Day 69:22 Should you play it: Saints Row’s new installment disappoints Day 6 gaming columnist
The latest installment in the Saints Row video game series has been released, the first in nine years. Our gaming columnist Jonathan Ore tells us why he found its technology outdated and the story less than compelling.
Gamers have been desperate for information on the new Grand Theft Auto game.
But when reports emerged that the next installment in the video game franchise, in which hardened criminals wreak havoc with car chases, brawls and lots of cursing, would star a playable female character, a wave of negativity soon followed on social media and YouTube. .
“Fat feminists have gone too far now,” said one YouTuber.
“I can guarantee you if this is some woke shit, there is no way this will outsell GTA 5,” lamented another.
According to a report by Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, the sequel to 2013’s Grand Theft Auto 5 will feature a Latina woman as one of the main characters in the game. He will be one half of a pair of characters inspired by the real-life criminal duo Bonnie and Clyde.
The report also said that development studio Rockstar Games is tweaking the mood of the upcoming game. Previous GTA games drew criticism for jokes that some called sexist, racist and transphobic. Rockstar has apparently vowed not to “attack” marginalized communities as much as in previous installments.
“People like me have been really excited [for the new release]…. But unfortunately, as with the video game community, some people have been much more negative,” said Eleni Thomas, a writer for gaming and pop culture site Dexerto.
“There’s been a lot of sexism as a result of that — things like people posting, you know, potential first mission ideas … for the female protagonist to wash dishes.”
The report on the upcoming Grand Theft Auto, as well as the rocky reaction among some players and online commentators, is another example of the polarized discussion between fans eager for a new take on a long-running franchise and others resistant in addition. inclusive iterations of their favorite games.
Female protagonists are more common these days
According to Schreier’s report, the new game is at least two years away from release. Rockstar and its publishing company, Take Two Interactive, have previously confirmed that the new game is in the works, but have not released any other details.
The Bloomberg story cited more than 20 unnamed current and former Rockstar employees; the notoriously media-shy company had no official comment.
Day 69:58 Grand Theft Auto 6 and the first female protagonist shaking things up
For the first time, the Grand Theft Auto series will have a fully voiced female protagonist. This is exciting news for some, but a vocal contingent of fans have expressed that they have no interest in playing as a woman. These responses lead games journalist Eleni Thomas to wonder if Rockstar will stand behind its female protagonist or give in to the pressure from these fans.
The report marks a potentially significant change, Thomas said, considering the series hasn’t had a playable female character since at least 2001’s Grand Theft Auto 3.
Since then, game series with women and non-white protagonists have increased in popularity, such as The Last of Us and Horizon.
But as great as these games are, none of them may have the cultural prestige of Grand Theft Auto, a series that has grossed billions of dollars since its debut in 1997. Even now, GTA 5, which launched almost 10 years ago, it still makes the monthly bestseller lists.
Billboards for Grand Theft Auto 5 are seen at a hotel in Los Angeles in September 2013. The series has a cultural cachet unmatched by most video games. (Nick Ut/The Associated Press)
“Grand Theft Auto is an old franchise and I think in some ways … it kind of represents what video game culture was like,” Thomas said. “At the time, it was more male-driven, more male-dominated … the industry, the community and the players themselves.”
Saints Row stumbles
This week, another series of games tried to update, with mixed results.
Saints Row is the fifth in a series that debuted in 2006 as a competitor to the GTA games. Critics originally labeled it a GTA “clone”, given its similar mission structure and tone. Subsequent sequels differed with a greater emphasis on slapstick comedy and sci-fi twists.
The first trailers revealed that the new installment, the first in nine years, would be a hard reboot, breaking away from the numbered sequels that came before.
Promotional artwork for Saints Row 2022. The reboot of the long-running GTA-like games features a new cast, leaving behind the old team of fan favorites. (Deep Silver Volition)
Gone were the cool guys from the previous games and the pretty girls wielding a giant purple sex toy like a baseball bat. They were replaced by a quartet of millennials who spend their free time playing board games and singing karaoke.
The new cast is distinctly non-white, and players can customize the appearance and voice of The Boss, whom they control throughout the game, including options for male, female, and gender-neutral characteristics (as well as prosthetic limbs ).
Like Grand Theft Auto reports, some fans didn’t take the changes well. Critical reviews didn’t show much love for the game either. Saints Row currently it averages 63-69 percent on the review aggregator site Metacritic.
“The characters aren’t… on the top 10 list of reasons why the Saints Row reboot doesn’t work for me,” said Jordan Middler, who named the game. “a generic open-world malaise” in his review for Video Games Chronicle.
“Senseless culture war”
Middler worries, however, that the discourse surrounding the game’s new cast could drown out discussion of its real weaknesses.
“When games are revealed these days, a certain narrow segment of the audience perceives any kind of change that can be perceived as ammunition in this ongoing, senseless culture war, that the game could somehow ‘awaken- se’ or anything for him,” he said. said
A promotional screenshot for Saints Row 4, which was released in 2013. The series ramped up its slapstick humor and off-the-wall scenarios before the 2022 reboot set a slightly more grounded tone. (Deep Silver Volition)
New renditions of Saints Row, Grand Theft Auto and other games are simply a reflection of the fact that the people who make them are aware of certain cultural changes, says Merritt K., managing editor of gaming site Fanbyte.
“Conversations and debates about, you know, social dynamics, around race, sexuality, gender, all of those things have changed … a lot in mainstream spaces over the last decade,” she said. “These conversations have become much more mainstream.”
In a columnMerritt wrote that the fervor of the debate before the release of Saints Row was divided into two camps: people who expected the game to fail and those who argued that its financial success would mean a victory for progressive politics and representation.
“People sometimes look at video games like Saints Row and think, oh, this is a barometer for the culture war, and it’s either my side winning or the other side winning,” Merritt told Day 6.
“Video games, obviously, like any medium, can tell important stories and can make people feel seen and can facilitate human connection. But, you know, buying a game is not fighting a culture war, and it’s not necessarily a political issue. act.”
Ultimately, the negative critical response to Saints Row may place greater responsibility on the next Grand Theft Auto game to knock it out of the park.
“I think that’s the most important thing for Rockstar to do…just make sure [the new heroine] he’s not just a one-dimensional character,” Thomas said.
“Prove the naysayers wrong by creating a character that even people who have some hesitations fall in love with. I think that’s the best way to respond.”