There are tons of video games that focus on crime life but today we’ll take a look at two particular franchises that approach the matter from quite different angles.
Saints Row vs GTA – which one is better and why? Learn about major similarities and differences down below.
Introduction
Video games allow us to experience numerous fictional scenarios that we wouldn’t be able to experience otherwise, and living the life of a criminal is certainly one of them. There’s no need to participate in real-world illegal activities to get a better understanding of all the struggles criminals must face every day – you can simply jump into one of the games that focus on that matter and have a great time without risking anything.
Grand Theft Auto and Saints Row are two crime video game series that could be used for that exact purpose. Although there are many more games to choose from, today we’ll focus exclusively on similarities and differences between these two franchises – hopefully, the comparison will help you pick the game that’s best for your wants and needs.
Similarities
Both Grand Theft Auto and Saints Row give players the possibility to participate in a variety of illegal activities. Gameplay in various aspects is generally more or less the same: we get an open-world environment that can be freely explored from a third-person – except the early GTA games – perspective, a wide choice of weapons to use during play, and a captivating crime story that will keep you entertained
You can customize your character, play cat and mouse with the cops, steal vehicles, and participate in various side activities and missions – and that’s pretty much as far as the similarities go. It’s not a secret that Saints Row was partially inspired by Grand Theft Auto, and thus it had to do some things differently to stand out and attract players – otherwise, it would’ve been seen as nothing more but a mere GTA clone.
Differences
Although the Saints Row and GTA series share some similarities, the differences are clearly visible. On a side note, one should remember that while GTA games are pretty consistent in how they’re played and what they offer, Saints Row games are more varied, which makes comparing series to series quite difficult. Most notable in that aspect is Saints Row IV which goes full bananas by focusing on aliens and supernatural abilities and adds a generous dose of hilarious humor.
With that being said, Saints Row games are generally much more light-hearted, goofy, and silly than GTA. It doesn’t mean that GTA doesn’t have its funny moments, but compared to Saints Row, where one of the objectives is to use rag-doll physics to let your character’s inert body get consecutively hit by cars in order to extort insurance money, GTA can be considered quite serious indeed. This also extends to characters and their personalities in both games – in SR games you’ll meet more unique and charismatic individuals while in GTA you’ll find more realistic people with more down-to-earth troubles and backstories.
Character customization is much deeper in Saints Row – you can edit your character from top to bottom, while GTA games only allow a certain degree of customizability, like changing hairstyles, clothes, or tattoos.
There are some differences in gameplay as well – Saints Row is more fast-paced and feels more arcadey.
In terms of popularity, GTA is clearly the winner and now even more so, thanks to the persistent online mode introduced in GTA V that constantly gets new updates on a regular basis, which makes GTA a better choice if you value online play more than anything else.
Conclusion
If you find crime games fun and appealing, instead of choosing between GTA and SR it would be smarter to play both series and decide for yourself which is better. Both franchises come with some unique features for which both deserve praise in their own ways.