Saints Row 2 is Still an Absolute Masterpiece 

I'll never completely understand why Volition started running away from SR2 as hard as they could. It's way deeper than "yall just don't like it cause it's brand new and goofy". They had something special hear GTA never had, and they pretty much threw it all away. Congrats I guess

Hilarious that this 14 year old game has better characters, gameplay, driving, and storyline than the recent "reboot".

Carlos' death was so fucking sad. I remember as a kid getting choked up watching it play out. I still always do the brotherhood last just to keep him around longer. The fact that he's never mentioned again even when they bring back every irrelevant character in future games blows my mind.

It's a shame you didn't mention Johnny mumbling about Aisha the entire drive to the hospital. That tore my heart to pieces when I played Saints 2

I just appreciate how SR2 genuinely acknowledge ls that your protagonist is a murdering sociopath who wants power and money. It doesn't try to be morally Grey like gta 4 or Red Dead Redemption

"I hope the saints row reboot is good" Famous last words

One of the wild things I remember as a kid was the attention to detail in regards to Carlos's death. If you taunt your gang members after that mission, they'll make remarks about you killing Carlos and how it was intentional, but before that mission they wouldn't mention that. That's an insane level of attention to detail. I miss when Volition focused on the many little details.

I hate that sr2 was labeled a gta clone when people buy basically the same fps games every year

Another thing I always loved about SR2 was that the player character was an unapologetic psycho who would do anything to take over. It let you totally revel in being a villain, it's so rare to see games have the balls to do that without pulling some bait-and-switch and making the player character turn good.

This is an all time old classic, it was my favourite and I’m glad to see a RU-vidr play it again and show people what they were missing since most people never knew like us older people do

14:34 The Boss is so hard compared to the 2022 Boss. He immediately checks Shaundi for questioning his orders.

Shogo's death is one of the coldest cutscenes in all of gaming. Johnny repeatedly telling him to "get up" when we all know johnny will keep this loop going as long as he can, only for shogo to finally refuse and get his jaw *slammed* through a headstone and buried alive, probably with a concussion or two. Shit gave my 13 year old self chills and its still satisfying to watch. No one came in last minute and tried telling us how we shouldnt do this because its bad, or how he maybe didnt deserve it and naybe he's more useful alive... NOPE. just two stonefaced thugs hellbent on delivering death. Real cold ass gangsta shit right there.

That Johnny Gat courtroom scene never fails to make me smile.

Both Carlos and Aisha's deaths still get me to this day. Barely any dialogue in either scene and still, so powerful. Johnny and Boss also burying Shogo alive is so sinister. I love it. Sadly, scenes like this have all but vanished from the series. Julius created a monster and the city has to suffer him. Boss isn't a good guy, the Saints are not puckish rogues. He is sinister, the saints are sinister. The ending is very.......dark. That is what I love about the first 2 games. I hate that the stupidity took over where it becomes mindless shooting. I wish they had kept the serious tone of the first games with a bit of humour sprinkled within.

As a kid from the hood, this was our GTA. This sh*t was ultimate when it dropped in 2008.

To this day, Saint's Row 2 is the best co-op experience I've ever had. It should have been blatantly obvious what we wanted and when we knew we were being ignored, they spat in our faces. I'll be throwing a party when Volition packs it up and goes under. I realize that the team that made SR2 already left, but Volition had big shoes to fill and they deserve to fail.

There's also irony in Mareos death. When you first meet him he's got no one to back him up and he isn't afraid of the boss at all but at the end he has to have the last of his crew to back him up against the boss who is literally by himself against Mareos monster truck and his other gang members that are also in trucks. Mareo went from an unshakeable tuff guy to a scared defenseless child at the end.

In my opinion, one of the simultaneously most brutal, overlooked, and undeserved gang-related deaths in the series is when the Boss throws a brick with all his strength at Matt's face during the fight with Maero. Matt was just trying to protect his friend, so he arguably didn't do anything wrong. But the Boss doesn't take too kindly to anyone who stands in his way.

