Murderbrawl XXXI (Experience 16)

To mess up Murderbrawl 31 (Wrestlemania!?) effectively all the talent needed to be removed from the picture. Using the remote control weapon introduced earlier, causing the early demise of the wrestlers was no problem at all. While not an overly exciting mission it was fun just because it was a much slower paced mission than others. There was a lot less firing of guns (really none) and a lot more pure driving, albeit limited. It was a basic mission that just inched the story forward. The game could have benefited a lot from more missions like this that play an important role in the narrative and cutting down on the rushed story telling.

And now for something completely different: This vehicle is nowhere near as fun as it should be.

Up next STAG was back in the picture causing the Saints to panic. Some plane was coming in that needed to be taken out. Naturally this was best handled by leaping from one plane to another at thousands of feet in the air. While cinematic and laughable … I was about to make a point about believability. What a foolish thought while writing about this game. Anyway the mission was fine until a section where you board a tank and fall from the sky while firing at enemies all around. I was not clear if I needed to lead with my shots but nothing seemed to work. I tried leading and not leading my shots... I kind of just gave up and let the mission progress without me taking out the enemies firing at me. The tank was on fire and I figured I was going to fail just as the transition out of the tank took place. I ended up in another tank and crashed into the ground. Green gas filled the area as canisters from the plane smashed into the ground around my tank. This caused the populace of a neighborhood to literally become zombies. While normally I think zombies in games are fine and they are nothing to be excited about... in Saints Row it was awesome. The zombies are vicious and a welcome change of pace from pure gun firing enemies (the oafs being the exception previously). The zombies even remained outside of the missions in this playthrough session.

I wish my glasses would stay on my face after leaping from a plane.

Using a falling tank to take out infantry: not exactly my cup of tea.

I needed a vehicle to take me to visit the mayor for my next mission. I went to the list of vehicles that my gang could deliver and figured I should try out something called the ASP. Little did I realize was the ASP was... an Atari like tank with blocks for shells... effective but a bit on the slow side.

Block you too!

Just what the game needed: Zombies.

Zombie cleanup! After meeting the mayor, Burt Reynolds, the zombie cleanup was a priority due to his promise to support the Saints. The zombie mission was a great aside that played just as well as other zombie games. Things were hectic and just a bit out of control. The best part was the fact that I had some Saints tag along and somehow one was able to get a car into the zombie neighborhood. This was an impressive feat because all of the bridges had been raised to not allow the zombies to leave (and no cars were intended to get into the area). Tearing around in a vehicle was a lot less difficult and a lot more fun (and humorous... drive-bys on zombies made me snicker).

Cars vs. Zombies (new video game title)

Like Left 4 Dead, the supply of zombies is unlimited.

Cyrus was surrounded but not defeated... too bad he avoided becoming a zombie leader of some crazy zombie STAG.

Before the big Murderbrawl 31 event there was one more task at hand. Wrestler/Saint needed some mask back to make an appearance at Murderbrawl so we had to trash a casino and go into an already open vault (open because...??). This mission was just a sequence of fights and did not inspire a lot honestly... unlike Murderbrawl itself.

"Tell me where the next mission is so I can be done with this one!!"

Murderbrawl is definitely a mission worth experiencing. Like the end to the Deckers' storyline this one was big deal. Instead of a large over the top mission with lots of locations and activities you play out a ridiculous wrestling match against Killbane. The scripted events were well done and the mission was enjoyable. My only complaint would be that Murderbrawl should have an audience of thousands not hundreds as shown in the background of the match.

My character definitely does not inspire a lot of fear...

The little guy is voiced by Hulk Hogan and gets stomped out of the match by jobbers.

The match plays out as a reasonably simple/fun sequence (the quick time events are very acceptable in this form).

Victory! (what match ends with a headlock??)