Mayhem, in which you’re given a set amount of time and unlimited ammunition for certain weapons like grenades or a rocket launcher to cause as much property damage and destruction as possible, is still gleefully fun. Saints Row 3 also layered a lot of fun extracurricular activities on top of the comic-book-meets-gang-warfare story. There are two equally funny endings that I guarantee you won’t see coming.

Even Saints 3’s story – often a weak point in open-world jack-of-all-trades games like this – is worth seeing through. There was jumping out of a helicopter and parachuting down to reclaim your gang’s old rooftop penthouse to the tune of Kanye West’s “Power.” And no matter how many times I play it, I’ll still have a big smile on my face while cruising around singing along to Sublime’s classic ‘90’s tune “What I Got.” Its progression is still smart, too completing missions, activities, and daring driving earns you respect and money, which can be cashed in for upgrades like dual-wielded pistols, NPC gang members you can call in as backup during battles, and increasingly stupid weapons and vehicles. That relatability laid the foundation for some of its most memorable moments in 2011, and those remain fantastic in 2020. Saints Row 3, while comically over-the-top, was nevertheless the last Saints game to have one foot still planted in reality before number 4 went full Matrix and Mass Effect on us. Here’s why you should play this game, if you haven’t yet. I just thought that if Volition was going to go to all the trouble of remastering this hilarious GTA satire for 4K systems, it would’ve done a little more to live up to the gracefully aging gameplay.

I bring that up because it puts me in a pretty good position to confidently say that Saints Row The Third remains not only my favorite Saints game, but also still a decidedly fun one nearly a decade after it first came out. Saints Row The Third? More like this is the third time I’ve reviewed Saints Row 3, and the second in as many years after last Fall’s technically shaky Nintendo Switch port.

Saints row 3 console commands