Saints Row 2, released this week, is an open-world urban combat game, high on action and comedy moments. Despite the inevitable comparisons with GTA IV, it’s been reviewing well, with averages of 80%.
In his Edge keynote today, lead designer Scott Phillips explains, “We knew that this was something that could really blow Saints Row 2 ahead of other open world games. We decided to just do something that hadn’t been done before – allowing players to work together. We wanted to make that game that would play differently in co-op but maintaining all of the same elements that you have in single player.”
He adds, “It was extremely difficult because co-op changes the game at every level. You’ve got two different players. When they move apart they’ve got to have people around them. Each of those players has to keep the world filled with cars and people. The AI needs to know about both sets.”
Full Keynote here.