Saints Row 2

"I got gangstas in the crowd, bad bitches at my show Yeah, it's parked outside, and it's sittin' on fo's And I luv it, yeah, and I luv it."

- Young Jeezy



The second in the Saints Row series.

It turns out that "Playa" survived the blast that ended the first game, but has spent five years in a coma - the game begins just as he (or she -- you can now play a female character) wakes up. Upon busting out of prison and rescuing homie Johnny Gat from the electric chair, he/she discovers that four forces have risen to fill the void in power left by the Saints' disappearance:


 * The Brotherhood, a gang consisting of white trash rockers and punks who favor tattoos, heavy metal and big trucks. (Red)
 * The Ronin, a Yakuza faction led by the petty son of one of the Japanese leaders. Favors motorcycles and import tuners. (Yellow)
 * The Sons of Samedi, college kids and drug addicts led by Haitian Voodoo witch doctors and ex-military men. (Green)
 * Ultor Corp, a powerful corporation that has taken over and completely renovated the Saints' old 'hood, in a project spearheaded by Dane Vogel... who has plans for the rest of the city. (orange)

Alive, pissed, gaining the ability to speak (and does s\he ever) and with a thirst for vengeance against those behind the explosive attempt on his/her life, "Playa" becomes "Boss" as he/she rebuilds the Saints from the ground up and embarks on a mission to destroy the other gangs, and eventually become the kingpin of the city.

"Jane Valderrama: Would this be a bad time to tell you I love you? White gangsta girl: Do you guys do the group thing?"
 * The Alcatraz: Stilwater Penitentiary
 * Always Over the Shoulder: In aiming mode.
 * Ambiguously Gay: Playing as a male leads to some rather odd moments with Pierce where he jockeys with Shaundi for the Boss' attention. And there's also his love of classical music and his reaction to seeing a female stripper: "Damn, those are some nice shoes!"
 * Right before a bar is raided by an Ultor SWAT team, the female main character can be seen welcoming a female bartender's flirts... until SWAT breaches and Boss flings the bartender toward the bullets to shield herself, then blows her corpse up with gas to kill the members.
 * In addition to that moment, there's the cutscene mentioned above with the stripper, in which she (the Boss) is laid back, taking in the show with as much satisfaction as a dude would. And the various comments early on in favor of a stripper pole in the Saints HQ. And for at least one of the voices, she has definite chemistry with Shaundi. She's definitely bi, if not an outright lesbian.
 * Not to mention the way Boss ogles Shaundi when she's running on the treadmill, Jiggle Physics included.
 * It seems that people in the game see it too; a Saint as I recall inquiring about the female player getting it on with Shaundi.
 * Playing a female Boss, homies made these comments:

"Boss: (with regards to using the abandoned hotel as the Saints' new base) I don't know, man. Johnny: Oh, come on. A stripper pole, some flat screens, maybe some nicer furniture... Boss: You had me at "stripper pole." Johnny: Fuckin' a."
 * And Jane more frequently (and affectionately) says, "What would I ever do without you?"
 * Anticlimax Boss:  The rest of the mission is fairly challenging, but   himself? Easy as pie.
 * Artistic License Physics: You can literally jumpstart motorcycles. Start a wheelie then hold the accelerator, handbrake and keep pulling your weight back (you may also want to hold the view back button to avoid the camera pointing into the sky). Now the bike is doing a standing wheelie, while spinning the rear wheel. Let go of the handbrake and the bike will literally jump forwards.
 * Big Bad/Blond Guys Are Evil: Stilwater's resident Corrupt Corporate Executive (well, one of them, anyway), Dane Vogel. Eventually.
 * Big Eater: Habitual stoner Shaundi insists on stopping for fast food on each level of her Heli-Assault Escort Mission. While being relentlessly pursued by swarms of Ronin with full intent of blowing her up.
 * Black Comedy/Dead Baby Comedy: The various radio ads for Ultor products and services don't so much straddle the line between the two as hop gleefully back and forth over the line while chanting "Bet you can't guess which one!" in a disturbingly cheery, singsong voice.
 * Brick Joke: After the completion of Down Payment (mission number three in the prologue), we get this exchange in the ending cutscene.

