The Saints Row Problem

I finally realized what this watered down remake reminded me of. The Saints Row franchise which was known for its edgy and sometimes over the top gameplay was rebooted into an inclusive silly game about friendship. Skate feels like it’s leaving behind the skater culture that made it popular in the first place. Even people that couldn’t skate were part of the counterculture. Instead of the ai helper you could’ve brought back Coach Frank. And even all the npcs that teach you how to play could be skaters. Imagine Steve-o teaching you to jump off a building. I grew up playing the Tony Hawk Underground 2 and was a big fan of Jack*ss (not sure if ea would delete my feedback if I wrote that) and with the stunt mechanics in game now you could really play in that type of content. The game is essentially built around an online store. And besides the obvious greed the problem is that things are less customizable than previous games. You should be able to put logos on the plain colored shirts you get from blind boxes. Or better yet let players buy clothes for in game currency instead of blind boxes. Character customization is also lacking in many places. Limited hairstyles, facial presets, and no tattoos. Now there are things the game gets right, the controls are fairly simple to pick up for beginners. The climbing is a fun addition that makes for better exploration. One thing that would add to the exploration experience would be spray painting. The ability to tag a wall in an area to show off where you’ve been would encourage more players to explore. To Summarize: the game lacks the soul of the skater counterculture that made it popular and the addition of people, brands, and activities that made it what it is would feel more like a love letter to the era than a fortnite-like cash grab.