This series has definitely come a long way, hasn't it? The game acknowledges as much, as in its intro it looks back at its own journey and recounts the days of yesteryear when it was just another GTA-clone and how it arose in heights different and exciting.
Truly enough, one can make the argument that the series has lost its form. It's no longer about a small-time criminal taking over a city from rival gangs (as was the case even up to "Saints Row: The Third", despite the protagonist being already a super-star), it could no longer even be called a Grand Theft Auto clone. It has become its own thing and it's a far cry from the days of the Playa taking over Stilwater.
The first thing a fan of the old days will take an issue with is the existence of super-powers in the game. The set-up for those is actually quite simple: the years have passed and the leader of the Saints has been elected President of the United States of America. During a press-conference, the alien empire of the Zin invades, collects some of the people it considers useful or fascinating and then does away with the rest of the planet altogether.
How do super-powers come into play? Well, the Zin have hooked up people in a simulation of Steelport (the city from the third installment) and essentially the players find themselves in the Matrix. This isn't a surprise considering Saints Row IV was originally DLC for the previous game, titled "Enter the Dominatrix", a clear reference to the 2003 "Enter The Matrix" game tie-in for "The Matrix: Reloaded" and "The Matrix: Revolutions".
Graphics, sound and gameplay are roughly the same as last time. Same setting, same driving and shooting mechanics, same voice actors, new music on the radio, but that's about it. The element of "taking over the city" is retained, as the Saints are required to wreck havoc and destabilize the simulation (another staple of "The Matrix" film series), but it's no longer a separate mechanic. Completing challenges and "hacking" stores (instead of buying) grant big chunks of virtual Steelport.
The challenges have also been integrated in the story mode in the form of side-quests and I'm not certain how good an idea that was. The story campaign on its own is fairly short, shorter than any of the previous games (likely a by-product of the game being originally an expansion pack), so to fill in the time, it presents those challenges as a convenient way to rack up on gadgets and unlock super-powers.
I'm split on that, because even though the idea is actually sound, it became bothersome for me, surprisingly exactly because of how good the game is. One of my main problems with Saints Row: The Third, which I generally did like a lot, was that it never gave me much of a reason to play around the city, to look for collectables, to do the challenges. I just didn't care.
Saints Row IV is the exact opposite. For one thing, the new challenges are generally better than the ones introduced in SR3, even though some fan-favorites do make a return (several flavours of Mayhem, Insurance Fraud). For another, because of the super-powers, it's just extremely fun going around the city and wrecking shit. It's just a bit of busy-work looking for collectables when you need to drive a car and then climb stairs to the rooftop of the building and look around for that one tiny glow-y thing you have to collect. It's a lot more fun doing it when you have super-speed and you can leap tall buildings in a single bound.
I clocked a total of 21 hours in the game and for the first thirteen I didn't touch a single story-mission. So by the time I did go on with, I had already done so many challenges I didn't want to sit through whatever the game was asking me to do with its side-quests.
So, if the story mode is very short and forces the challenges on you and if the series has completely departed from its roots no longer just in tone, but also in overall focus and gameplay feel, why should one play it?
The first obvious answer is "fun", of course, but I realize this is no longer enough. Instead, one should play it, because Saints Row IV is what Saints Row never was: unique. The game finds itself in the incredible position of being purposefully derivative and at the same time offer an entirely unique experience.
It doesn't play like Spider-Man 2 or Prototype (though comparisons are inevitable, especially with the latter). For all the ideas it borrows, it still manages to be its own thing and despite the deviations from the original game, it's still that game that anyone can enjoy, regardless of personal preference.
I understand that watching the trailers may have made the wrong impression and for good reason. Volition and then-troubled parent company THQ have precedent in this, particularly with The Third. When they saw the success of Saints Row 2 (largely thanks to the huge endorsement by Ben Crosshaw), they incorrectly thought it was the absurdity and wackiness that made the game so popular.
So, in Saints Row: The Third they went all-out, added even more insane things and turned the game into a fun-house-ride that consisted of out-of-place high-tech military units, furies walking down the streets of the city and beating people up with purple dildos.
They were wrong.
If Saints Row: The Third failed in comparison to its predecessor it wasn't for lack of quality, but because it was trying too hard to impress with gimmicks. Saints Row IV is the polar opposite.
The super-powers aren't like the purple dildo. They aren't gimmicks, but rather a fundamental gameplay mechanic the entire game is built around and while this is a departure from the series' origins the end-result is just a very solid, well-designed piece of electronic entertainment.
More than that, despite its short length, the story is a culmination of geek-dome, humour, nostalgia and love that shows through and through. It's a very indulgent game, both to its creators, but also to its players. The writing is smart as ever, the dialogue remains very funny and once again, for reasons unknown, whenever the funny is broken up by the occasional emotional scene, it connects.