"Carlos: You guys actually hang out down here? Shaundi: I dunno; add a flat screen, some throw pillows, and a hookah and this place would be alright. Pierce: You definitely need a stripper pole in this bitch."
 * At the ending cutscene of the next mission; this bit of dialogue comes.

"Boss: (points a Vice 9 at temple) Any last words?  Go to hell. Boss: (pulls the trigger) Sorry; didn't catch that."
 * The brick joke goes even further; as you progress through the game, the hotel undergoes renovations as it becomes more of a proper hideout. When it's fully refurbished, the Saints' HQ gets three stripper poles.
 * Bond One-Liner: At the end of the Brotherhood storyline, this exchange.

"Boss: Aww shit, aww shit! ...(percussion imitation)... guitars, guitars an' shit, OHHH SHIT!"
 * Book Dumb: The Boss is fairly ignorant. He/she acts puzzled when Tara explains that she is a micro-biologist to which Tara replies "read a book".
 * Bottomless Magazines: Certain activities, once fully completed, reward you with infinite ammo for a specific weapon type, so long as it's bought from Friendly Fire or taken from your cache. And while the magazines themselves aren't bottomless in the above situation, actual bottomless magazines are available through cheats. In addition, some weapons hold more rounds at once than their real-world counterparts can (shotguns in particular, with the double-barreled Tombstone holding 6 shells and the pimp cane holding 16).
 * Buffy-Speak: Fittingly provided by Eliza Dushku as Shaundi - "Maero's got enough guns to take over something that needs a lot of guns to take over"
 * Bulletproof Human Shield: Taking a Banger for cover causes the other members to open fire and kill their friend while you take them apart.
 * Buried Alive:  gets buried alive by Gat and the Player Character after interrupting.
 * But Thou Must!: The obligatory sword-fighting sequences in the Ronin story thread. The second one can be avoided by setting yourself on firing and running into the opponent.
 * Butt Monkey: Pierce. Between competing for Boss' approval with Shaundi and fighting over what to listen to on the radio, he just can't seem to catch a break. Though being the Butt Monkey means that he can stick around.
 * Call Back: In the final confrontation with the Ronin's leader,, the Boss quips: "Can we hurry this up? I wanna hit TGI!"
 * Both of the Drug Trafficking activities reference events in the first game:
 * The instance in the Hotels and Marina district has the mission's contractor as Luz Avalos, who will make passing references to the time she spent with Los Carnales.
 * The instance in the Airport District has the player escort Tobias' cousin as he makes deals, who regularly mentions the Boss doing the same thing with Tobias himself in Saints Row.
 * The final cutscene at the end of the prologue references the first game, with the leader of the Saints telling various lieutenants to watch certain gangs and one of them complaining about which gang s/he was given. The Boss even says the same phrase Julius used in response.
 * Canon Welding: Ultor later goes on to oppress miners on Mars. In one of the DLC packs, a character is asked where Ultor is planning on mining, anyway, while you're pursued by Ultor's turreted vehicle prototypes, and the character states "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."
 * Capoeira: The Sons of Samedi fighting style resembles this.
 * Cluster S Bomb: How Male Voice 2 demonstrates his love of "Sister Christian".

"Male 1 voice sings to "The Final Countdown" Male 2 voice sings to "Sister Christian" Male 3 voice sings to both "Working for the Weekend" and "Don't you Forget About Me" Female 1 voice sings to "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" Female 2 voice sings to "The Reflex" Female 3 voice sings to "Down Under" All of them sing to "Take On Me""
 * The Dev Team Thinks of Everything:

