Ragdoll physics toss your player limply around the screen as you try to rack up as much money as possible and string together hit combos. This mission was fun simply because of its pure absurdity. The very best example of this might just be Insurace Fraud, a mission that sees you destroying cars, allowing yourself to be brutalized by oncoming traffic, and crashing into buildings in an effort to successfully cheat insurance companies out of their money. And while the side missions in Saints Row: The Third became somewhat repetitive toward the end, they never lost their sense of pure, crazy fun that make them so unique. Like a cowboy without his hat, an open world game simply wouldn’t be complete without its vast array of side missions. Quite possibly half of my time with the game consisted of driving the game’s myriad vehicles around town, and I loved every second of it thanks to its near seamless execution.

An element that, I am happy to say, was realized all too well in Saints Row: The Third. And for a game that requires a hell of a lot of drive time to explore and get from mission to mission, this stands out as one of the more important elements of the game itself. Each of the cars have a different and unique feel, handle well, and make traversal of the city fun. And while Saints Row apes so many elements of GTA IV, it did manage to take the driving to a new level of greatness by making it feel satisfying to control. Coincidentally, this happens to be one of my biggest issues with Grand Theft Auto IV. I may not be a racing game expert, but I can tell when a car feels incredibly floaty rather than tight and responsive. So, why is driving an item on this list? Simply put, it’s fantastic. I don’t play a ton of racing games outside of Mario Kart 7 and Diddy Kong Racing, and I know about as much about real life cars as I do advanced Algebra.

And while I could go on endlessly about my love of diving off buildings and shooting people out of my Genki Cannon, I’ve decided to take a more conservative approach and organize my thoughts into ten reasons this title deserves a spot high on the list of great open world games. Not since Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas have we seen an open-world crime game with as much craziness, hilarity, and freedom as the hallowed streets of Steelport in Saints Row: The Third.

Motorcycles in saints row 3