Those are all strong points that separate it from the GTA experience aside from the online play which until the patch comes out on September the 15th is actually more of a let down. Now here comes the part where I get to list all the negative things this game has. I'm not sure if i have the time to list all of the negative points in detail as i could be writing for days. The good thing is the negative things don't make the game less enjoyable if you can stand the glitches of the game. For instance its kind of a royal fuck job Volition when the frame rate drops drastically when put in HDTV mode instead of standard TV. HDTV is supposed to enhance your graphics and make the game more pretty not perform like a slug and no i don't mean Sean Daily. Or how about the Pop In's and Pop Outs? Yes... I love to see a wall randomly disappear as im driving along or maybe not even be there until I run right into it. Same thing with cars. Volition you dropped the ball massively here and I have no problem complaining about it because it frustrates me and pisses me off greatly to play a fun game and then have such stupid issues that you could have spent just a little more time working with the Havok Physics Engine, which I might add you cant blame for the pop ins and outs for as many many games use this engine, to make them less frequent.

How about the glitch that Hip Hop DXJay Reyd forum member has run into where your car completely disappears and your allowed to look around but can't continue with the game? Thats gotta be a bitch. I personally never had that particular glitch so far and knock on wood i don't. However i have seen my car disappear as im driving it or seen myself sitting on the hood while driving. These are things that could have been polished out with a little more time. All of them are minor in reality but they just make the game perform so crappy that it is hard to believe at times. I mean one glitch I have noticed is where the road your driving on just disappears out of nowhere and when it reappears at first you'll be driving on top of either water or other cars until the game finally catches up to the fact that your driving on a road. Or how about if you decide to run from the cops by jumping in the water and swimming away, as they never have enough sense to follow you, you warp to shore and end up with water pouring off of you as if your still swimming.

Now the majority of the negative things the game offers is nothing but graphical errors that will effect the game play just by looks alone. However it does have some other areas that could be more fine tuned like the driving of cars. For certain missions you have to be able to take curves and turns faster and while the handling of each car is different the only options for braking are your regular brake which doesn't slow you down enough to make a fast turn and your hand brake which practically brings you to a complete stop. Theres no such thing as drifting in Saints Row. Then you add in the online play which I would hate to rag on as they are supposed to be releasing a patch to fix it at least to a degree but i have to. This is one of the major set backs for the game while it is something greatly appreciated that was offered. Continued on page 4 »