This always impressed me about this series in general, how despite its over-the-top characters in absurd situations it made them all relevant and managed to pack quite a punch whenever it needed to add drama.
Its pop-culture references are a character-building experience opposite to them being thrown around for cheap laughter. The mission set-up with excellent music choices provide memorable experiences. Even the instantaneous "fuck-buddy" system (a parody of Mass Effect's romance system) is funny and portrays both the personalities of and the relationship between the characters.
More importantly still -and without giving away anything- there is a lot of love and care put in this product and unlike The Third, it's not overshadowed by the gimmicky presentation. The game is very "meta", but there is a reason for it. It's not self-referential for kicks, but rather as an acknowledgement of its history.
This is a game where the developers admit they got big and successful, that they know full-well who made them there and extend their gratitude towards the players and most importantly their fans.
There are bits in the story, both via the main quest-line and the single character-specific mission each "homie" comes with, that the ties between the characters are explored and strengthened. I haven't played Saints Row because I don't own an XBOX 360, but even I got nostalgic over some missions.
To put it in some perspective, if you've played "Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots" and got up to Act 4 in Shadow Moses Island, I imagine these are the same feelings old-time fans of this series will have with this installment as well.
In the end of the day, Saints Row IV is a game that must be played. I cannot currently give it a recommendation for purchase, simply because Grand Theft Auto V just came out and it is undoubtedly be the better game-- from a purely objective, technical standpoint at least.
But Volition's latest entry into the series is a title that must be tried by everyone at least once. It's a game that doesn't innovate and an experience that's really not lasting.
It's a common criticism of mine, especially in recent years that due to market saturation, as technically sound as a game may be, unless it offers a unique and/or lasting experience it's a waste of time.Where the entire Saints Row series (at least since the second game) and Saints Row IV in particular manage to stand out and become the exception to that rule is that even though you will have little to ponder about after you leave the experience, it's a game you'll always go back to. Perhaps it's because the series is just too accessible and very easy to digest, but that doesn't make it any less competent at what it does.
That's likely its biggest strength. It won't make you cry. It will not change your life as a gamer. It will *never* be included in any best of lists.
But when you need to escape reality, when you go over your shelves for a game to pop in, Saints Row IV will undoubtedly be one of your first, if not the only, candidate.
Truly enough, one can make the argument that the series has lost its form. It's no longer about a small-time criminal taking over a city from rival gangs (as was the case even up to "Saints Row: The Third", despite the protagonist being already a super-star), it could no longer even be called a Grand Theft Auto clone. It has become its own thing and it's a far cry from the days of the Playa taking over Stilwater.
The first thing a fan of the old days will take an issue with is the existence of super-powers in the game. The set-up for those is actually quite simple: the years have passed and the leader of the Saints has been elected President of the United States of America. During a press-conference, the alien empire of the Zin invades, collects some of the people it considers useful or fascinating and then does away with the rest of the planet altogether.
How do super-powers come into play? Well, the Zin have hooked up people in a simulation of Steelport (the city from the third installment) and essentially the players find themselves in the Matrix. This isn't a surprise considering Saints Row IV was originally DLC for the previous game, titled "Enter the Dominatrix", a clear reference to the 2003 "Enter The Matrix" game tie-in for "The Matrix: Reloaded" and "The Matrix: Revolutions".
 |
| President Luthor parodying The West Wing in the game's intro. |
Graphics, sound and gameplay are roughly the same as last time. Same setting, same driving and shooting mechanics, same voice actors, new music on the radio, but that's about it. The element of "taking over the city" is retained, as the Saints are required to wreck havoc and destabilize the simulation (another staple of "The Matrix" film series), but it's no longer a separate mechanic. Completing challenges and "hacking" stores (instead of buying) grant big chunks of virtual Steelport.
The challenges have also been integrated in the story mode in the form of side-quests and I'm not certain how good an idea that was. The story campaign on its own is fairly short, shorter than any of the previous games (likely a by-product of the game being originally an expansion pack), so to fill in the time, it presents those challenges as a convenient way to rack up on gadgets and unlock super-powers.
I'm split on that, because even though the idea is actually sound, it became bothersome for me, surprisingly exactly because of how good the game is. One of my main problems with Saints Row: The Third, which I generally did like a lot, was that it never gave me much of a reason to play around the city, to look for collectables, to do the challenges. I just didn't care.
 |
| Zeniac, head of the alien empire, is a big fan of Earth pop-culture; sometimes to a fault. |
Saints Row IV is the exact opposite. For one thing, the new challenges are generally better than the ones introduced in SR3, even though some fan-favorites do make a return (several flavours of Mayhem, Insurance Fraud). For another, because of the super-powers, it's just extremely fun going around the city and wrecking shit. It's just a bit of busy-work looking for collectables when you need to drive a car and then climb stairs to the rooftop of the building and look around for that one tiny glow-y thing you have to collect. It's a lot more fun doing it when you have super-speed and you can leap tall buildings in a single bound.