"Break up the battle of the century. Dispatch: Pirates are fighting ninjas. I repeat, pirates are fighting ninjas."
 * Compensating for Something: The Brotherhood, fans of excessive tattoos and big trucks, have a truck called "The Compensator".
 * The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard: Multiple, multiple examples. Apparently rival gangs have a GPS tracker on you at all times, because with your notoriety through the roof, they'll all be on you at once, even if you're driving one of their vehicles. Similarly, the computer loves creaming you with a swerving civilian in the middle of a firefight, having random civilians actively pursue and slam onto your vehicle in chases, obliterating you with one shot with a rocket out of nowhere from an attack helicopter, and so on. Most likely the most egregious example, though, is the aforementioned Escort activity, where you discover that a lightning-quick sports car is no match for... a news van from the 1980's, which will ride your bumper at 100 mph.
 * The cars exhibit rubberbanding capabilities that would be more at home in Mario Kart. Enemy gangs will find the way to ram your car from behind, even if you are driving an exact clone of the car they are driving on a highway at top speed.
 * Continuity Nod: Many characters are reused in the sequel; sometimes without any re-introduction, so they could only be recognized by players of the first game. And because of the PC's expanded customization options (including another gender) and voiced character in the second game, as a Running Gag characters remark on how different the player looks and acts before continuing to treat them as a familiar homie or acquaintance.
 * And when factoring in the Canon Welding, one of the radio ads is for a show called "Red Planet, Red Passion". Second half sound vaguely familiar? The two names you hear most are Parker and Eos, as to remove all doubt. (Could be more of a Shout-Out or Mythology Gag due to how it twists the story of the original Red Faction from a miner's rebellion into a sappy love story/soap opera thing.)
 * Cool Versus Awesome: Later levels of the Fuzz activity have you breaking up random fights between pirates and ninjas.

