Review: Saints Row 4, Virtual Mayhem Perfected

Saints Row 4 offers adult content and fun for the mature crowd.  Definitely not for those under age.

After seeing the game’s creators: THQ sold the game off to Koch’s Deep Silver, this created great concern about the future of the Saints Row series.  Surprisingly enough the Saints Row franchise has made it to its 4th installment and is back for more.  The main question on my mind before playing was: will this be better than the rest or has the games features/abilities gone too far to make actual sense?

The leader of the Saints has gone from action movie star to working w/ the government to actually becoming the president of these United States.  And this is all within the intro.  Shortly afterwards the planet is subject to an alien attack by the Zin empire and then you go to work.  While your body maybe captured, your mind is inside of a computer simulation (like The Matrix) where the majority of the game takes place.  But you do enter the real world form time-to-time but the simulation is where all of the fun is.  

And like Neo in The Matrix, you get access to superhuman abilities like jumping over buildings, running lightning-fast + even run up walls, firing heat + freeze blasts at your foes, a ground-shattering stomp, setting your bullets & nearby baddies on fire, and the joys of telekinesis.  All of this on top of access to carjackings, human/alien weaponry, and beating random people on the street senseless.  All of your abilities can be upgraded through power-ups to evolve to make you even more dangerous.  The game allows you to focus more on your powers & alien weapons rather than your usual machine guns like the previous titles.  The superhuman running can be a bit tricky to master in the beginning – especially when racing shortly after receiving your power upgrade.  Towards the end of the game, it will make things easier for you if you quickly switch from your choice of powers.

The gameplay mirrors that of Saints Row The Third – same targeting system, realistic driving, and even enemies dodging when firing upon them.   Down to running up to pedestrians and executing wrestling moves on them.  Also many characters from the game’s past three titles return – some as part of the team and some back from the dead (sort of).

For the first time you can get intimate w/ your crew members regardless of the sex.  Equipped w/ cheesy R&B music to go w/ the mood.

There are plenty of pop-culture references within SR4 that was an added bonus to the fun.  A ton of Matrix references along w/ plot ripoffs, a 2-D side scrolling portion that pays homage to Street of Rage, and for any 80s babies remember the movie They Live, the game reunites former WWF wrestler Roddy Piper & Keith David along w/ plot references.  All of this is like a cherry on top of a good sundae.

Oh yeah, and then there’s Paul.  I’m not spoiling that one, you got to play it for an explanation.

As an owner of the entire Saints Row saga, I can easily say that this is the best of the 4.  I am not the only one to agree as the game sold over 1 million copies within its 1st week on sale.  You get better weapons, better abilities, and overall more fun while playing.  Despite the various plot ripoffs, this is the best Saints story since part 2 (R.I.P. Carlos BTW).  The story is good enough that you didn’t have to play any of the previous Saints to understand what going on in this game.  Saints Row has come a long way from being as some considered a GTA knock-off to its own beast that can co-exist.  Golf clap to the Deep Silver & Volition team on this one.  

If you are a true fan of the Saints games or just plain mayhem, Saint’s Row 4 takes it up to level 10 on the insanity scale – but in a good way.  There are too many side missions and other modes to just enjoy just by renting.  You can access co-op campaigns along w/ online multiplayer to see who’s the baddest.  This is an easy Buy in my book.