Saints Row: The Third - DLC: The Trouble With Clones

The Trouble With Clones is the third and final mission based downloadable content for Saints Row: The Third, and unlike the first two releases it endeavors to build upon the primary story from the main game. Not only does this mean you'll be interacting with familiar characters rather than novelty creations (as was the case in the last release), but it also equates to the storyline of this DLC being a bit more grounded and set within reality. Obviously that's a relative statement when used within the Saints Row universe, but upon loading up these missions you'll notice a marked difference in tone and setting versus the last two mission packs. Additionally, this story focuses on the pseudo-resurrection of the most recognizable and celebrated character of the Saints Row narrative, who has been auspiciously absent from this most recent entry.

The single greatest innovation to the gameplay of Saints Row 3 can be summed up in two words: Saints Flow. Without treading into spoiler territory, during one of the three missions in the DLC, you drink an irradiated version of the Saints’ patented energy drink, and the result is easily the most enjoyable gameplay mechanic in the entire game. You run like The Flash. You punch like The Incredible Hulk. And you Hadouken. That’s right, you Hadouken, complete with the kamehameha wave wind-up and an execution that would make Sheng Long proud. Performing these features is simplistic and intuitive, which is great, and although you’d not think twice about these abilities had they been present from the beginning of the game, the fact that you don them at this eleventh hour gives the game an exciting and fresh new feel.

Metsu.... Hadouken!

I give this DLC plenty of other high marks beyond the super powers; the story is entertaining and well written, the dialogue ranges from campy-humorous to downright funny, the soundtrack is good (although I thought the score from Gangstas In Space was a little better) and you get to mess around with another fun new weapon called the “Swarmitron” – a bee-launcher which you’ll use for crowd control during concerts. It’s also refreshing to get back into the true story of the game, almost as if to wash away the taste of “disconnection from reality” that the last two download packs left in our mouths. Finally, this DLC also unlocks the option of replaying the missions from the last downloadable content release, which is a nice feature that I’m thankful they included.

As for the negative side of things, just as the Saints Flow super powers are the high point of this content, they're also the biggest downfall. Simply put, none of it transfers over to the rest of the game once the mission has been completed. When you distill it down, you really only have access to these abilities for about ten minutes, all of which are during a specific mission with set parameters. Once they’re gone, they’re gone, and if you didn’t have the foresight to back-up a game save prior to completing that mission, your time under the influence of Saints Flow will be nothing more than a pleasant memory, save for starting a new campaign and replaying up until that point. Because the game has been out for a while, the DLC is coming to an end, and the replay value plummets once you’ve exhausted all the missions/side-activities and the achievements, granting access to these powers in the post-mission free roam would’ve allowed us to squeeze a few more drops of enjoyment from Saints Row: The Third before shelving it for good. You don’t get to keep the Swarmitron either, but that shouldn’t bother most people too much as it’s just a novelty item that you’d likely never use again.

The most thrilling and satisfying element of the game...
that you won't be able to use again.

The other major pitfall with The Trouble With Clones can simply be carbon copied from my review of the previous DLC: It’s way too short. I would place the median play-time somewhere between the 1-1½ hour mark, and that factors in watching all cut-scenes, exploring mission parameters, hunting down all the achievements, and I’ll even generously throw in replaying a mission or two in case you missed certain achievement criteria.

The Final Word

As the final piece of downloadable content for the third installment of Saints Row, The Trouble With Clones is very good. Not amazing, but very good. It would’ve been nice if they could’ve gone out with something a bit more epic than an hour or so of new gameplay or at the very least allowed us to take our Saints Flow abilities back out into the main game. As it stands, though, this is probably the most well rounded and inspired piece of DLC released for this game, and it’s definitely worth picking up.

  

7/10

This brings me to a final critique of the “Season Pass” downloadable content, which bundles up Genkibowl VII, Gangstas In Space, and The Trouble With Clones, along with the completely inconsequential Nyte Blayde costume and vehicle pack. Here’s a breakdown: as of this posting, The Season Pass will run you $19.99 (or 1600 MS Points), whereas each of the individual episodes will run $6.99 (or 560 MSP). In essence, by buying the Season Pass, you’ll save yourself a whopping .98¢ over buying the DLC packs individually, and you’ll be given the chance to drive Nyte Blayde’s car and motorcycle as an utterly useless bonus.

If this was meant to be an incentive, it's damn near insulting.
You suck, Nyte Blayde.

If budgetary constraints are a concern, I’d start by prioritizing The Trouble With Clones and work my way back through Gangstas In Space, before ending with Genkibowl VII as the most skipable release. Speaking honestly, the Season Pass doesn’t save you much of anything over buying the DLC piece-by-piece, but what it does is bundle up everything nicely and give you a perfect opportunity to get back into Saints Row: The Third for roughly another five hours before moving on indefinitely.

All three of these episodes are fun, but there’s simply no denying how short they are. The only reason this is an issue is because the game is so enjoyable in the first place. If the game sucked you wouldn’t consider the DLC anyway, and if you were simply trying to hammer out some quick gamerscore you’d rejoice at the short length of these add-ons. The fact is, the abbreviated length of these releases only feels like a slight because the game is so much fun and fans will want as much extra content as they can get. To that point, because I so thoroughly enjoyed the game and the DLC, regardless of the length, I recommend the Season Pass.