#Saints row 2 how to#

They are determined internally by the player, not externally via the authority of the designer. If вЂњplayвЂќ has rules, these are rules that are dictated by the fancy of the player. Instead, the player вЂњplaysвЂќ by screwing around within that system, exploring as he or she sees fit, and establishing his or her own goals and purposes in the game. вЂњPlayвЂќ, likewise, concerns working within a gaming system, but it is an activity that is generally less structured at least by the externally generated rules systems of the game.

When вЂњgamingвЂќ, then, players strategize within a given set of rules and react to these systems that are clearly external to themselves. By embedded goals, I mean those established by the designers of the game.

#Saints row 2 how to#

вЂњGamingвЂќ strikes me as those activities related to the the embedded rule system within a game itself, which matter as they serve to provide an understanding of how to accomplish or solve a game. While we often mix these terms when talking about video games (and rightly so I believe, since most video games concern elements of both) when discussing вЂњgameplayвЂќ, it strikes me that the distinction between the two is significant in understanding what drives various kinds of gamers. Throughout the discussion, my own thoughts kept returning to a distinction that I feel helps in defining the difference between вЂњplayвЂќ and вЂњgameвЂќ. Several game-related blogs like The Brainy Gamer and Man Bytes Blog have recently hosted some rather in-depth discussions concerning the notion of вЂњplayвЂќ and what that term means for the video gamer. More essential unlockables exist, though, like faster health regeneration, unlimited ammunition for certain weapons, and the unlimited ability to sprint. Minor unlockable benefits in this game include things like discounts for weapons, food, and clothing. In other words, while GTA often offers вЂњside missionsвЂќ that give a player something else to do and maybe produce some minor gain for the player overall, Saints Row 2 makes these вЂњdistractionsвЂќ necessary to some small degree but also extremely helpful in advancing the game on the whole by providing the player unlockables that make the game easier.

Unlike GTA, though, what Saints Row 2 terms вЂњactivitiesвЂќ are fairly well fleshed out mini-games that are necessary, at least in part, to drive the main storyline (the protagonist must develop a criminal reputation in order to take on the main storyline missions - performing at least some activities then becomes a necessary requisite for proceeding in the game as success in these activities results in the heaviest production of reputation points), but they also serve to provide some really helpful unlockables to the character that make the storyline missions much more manageable. Like a GTA game, Saints Row 2, alongside its main plot line, which consists of yet another riff on the вЂњrise of a criminal overlordвЂќ narrative that so many recent open world action games concern, offers a living world with a host of additional criminal activities that allow the player countless distractions from the linear portions of the narratives. While Saints Row 2вЂs final line (which leads off this review) is a nod to the sense of freedom that the sandbox style is supposed to grant the player, I am not as certain that I believe in the purity of that statement regarding this particular game, at least in terms of what most open world games are often intended to offer in that regard. But, more fundamentally than that, I find little that interests me in playing around in GTAвЂs open worlds once the credits have rolled despite the offer that those games likewise have offered me to вЂњdo whatever the fuck I want.вЂќ

I never gave a damn about wasting my time finding all 100 graffiti tags in San Andreas for example. While I am pretty much in love with the open world genre and especially its criminal iterations (the Grand theft Auto series, The Godfather, Scarface, etc.), I generally find myself mostly drawn to focusing on playing out the main narrative, and, while I often dabble in the additional possibilities that an open world offers, I am by no means hung up on 100% completion ratings and the like. By that I mean (as did the aforementioned message board postings) that when playing a Saints Row game I cannot help but get wildly off track from the main thrust of the game - the central storyline - because of the additional offerings that this game has in terms of alternatives to story missions. I found myself quickly relating to these comments as I have seen that with the Saints Row sequel, much as I felt while playing the original, that this game, more so than many other open world games, has a real tendency to drive me to distraction. While reading over some posts regarding Saints Row 2, I ran across a comment suggesting that Saints Row 2 is вЂњthe most distracting game ever.вЂќ