The Saints Row franchise has always sort of been Grand Theft Auto’s immature little brother. The lower production values, hokey set pieces and overall THQ-ness never really did much for anybody who wasn’t high on PCP. Not that Saints Row 2 was a bad game; it’s just never quite stepped out of the shadows and developed itself as anything more than a GTA clone. But, things may be about to change… or not.

From the looks of the latest developer walkthrough of Saints Row: The Third, it seems that Volition has come to party. And even though she’s not the prettiest girl at the prom, she is the most likely to hold a gun to your head and force you to break in to a nursery to eat babies. Good times.

You can see from this video that Saints Row is very comfortable with its role in the world—and is as unapologetic about it as ever. The over-the-top weaponry (Dildo Bats, Apoco-fists, Man-o-pults, oh my!) and disturbing antics is obviously the sort of thing Volition thinks games like GTA are lacking—and I sort of agree. After all, sandboxes were meant to be played in, right?

Saints Row: The Third hits shelves November 15^th.

I had big plans for today.  I was going to create a really great post about the top-ten games to play while celebrating 4/20.  It was going to be epic!  I had big plans for today—and had every intention of doing this—but then I got… well, you know.

Anyway, as to not leave you totally disappointed, I thought I would at-least share with you my top- FIVE games to be enjoyed on this joyous day.  So, sit back. Relax.  And enjoy 420.

 5.  Brutal Legend – I’m pretty certain that the man behind the game, Tim Schafer, assumes that you're high.  You’d have to be to buy it—because it pretty much sucks otherwise. But, Jack Black is funny and the semi-open world style suits stoners just fine.  And although the visuals feel dated, the rock ‘n’ roll art style and music will keep you playing.

 4.  Halo – It doesn’t really matter which one, it only matters that it’s Halo.  The easy to pick-up-and-play shooter fares well for kiddies puffing the magic dragon after school and the millions of “big kids” who still live in their parents’ “finished” garage that puff all day.  I mean, how many of you don’t have some form of “420” in your Gamertag?

 3. Burnout – ‘Nuf said.

  2.  Guitar Hero – Whichever of the half-dozen iterations you choose is up to you, the idea is the same.  Jam to your favorite songs.  Hold fake, plastic instrument.  Follow along while colors flow down the screen—you can almost taste them!  It’s like Blink 182 without the “blink” (whatever that means).

 1.  Grand Theft Auto – The obvious and quintessential time-waster.  It doesn’t get any better.  What time is it, you say?  You mean I’ve been killing pedestrians and driving around aimlessly for 22-hours?  GTA’s open world and great radio stations act as digital Yoo-Hoo for your parched mouth.  Just remember, after you “use” a hooker, kill her and take your money back.  It’s just poor business otherwise.

 Stoner-able Mention: Saints Row – It’s like Volition really knows you.  You see, Saints Row is a lot like GTA but you can actually smoke marijuana in the game, which creates a strange, stoner paradox (just who’s controlling who?)*.

*Smoking Marijuana is illegal and you should never smoke it… near a cop.