This was a really fun watch. I remember always thinking of the final Mr. Sunshine cutscene as being more creepy than silly. While they did do the headless gag at the end, the fact that this dude just kept getting back up like he was powered by something sinister is really eerie. I like that touch of the supernatural. Fit the character so well, and it was just enough to both creep you out and make you laugh. SR2's balance of tone was so spot on. Miss that era of the series, now more than ever.

Something to note about Gat's arrest is that he was arrested trying to assassinate Troy. There's so much story potential that was just...taken away after Volition decided to go balls to the wall with SR3

This is one of the best analyses I ever seen on this game. That last part with Julius was something that I've always maintained personally, and it's cool to see that someone else came to this conclusion. "Vice Kings that wore purple" is probably the greatest foreshadowing of what the Saints ultimately become in SR3 onwards, provided that one accepts that part of the series as the same story.

Back in the day I used to play SR2 quite a bit with a buddy of mine. He would join my game in a hotdog costume, with the absurd cockney accent and a ridiculous facial expression, and all the most over-the-top weapons, which always kind of annoyed me because I played it much more seriously. But that was one of the things that was so great about SR2. You could play it straight like a serious crime action/drama, like I did, or you could go all in on the ridiculosity, like my friend did. And that was one of the things they lost with SR3. You no longer had the option to treat the game seriously if you wanted to. They gave you no choice but to play into the ridiculosity because that's all there was. In their desire to run away from GTA they ran right off the cliff.

Now that he brings it up, I think this order would be interesting. 1. Sons of Samedi 2. Brotherhood 3. Ronin So, the Boss starts out as a bad leader, a selfish one. Then, after he loses Carlos in the Brotherhood, he starts to be less of a douchebag and starts respecting his team. Then, he sees positive feedback of respecting his team with the Ronin, and by the time he ends, he says “Your son should have never messed with my friends.” Making that line feel more significantly well earned.

The car running over Shogo at 45:40 before the cutscene of you throwing him at Gat to punch is unironically the funniest part of this so far

I normally target the Sons Of Samedi first since their territory is right on top of the Saints hideout and since they are the ones the Saints took it from in the first place. Since the Ronin also have territory in the Red Light District, I target them next. I basically just attack them based off of who has territory closest to the Saints Hideout at the moment.

There is a little detail . When we start the game we can explore and enjoy the city by just walking , driving , listening to radio no one will interrupt or ruin our immersion . But when we starts taking over the city the saints will go nuts they will start terrorizing the neighborhood every minutes passes.

If you think about it, each faction sort of sums up how their pride before the fall. Brotherhood was about arrogance and pride (which costed both sides important members but underestimated the Boss's ruthlessness) as both Maero and the Boss were in a petty squabble over the shipment. In the end, the difference was that Boss took the fight directly to the Brotherhood while Maero went from rational to irrational in response of his mates (which he made personal once he attacked Carlos). The Ronin was about tradition (their "honor" was a blanket term and wasn't adaptable to the times nor their opponent) with Akuji being too stuck in tradition to see the real threat and Shojo not having any principles which let him be swayed by his father (or perhaps too much by his father's approval to make sound decisions). If Shojo struck out on his own, he'd probably do well or even have lived in peace with the Saints (or be killed if he thought he could take them) while his father thought too highly of himself and his own personal vendetta to notice the gun at his face. The Sons of Samedi sort of follows the theme, being ruthless to it's own members. Although having voodoo powers of a gang and a professionalism is a good way to show how their operations are run, they do show how the Sons aren't inspiring confidence. How the General thought that he could go around driving in his own branded vehicles with most of his territory taken out along with Sunshine, well, guess he had invented the pocket Armored Truck. Finally, Dan Vogel. Do I need to say more?

SR2 struck that delicate balance between wacky PS2 GTA and "darker & edgier" HD GTA.

Saints Row 2 is one of the best open world games ever made.

SR2 was a master piece. I don't think Volition will ever understand what they accomplished here.

To this day I cannot believe how good this game is. I wish I had known I was in the golden age of gaming when it was happening.

The English voice actor was such a hilarious touch for an American gangster. Bashing pimps and throwing them off clffs and car surfing was just so much fun. Customising your gang to wear outrageous costumes was hilarious

Saints Row 2 is so underrated and deserves a remake. But in my opinion I think SR1 deserves it more. Anyways I'll be back to watch the video because I got stuff to do atm so great video as always! It was worth the wait!