"Jessica: Do me a favor. When you're, just remember, Maero gave you a chance to be his partner."
 * Cycle of Revenge: The Brotherhood arc is a doozy here.
 * Darker and Edgier: The plot of the original game has the player very much as "just another gangster" although trusted with more difficult tasks, working with the leader Julius to make the Saints the sole gang in the city, somehow making things safer. However, the sequel makes the hero the leader of the bunch and his/her actions disturbed some players.
 * Once again, the tat part of the tit-for-tat violence may possibly be excused on the ground of it being fucking awesome revenge.
 * Also, Trying to convince the player to stop the madness and killing,   Benjamin King was right in saying the gangs never leave you...
 * Darkest Hour: Assuming you play all of the gang plotlines concurrently, Mission Four involves
 * Death by Disfigurement:.
 * Disproportionate Retribution: Averted during the 'Fuzz' activity, which requires you to shoot, beat, chainsaw, and/or burn to death various "criminals", some of whom are just peacefully protesting or skateboarding around town. The reason for the aversion is that A) you're not a cop and thus not worrying about dispensing actual justice and B) the camera crew following you around knows this. They're the ones to hand the player chainsaws and flamethrowers to take to hippies because they know it'll get them the best ratings.
 * The whole Brotherhood plotline begins with this. Maero tries to push a blatantly one-sided deal for the control of Stillwater to the Boss. His response?.
 * Does Not Like Shoes: Some pedestrians, most notably the ones dressed like hippies. The hippie clerks at On the Rag also count. Most pedestrians in the Marina district are barefoot but in swimsuits (don't know if that counts). As always, it's up to you whether or not this applies to the Boss as well.
 * Downer Beginning: From the very beginning of the game to the start of the story proper when you strike back against the new gangs, the only real high note is that The Boss turns out not to have died at the end of the first game.
 * Easy Sex Change: You can visit a plastic surgeon at any time and completely change your character's appearance, including gender. And voice, somehow.
 * Even Evil Has Standards: The one time the idea of racism really comes up, everybody in the room except the person making a racist joke is offended. Which includes two gang bosses, a lieutenant, and a gang boss' closest friend. Apparently, "Saint's Row" takes place in a universe where racial tensions have nothing to do with gang wars.
 * Evil Brit: One of the possible voice options is a rough English accent. You may recognize it as Mr. Sheffield from The Nanny.
 * It's particularly hilarious for anyone who's seen that show before because the Boss does some very, very, very bad things in this game (things Max Sheffield wouldn't even want to hear about), so the "Evil" bit qualifies.
 * Evil Versus Evil: The Boss is, after all, building a criminal empire, and his/her main obstacle is other criminals.
 * The second DLC, Corporate Warfare, centers around a conflict that pits current Ultor chairman Eric Gryphon against Dexter "Dex" Jackson, your former homie who moved from the Saints to a position as head of security at Ultor.
 * Fantastic Drug: The Sons of Samedi deal Loa Dust. It's made up primarily of high-grade marijuana, but treated with various other chemicals. They never say exactly what the effects are, though it seems to be very popular. During the Mushroom Samba mission all it does is warp the visuals - similar to what happens to the player when attacked with pepper spray or a flash-bang.
 * Five-Token Band: The Saints leaders in the second game. Shaundi, the white woman; Johnny Gat the Asian, Carlos the Hispanic, Pierce the (possibly gay) African American, and the Boss who can be any race or gender or anything in between. You may be a nutty psychopathic crimelord, but you're a non-discriminatory employer.
 * Fragile Speedster: The Ronin are partial to fast cars and faster motorcycles...neither of which hold many soldiers and both of which are unusually prone to exploding, even by this game's standards.
 * Funny Background Event : During a brotherhood mission, prisoners are seen being loaded onto a prison bus during a news report. One of them stops to mug for the camera...and gets a rifle but to the gut. Then he does it again...and gets it in the nuts the second time.
 * Game Mod: Gentlemen of the Row, an overhaul for the PC port of the game.
 * Gotta Catch Them All: Boss speaks in the second game. All the time. S\he even has six different voices to use, which say different funny things during missions, as well as when they get drunk. So play the game once as a Dark Action Girl, then as a Spicy Latina, then a Sassy Black Woman, then an Evil Brit, Badass Spaniard and Scary Black Man.
 * In a more prosaic example, you can find yourself distracted for hours hunting down and killing all the Hitman targets, or chasing after all the cars on Chop Shop lists. The game really twists the knife as you get bonuses with the first, third and fifth lists you finish, all of which are either incredibly useful or ridiculous. Finish all the Hitman missions and you'll have hand grenades, satchel charges and unlimited rifle ammo.
 * Gray Rain of Depression: It's raining when
 * Guide Dang It: There's a Hitman target who you're supposed to find at "the highway exchange in the Factories district" and lure out by drinking beer. Note that said district is pretty wide and covers a good stretch of highway, including a particular Spaghetti Junction-esque part near the middle of the map, so that's the first place you'd think to look...except it's the wrong area. Instead, you're supposed to head to the stretch of highway more toward the east to meet and kill him.
 * Guns Akimbo: The game allows you to carry dual submachineguns and dual pistols.
 * Hazmat Suit: Doubles as a fire-proof suit, too!
 * Hollywood Tone Deaf: During one mission, Pierce changes the radio station in the car to Neyo's So Sick and sings along, much to Boss's chagrin. Worse still, if you want to change it back, prepare for a war over the radio...
 * Similarly, every voice available for the player character has a different song that, when it comes up on the radio, they "sing" along with it.
 * And, as mentioned further down, they all sing along to Take On Me by A-ha.
 * Hot Coffee Minigame: Throughout Stilwater, you can find areas that let you unwind through a minigame using the control sticks. It's offscreen, but it's certainly audible, and the accompanying prompts for supposed sexual maneuvers are comic gold.
 * And, like many other diversions in the game, fully completing it unlocks a free Saints-colored pimp outfit.
 * Hot Pursuit: FUZZ.
 * Ho Yay: The General and Mr. Sunshine. There is also The Boss and any of the lieutenants, depending on their gender.
 * Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Maero dwarfs his girlfriend Jessica (and everyone else for that matter).
 * Idiosyncratic Difficulty Levels: The lowest difficulty level in is "Casual".
 * Incendiary Exponent: Trail Blazing. A check point race performed while on fire.
 * Incredibly Lame Pun: Halfway through the game, the radio station Ezzzy FM is bought out by Ultor and renamed The World. This is announced on the station itself with Dane Vogel stating "Ultor is proud to own The World!"
 * Ink Suit Actor: Dane Vogel looks almost exactly like Jay Mohr with a ton of hair gel. Shaundi also somewhat resembles Eliza Dushku with dreadlocks.
 * Intrepid Reporter: Jane Valderama plays one with pithy comments such as, "Unfortunately for the Brotherhood not only justice is blind, but she's also a cruel spiteful whore." She's also perfectly willing to finance chaos so she can cover it on the news, and occasionally goes 'embedded' with the Saints to cause some mayhem herself.
 * Ironic Echo: At the end of the starting cutscene in Red Asphalt (Brotherhood mission number four), Jessica ends a phone call with the Boss by means of this tidbit:

