Then there's the targeting, or lack thereof. Rather than pressing a button and having to switch between enemies/innocents, all you've got to do is use the left and right analog sticks to aim a reticule over the intended target and blast/smash away. It's extremely easy to do and quite satisfying, especially since the camera is actually decent. It hasn't turned me into a perfect shot, but I'd much rather use this user friendly system than having to worry about cycling through targets and having the camera crap out on me.

As a whole, the single player is great. The story isn't groundbreaking by any means, but it's certainly passable, and the voice acting is way over the top (as in they say f*ck every sentence). But that's Saints Row. Volition's vision of the hippity hop culture is way over the top and arguably quite exaggerated, and it winds up being funny and viciously disturbing at the same time. But it's definitely not perfect. Pop up, fade in, the occasional crash, and other assorted glitches mar the experience but making things more frustrating than they should be.

In addition to the single player adventure, the developers created a pretty solid multiplayer component that allows for team based and straight up death match play. There's even co-op, though it only lets you and a partner play through a couple of modes that have absolutely nothing to do with the story mode. But as a whole, the 2-12 player battles are quite satisfying, not only because of the bloodshed but also because you can form gangs, something that I had hoped Rockstar would have done by now. That's not to say that online play is perfect. It's not uncommon to encounter lag nastier than one of the game's fat hoes, but everything works fine for the most part.

I'm also a fan of the game's visuals, even though it's more of a love/hate relationship. I mean, it looks a hell of a lot better than any GTA game (actually, there's some sort of item that, once ingested, makes Saints Row appear as if it's running on PS2 hardware-and its fugly), but it's definitely not one of the 360's best. The explosions/fire effects in general are fantastic and I love how bits of cars fly every which way, but some of the buildings and vehicles aren't especially detailed. However, given that the game's streaming technology means no load times whatsoever, I've accepted the nasty looking stuff.

As for the audio, it's the standard issue collection of pop and rap mixed with commercials that are hit and miss. It's not all that impressive, but the rest of the game, the voice acting, the gunfire, and the explosions are outstanding.

So there you have it. The game that I thought would turn out to be a miserable pile of garbage is actually pretty sweet, and so long as you can stomach the violence and harsh language, Saints Row is yet another great Xbox 360 game that's definitely worth purchasing.