I have never played SR2, I was introduced to SR3. It's a surprise to see how much fun you can have in the game and customization, but also how serious the game's tone can be such as at 21:00, 37:00, 45:20 & 45:50. It shows some emotion in the story and shows the character development as it progressed. Its also nice to see each gang having its own sort of lesson/ narrative behind them. Its also cool to see the world having a sort of permanent changes from our actions in the world, I wish more games would have this as it feels like my actions in missions have no real world impact, simple things such as burning buildings with fire fighters around; if only a certain game added more security guards or police in an area where we might of raided such as a certain IAA building. And the end game twist with Ultor, while I expected it to happen; I was not expecting the reasoning behind it. I'll have to get this.

48:33 God damnit, Wong's reason for revenge and Gats' reaction made me spit my coffee all over my screen. Nice.

Another one of many reasons why SR2 reigns supreme is the fact they actually made the hierarchy feel right, because you know, you are supposed to be the leader of a GANG. It's easily understood that Gat is your right hand second in command man, while Shaundi and Pierce are your lower lieutenants. SR3 and 4 totally abandoned that obviously with plenty of other things

There was a neat mechanic where if you ADS at a pedestrian sometimes they would drop cash off when they ran, and how you can pick up things from the environment to use against other NPCs. Little details like that made me enjoy the game more than GTA in the day

Carlos breaks my fucking heart every time. I'm so sorry, kid. Didn't deserve any of what you got. I really wish he was mentioned in 3, or someone gave the boss some shit. This is why I go for the Brotherhood first. Makes sense as far as the Boss' experience/mindset as a leader, making silly mistakes and doing personal attacks instead of doing actual gangshit.

There will never be anything like Saints Row 2 again. The characters, the story, the customization and the overall tone cannot be topped.

2 fun things. 1) You can actually do the secret Julius mission at any time. It doesn't have to be at the very end. 2) One that is definitely near the end is the secret Stronghold mission in the mall. That entire place is under Ultor Jurisdiction for most of the game but once you dispose of your gang rivals you can take the place over.

At 38:00 I think you mistake Jyunichi's reasons for stopping the Ronin gang member from shooting Johnny. It wasn't honorable combat that must be respected. It was pride. This wasn't a hypocritical oversight, this was more building who Jyunichi was. He was constantly more and more defiant of Shogo and cocky in his own ability. So when he saw some random low level Ronin about to take out Gat, he absolutely could NOT abide that. HE, Jyunichi, was going to be the man who killed the legendary Johnny Gat. With his own blade. This was pride, not honor.

San Andreas, saints row 2, Scarface these are the best open world crime simulators ever. And hold a special place in my heart

Watching this reminded me why this game was fantastic, People always look at Saints Row as goofy and stupid, but some of the story scenes in this are as dark as dark gets for video games.

Saints row 2 is one of the best game ever made. I remember waiting for school to end quick just to go back home to play it over and over again

A bit of a hot take, but I like to think that had Pierce been assigned the Brotherhood and not Carlos, he might have spoken up and actually tried to get Maero and the Boss to negotiate a deal that would actually work. Especially since in Agents of Mayhem, Pierce was shown able to make the Vice Kings, Carnales and Rollerz partner up. Though a caveat to such a scenario is that Carlos would probably still die except to the Ronin (and even worse, we might have had to choose between him and Aisha).

Saints Row 1 & 2 will always be the best games labeled "Saints Row" I do like that the new developers are trying to bring some of this style back but I dont think they'll come close in this new game. What made the old games special is they had that early 2000's thug/gangsta vibe that was in the mainstream for a few years during those times. I always loved playing games that made me feel like I was in real life. Sr2 was some of the most fun I ever had when the game was new especially the Multiplayer mode where you could earn money after every match to buy clothes.

I just learned about the VAs for Shogo and Maero are basically Spider-Man and Marcus from Fallout and that has just blown my mind

that narative choice that shogo tells the boss where Jyunichi was great, it feels so natural and raw Shogo just want to get rid off Jyunichi for his personal vendetta and used you as a perfect pawn, It makes the story feels like you're part of the world and not you revolves around it to get what you want. the devs could just make you torture another gang member to know where Jyunichi is but no, they made it more connecting to the story.