"Maero: What's this? Boss: Do me a favor. When you, just remember you should've offered me something better than 20 percent."
 * At the very end of the next mission, after Maero crushes a car with, the Boss hands Maero the car keys, leading to these lines:

"The earlier levels of this activity don't produce "crazy" fans, with them just harassing (and on occasions throwing the odd punch or hitting the celebrity with a melee weapon; e.g. bat). Levels 4-6, as you'd expect, provide more aggressive fans. Levels 5 and 6 produce fans with armed weaponry, including pistols and assault rifles."
 * Karmic Death: Considering all the crap the people behind the rival gangs, Ultor, and others pulled, it only seems natural that they get what's coming to them.
 * Weapon of Choice: Members of the Ronin also carry katana with them. Jyunichi even has two.
 * Kill the Poor: ultimate plan for Stilwater: Get rid of the gangs, and then get rid of all the other "undesirables". Too bad the Saints gets rid of the gangs first...
 * Loony Fan: The Crowd Control activity has you protecting a celebrity from these. From the Saints Row wiki:

""Purple... who the fuck came up with that shit?""
 * Luck-Based Mission: Trail Blazing. It's not about how much you can hit, it's about how much you have available to hit. Not to mention that the explosive barrels you can use to take out large groups often have a completely barren blast radius.
 * A lot of diversions can end up like this, most notably Insurance Fraud, which requires a large number of vehicles to successfully complete. For some strange reason, otherwise-bustling streets suddenly become near-completely abandoned, and when a vehicle does show up, they like to hit you before you can hit the fire button and get money from it.
 * For Insurance Fraud, it's always best to head for the closest freeway/highway, as there's always a ton of vehicles there.
 * Trail Blazing is also incredibly easy when played in co-op, where the second player can freely throw molotovs wherever he pleases, meaning you're performing badly if you end the run with less time than you started with.
 * A better example is any of the missions with an AI driver partner. Enemy spawns are random, your partner's pathing is scripted. Often times enemies come from angles that cannot be targeted, are extra aggressive, or armed with random weapons that cannot be anticipated for. Good luck completing a mission if you take an RPG from nowhere, or your partner gets stuck, or you get rammed from head-on.
 * Limited Wardrobe: Poked fun at. Wear the same clothes long enough, and people on the streets will take notice, probably via the clothes' stench from being worn so long.
 * Machete Mayhem: The Sons of Samedi's favorite melee weapon.
 * The Man Behind the Man:
 * Jessica qualifies for Maero, as the game implies she's at the very least in charge of the cash and sometimes tactics.
 * Mushroom Samba: During the "Bad Trip" mission in the Sons of Samedi storyline, the Boss receives a blow to the head from a baseball bat and a Loa Dust hotboxing inside the General's limo. The rest of the mission has warped visuals and wonky steering.
 * The Musical: This video. Also, any time your character listens to certain songs over a long period of time on the radio, you also get this Trope.
 * Mercy Kill: After you  the Brotherhood retaliates by
 * Even worse
 * Mythology Gag: During the news report on Gat's trial a ticker reports that Michael Clark Duncan will play former gang leader Benjamin King. Duncan played the leader of the Vice Kings in the first game.
 * No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: delivers the mother of all these to  after he, even managing to 
 * And, for good measure, following each round with an icy "Get up."
 * Not So Harmless: Maero, at the beginning, sees the Boss as a "washed-up gangbanger" and for this reason offers him/her only 20% of his shipment and by extension, 20% of Stilwater. And after the Boss angrily turns him down, he barely does anything in response, still seeing him/her and the Saints as a nuisance.
 * Non Sequitur: Getting your character drunk generally results in them spouting off one or two.
 * Also, shortly after the starting cutscene in Bad Trip (the sixth mission in the Sons of Samedi storyline), Shaundi contacts the Boss asking him/her what they did to cause the Samedi to attack the Saints' hideout and afterwards, if he/she is high. Both of her questions are met with a non sequitur.
 * Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: The Male English voice tends to switch between British and American pronunciations at random. Which is odd, considering the voice actor actually is British.
 * Could just be he's spent too much time in an American city.
 * Outside Context Villain: You, as the leader of the Saints, are essentially a Batman-style supervillain running on comic-book style physics operating in a world without superheroes restricted to rather mundane means of attempting to deal with you.
 * Panty Shot: Inevitable if your character enjoys short skirts, motorcycles, and reckless driving..... unless you choose not to wear panties, of course
 * Pet the Dog: Despite being a Heroic Sociopath for most of the game, several scenes reveal that the Boss has a softer side. Most notably, . And in the first mission of the "Ultor Exposed" DLC, the Boss is horrified by.
 * Police Brutality: The activity Fuzz is all about this, as you star in a Cops parody and use... well, excessive force to bring in high ratings.
 * Cameraman: "Flamethrowers are standard issue...right?"
 * Goes Up to Eleven when the camera man issues you a chainsaw.
 * Politically-Incorrect Villain: Jessica, who within two lines has told Carlos he looks like her housecleaner.
 * Porting Disaster: The PC version has significant performance issues even on the lowest graphical settings - where matte paint removes lightning completely from car models, causing them to look like a flat colored shape on the screen.
 * The Pratfall: There is a special "Pratfall Cheat Code" that allows you to perform pratfalls and faceplants for your own amusement.
 * Product Placement: Stuff downloads off of your Xbox Live account onto your game's billboards automatically. And it's still going on. As of 2010, you can see advertisements for Ugly Americans.
 * Purple Is Powerful: Male voice 2 (while drunk): "Yeah, my gang wears purple. You wanna say something 'bout that?"
 * Which is ironic, considering what he says while sober.

