[12] While engaging in melee-based combat, the player character will perform combos and charge up attacks,[25] and can execute a finishing move if three consecutive hits are dealt.

The game allows the player to utilise new weapon types, examples of which include satchel charges, laser-guided rocket launchers, chainsaws and more.

The Saint's Row district is a more notable change within the city, having been completely redesigned and serving as the location of Ultor's headquarters; a towering skyscraper referred to as the Phillips Building.

[26] The player gets a 10% discount at owned stores and buying an entire chain of departments will mean that the protagonist's face appears on in-game billboard advertisements.

There are numerous Diversions playable in the game, such as acts of indecent exposure, combat and driving stunts, car surfing and a survival horror minigame called Zombie Uprising.

[54] Four years after the explosion on Richard Hughes' yacht, the player character (Charles Shaughnessy, Kenn Michael, Alex Mendoza, Katie Semine, G. K. Bowes, or Rebecca Sanabria), who was the sole survivor, awakens from a coma within the infirmary of Stilwater's maximum security prison after undergoing extensive plastic surgery.

The pair then recruit new members, including Carlos and Gat's acquaintances, Pierce Washington (Arif S. Kinchen) and Shaundi (Eliza Dushku), as lieutenants, and set up a new headquarters in a hotel destroyed by an earthquake.

Since the General runs his gang from an armored limo that is constantly on the move, the Boss and Shaundi hack the city's police street camera system to track it.

Once Gat recovers, he and the Boss retaliate by burying Shogo alive after he ambushes them at Aisha's funeral, and ultimately killing Kazuo, ending the Ronin.

After fending off several attacks by Ultor's private security forces, the Saints retaliate by destroying one of the company's labs and killing its board of directors.

Taking advantage of this to assume full control of Ultor, Vogel decides to personally deal with the Saints, but is ambushed by the Boss at a press conference.

[29][30] The sequel was first announced by THQ's CEO Brian Farrell in a February 2007 conference call, alongside another six franchise continuations for the 2008 fiscal year.

[7] They overhauled the game engine to enhance the sequel's graphics,[5] and added contrast and higher-quality textures to make the city setting of Stilwater more realistic.

[5][26] A central design goal was to "create a world that exists independent of the player" that featured more realistic non-player characters (NPCs)[61] that would smoke cigarettes, use cellphones, drink coffee, open umbrellas when it rained, and physically interact.

[62] As the city design finalized late in development, the team laboriously hand-placed 20,000 nodes throughout the game world that trigger NPC actions.

[64] While the script was written to follow "a path of betrayal, revenge and redemption", the game retains Saints Row's light humor,[65] with the "over-the-top, socially distorted" narrative juxtaposed with dark, gritty moments.

[29] The game's voice actors include film and television stars such as Neil Patrick Harris, Michael Dorn, Mila Kunis, Jay Mohr, Keith David, and Eliza Dushku.

[4] Lead producer Greg Donovan blamed their "failing to take systems and features to completion" as programmers fought last-minute bugs, artists lacked time to finalize designs, and consequently, playtest versions were not ready until late in the development cycle.

[69] Lead audio designer Frank Petreikis's budget for licensed music was double that of the previous game so as to secure more prominent tracks.

[76][77][78][79][80][81][82] Subsequent trailers over the next several months also highlighted gameplay elements,[83][84][85][86] but one made light of Grand Theft Auto IV's lack of replay value,[87] and another demonstrated the cooperative mode using characters modeled on the candidates from the 2008 United States presidential election.

[88] A redesigned official website and community network was launched in July 2008,[89] and American pornographic actress Tera Patrick was featured in her own marketing campaign for the game.

[92][93] Another competition from THQ and WorthPlaying gave the winner a trip to a San Francisco Saints Row 2 multiplayer event and published their thoughts online.

[94][95] British fashion label Joystick Junkies ran a T-shirt design competition in September 2008, and the top entry was featured in the game's first downloadable content pack.

The Saints Row 2 "Initiation Pack", exclusive to Australia and New Zealand, included promotional items such as a pizza box and bullet-shaped USB memory stick.

[114][115] A month before the game's release, Saints Row 2 producer Dan Sutton stated in an interview that they "definitely" planned to make downloadable content.

[3] In the aftermath of the auctioning of THQ's assets following its bankruptcy in 2013, the source code for the PC port of Saints Row 2 was believed to be lost.

In October 2019, Volition announced it had found the source code and that it would begin work to rebuild the game for modern systems, including replacing GameSpy with Steam matchmaking support, along with allowing for user mods.

[124] The community manager that had led the effort, Mike Watson (also known as "IdolNinja"), died from cancer on August 5, 2021, but he was aware his condition had been deteriorating in the prior year and ensured that the work was moved to a small team with Volition's and Deep Silver's support to continue on without his lead.

[125] Saints Row 2 received several downloadable content (DLC) releases, including two episodic expansion packs: Ultor Exposed and Corporate Warfare.

[154] GameSpy gave the game four and a half stars out of five, stating that it "offers up a shooting and driving experience that is plenty of fun" and that it is "self-consciously funny in its irreverence" and "will definitely appeal to much of its audience".