The Saints versus Aliens
Saints Row IV arrives on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC and still contains the crazy action. The fourth installment is clearly designed for a fan of the series with absurd weapons, mass destruction, and now superpowers.
It contains a lot of changes, but still contains the core of Saints Row style and is a fun-filled continuation of the series.
Borrowed absurdity
The game begins a few years after the end of Saints Row: The Third. The first mission triggers the a "choice" to become the President of the United States of America. This all happens in an over-the-top way, which is something expected of the series. Shortly after the election, aliens attack Earth and the Zin change the rules of the game.
The Zin turn humans into slaves, where their minds "live" in an unreal universe, controlled through a computer program. Obviously Saints Row IV liberally "borrows" from The Matrix. It's not a big problem because if you know the series, it's part of the hilarious plot. \n
It's by using the ideas from The Matrix that allows the sandbox game to expand into a world without rules. "Anything goes" is a trend as you earn superpowers, play with crazy weapons like the Dubstep gun to make people dance, and illogical missions with game show themes. There are so many new objectives being presented that it never gets boring.
With the massive amount of missions and challenges, Saints Row IV can feel overwhelming. There's a lot to unlock with the numerous side quests and collectibles. It feels like Volition crammed too much into a single game.
The biggest change is superpowers. You can learn telekinesis, super jumps, super sprint, and others. You gain these on missions and level them up to make you almost invincible.
The balance of the superpowers in the game isn't perfect because even when you are powered up, enemies can still be a challenge to defeat.
Saints Row IV's sandbox world is a bit too open for players who like structure to their gameplay.
Complicating the simple parts
With its variety of missions and challenges, the controls aren't as intuitive as they should be. The change between foot and vehicle missions is abrupt and adding in superpowers and controlling alien spacecraft, it can get confusing. Saints Row IV has a lot to experience, almost too much overall.
Established style
The Saints Row series has always used a stylized graphics engine, not focusing on the hyper realistic and it continues here. It doesn't have the same power as other current generation games, but it firmly keeps the same style from previous games.
It does integrate the superpowers and the feeling of being overpowered within the context of the game and the world is a character itself.
A logicial progression
Saints Row IV had a lot of hype up to the release and more evolution was expected with this release. If you remove the superpowers, weapons, and some missions, it feels very close to other Saints Row games.
Is it a game to avoid?
If you're a fan of the series, then it's a must buy. But fans of open world sandbox games might find Saints Row IV not serious enough.
Review originally published on Softonic ES.