Yeah, the replay feature was practically my favorite part of SR2. I kept coming back again and again to play those cutscenes with different outfits and stuff. Never understood how that feature fell by the wayside.

A remastered Saints Row 1 & 2 would be a another smash hit.

honestly the stark contrast between saints row 2 and the reboot is that in one game the characters are flawed, make mistakes and are punished for them, in the new game they are presented as paragons of virtue, succeed at almost everything they do and any set back is no real fault of their own always external (student loans, capitalism, and the generic military force). its honestly sad that so many modern writers barely even try at basic story telling

I loved SR2, but I admit, I had a pretty good time with SR4. I missed the complex emotional drama of SR2, but having superpowers was quite fun and made navigating the city quick and engaging. I found a lot of the side games to be pretty fun. Your analysis of calling your character Deadpool in that game is spot on, the game is a parody that even has a side quest that points out how Flanderized your character has become over time. While it’s not what everyone wanted from the franchise, there was still a lot of passion and creativity that went into it compared to something like Madden or a mediocre Call of Duty

The voice acting cast is amazing. Top to bottom. They brought in Jaime Pressly and NPH for bit parts and you'd never even know without looking it up.

Hitting the brotherhood first always felt right. Especially with that 20-80 deal since it does seem he is trying to be reasonable

This video made me realise something I never did before about SR2: there virtually no musical score in the cutscenes, just silence. But I actually like this, it makes the cutscenes seem heavier and grittier like you're watching a crime movie. So much better without some ultra tense DADADADA theme blaring over it all.

Bro this game is 14 years old?? That’s literally insane. I remember first getting it and playing it for hours. A classic

Just got the reboot at the time of this comment. Did the first mission, turned it off. Popped in SR2 and still had a better time replaying missions and wreaking havoc throughout the city.

The whole concept of a "GTA Clone" being a negative thing is so insane. Let alone the idea of "GTA Clones" being an idea in general is absolutely stupid, and I've never understood it. There used to be only 2 characteristics that would doom a game to be considered a GTA Clone; Open world and Crime. Literally the two most basic gameplay concepts imaginable, reserved to be claimed by only one series. Imagine if any military first person shooters were derogatorily referred to as "Call of Duty Clones". Or any battle royale game being considered a PUBG clone. Any tactical military shooter being a Ghost Recon Clone. Its such a stupid concept that I never understood. Saints Row 1 and 2 were great games in the Open World crime genre that existed alongside GTA, but offered a completely different kind of experience. Its a massive shame the stupid concept of the "GTA Clone" connotation from the 2000's is what caused Volition to overhaul the franchise after 1 and 2 for the worse.

what else made it feel alive is that your character would interact with npcs in activities if you stand idle too long

Goddamn this game is timeless. The story is incredible. Characters have some of the greatest writing and arcs. The missions are all memorable. I remember being like 8 or 9 and my nana bought me it from Woolworths of all places back when it first came out 😂 I wanted it based on the pure fact that I knew my brother loved the first game which I never had a proper play through of at that time. That didn’t even matter. I loved every second of this game and I’m grateful it was my introduction into this series properly. It’s just such a damn shame that the people at Volition seem too scared or try their hardest to not replicate the feel and vibe of this entry when it’s all that most of the fan base wants. When people ask more about the SR2 PC Patch release date than they do about the reboot’s DLC, you know you messed up somewhere as a developer.

I wish they would have made a Saints Row The Third Reboot and continued the story from Saints Row 2 giving us a more grounded and realistic story. And give us the true ending to the Boss's story. How does volition expect us to believe the Boss would have just forgot all about Dex? Edit: and maybe in the 4th game they could continue of SR3 Reboot the gang owns more than just one City they're the top of the food chain and maybe the Boss begins to realize that maybe Julius was right and they basically have became "Vice Kings that wear purple" idk just some ideas

0:01 Opening discussion/drama 2:28 brilliance 3:33 rundown in saints row 1 story 4:41 to the beginning act of saints row 2 story 12:33 customization 14:07 recruitment 15:23 the brotherhood Arc 30:27 earn respect through activities 34:01 the ronin Arc 51:21 the sons of samedi Arc 1:03:43 ultor Arc 1:12:15 secret mission 1:19:00 next games 1:20:02 this line hasn't aged well 1:20:15 closing discussion

The funeral with Johnny will always be my favorite cutscene. It's played so darkly straight. Johnny's rage gives me chills. Johnny will always be my #2. Unquestionably!!!

