Saints Row: The Third had several potential contenders for the game’s final villain, and it unfortunately chose the wrong one. The decision to have Killbane as the last gang leader standing ended up handing the biggest role among them to the weakest character. Even though Saints Row: The Third isn’t an especially serious game, having such an underwhelming final villain is disappointing.
In Saints Row: The Third, the Saints are transplanted from their old home of Stilwater to the city of Steelport. Steelport is controlled by three gangs, the shady and sinister Morning Star, the tech-loving hackers of the Deckers, and the muscle-bound Luchadores. There is also STAG, a paramilitary group of soldiers that come into town to fight gangsters with military hardware and brutal tactics similar to the Marshall group shown off in the Saints Row reboot’s overview trailer. Over the course of the game, the roster of villains slims down until only the Luchadores and STAG are left standing at the end, with the player choosing which faction’s leader to confront head-on.
While STAG serves its villainous role rather effectively, Killbane drops the ball as the last gang leader standing. Compared to the previous leaders, and even the final bosses of other games in the series, he fails to measure up in any interesting way. Killbane and the Luchadores’ weaknesses have a negative impact on the tail end of the game.
The Luchadores Are Saints Row: The Third’s Least Interesting Gang
One would expect the Luchadores to be very entertaining. After all, pro wrestling and lucha libre involve a lot of showmanship as well as athleticism. There was a lot of potential for the Luchadores to be one of the flashiest, most fun gangs in the series, especially considering Saints Row‘s absurd sense of humor. Unfortunately, they ended up wasting all of that potential and became quite dull instead.
Morning Star and the Deckers have both male and female combatants with distinct outfits, giving them each their own flavor. Morning Star has suit-clad hitmen and women with long jackets, and helicopter-riding snipers as their specialists. Meanwhile, the Deckers have their bright blue jackets and hoodies in conjunction with their dark makeup, as well as rollerblading goth girls who can practically teleport while wielding electric hammers for specialists. In comparison, all the luchadores are muscular masked men, with their specialists being slightly bigger guys with grenade machine guns. Not only do they have the least variety of gang members in the game, but their specialist is easily the least fun to fight against, their explosives doing more to draw out the fight than anything. It’s surprising how with Saints Row known for impressive amounts of customization, the series could create such bland villains.
Between almost every one of their soldiers looking the same as well as a bland specialist with no real gimmick, the Luchadores are the most boring gang to fight against in Saints Row: The Third. It doesn’t help that all of their vehicles are slow, bulky, and not enjoyable to drive. Yet despite being the least entertaining gang, they’re the only one that sticks around until the end.
Killbane Is Saints Row 3’s Blandest Leader
The gangs of Saints Row: The Third all have their own leaders, with each one having their own shtick. However, out of this group, Killbane brings the least to the game, which makes his position as the final opponent rather baffling. Any of the other bosses would have made more fitting final antagonists, and the release of Saints Row: The Third Remastered lets players see that for themselves.
Phillipe Loren and the DeWynter sisters of Morning Star have a slick James Bond villain aesthetic to them, and Phillipe even seems to be built up as the main villain early on, with his gang seemingly killing Johnny. While Matt Miller of the Deckers is far from intimidating, his geekiness and impressive hacking skills make him the most entertaining. In comparison, Killbane just comes off as a brute with a huge ego. Although he’s smart enough to run the Syndicate after killing Loren, he never feels like anything special. It doesn’t help that the Saints Homie he has a feud with, Angel, is one of the game’s most boring despite being voiced by Hulk Hogan, who brought none of his trademark charisma to the role. In contrast, Loren is associated with Oleg and Zimos, while Matt feuds with fan-favorite hacker Kinzie.
Saints Row escaped GTA‘s shadow due to its sense of personality, and Killbane’s blandness fails to add to that. Loren had the best buildup in the early game, and Matt was the most interesting, but both of their roles were cut short. Instead, Killbane makes it to the end, setting up an anticlimactic final feud with the Boss.
Killbane Has No Satisfying Downfall In Saints Row: The Third
The most important part of any villain’s story is their downfall. After a game’s worth of story and build-up, finally defeating the villain at the end should be the most satisfying part of the game. However, despite the game having two endings, Killbane does not provide that sort of satisfaction in either of them.
Before the final mission, Shaundi and Viola will be kidnapped, forcing the player to make a choice between going back to save them, or confronting Killbane before he escapes the city. It’s an unexpected dramatic twist in the chaotic world of Saints Row. Fighting Killbane does let the Boss finally kill him, but if they do so, Shaundi and Viola will die with no chance to save them, leading to the bad ending. However, saving Shaundi and Viola will grant the player the good ending, which unfortunately lets Killbane get away. Earlier in the game, the Boss destroyed Morning Star’s entire organization without breaking a sweat, and later fought Matt Miller in cyberspace in one of the series’ coolest missions. One would think that these great downfalls would lead to the biggest one of all in the end, but there is no way to get a fully satisfying ending from Killbane.
Since getting the good ending required the player to let Killbane escape, that puts a damper on the storyline. Although the player still gets to take down STAG, Killbane getting no final comeuppance makes it a little less satisfying. Saints Row‘s reboot has no returning characters, and that is a good thing in Killbane’s case. He disappointed once, and doesn’t need to make a return.
Killbane is Saints Row: The Third‘s worst antagonist, and a good candidate for the series’ worst. His weaknesses are only exacerbated by his place next to the other gangs and leaders, who held much more promise than him. Killbane and the Luchadores were the biggest disappointment in Saints Row: The Third, and the series would be wise to avoid such bland villains in the future.
