Grand Theft Auto satirizes our violent culture, and Saints Row 3 began as a way to rip off Grand Theft Auto. It's one thing to be a cheap way to cash into the success of another big-name franchise, but Saints Row: The Third went all in with the idea that it was satirizing a video game series that satirizes our violent culture. The result is a game that feels more like a self-devouring snake than anything else, but the gameplay itself is wonderfully fun and irreverent.

The game takes place in a world that's much like the comic book version of Wanted. The bad guys are in charge, and the big-name gangs are celebrities. The police are as interested in getting autographs during a bank robbery as they are in stopping the violence. Other characters in the game dress up like your crew. You play a character who is a celebrity because he or she is an evil human being, and the character creation tool allows you to make someone who is either threatening-looking or just ridiculous. If you want shiny skin, you got it. There is a slider to adjust the size of your genitals.

I played the game on the PC—and let's all give THQ props for giving us PC code alongside the console version of the game—and it runs very well, with the mouse and keyboard controls adding an extra level of precision. The problem is that even with every option maxed out there just isn't much eye candy here. That's not a bad thing—graphics are not everything—but if you want something to show off your new system, this game will not be your huckleberry. The fun and creativity comes from the game's design and play, not in how it looks. I support this approach.

You'll be tasked with stealing cars and upgrading your rides, earning "respect," which works like experience and allows you to buy upgrades for your weapons and gang as you work through the game's missions. You're going to be put in extraordinary situations, and the game joyfully gives the finger to things like common sense and physics. You'll find yourself in helicopters, tanks, and all manners of cars and motorcycles as you cruise the city of Steelport fighting against the rival gangs.

You're also able to jump from the tops of buildings and parachute down to the street, and then pick a target to land near in order to gain respect. It's a tiny detail—almost like a base-jumping minigame—but it's evidence that the team behind the game wanted you to have fun no matter how you play the game. One of the game's hideouts tells you to add a helicopter to the landing pad, but my buddy and I simply jumped off the side of the building and parachuted down.

And that is another detail about this game I think needs to be applauded: you can play through the entirety of the experience with a friend in co-op. There are even a few fun little two-player games to try out. Playing with a friend doesn't do much to change the core experience, but it's much more fun to take out targets and go through the game's missions with someone else remarking on how crazy everything becomes in the heat of the action.

The game is filled with foul-mouthed characters doing things that look like fun and killing everyone that gets in their way. During one gunfight, a rival gang uses civilians as human shields, and I remarked on voice chat that they had made a tactical error... I didn't give two farts about the random people walking around the city. Other games give you the choice of being a good or bad character, but this is a game that rewards playing as a villain. At one point, I simply emptied an entire clip into both an innocent bystander and gang member.

Our Velocity Micro gaming rig OS Microsoft® Windows® 7 Home Premium 64-bit CPU Intel® Core i7 2600k processor, Hyperclocked RAM Patriot 8GB 1600Mhz PXD38G1600LLK Memory Video EVGA GTX 580 1536 MB 015-P3-1580-AR Motherboard Asus P8Z68-V Pro Motherboard Storage Patriot 2 x 120GB Wildfire SATAIII SSD PW120GS25SSDR in RAID 0 Optical drive LG UH12LS28 BDROM/DVDRW

Saints Row 3 goes out of its way to allow you to have fun, and it ditches everything that isn't enjoyable. The thing that struck me during the new Grand Theft Auto trailer is just how seriously that series now takes itself, and how Saints Row 3 is the game I want when I sit down to pour some hours into an open-world game. I haven't beaten the game yet; my friend and I are taking our time and enjoying the side-missions, but I have no problem recommending it to fans of open-world games. Its first few missions are better than most games' last few missions in terms of scope and excitement, and it goes from there. Even the dialog is often laugh-out-loud funny.

This is a title that surprised me in the best way. If you want an experience that's silly, with plenty of room for fun and customization, Saints Row 3 is a good buy. If you are even slightly sensitive to violent or sexual content in video games, you should never play this game, but everyone else is going to have a good time. There are a few missions that are duds, and doing one kind of mission or objective in succession is going to get old, so be sure to mix up your play time and try a little bit of what the game has to offer. When Saints Row goes for the throat with a huge action setpiece, it doesn't pull any punches. This is a fine example of what would happen if Grand Theft Auto and Just Cause 2 had a baby, and that's some high praise. God bless the Saints.

Saints Row: the Third is out November 15, on the PS3, PC, and Xbox 360. We played the PC version.