SR2 was the very first game I 100% completed, it will always hold a special place in my heart

I have always shared these views but its only very recently that iv seen some large creatirs talk and discuss such a revolutionary game. People opinions of "saints row" go to the newer games when they should focus on the old. Im so glad that people such as yourself and darkviperau are diving into such a legendary status franchise

Carlos death was one that hit hard

Your analysis on the Ronin storyline made me appreciate this game's writing a lot more than I already did. Makes me wonder what would've happened had Shogo fully taken over the Ronin against his father. It felt like he was going in that direction when he sold out Jyunichi, but it didn't turn out that way.

In a funny way, the Saints Row series’ journey throughout the years tells a tale with the classic moral of “be yourself” Upon being compared to GTA, Volition was desperate to move away from what made 1 and 2 so great and as a result changed into whatever the hell The Third and IV are What we can learn from this is that we shouldn’t change ourselves just because we might get compared to someone/something else. Just keep doing what you’re doing

This game had some legit goofy hilarious stuff (not so over the top it's eye rolling like sr3) but also EXTREMELY heavy hitting emotional bits and well written characters. So glad people give sr2 the praise and recognition it deserves.

This video was so well written and the montage so good that it didn't seem to be over an hour in lenght. Well done !

Love this kind of videos. Clearly spend alot of time creating this materpiece. I just hope that more people find this hidden gem.

This was my favourite game of all time growing up I played it literally every day after school and I would stay up all night on weekends . it was really nice revisiting with this video after a few years of not playing and it made me see some of the deeper meanings to the story that I wouldn’t have caught because I was too young to really get it. But great video man I really enjoyed revisiting this with you I’m actually gonna go get my ps3 and give it another play through :)

It is criminal that such a well edited video has only

Saints row 2 is so god tier it holds up to today’s gaming world and is better than 88% of open world games today and it came out around 2008

I havent watched you before, but seeing just the first 13 minutes the editing and progression is on point as well as the humor. I would love to see a Dead rising 2 video in this same format! (Edit) i just finished the video, loved it from beginning to end, a great summary of the entire game without missing out on any major points.

Saints Row 2 will always remain a special place in my heart

This was heavy! The editing, the attention to setting the details of this game; you're bound to get people to try it out for sure. Fantastic video! 💫

This dudes editing is top notch. The memes never failed to make me laugh without distracting me from the video.

Hey man, love having these retrospective videos at the ready to just chillout and listen to.

I Will honestly always have a hope that we will see a SR2 Remaster and the whole game upscaled to look like the SR3 remaster or the SR Reboot but only in the quality of the graphics and not the art style. Seeing that game with the capabilities of modern tech really is exciting to me, the life just bursting out of stillwater as it does in the original. Crowds passing on the street, cars speeding down the roads. It really would be a great way for so many people to get into The OG SR Games and genuinely appreciate this gem of a series for what it is.

I love Saints Row 2 and this video. You do such a great job at explaining the game and looking into the gangs and story. The only thing I disagree with in this entire video, is the order you fight the gangs in. The Samedi have no involvement with Ultor, if you fight them first it would show the Gangs are nothing more than just gangs. The Ronin have a deal with Ultor, showing us they are in this fight too, if only by small association. However, once you fight the Brotherhood, it shows Ultor in a larger light, unmasking them as the true evil they are. The only problem with this playstyle is the first brotherhood mission, when Maero offers the Saints 20% of a city they already have 75% of. It's a small detail that can be fixed if you decide to do the first mission of every gang before going all in on one specific gang. I'm not trying to criticize you here, so sorry if it comes off that way, just explaining what I think makes a little more sense story wise. All in all, this is a great video on my favorite open-world game. Your editing was amazing and I hope you get the recognition you deserve.

