Missions vary greatly. You will be undertaking jobs where you steal drugs off opposing gangs, fly helicopters, spray sewage onto houses to lower the market prices, steal nuclear waste from Stilwater's finest nuclear power plant, and more.

Saints Row 2 really does take the cake here; there are such a large number of missions and mini-games to undertake, and they are all humorous and really make the game feel varied. This is where Saints Row 2 makes up ground on its competition - the humour and varied side quests that were previously in Grand Theft Auto but got dropped from IV have been picked up and improved on by Volition.

You can now drive around a police film crew while you beat up crims, or steal prostitutes from their pimps, commit insurance fraud by throwing yourself off things (and in front of vehicles or trains), partake in trail blazing where you race around in a fire suit on a quad bike and burn things, or even become a tow truck driver and drive around picking up cars which then swing around wildly behind you.

Then there is crowd control, demolition derby, drug trafficking, escort, fight club, heli-assault, mayhem and septic avenger (as mentioned above). These missions are a barrel of laughs, and they will keep you coming back to Saints Row 2 for a long time.

The large number of missions is made manageable by the use of an in-game map which will mark every shop, mission or mini-game with a coloured question mark. These will be filled in when you drive near the area in the game. Similarly your in-game GPS will show you the routes to any missions you select, and this works very well. In fact the GPS is so well done that it will learn shortcuts as you take them, and can later suggest a short cut to you. This saves the frustration of finding an excellent short cut but forgetting about it in the heat of a chase. And there will be chases - rival gangs and the police will be hot on your tail for much of the game. The police are quite difficult to shake off, but that is why there are a number of "Forgive & Forgets" littered around the map for you to cleanse your ‘soul’ at a drive-through church.

Unfortunately the driving physics are irritating. The cars generally feel very light, and most can turn on a point with a simple hand-brake. Now, don’t get me wrong, this has its advantages, and because Saints Row 2 is tilted towards fun rather than realism, this is the way it is meant to be. It certainly does make getting around town much easier, which is not necessarily a bad thing. But often enough I've been racing along at top speed only to hit a small curb and either come to a complete stop, or be flicked high into the air. It's funny, sure, but also slightly annoying at times.

The addition of cruise control however is excellent. It makes drive-bys and shooting out of your vehicle generally much easier not having to keep your car at speed. Amusing too when you leave the cruise control on and bail out of your car.

Graphically, Saints Row 2 won’t be taking any prizes. It looks good enough though, and the cut scenes are spectacular. The environments are interesting and fun to wander through. Again, objective achieved. But they’re certainly not stunning.

When flying around in some of the vehicles you will notice some pop-up, although Volition has improved immensely on the pop-up and graphical glitches that plagued the first version. Fans rejoice - they have also included an option to disable or enable V-sync, of course at cost to the frame-rate which is why this should be optional, so good work there. The characters all look great, and this is clearly one of the areas where Volition put in a considerable amount of effort. The people in the environment also look good, and interact with each other nicely, holding hands and cuddling on park benches. Occasionally you will see people spread out on the lawn smoking bongs, and when it rains umbrellas come out. Yes, we have weather effects along with a day-night cycle. In all these areas Saints Row 2 has built on the strengths of its predecessor.

The multiplayer is a fine addition. Along with being able to compete against rival teams in the missions such as insurance fraud, mayhem and the like, there is a co-op mode which allows you to complete these missions with a friend playing across the entire map. This will make reaching several million dollars in mayhem damage somewhat easier, but still a serious challenge. Needless to say, it can be a great laugh racing around getting full wanted level with a friend as your wing-man. This worked very well, and playing with Australians and New Zealanders is very smooth. However playing in a US or UK game is a different story, with lag very noticeable.

Overall though, the multiplayer is a solid effort and another reason why Saints Row 2 will keep you busy for a very long time.

After having experienced Saints Row 2 in its completed form, we can honestly say that the guys at Volition have given Rockstar and Grand Theft Auto a serious run for their money (especially when you consider their development budget was a fraction of the size of Rockstar's). Every aspect of the original has been improved on. While the guys at Rockstar moved to a realistic, story-driven game and lost some of the humour and fun, Volition took those attributes and made them the emphasis. Saints Row 2 encourages crazy actions and mayhem all-round.

If you're a fan of Saints Row or even Grand Theft Auto, Saints Row 2 is a must own. (Note that this is definitely not a family title, with the inclusion of drugs and booze, sexual references and crude language, though!)