The first Saints Row game was a pretty entertaining one – it didn't take itself too seriously, yet it attracted players who, at that time, were still waiting for Grand Theft Auto IV to appear. The second game in the franchise, which was recently launched, managed to achieve some very decent sales and, with positive reviews for its amusing gameplay, it has already inspired THQ, its publisher, to start working on a third title in the sandbox series.

We reported yesterday that Dan Sutton, associate producer of the game, revealed in a recent interview that the next game would take the series in a very different direction, as regards the storyline, and would act like a natural extension of the first two games. Now he points out a few of the major differences that the second game has brought to the open world sandbox franchise, among them being the addition of much more customization options and a major revamp of the combat system.

"We thought the first game lacked customization, and we like customization, so we wanted to add more on that front. Player customization; cribs, gangs, vehicles... in addition to the characters. I think this is the biggest thing. We feel that our player customization is now bigger than any game out there. On top of that combat has changed. We really liked the free-roaming city stuff, we were like, hey, we can add more of the Gears of War, Resident Evil-type over-the-shoulder action for more precise aiming. We wanted so many more weapons – chainsaws, rockets, swords. So many elements of other games... we wanted to create an all-in-one game. Those are some [of] the things we really wanted to change from Saints Row 1."

All these improvements seem to justify the fans' interest in the recently launched title and really seem to make the game a pretty interesting competitor for GTA IV. The development team really wanted to shed the GTA Clone label that many industry critics have placed on the game and it definitely looks like the series is creating a new identity for itself.

Until a firm release date is set for the next title in the franchise, all that's left for us to do is to play the first two games and enjoy the amusing gameplay and the innovative missions that the titles have brought us.