If life gives you lemons, you could make lemonade. But kicking it in the crotch, smashing it with a baseball bat and shooting it in the face repeatedly works way better in the world of Saints Row 2.

Replay Interactive’s newest game gives you the chance to cause tremendous widespread destruction in the style of the original Grand Theft Auto’s (GTA), yet with a fresh take. So much so that it deviates markedly from the standard set by GTA 4 with its extremely realistic graphics and physics, and in a fantastic way indeed.

Although the graphics aren’t exactly the best in the world, Saints Row 2’s defining feature is the amount of customization one can play with in the game. From the very start, as you create your character, you will find that there are literally hundreds if not thousands of possible combinations of looks, hairstyles and other miscellaneous features.

Just what other game can you have a muscular cross-dressing transsexual, wearing nothing but a bra and tiny denim shorts cutting down wave after wave of rival gang members, and any unfortunate bystanders, with a samurai sword like so much sheaves of wheat?

Saints Row 2 provides you with a quick fix to solve any trouble that you might get yourself into. Forgive and Forget drivethroughs spaced judiciously around the map offers players some mumbled words of redemption and more importantly, the calling-off of any pursuers from the law – who attempt to throw you back into the slammer for your crimes, all for a very small price.

Small quirks such as these, as well as the fact that the amount of heat on you from rival gangs and police gradually goes down over time, albeit very slowly, adds to the fun of Saints Row 2. Truly, you can create a swathe of mayhem and destruction across the city of Stilwater and regret it not one bit after popping in and out of a Forgive and Forget drivethrough.

One of, if not the best part of Saints Row 2 is that everything in the game can be done with a friend. Find a mission to tough to handle on your own? Call a friend in for some backup! Want to create a massive traffic pileup? Ask a friend to strategically place certain vehicles to create a roadblock while you draw in the police! Friends can just hop in and out of your game with the barest hint of lag, and only when they first enter.

Although the story is slightly lacklustre at times, some of the missions of Saints Row 2 are frankly magnificent as rarely do you find yourself setting a hotel to blow, and then parachuting inside the hotel down to the lobby as explosions go off around you, or one where you have to ride an All Terrain Vehicle (ATV) around a mall whilst trying blow the tires on a Humvee with a mounted chain gun chasing after you.

The amount of things you can do in Saints Row 2 is staggering with normal activities such as races, assassinations, escorts and demolition derbies scattered across the city. However, one of the most exciting activities you can do is called Trail Blazing. In this activity, you put on a flame retardant suit and ride around the city on an ATV setting as many people and things as you can on fire. The more people you burn the more points you get and the more amount of time you have to keep burning things. Also included in Saints Row 2 are things known as Diversions. These are mini-activities that you can engage in, anytime, anywhere. Doing a wheelie on a motorbike, hijacking a car with a hostage in it or even streaking through the middle of town will give you bonus points.

As the UrbanWire found out, Saints Row 2 offers an exhaustive list of things one can do. Boredom is just not an option. Hours alone can be spent on these activities; not even counting the amount of time you will spend completing the main storyline. With so many things to do, you probably won’t be content with just playing the main storyline.

But every good thing has a downside, with great gameplay and awesome sandbox gaming, the character graphics of Saints Row 2 still have a lot left to be desired. For a game of Saints Row 2’s standard not to have awesome character graphics like GTA 4 is surprising. If not for the average graphical quality in the game, Saints Row 2 would trump GTA 4.

For those who love sandbox games and the ability to cause massive destruction, Saints Row 2 is definitely a game not to be missed. Even with its average graphical quality, the sheer amount of things you can do in the world of Saints Row 2 will keep you playing for a very, very long time.

UrbanWire gives Saints Row 2 an overall score of 8.2/10

Saints Row 2 is a B+ game.

Saints Row 2 releases for the Xbox360 and retails at S$89.90 for the Collectors Edition and S$71.90 for the Standard Edition from Replay Interactive.

Screenshots taken from the Saints Row Website