Saint’s Row 2: Ultor Exposed
Publisher: THQ
Developer: Volition
Modes: Single player, co-op, multiplayer
Format: Downloadable
ESRB: M
Price: $10/800 MS

DLC for sandbox/open world games is a fairly new concept. GTA4 set the bar with the Lost and the Damned, which expanded upon the story by introducing a whole new character and a side story that was concurrent with the main story. Now Volition and THQ are doing the same with their answer to the seriousness and realism of GTA4 with their first of three DLC packs for Saint’s Row 2.

MISSIONS:

The DLC for Saint’s Row 2 adds three new missions to the map of Stillwater, which are accessible at any time after completing the prologue at the beginning of the game. In the missions, you are accompanied by adult film star Tera Patrick, who was also in ads for the game. She plays a former biochemist of the Ultor Corporation, and is trying to expose the shady practices and experiments done on humans. First of all, Patrick is hardly believable as a scientist, as she doesn’t seem smart in the game and is clad in clothes that she would be seen wearing on a set of one of her filns. Also, her voice acting is atrocious; she speaks in a near monotone and is emotionless regardless of what is happening in-game.

There are only three missions, and you’d expect them to be pretty epic, but unfortunetly they are not. The first two are fairly easy, and the very first mission is basically an escort mission. The last mission is somewhat epic, and involves shooting down six helicopters, but it is still fairly easy. To me, I think that these missions are not worth the ten dollars that the DLC costs, and they almost seem like missions that didn’t make the cut in the disc version of the game.

VEHICLES:

Click here for more photos of the vehicles.

Overall, I think the vehicles are very awesome. There are six included in the pack, and three of the vehicles have weapons on them. There are two air vehicles – the AB Destroyer and the Vulture, a sports car – the Temptress, a tank from the latest Red Faction game – the EDF Scout [complete with Red Faction logos],  a three wheel motorcycle – the Pulse, and even a gran prix race car – the Stallion.

I believe that these cars are amazing, and almost make up for the boringness of the missions. Also, the cars can be used for various other things in the game. For example, the EDF Scout and the AB Destroyer are really useful in Mayhem missions.

CLOTHING:

Click here for more photos of the clothing.

A big component in Saint’s Row 2 is the clothing – whether it makes you look more like a gang member, or if you get dressed up from the Let’s Pretend costume shop. This DLC pack has added a lot of clothing options.

The big addition is the costumes. They can be found in the Let’s Pretend costume shop, and include an EDF costume [which is the character in Red Faction], an astronaut costume, a cop uniform, an awesome alien costume, and a SWAT uniform. The developers also made a deal with the UK based clothing line Joystick Junkie to have them make four Saint’s Row shirts and a Saint’s Row hoodie, which are available in the game as well as in real life through their website.

I really like the costumes, and I think there should be more funny or interesting costumes in the game. Also, I like the Joystick Junkie shirts, and also like that you can buy the shirts through their site.

OVERALL: While the missions aren’t all that great and seem like they are rejected missions from the disc version of the game, the added cars and costumes are definitely worth the ten dollars. While I did not play the co-op or multiplayer, the DLC expands on both of those fronts, too. If you love Saint’s Row 2, this is definitely worth the money.

GOOD: Three new missions, co-op, multiplayer, new clothing/customization options, six new cars, achievement for beating missions.

BAD: Missions are somewhat boring, Tera Patrick’s voice “acting”, may not seem worth the money.

SCORE: 6/10.