Saints Row began as a Grand Theft Auto clone back in 2006. If you played that game and compare it now, there would be nothing recognizable to the current franchise aside from the name; which is a good thing. What started as clone soon grew into a crazy, insane world all of it’s own, and Saints Row 4 continues that lunacy into epic proportions, for better or for worse.
At the end of Saints Row: The Third, your custom character, who’ll we will from this point on refer to as the Player, has taken over the city of Steelport and are the biggest celebrities in the world. So where do you go from there? President of the United States obviously. Yes, the Player is now President and running the country, however that is short lived as an alien invasion begins led by Zinyak. The Player is then abducted and thrown into a simulation of Steelport where, like the matrix on crack, hacking the system grants you super human abilities. It is not long before cars become obsolete as you run faster than anything and jump across buildings and obstacles. From here the player must perform crazy antics to disrupt the system, find your friends, and bring down Zinyak.
And here is where the double edge sword appears; while the powers are “super fun” (no more puns I promise), the quickly diminish the challenge of the game. This might turn some people off, yet this game isn’t about challenge. It’s about being thrown in increasingly ridiculous situations and having fun blasting your way through them. The tongue and cheek humor makes this game a gem, whether it be the dialogue, the crazy weapons, or the game’s villain trolling the Player and another character by ruining a song they wanted to sing, this game will keep you laughing.
Most of the game takes place in the simulation, with missions taking you either into the real world or in other characters version of hell. Loyalty missions will, once completed, give your friends superpowers and a new outfit. These outfits range from racy to parody; of course someone would look like Morpheus. This game is also ripe with parody from movies to other games. My personal favorite was the Metal Gear solid mission. Side missions and collectables abound, this game will give you hours of play.
While a fun game, it has its problems. The graphics aren’t bad but not great either, looking more like an early generation game. I found that the sound would cut out briefly from time to time and the game was prone to crashes every now and again. While annoying, it wasn’t game breaking. In my 20 hour playthrough my game my have crashed a total of 5 times. And while not a glitch, until you beat the game the whole city is in perpetual night. It’s dim and gloomy and gets old very quickly.
Aside from a few bugs and glitches, Saints Row 4 is a very good game. It’ll keep you laughing all the way through and scratch that destructive and insanity itch you have. Great voice acting, funny story, good gameplay, yes Saints Row is insane and charming. If you are a fan of the series or just want some insanity in your life this is a must buy.