Saints Row vs. GTA: Which Is Better?

When two game franchises share many similarities, you will have people wondering Which is better? The same can be said if you happen to be comparing Saints Row vs GTA.

While both of these franchises share similarities like following a linear story and both games are open-world sandboxes. Both franchises allow you to handle your business any way you see fit. You can shoot anyone you want and steal vehicles as you complete missions and progress in the story.

So what are the differences between these two franchises and Which is better?

1. Grand Theft Auto

GTA5

In the Grand Theft Auto games, the story is different in each title. While characters who appeared in Grand Theft Auto III may have appeared in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, or Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, you played as different protagonists in each title and those protagonists had different motivations to succeed in what they were trying to accomplish.

The location is another factor that should be looked at in both franchises. Grand Theft Auto had games take place in Liberty City, Vice City, and San Andreas. Grand Theft Auto IV and V took place in Liberty City and San Andreas respectively but these games happen during different periods. Grand Theft Auto Vice City took place in the 1980s and Grand Theft Auto San Andreas took place in the 1990s while the numbered entries were based on the present year those games were released.

2. Saints Row

Saints Row

While there have been multiple Saints Row games, the story always revolved around your gang called: The Saints. The first three games were all about trying to make your gang more dominant and more successful than any of the other gangs in the game. In Saints Row, the Saints came to your rescue when you were an innocent bystander that was going to be killed by The Vice Kings. Saints Row 2 was about bringing the Saints back from how far they had fallen. These games revolve around the same characters for multiple games and the motivation was the same for the first three games.

Saints Row did change locations themselves. The two first games took place in Stillwater and the third game took place in Steelport. If you played Saints Row Iv, you know that game took place in a virtual world, and Saints Row: Gat out of Hell took place in Hell. The problem with Saints Row is the location of the first three games doesn't feel different despite the third game taking place in a fictional city that was inspired by a different city than what inspired the city in the first two games.

What’s The Difference?

Another difference between Saints Row and Grand Theft Auto is how both games handle side missions. In Grand Theft Auto III when Asuka introduces you to her brother Kenji, you can skip most of his missions if they feel too difficult. In Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, you can progress through the story without completing any of the missions that come from Zero.

The same can not be said for the first two Saints Row games. After you completed a mission, you would have to complete activities whether they be races, rampage missions, or driving around a popular client with a woman in the back while keeping the news too far away from getting enough footage to write a story that would ruin the reputation of your client. You would have to complete these activities until you earned enough respect before you could participate in another story-based mission. While Grand Theft Auto let you skip some main story missions, the side missions were fully optional.

When it came to customization, Saints Row offered more than Grand Theft Auto. While Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas would let you dress CJ however you wanted and let him have the body you wanted, Saints Row would give you more control over what the protagonist looked like. You could decide the skin color and gender of the protagonist in Saints Row.

Conclusion

After comparing Saints Row to Grand Theft Auto, the question remains: Which is better?

While this question would always come down to personal preference, I think many people would agree that Grand Theft Auto is better. One thing many people didn't like about Saints Row was the over-the-top storyline in the last two Saints Row games. When you compare how Saints Row did things to the way they were in Grand Theft Auto, Grand Theft Auto did it better. The only time you had to complete every mission in Grand Theft Auto is if you wanted to complete everything in the game.

Will Saints Row learn from their mistakes by them rebooting the series? Many people have had negative reactions to the trailer showing the reboot of Saints Row. Will Grand Theft Auto 6 continue to please fans of the franchise whenever it comes out? Only time will provide the answers to those questions.

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