Saints Row 2

Saints Row 2 launched in October 2008 simultaneously for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, continuing from the first game as an open world full of gangster anarchy, dark humor, and nearly unlimited freedom in how the player enjoys the game - from the main story through dozens of side activities to extensive character customization, letting players design literally any look for their gangster. Compared to the rival GTA series, the game pushed absurdity even further and offered a full two-player co-op mode running through the entire main campaign.

The PS3 version launched the same day as the Xbox 360 release, but technically fell behind - reviewers and players complained about a lower frame rate, longer loading times, and noticeably worse optimization compared to Microsoft's console, especially in more densely populated parts of the city of Stilwater. Content-wise, both versions were identical; the difference was purely in engine performance on different hardware, which was fairly common for multiplatform titles of this generation and affected quite a few other games of the time as well.

Still, the PS3 release found its audience and, alongside the Xbox 360 version, helped the Saints Row series establish itself as a freewheeling, self-aware alternative to more seriously toned open-world games of the era, which the even more over-the-top third and fourth entries later built on.

The performance gap between the two consoles at the time sparked wider discussion about how difficult it was for smaller studios like Volition to efficiently optimize large open worlds on the PlayStation 3's architecture, which was generally considered harder for developers to work with compared to the Xbox 360.

Reviewers at the time consistently recommended that players who owned both consoles pick the Xbox 360 version instead, where the game ran more smoothly and without such pronounced frame rate drops while driving through Stilwater's busier districts, even though the game's actual content remained completely identical on both platforms.

Why play it: The same open-world chaos content-wise as on Xbox 360, but with more noticeable frame rate drops in Stilwater's busier districts - if you have the choice, go for the smoother Xbox 360 version instead.