Tbh I never played SR2 before seeing this review of yours but you convinced me to play it and I won’t lie I’ve had so much fun with it and it’s better than I could’ve ever imagined. The story, gameplay, characters, everything about it is just so amazing! Absolutely amazing review to an equally amazing game. It’s hilarious how a game that’s labeled as a gta clone does gta better than actual gta.

Dude... your conclusion sums up my thoughts to the entire franchise perfectly!

I honestly think this is one of the best youtube videos ever created. You were able to give a detailed explanation and review while throwing in serious in depth (but not too deep) analysis and also genuinely funny (but not trying too hard to be funny) editing. The editing style runs perfectly in parallel to how the game was serious when it needed to be and funny when it wanted to be without trying hard to be funny or serious. You also were able to keep the different parts of the game and its story organized and separated while also making meaningful connections between the two. I also liked your touch on explaining the overall theme and message of the different stories in the game and what the developers were trying to communicate with the audience. Thanks for showing love and justice to a game that means so much to the people who played it!

We need more of Saints Row 2. This reboot is an even bigger disappointment then 4!! The first 3 games were just so damn good. The new saints are so bad....

Today you've earned a new subscriber, my favourite game, the storyline, gameplay and feel of the whole game is truly unmatched. You've picked the game apart flawlessly, and I've loved reminiscing and reading all the comments. Thanks for this, my disc was played so much it was unplayable.. so I'll be downloading this later today

Started playing this again after this great video and it definitely helped me appreciate the game more than I already did.

This is the first video of yours I’ve seen, and it’s genuinely one of the best deep dives I have ever seen! Honestly really inspiring, good work!

This video essay really capture the feeling of playing Saints Row 2, what a ride

I swear your editing with the memes, the zoom-ins, and the audio just makes this video so worth rewatching because they’re so goofy 😂 Love the accent when you said “Backpack” and those random moments like how Jyunichi repositions himself when he dies 😂 One of the best things about Carlos’ death scene is that it doesn’t need any spoken words to set the tone and you know what is going on based on Carlos and the Boss’ body language. This is probably part of why the scene hits so hard for a lot of players.

I've rewatched this video like 5 times😂😂you made a great video about a game i legit thought was just a clone, im legit hooked

There is no question that this was the best game ever made right? This game was the epitome of fun and it fit in so well 2008-2009 culture. So many good memories with this absolute gem.

Very glad you covered this absolute gem of a game that is sr2, it needs much more attention!

bro i thought this was like a 30 minute video when it started and then it ended and i minamized my screen and i realized i just watched a whole ass movie! good vid!!

Damn the memories this game has Ive played this ever since I was 11 ill be 20 this year such a damn unique open world experience the customization was off the charts, the map had so many Easter eggs and cool locations . Looking back still a helluva good time to play I wish they kept this style like 1 and 2 had there will never be nothing like it again

I've watched a fuckin lot of SR2 video analysis over the years and this one is the single best one, thanks for this amazing video!

Im Latino, and i even remember thugs were playing this game. Idk what it was about this but everyone was playing this game. Thats why this is a video... Fire ass game

one thing i rly loved about having the choice in which gang u want to take out first is that it doesn't feel weird or forced to take one out before the other. i personally went ronin -> samedi -> brotherhood, and rather than seeing it as 'the boss is childish and couldn't work with maero bc theyre still new to being a boss', i saw it more as 'the boss got overzealous due to beating the first 2 gangs, and resorted to petty attacks bc they felt unstoppable'. with carlos' uncertainty, in my eyes it looked more like he was unsure of having more power/responsibility, rather than being a gang member at all considering he had been with the gang this whole time and with dealing with the ronin first, us losing aisha so early on made it feel like the saints couldn't take their time/mess around too much, bc we would've been putting more civilians close to the gang in harms way. ig it also made sense to me to take out the ronin first, since they had control over the area where the saints had their first hideout :0c also as a kid i apparently missed the fact that there was a choice in the order u could go in lmao, and now i kinda wanna go back and play in a different order to see how the vibes play out 😄

Absolutely loved this review, would you ever make a little follow up video about the dlc someday?

I just have to say this is one of the best game reviews i've ever seen. I dont think i've ever laughed so hard from one lol. Meme quality is 10/10