Saints Row 2 Q&A - Part 1 Feature

Set a decade after the explosive cliff-hanger of its predecessor, Saints Row 2 is Volition Inc.'s first release since it was revamped as a studio wholly focused on open-world gaming.

A co-op campaign, new features, and a massive improvement to the Respect system are just some of the additions getting packed into the game, which heads to Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC in October.

TVG recently sat down with Associate Producer, Dan Sutton, to discuss the PlayStation 3 version of the game, the improvements to the structure of the gameplay, and whether Saints Row 2 is a natural successor to San Andreas...

TVG: We're just a few weeks away from Saints Row 2's original late August release date; can you go into some of the specifics on how the extra eight weeks Volition has to complete the game, has been spent?

One of the biggest things was that Volition and THQ both sat down - we're not naïve, we saw games like GTA IV come out and it was 'hey, we have to get to that calibre for sure'. We're very close so we asked for a couple of weeks, and they gave us a little more time. So the biggest thing was to give our art team a little more time to polish the city and put more detail in, stuff on roofs, stuff on roads, stuff to just get that detail up.

On top of that too, we had a couple of activities and diversions that were in jeopardy of not making it into the game. This gave us the time to actually make sure that all the stuff we wanted originally was in the game. It also gives us more time to make sure the game is as bug-free as possible. But that's one of the things right there; polishing was one of the biggest things, we just wanted to make sure our city detail was a good as the other games out there.

TVG: This is one of the first times that Saints Row 2 has been seen running on PlayStation 3 - will it be DualShock 3 compatible?

Yes, it will be DualShock 3 enabled, and we'll also have SIXAXIS [control] on jet skis, boats, helicopters and planes as well.

I was going to ask about the SIXAXIS control; it seems like the motion control has been implemented to vehicles where twitch reactions aren't as important. Other titles have tried to do that but SIXAXIS hasn't pulled it off, it seems like the technology isn't as reactive as it needs to be - was that key to the decision to limit its implementation?

Yeah, we did originally try it on motorcycles and cars but it didn't feel like a driving experience. The helicopter is my favourite because it's very subtle when you move it and it feels really, really good. That was the thing with the other vehicles; we tried it and it didn't feel that good. I think its limited by the technology - I'll be interested to see what Nintendo does with its new Motion Controller Plus when they can interact in 3D space. I think if you can interact in 3D space, then it changes how you do it, and you can implement more features.

I think the SIXAXIS is powerful in certain areas, but with driving we didn't find it to be as much.

TVG: I guess you'd have liked it to be more Warhawk than Lair...

Yeah, I'd definitely agree with that.

TVG: There seems to be much more involvement with hidden objects this time around, I've bumped into a couple of CDs already, and then there's the tagging - you also mentioned base-jumping in the presentation. I don't remember anything being mentioned about parachutes up to now, so they're a feature in the game?

Yes they [parachutes] are. The biggest things are stuff like CD collections; we've tried to add more things to give longer replayability. There are a lot of achievements to that as well - but that was the thing. In Saints Row 1, you had to beat activities to get more respect and unlock missions. With this one, we wanted to change things around, which is why we've done diversions; you can actually go around on the wrong side of the street, do wheelies, go base-jumping, and get respect for doing stuff like that.

So if you don't feel like doing missions or activities, go and have fun and then go and play the Campaign.

Volition has put a lot on co-op and customisation as the biggest improvements in Saints Row 2, whereas veterans of the first title will probably say that it's the fact that respect can be gained in different ways other than activities which will make this much more playable. How long after the original was released did Volition realise that the gameplay wasn't quite as engaging as planned?

It was towards the end. Once employees started playing through the missions, they realised that some of them were really tough, and some got really monotonous. There's always going to be monotony because some people really like some activities, some people won't like activities. It just depends on your taste when it comes to that. We figured that we didn't want people to get frustrated and put down the game after a week of playing it. We want some people to bypass certain activities or missions that they don't want to do.

So we just knew that from feedback in the office and on the forums that we just don't want to limit people out there. Even with other games like GTA, we were like 'Woah, in our game you get a gun in the first thirty seconds!" You don't have to spend a while driving around. We just realise that instant gratification is what a lot of people want. They want longevity, but they also want instant gratification, so we're trying to do that by introducing planes and helicopters at a point where it's like, "Ok, this is new" and it becomes a fresh experience for them as well.

