#Saint row 2 character creation how to#

I imagined I would create a character, fart around for an hour or so and be left wanting.

I am, however, goofy about character creation (just ask my husband, I can spend two hours creating a character), and having had a bit of fun with the first Saints RowвЂ™s creator, I was at least looking forward to Saints Row 2вЂ™s robust character creation. DonвЂ™t really know why, just wasnвЂ™t my thing. I played Grand Theft Auto IV for about two hours and did not enjoy it at all. I can imagine KenвЂ™s inner dialogue when I told him that I could provide a review of Saints Row 2 for his site. I usually review RPGs and other sorts of Japanese Fluff for ZTGD. Sweeping SoundtrackвЂ¦.Not in this game! Get your violence and profanity on with THQвЂ™s latest bullet packed thrill ride. вЂњOne can never be too rich as to throw away a homie.вЂќ Thoughtful Dialogue. A video game where gang leaders and starting linebackers can only be one gender is beyond dull.Silly, outrageous, profane, excessively violent, very naughty, and unapologetically so. The common argument I have seen online is that this wouldnвЂ™t be вЂњrealistic.вЂќ Really? Well, it is not very realistic when I run for 1,000 yards in a game on the Rookie setting, either.ДЄfter all, this is what games do bestвЂ“allow players to make all sorts of different choices in simulated worlds and see what happens. I couldnвЂ™t agree more, and I wish more games would give you this range of choices.ДЇor the life of me, for example, I cannot understand why Madden NFL will not allow me to create a female character for its Superstar mode. And whoвЂ™s going to question it? Who would fuck with the boss of the Saints? You do something with your hair?вЂќ ThatвЂ™s the gameвЂ™s tacit acceptance of however youвЂ™ve decided to present your character. At the start of SaintвЂ™s Row 2, a fellow Saint who knows the protagonist from the first SaintвЂ™s Row says, вЂњYou look different. The player is given the room to internalize her character how she pleases. ThereвЂ™s a scene early in the game where one of the SaintsвЂ™ lieutenants is planning a raid on a casino by moving bobble heads of the gang members through a scale model of the place: the playerвЂ™s character is represented by a featureless, genderless chess pawn. Your gang minions address you as вЂњBoss,вЂќ and refer to you in third person either as вЂњthe BossвЂќ or вЂњthe leader of the Saints.вЂќ No one ever gives you a pronoun. You can present as a wide variety of genders because, for all the gameвЂ™s scripted scenes and recorded dialogue, no one ever gives you a gender.ДЄll of the dialogue has been written to explicitly avoid giving the protagonist a gender, in fact.

Play as a burly man in a dress and heels, a woman with a beard, someone totally androgynous вЂ“ I played through the game as a fat woman, and I canвЂ™t remember the last time a game, mainstream or otherwise, gave me that choice.

#Saint row 2 character creation how to#

There are tons of gendered accessories for the playerвЂ™s character вЂ“ sheвЂ™s surrounded by urban gang culture, or some facsimile thereof вЂ“ but the game gives the player the choice of how to use those accessories (or not) to present her gender. Saints Row 2 is that video game and more.ДЄnna Anthropy also argues that the game makes some interesting choices in how it handles the gender of the main character the user plays: By that, I mean that when I talk to non-gamers about video games, they all imagine every video game is essentially one long romp of extreme violence and explicit sex with no discernible plot or mitigating feature.

Saints Row 2 is essentially the stereotypical video game.