GTA has been one of the most well known series in gaming for some time now and everyone wants a piece of the pie. Many pretenders to the throne have come and gone, but its Saints Row that manages to capture the feelings that fans want. From the third entry onward, the series became less realistic and more wacky, becoming a successor to the PS2 GTA games we all loved. Now Deep Silver has brought Saints Row The Third to the Switch and I must say I am impressed.

The game’s visuals have aged surprisingly well, and looks great in handheld mode, framerate issues aside. This is the whole experience and all the dlc, minus some cheat dlc that would have unbalanced the game. Before I go any further, I should mention that the framerate is not the best. It runs at sub 60 and can fall to below 30. That being said, a patch is coming that will fix these issues so I have hope for that.

When I said this was a wacky version of GTA, I meant it fully. Saints Row the Third goes out of its way to not be serious and go for an over the top nature instead. The result is an experience that manages to have fun while still keeping true to itself.

Combat and driving work surprisingly well here, and I had no real issues to speak of. Aiming was easy and the Switch controls were spot on, and unarmed combat felt like a giant open world brawler. Saints Row The Third manages to bring in some weird weapons and items to use, but it is all part of the fun and manages to just work.

The story can be equally over the top, but I like the ay the characters are written. They feel like they have real depth to them, and the various members of the Saints all feel like real fleshed out characters. Some subvert stereotypes and some manage to just go in strange directions but it all feels right. The use of music in the story is inspired, and while I cannot mention my favourite instance due to spoilers, I will say it was a nice touch.

The best way to put it is, if you want a GTA experience like GTA 5, this isn’t it. If you want a GTA experience like Vice City or San Andreas, then this is what you want. Saints Row looks great visually on Switch ( again framerate is being fixed), plays extremely well, and is just fun. It should be played by everyone.

Disclaimer: A review key was provided.