Saints Row 2

Saints Row 2 is an action-adventure video game set in an open world environment, offering the player a large open environment in which to move around. The player's character is capable of maneuvering through the environment, utilizing weaponry and engaging in melee combat warfare. After successfully completing the first game mission, the player meets the Third Street Saints and begin their devious schemes with the gang. Missions are unlocked by earning 'Respect' points from minigames and side-missions and although completing missions is necessary for game progression, players can complete them at their own leisure.

The player is granted the option of instantly retrying the missions should they fail an attempt. Numerous checkpoints save progress in each mission, and missions can be replayed from locations within the environment. Aside from attempting missions, the player can explore the environment, purchase items at shops and participate in the aforementioned mini-games and side-missions. The player can also wreak havoc on the city of Stilwater, incurring violent reprisals from the authorities.

Five years after the explosion on Richard Hughes' yacht, the player character (Charles Shaughnessy, Kenn Michael, Alex Mendoza, Katie Semine, G. K. Bowes, or Rebecca Sanabria), who was the sole survivor, awakens from a coma within the infirmary of Stilwater's maximum security prison after undergoing extensive plastic surgery. They escape to Stilwater with the help of Carlos Mendoza (Joe Camareno), the brother of a former 3rd Street Saints member.

Carlos explains that the Saints have disbanded, with most members being arrested by Troy Bradshaw (Michael Rapaport), an undercover cop who had infiltrated the gang as a lieutenant and has since become chief of police, using his influence to protect the imprisoned Saints. In their absence, three new gangs have taken over the city: the Brotherhood, a metalhead gang who conduct gun-running operations; the Sons of Samedi, a Haitian Vodou gang who produce and sell drugs; and the Ronin, a Japanese bosozoku gang focusing on gambling and porn. Furthermore, the Saints' former base of operations, the Saint's Row district, has been redeveloped into a pristine commercial and residential area by the Ultor Corporation, which has further plans for Stilwater.

Volition began work on Saints Row 2 in 2005, about a year before Saints Row was released. The sequel was first announced by THQ's CEO Brian Farrell in a February 2007 conference call, alongside another six franchise continuations for the 2008 fiscal year. Game details began to surface in May 2008 after the first teaser trailer was released and sites like IGN and GameSpot reported on an early version of the game.

One of the development team's core goals was to develop an identity for the Saints Row franchise within the open world genre. The series was known as a "Grand Theft Auto clone" based on its first release's similarities to the open world sandbox game Grand Theft Auto III. Accordingly, Saints Row 2 was compared to the Grand Theft Auto series' own upcoming sequel, Grand Theft Auto IV. When questioned about the two sequels' close release dates, lead producer Greg Donovan responded that they thought their game could compete, that he saw the Grand Theft Auto sequel moving "in a more realistic direction", and that there was "room for more than just one game" in the open world genre as "a very different experience than what ...

The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 releases of the game received "generally favorable" reviews, according to video game review score aggregator website Metacritic, and the Windows release received "mixed or average" reviews.

Yahtzee Croshaw of The Escapist's Zero Punctuation named Saints Row 2 his 2008 game of the year. It was a runner-up for GameShark's overall and Xbox 360 games of the year. Game Developer named Volition in their top 50 developers of the year for their work on the game, and THQ in their top 20 publishers.