"Boss: For fuck's sake, just die already!"
 * Rasputinian Death: Mr Sunshine, from the Sons of Samedi arc is.

"Hey, you look different. Did you- Boss: *pulls out a pistol* I didn't do shit to my hair!"
 * Real Estate Scam: Septic Avenger, spraying sewage on building to lower property values.
 * In the manual, at least. Talking to some of the ones who want it are spraying sewage for different reasons (like, for example, to spite the new mayor).
 * Retcon: Word of God states that if you choose to start the second game as a woman then Playa has always been female.
 * Retirony: Cops nearby will sometimes mention that the cop that you just killed was "about to retire"
 * Roaring Rampage of Revenge: The entire Brotherhood storyline. It starts with the Boss getting revenge for being completely shafted in a potential deal with the Brotherhood and insulted. Then revenge for them
 * Also the Ronin storyline after
 * Running Gag: Various folk (such as Gat, Aisha, etc. etc.) commenting on the Boss' appearance by asking whether or not they've done something with their hair.
 * This becomes funnier after noticing the default Boss represented in the splash screens is bald.
 * Lampshaded in a later mission where you meet up with at the Saints old hideout.

"Boss: Hey Shaundi, you ever date somebody who works at a place called Shaundi: [Thinks] No. Pierce: For real?"
 * And Pierce's Butt Monkey moments and his ideas thwarted. Also Shaundi really getting around... and it helps.