I clocked a total of 21 hours in the game and for the first thirteen I didn't touch a single story-mission. So by the time I did go on with, I had already done so many challenges I didn't want to sit through whatever the game was asking me to do with its side-quests.
So, if the story mode is very short and forces the challenges on you and if the series has completely departed from its roots no longer just in tone, but also in overall focus and gameplay feel, why should one play it?
The first obvious answer is "fun", of course, but I realize this is no longer enough. Instead, one should play it, because Saints Row IV is what Saints Row never was: unique. The game finds itself in the incredible position of being purposefully derivative and at the same time offer an entirely unique experience.
 |
| "Moongates" create a portal between the real, mundane world and the awesome simulation. |
It doesn't play like Spider-Man 2 or Prototype (though comparisons are inevitable, especially with the latter). For all the ideas it borrows, it still manages to be its own thing and despite the deviations from the original game, it's still that game that anyone can enjoy, regardless of personal preference.
I understand that watching the trailers may have made the wrong impression and for good reason. Volition and then-troubled parent company THQ have precedent in this, particularly with The Third. When they saw the success of Saints Row 2 (largely thanks to the huge endorsement by Ben Crosshaw), they incorrectly thought it was the absurdity and wackiness that made the game so popular.
So, in Saints Row: The Third they went all-out, added even more insane things and turned the game into a fun-house-ride that consisted of out-of-place high-tech military units, furies walking down the streets of the city and beating people up with purple dildos.
They were wrong.
If Saints Row: The Third failed in comparison to its predecessor it wasn't for lack of quality, but because it was trying too hard to impress with gimmicks. Saints Row IV is the polar opposite.
The super-powers aren't like the purple dildo. They aren't gimmicks, but rather a fundamental gameplay mechanic the entire game is built around and while this is a departure from the series' origins the end-result is just a very solid, well-designed piece of electronic entertainment.
More than that, despite its short length, the story is a culmination of geek-dome, humour, nostalgia and love that shows through and through. It's a very indulgent game, both to its creators, but also to its players. The writing is smart as ever, the dialogue remains very funny and once again, for reasons unknown, whenever the funny is broken up by the occasional emotional scene, it connects.
This always impressed me about this series in general, how despite its over-the-top characters in absurd situations it made them all relevant and managed to pack quite a punch whenever it needed to add drama.
 |
| Disrupting the simulation can lead to hilarious and/or terrifying results. |
Its pop-culture references are a character-building experience opposite to them being thrown around for cheap laughter. The mission set-up with excellent music choices provide memorable experiences. Even the instantaneous "fuck-buddy" system (a parody of Mass Effect's romance system) is funny and portrays both the personalities of and the relationship between the characters.
More importantly still -and without giving away anything- there is a lot of love and care put in this product and unlike The Third, it's not overshadowed by the gimmicky presentation. The game is very "meta", but there is a reason for it. It's not self-referential for kicks, but rather as an acknowledgement of its history.
This is a game where the developers admit they got big and successful, that they know full-well who made them there and extend their gratitude towards the players and most importantly their fans.
There are bits in the story, both via the main quest-line and the single character-specific mission each "homie" comes with, that the ties between the characters are explored and strengthened. I haven't played Saints Row because I don't own an XBOX 360, but even I got nostalgic over some missions.
To put it in some perspective, if you've played "Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots" and got up to Act 4 in Shadow Moses Island, I imagine these are the same feelings old-time fans of this series will have with this installment as well.
 |
| Because super-powers or not, this is *still* a Saints Row game. Hot stuff. |
In the end of the day, Saints Row IV is a game that must be played. I cannot currently give it a recommendation for purchase, simply because Grand Theft Auto V just came out and it is undoubtedly be the better game-- from a purely objective, technical standpoint at least.
But Volition's latest entry into the series is a title that must be tried by everyone at least once. It's a game that doesn't innovate and an experience that's really not lasting.
It's a common criticism of mine, especially in recent years that due to market saturation, as technically sound as a game may be, unless it offers a unique and/or lasting experience it's a waste of time.Where the entire Saints Row series (at least since the second game) and Saints Row IV in particular manage to stand out and become the exception to that rule is that even though you will have little to ponder about after you leave the experience, it's a game you'll always go back to. Perhaps it's because the series is just too accessible and very easy to digest, but that doesn't make it any less competent at what it does.
That's likely its biggest strength. It won't make you cry. It will not change your life as a gamer. It will *never* be included in any best of lists.
But when you need to escape reality, when you go over your shelves for a game to pop in, Saints Row IV will undoubtedly be one of your first, if not the only, candidate.
"Saints Row IV" was developed by VOLITION and published by DEEP SILVER.
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