite this, the game has a lot of issues regarding loading, HDR, and depth of field. During missions where you use helicopters or need to traverse the map above ground level, it stutters a lot and seems to have problems catching up with the speed that some of the sequences demand. This is aggravated by the depth of field not seeming to focus correctly when using sniper rifles or RPGs (vital during these missions) during aerial sections, and seems more like a technical oversight than a performance problem. Multiple patches have been out after release but at the time of this review being posted, those issues haven’t disappeared.

The structure of the game is very reminiscent of other games, there’s the main story that you can play at your own pace that covers the main conflict of the game while extra activities and mini-games are scattered around the world to upgrade your weapons and abilities.

The main story is definitely one of the highlights of the game with crazy, action-packed missions full of interesting characters and just a sense of fun very proper of the Saints Row franchise. Licensed music is used perfectly in the missions to give the game a Hollywood-esque vibe that really hits the mark and separates itself from other peers of the genre.

The mini-games, despite being repeated across the map a lot, are fun and help to get all items and upgrading all strongholds very much less tedious. That coupled with a passive revenue system where you can buy properties to profit off of makes the extra content fun and a great addition to the game.

Having decisions made through the story award different set bonuses is a nice addition, despite having no real bearing on the story outside one decision during the finale of the game. Just make sure you’re not colorblind like me (Spoiler Warning)

Despite the game experience being fun and something that differentiates itself from other open-world games, it is riddled by small or technical grievances that sometimes kill the momentum that it might have had. The biggest one being a faulty autosave system that only saves on select moments and misses very important feats (like buying properties or completing gang encounters) that put in question why the system was implemented this way.

The buddy system where you can call members of the Saints or characters you’ve befriended along the way to aid you in battle can only be used in the open world and has a cool down that is not shown to the player, so it’s up to you to guess if you’re gonna be able to call someone or not. Getting an NPC to help you during story missions should’ve been a possibility since the game already assigns you some on select missions.

Saints Row: The Third™ Remastered is a crazy fun game that just lets you get immersed in the chaos and ridiculousness of its world. The music, enhanced graphics, and fun story and characters make up for a campaign that’s not too short but enjoyable throughout the whole way.

Technical problems, and systems that don’t work as well as they should, throw a wrench into the good moments of the game and definitely downgrade the experience as a whole, but they shouldn’t drive you away from trying it out.

Reviewed by ChitoWarlock on PS4. Game provided by Sperasoft.