Hello,
Saints Row The Third has a really epic campaign - but that's it sadly!!
I will try to explain it with Saints Row and Smackdown vs Raw what I mean with THQ policy (didn't play other THQ games), because in both games some stuff with is equal destroys the game from being unbelievable epic. The story mode from SR3 destroys GTA IV - but GTA IV is still the better game! And I mean - you are the directly rivals so you should make a game which beats Grand Theft Auto! I don't have anything against GTA, but it's frustrating how the potential is not used here.
The thing which is equal in SR and SVR is: add one feature, remove one feature. Every time, when a new cool feature is a added, an other feature is removed! In SVR, create a title, GM mode, create a taunt and much more was let out of the game and on SR, the entire real multiplayer, shops, choosing campaign missions you've done already, many open world scripts (currupt police punches people,..) and much more I don't have on my mind know. This is what I don't understand. Exporting those features to the new game can't be hard, the scripts already exists and just needs little adjustments for the new game.
What makes a game alive is multiplayer and leaderboards. I'm a pro in Forza4 and the game would be completly useless without both.
A bad multiplayer is better than no multiplayer, there are still people who play it (look at Halo:Reach, sorry lol but armor lock childs really suck).
The multiplayer wasn't very good at SR2, BUT it was much fun. The multiplayer on GTA is terrible scripted aswell, but cops and robbers, freeplay, gta race and some other modes are so much fun, I had my best online experience in that game.
Leaderboards keep the game alive (especially to the hardcore gamers), because it gives the chance to compete to the world and fight to #1, but I don't like it when it is something like "score" and you can get points by doing all kind of stuff (like at Mafia 2 DLC). The time people needed for a mission, total kills or total whatever would be cool things to track. Or bringing back races from SR2 and record the times on the leaderboard.
I think a Saints Row game needs 4 years to be done and SR3 had only 3. The game qualitiy is not good, the game was not really tested. At the third chapter, when the bridges to downtown are closed it still tries to spawn cars and people there, who just fall in the water lol. In the 4th year that stuff I complain about here could be added easiliy.
I don't have to say anything against the campaign - it's just epic, a milestone and if somebody does not play it, he is missing something epic.
Okay, I just have a request for the users answering this post, discuss it clearly and don't write crap like "eh that doesn't work blabla". NOBODY of us knows why they did SR3 that way and the role of THQ behind the game. I know that publishers make sick time pressures always, that's why I think the fault is more on THQ than on Volition. The game is not fun for more than the 2 weeks that way.