People say that you only get one chance to make a first impression. Inevitably, Saint’s Row 2 is going to be compared endlessly to GTA IV, which is both a compliment and a curse for Saint’s Row 2. I’ll tell you what has stood out for me thus far with Saint’s Row 2 is how quickly the game engages you.  The game just blasts off like a rocket. Compare that to the relatively slow burn of GTA IV, and you’ve got yourself a real duel between the heavyweight champ and legit number one contender.

How does the first ten minutes of Saint’s Row 2 compare to GTA IV?  After the jump.

With video games and our ADD culture, it’s even more important, especially with the Holiday Crush of video games upon us to make a good first impression. All of the great games do it, with some notable exceptions.  That said, after playing Saint’s Row 2, I was surprised at how quickly the game engaged me. Almost from the word go, the game gets crazy fun.  I appreciate that.

Inevitably, the game will draw comparisons to GTA IV.  That’s fine. I think it stands right up there with it.  That’s right. I think Saint’s Row is a pretty good “open world” type game.  The first ten minutes of each game really illustrate the differences between the two.

Let’s start with the opening scene.  In GTA IV, you’re dragged through this extended opening credit sequence of this ship sailing into port.  It’s long and boring, but you marvel at the great graphics.  Or something.  It’s really boring.

In Saint’s Row 2, you wake up from a coma and immediately begin to customize your character. Ok, not earth shattering, but still, when was the last time you could create your own character in such a detailed manner in a sandbox game?

In GTA IV, after the ship docks and you talk to a few people on the boat, you meet Roman, your cousin.  Then you get to drive him around… zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

In Saint’s Row 2, you escape from a prison.  You kill a few guards, I threw one female guard off a building, and it’s off to the races as you steal a cop car and high tail it to your getaway boat, while helicopters and other cops chase you down.

On the other hand, in GTA IV, you’re subjected to mind numbing cutscene after cutscene, interspersed with repetitive fetch quests that entail driving your loser cousin, Roman, around Liberty City.You learn that not only is Roman a loser, but his wanna be girlfriend is getting boned by some low level Russian mobster.  All this time, you still don’t have a gun, but you do get a kick ass job as a cabbie!  Bonus?

In Saint’s Row 2, the opening ten minutes culminate in an escape from your Alcatraz type prison island by boat.  Not only do you get a gun, but you get a machine gun to shoot down both helicopters and police boats that give chase.

In GTA IV, you get to go on a date…

See where I’m going here?  Saint’s Row 2 only gets more crazy from there.  While I almost put up GTA IV for sale after playing the first few missions, out of sheer boredom, Saint’s Row 2 had me energized.  I had escaped from prison, broke my buddy out of Federal custody, stole a Lamborghini and tore it up.  In GTA IV, I get to drive around a crappy cab, driving my loser cousin around while he blabs about his loser life.

It’s a wonder I even finished GTA IV.  To be fair, GTA IV is a good game, but you can really see the difference between the two games in the tone that’s set in the first 10 minutes.  I just hope that Rockstar plays Saint’s Row 2 before making GTA V.

They could learn a thing or two.

Image: Gameplayer.com