The Saints Row titles like to poke fun at video game conventions, but back in 2010 the series almost ruined it’s hipper-than-thou reputation with a Kinect-based fighting game.
The game in question, which was recently unearthed by Unseen 64, was called Saints Row: The Cooler, and was developed by Heavy Iron Studio (a company that mostly works on licensed Disney and Nickelodeon games). A former Heavy Iron emloyee describes the game thusly…
“It was a brawler game. Go to a bar, pick a fight, smash a bottle over someone’s head.”
Saints Row: The Cooler wasn’t an open world game. Instead, you wandered around closed environments and started fights. Once the fighting started, the game went into a first-person perspective and you would have to time your blocks, punches and kicks using the Kinect (or Playstation Camera). There were also other activities you could engage in…
“The Cooler was meant to be a Kinect-based fighting game in the Saint’s Row universe with lots of fighting matches in about 8 of the Saint’s Row locales, plus a few new locations we crafted, and a bar ecosystem where the player could order drinks, get lap dances, gamble, etc.”
Of course there were Kinect lap dances. Of course.
So what happened to the game? Well, THQ cancelled it when it was aroun 60% done due to quality concerns, which is probably something that should have happened to a lot more Kinect games. These two screenshots are the only evidence the game ever existed.
The game probably wasn’t great, but I have to admit, the idea of a Kinect game set in the sleazy world of Saints Row is intriguing — I can see the hyperbolic news reports about toddlers getting virtual lap dances now.
Via Unseen 64