""I wish Pierce would quit bitchin' about Shaundi and just fuck 'er already.""
 * Sarcastic Clapping: The Boss does this to Maero after  S/he even steps out of the shadows while doing it.
 * Score Multiplier: Several activities, such as Mayhem and Insurance Fraud, require you to gain these in order to succeed.
 * Screw This, I'm Outta Here: When the boss and Maero come crashing through the roof, into the room where Donnie and Matt are hiding, Donnie, who had been that campaign's Butt Monkey, decides hes had enough and makes a quick exit stage right. He doesn't appear again. Contrast to Matt, who stayed and
 * Shout-Out: The prison doctor you kill right at the beginning may say "I'll figure out the secret to Dr. Stiles' healing touch if it kills me!" To which a nurse will reply, "It's the procedure that kills you."
 * Not sure whether this is a coincidence or a shout-out: Dane Vogel happens to be the name of a character on VA Michael Rapport's former FOX sitcom The War At Home.
 * The cashier at Apollo's signs off with "Have a nice day, so say we all." Made even funnier because Apollo's is a Fictional Counterpart to Starbucks.
 * Shut UP, Hannibal: In the final mission  It didn't go well.
 * Soundtrack Dissonance / Suspiciously Apropos Music: The Klassic 102.4 channel can be like this. Sometimes it's weird running down gangbangers while a light piano piece plays, and sometimes you get to chase down vans in an attack helicopter while "Flight of the Valkyries" plays in the background.
 * Stealth Hi Bye: Several Masako members pull one on Maero when he bursts into Vogel's office the second or third time, he doesn't notice until Vogel draws his attention to them.
 * Stop Helping Me!: For the most part, your recruitable AI buddies do a decent job at fighting alongside you... until they pick up an RPG. Then it's just a matter of time before they kill themselves (or you) with a rocket fired at somebody from point-blank range.
 * Take That: The cutscene for one of the Rampage activities involves reporter Jane Valderama asking you to go on a rampage so that she can cover it and get more viewers than Zack Johnson, a "nutjob lawyer who gets hard at the idea of a lawsuit" crusading against media he deems to be offensive. He doesn't have a lot of support, but apparently makes a big enough ass out of himself that whenever he pulls some stunt, people listen.
 * There was also the ad for the game where it compared GTAIV's mundane activities to the Jackass-style flaming ATV riding, sewage spraying, over the top activities you can do in Saints Row.
 * Russell, one of the target in Assassination side mission, is a guy in a fedora and a leather jacket, who "when not sniffing coke off of prostitutes, dabbles in archaeological studies."
 * In the first Ronin mission, Pierce wants to create an elaborate plan for a heist at their casino. The Boss and Gat decide it would be much more fun and quicker to just shoot up the place. Sound like a shot at another sandbox game that had a needlessly complex heist plan you can think of?
 * Tattooed Crook: Most noticeably the Brotherhood. The Boss uses this to disfigure Maero by dumping radioactive waste in his ink.
 * Boss too, if you want; in fact you have to get at least one tattoo to make one Assassination target show up.
 * Tempting Fate: Random drivers: "This car doesn't have a scratch on it, and it better stay that way!"
 * Sometimes averted, as they'll inform you the transmission was going out anyway.
 * Too Dumb to Live :  Having.
 * Tron Lines: The unlockable Kaneda motorcycle has them.
 * True Companions: How The Boss treats his gang members...most of the time.
 * Two-Faced: In the mission "Waste Not, Want Not", the protagonist puts radioactive waste in, which leaves a very large, very nasty scar on the left side of his face. Just try watching the scene immediately following WNWN and try not to cringe. " ...How'd you like "
 * UST: The Boss thinks that there's some of this between Pierce and Shaundi, at least with the British voice set.

""Knight to Rook 7, Muthafucker!""
 * Vapor Wear: Like the first game, you can customize your underwear. Unlike the first game, no underwear is an option (and depending on what else you wear, this may be obvious).
 * Wall of Weapons: The inside of The General's limo is a small example; his side of the car is filled with NR4 pistols and K6 Krukov rifles.
 * Weapon of Choice: Members of the Ronin also carry katana with them. Jyunichi even has two.
 * "Well Done, Son" Guy: Kazou Akuji really doesn't like his son Shogo,
 * What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?: A radio ad trying to make chess championships seem cool.

": Did you really think you could match my skill? Boss: No. [draws a pistol and shoots] I'm gonna cheat."
 * When Elders Attack: The elderly of Stilwater will occasionally attack you if you piss them off. Applies to some enemies, such as Kazuo Akuji, and The Boss as well if you made him/her old.
 * Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: The game answers this question with "actually, I just did" in the final mission against the Ronin.


 * Worth It: After completing a level in Escort, one of the clients will exit the car after saying "I don't have enough money to pay the rent, but it was worth it!"
 * Wrestler in All of Us: You're able to learn wrestling moves after destroying the Brotherhood. The main ones that stick out are the Death Valley Driver and Side Slam during the course of the Brotherhood missions.
 * You Bastard: The secret mission "Revelation", in which