When it comes to strong language, Saints Row 2's script is absolutely vile. There is also a considerable amount of celebrity voicework in the game, from Neil Patrick Harris to Jaime Pressly to the ever-reliable Keith David. Yes, the part of the main character was recorded several times using different voices, all to make sure that your character truly feels like your own creation. This is made even more impressive by the fact that the game's character customization system allows for different voices.
Cutscenes feature full voice acting, and while many of the lines are absolutely ridiculous, the delivery is solid across the board. Guns sound like they should, and car accidents sound as nasty as they look. Where the visuals fail, the sound usually succeeds. These visual problems don't ruin the game, but they are noticeable enough to the point where they detract from the experience. During my time with Saints Row 2, I ran into some animation bugs that resulted in my character getting hopelessly stuck in the geometry of a brick wall. This is a problem, especially if you're trying to stay out of trouble with the law. This becomes most apparent when you are tearing down the streets of Stilwater at a breakneck pace buildings, cars, and pedestrians spontaneously pop into existence. On the other side, the framerate takes more than a few hits a little too often, and the draw distance is not very impressive. Throwing satchel charges on destructible objects looks just like it should: awesome. If there's one aspect of the visual design that stands above the rest, it's the explosions. Stilwater is a big city that has an awful lot of stuff to look at, including the stable of vehicles you'll come to be acquainted with, and the city, as a whole, looks fine. Saints Row 2 is not a terribly attractive game, especially when compared to other open-world titles such as Far Cry 2 and, yes, Grand Theft Auto IV. To the diehard Sony loyalists out there: now is your chance to go nuts in one of the most chaotic and hysterically violent virtual cities ever brought to life by a videogame development team. To those who have played the original: you know exactly what you're getting into, but expect the new experience to be even more explosive.
With the release of Saints Row 2, PS3 owners can finally take a trip to the not-so-peaceful city of Stilwater. Those who only own a Playstation 3 are unfortunate to have missed out on Saints Row, which is (or was, until now) possibly the best open-world action game that does not bear the words "grand," "theft," and "auto" in its title.