for robbing, stealing, and carjacking. Completing missions earns money to be spent towards replenished supplies and player upgrades. Reviewers contended that the game was too large for the small screen, which exacerbated difficult driving controls.
Gameplay
health, gun stores for firepower, and spray paint shops to decoy the player when pursued by the police. An on-screen minimap displays nearby locations, and there is a larger citywide map on the pause screen that does not show detailed locations.[1] The city is split into zones,[2] and the game's mission objectives largely consist of driving to locations and shooting things.[4] Mission examples include assassinations, bomb-planting, and robbery.[2]
The player can fight with a knife received early in the game
Tetris clone lets the player fit more items into the truck,[4] and the carjacking minigame lets the player earn more money for scaring the captive passenger by driving at high speeds.[1]
When driving, control options include "directional steering" where "left" and "right" controls the vehicle in that direction (like a steering wheel) and "up" accelerates, and another option where the player presses a button corresponding to the desired direction.
pound key and then pressing "5" repeatedly, which also leaves the character vulnerable.[2] Players can run faster than the cars can drive.[3]
Development
Saints Row 2 is a mobile
Java 2 Micro Edition (J2ME) platform.[2] The game was built on their proprietary Talisman engine, which G5 Senior Producer Mike Zakharov said in 2008 enabled the game to have a big environment with many things to do as "one of the most complex modern mobile games".[5] As compared with its preceding mobile tie-in game (associated with the original Saints Row), the Saints Row 2 mobile game fixed issues of small sprites and too much traffic. Additionally, the developers changed the camera perspective from directly overhead to a slight angle.[3]Saints Row 2 for mobile devices was first announced in June 2008[5] and released in October.[1] It is compatible with the Nokia N95[2] and Nokia N81.[4]
1UP.com enjoyed driving through the destructible environments.[4]
IGN's Buchanan found the enemy
artificial intelligence weak. Since no one takes cover, "they just stand there to be shot."[1] He added that the game was sufficiently long past the player's interest to continue, and that the game's sound was "unimpressive".[1] 1UP.com's Podolsky called the game a "worthwhile download" and while noting that violent mobile games were rare, said the game looked "nearly identical" to the 2007 mobile tie-in game for American Gangster, though Saints Row was more violent.[4] He added that the game's story was not interesting.[4]
Keith Andrew of Pocket Gamer wrote that the mobile game was "like ... no other" since the player could "watch life flow by" without providing input. He added that the game's primary task was staying alive since almost everyone other than the pedestrians and teammates are against the Saints. Andrew acknowledged the limitations of the top-down view on mobile and thought that the developers did the best job possible considering their platform's limitations, but asked, "Is a game like Saints Row really made for your mobile?"[2]
Notes and references
Notes
^The knife, called the "pig sticker", is received in a level where the player stabs a policeman near a police station.[1]
