Players can fight enemies using a variety of firearms, and call in non-playable gang members to assist them. The game is played from a third-person perspective and its world is navigated on-foot or by vehicle. Outside of the main story, players can freely roam Stilwater, which has been expanded with new locations and consists of two main islands. Story missions are unlocked by trading in 'Respect' points, currency earned by completing minigames and side-missions. With the help of new and old allies, the player attempts to rebuild the Saints and take back Stilwater from their rivals. Saints Row 2 directly follows from the events of the first game, as the player's custom character awakens from a coma after five years to find that their the gang, the 3rd Street Saints, has been disbanded, and their former territories taken over by newly-formed criminal syndicates and a corrupt corporation. A mobile tie-in game was developed by G5 Entertainment and also released in October 2008. The game was released in October 2008 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, January 2009 for Microsoft Windows, and April 2016 for Linux. It is the sequel to 2006's Saints Row and the second installment in the Saints Row series.

Saints Row 2 is a 2008 action-adventure game developed by Volition and published by THQ.