TVG: Saints Row 2 has jet skis, planes, parachutes, stunts, and tagging - these are all features that have been done by GTA in the past; perhaps not GTA IV, but San Andreas. Do you feel that the 'hyper-realistic' Saints Row 2 is a more natural successor to San Andreas than the grittier and realistic GTA IV?

I think that's something we realised too. When we started reading the forums you have the fan-boys. We have our fan-boys, GTA has its fan-boys, and they fight with each other all the time. Three weeks after its [GTA IV's] release, we realised that people had been 'GTA was lacking elements like the San Andreas and Vice City stuff'. So we want to throw in elements like that, we don't want people to die after blowing up a car and the cops come and arrest them. We want people to have fun and I think that if people liked San Andreas and Vice City then they'll definitely take to this a lot more than they may have done with GTA IV - just because we've kept a lot of the fun elements from Saints Row 1 and from other open-world games as well. We've also got a lot of new ones that people will be surprised to find as well.

TVG: When I was trying to escape from the prison island I found the governor's house with a hitman list; can you explain what that's all about?

Well Hitman is just our little side-mission where you go out and assassinate targets throughout the world. Once again, it's another little replay thing once you finish the game - or if you want to do that right away you can go out into the city and take them out. You'll be given a weapon like a baseball, and then you go out and do that.

TVG: Volition hasn't spoken much about the multiplayer aspects yet, aside from the two-player co-op; how will multiplayer gameplay be integrated into Saints Row 2?

Well what we want to do is take the open-world environment and make it so you can actually go in and play with a bunch of friends in what feels like a real city. We're having modes geared towards that; unfortunately, I can't go into any detail over what the specifics are, but we'll have deathmatch modes and go for a more focused route this time.

In the first Saints Row what we did was throw in a lot of first-person shooter type things, and we kinda just slapped those on. With this one, we don't. We've created a couple of really, really good modes in there that are very customisable, and that you'll be able to go through and play. We want to be very focused, we want to spend a lot of time on this rather than just slap on things at the last minute. We really thought we did [that in the first Saints Row], we thought that a lot of those things were fun and a lot of people liked them, but we kinda wanted to actually really get something that people would be playing months down the road rather than just at a surface level. They [the past modes] weren't as engaging as I think the new multiplayer modes are.

TVG: But will the Bling My Ride mode make a return?

I can't say! I really can't say yes or no! I've been told that I can't say anything, but you will know soon enough. If the PR guy said I could, I would right away...

TVG: Some of the final polish on Saints Row 1 wasn't perhaps quite where the team would have planned it; one reoccurring issue included disappearing freeways. How much of the extra development time will be spend on testing and QA to ensure such things won't happen in Saints Row 2?

Yeah, well one of the biggest too was that we totally re-wrote our streaming system. As you said, there were times when you were driving along the highway and it disappears for a few seconds before popping back in. We [also] re-wrote the streaming system because the original one couldn't handles planes and helicopters. [Since we re-wrote it] I haven't seen any popping, which is really, really positive.

But the extra time we've got too is great because we can go through and test our streaming system and make sure it's good, and also refine our popping so that it's at a minimum where people won't notice it at all.

TVG: Post-Saints Row, there were a lot of people praising the game as one of the best 'GTA clones' available, but at the same time questioning where the planes and motorbikes were. The response by some THQ executives was that Rockstar had had a several year head start on us - how much of a lead do they have now?

I think people have to judge that when the game comes out. We really feel that [because] Volition is an open-world studio with Red Faction and us, it gives us such a huge advantage. For example, we have destructible props in the environment now like water towers and guard towers - stuff like that - because we're to work with Red Faction, figure out what they're doing with destruction and bring it over to our game.

I think that's one of the biggest things right there: we haven't made the huge amounts of money they did in the first week so they have this unlimited budget, but we have two teams with a focus on open-world [games]. I think we're going to level the playing field easily. They have more staff than we do, but when you look at it, I really think we have as good a quality game - if not better. Especially when it comes to gameplay, especially - easily!

I have no doubt in saying that - [we're] proud of our gameplay!

TVG would like to thank Dan Sutton for taking the time to chat. The second part of the interview will be available soon; stay tuned for our hands-on preview of Saints Row 2 on PS3 later today.