Saints Row: The Third (also known as Saints Row 3) is an open world action-adventure video game developed by Volition, Inc. and published by THQ. It was released on November 15th, 2011 in Australia and North America, and was released on November 18th, 2011 in Europe for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. It is the third title in the Saints Row series, after the release of Saints Row 2 in 2008. As in Saints Row 2, the player controls the leader of the Third Street Saints. The game world is the fictional city of Steelport, and the story focuses on the gang war between the Saints and The Syndicate, a rival criminal group.
Since the events of Saints Row 2, the 3rd Street Saints have turned their street gang into a media empire after merging with the Ultor Corporation, becoming icons across the world, with their own energy drink, a large fanbase, and a movie deal in the works. But when they attempt to rob a bank with Josh Birk (a TV star who is "researching" his part for the Saints' movie) in town, their everyday routine takes an unlikely turn when the bank tellers unexpectedly fight back with military grade weapons. The Saints attempt to airlift the vault out of the building, but when Birk accidentally sets off the alarm, it alerts the Stilwater P.D. and, after a large-scale firefight, the Saints are incarcerated.
In prison, Johnny Gat bemoans what the Saints have become, expressing disappointment at having strayed from their roots as "true gangstas". At that point, an international crime organization called The Syndicate bribes the police to release the Saints' leader (henceforth referred to as Boss), Gat, and Shaundi. The three are taken to the Syndicate's leader, Phillipe Loren, to try and negotiate a business plan with them aboard Loren's private jet. While in-flight, Loren tells them they will be allowed to live if they turn over two-thirds of their revenue made in Stilwater. The Boss and Gat immediately reject this unfair offer, starting a gunfight aboard the private jet, permanently injuring Phillipe Loren's eye. The Boss and Shaundi manage to escape as Gat holds back their enemies, only to be killed in the process.
Upon landing, the two find themselves in the Syndicate controlled city of Steelport, a Pittsburgh-esque city described by Shaundi as "Bangkok's abusive father". The Saints invade Steelport in an attempt to profit off the city and also take control of organized crime away from the Syndicate as revenge for killing Gat. The game's main plot revolves around removing the three gangs that the Syndicate is composed of. These gangs consist of the Morning Star, a group of European businessmen that control Steelport's sex trade and manufacture armed weapons and genetically engineered, albeit flawed, superhumans called Brutes, the Deckers, a group of elite hacktivists that launders money for the Syndicate, and the Luchadores, a group of Mexican wrestlers who control gambling in Steelport.
After calling Pierce Washington, the Boss's lieutenant, into Steelport, the Saints seize a Morning Star penthouse for their new headquarters, hijacks a bomb from a military base, and begins attacking the Morning Star's businesses, culminating with an attack on Loren's headquarters. The Saints free the Brutes' genetic basis Oleg Kirrlov and manage to kill Loren. Killbane, leader of the Luchadores, takes charge of the Syndicate and attacks Stilwater's Hughes Memorial Bridge, destroying it with RPGs, and frames the Saints for it.
To retaliate, the player seeks out anti-Syndicate talent, recruiting Oleg Kirrlov (a giant man with super-human strength and intelligence and an alleged ex-KGB employee), ex-FBI hacker Kinzie Kensington; Zimos, a pimp who speaks with a T-Pain-like autotune electric voice box due to a tracheotomy; and Angel De La Muerte (voiced by Hulk Hogan), Killbane's vengeful former tag-team partner. They are later joined by Viola DeWynter, one of Loren's twin lieutenants, after Killbane kills her twin sister Kiki out of rage due to a failed assassination attempt on the Boss by strippers, and introduces the player to the Mayor of Steelport, Burt Reynolds (as himself). Her defection, however, coincides with the arrival of the paramilitary STAG (Special Tactics Anti-Gang) forces in Steelport, created by senator Monica Hughes after the bridge's destruction to end gang violence once and for all. The Saints take on STAG regardless, resulting in Steelport going under martial law, and a zombie outbreak due to the Boss taking down the cargo of a STAG plane that included strange chemicals, which Mayor Burt Reynolds assigns the Third Street Saints to take care of.
After providing Kinzie with the appropriate technology, the player enters the Deckers' mainframe, defeating Matt Miller's avatar in a virtual reality fight and driving him out of town. At Angel's insistence, the player opts to take on Killbane by killing the other contestants in his Murderbrawl XXXI pay-per-view to gain entrance, and then, with Angel's help, defeating Killbane and his Luchadores. At that point, the player has a morality choice, either to demask Killbane like he did to Angel de LaMuerte, with the player getting a ton of respect, or to force Killbane to teach him/her the Apoco-Fist move. As a result, an enraged Killbane responds by instigating several attacks throughout Steelport to cause chaos.
The Boss is simultaneously informed that Killbane is escaping while STAG lieutenant Kia is holding Shaundi and Viola at a Steelport monument rigged to blow to frame the Saints. If the Boss opts to eliminate Killbane, the destruction of the monument is used as a pretext by STAG to attack Steelport with the airborne aircraft carrier Daedalus; the final mission consequently sees the Boss destroying the Daedalus, killing STAG leader Cyrus Temple in the process, and declaring Steelport an independent city-state under the Saints control. If the Boss kills Kia and saves Shaundi and the others, the Saints are hailed as heroes for saving the monument and STAG is disbanded. The final mission instead has the Boss track Killbane down to Mars and kill him in what is ultimately revealed to be a scene from the Saints sci-fi film Gangstas in Space, based on Gat's comic books.
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