Saints Row IV: there are two sides this coin could land on. One is a ridiculous open-world sandbox game filled with superpowers, dubstep guns, and hilarity, while the other is the evident fact that this is nothing more than a large DLC expansion thrown onto a disc. But who cares about that, right? I mean, you get to play as the President of the United States, who could run around town smacking people in the face with giant purple dildos as you super-jump over cars and buildings. How can you beat that? To be honest, you probably can’t.
So how did this series go from simple gang warfare and robbing shops to the ridiculousness that is Saints Row IV? I’m not too sure; however, it does hold a strong similarity to its previous installment, Saints Row: The Third. So if you weren’t a fan of the raunchy ridiculousness of The Third, then I’d suggest avoiding this one as well. Needless to say, Saints Row IV bears the same graphics engine and the same map as The Third. The differences come down simply to a few features: some extra customization, new vehicles, guns, and abilities (although they’ve already been utilized in some of the DLC from The Third), new characters, and a new story. Now, that seems like a lot of new things; however, it isn’t anything more than DLC on a disc.
To put things straight, though, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. You’ll still have an experience that is just as fun and exciting as the one in The Third. There will be ridiculous weaponry, raunchy and hilarious moments, and, best of all, it won’t stray too far from what fans came to love in The Third. From my experience, I can deduce the game to be essentially Saints Row: The Third with cheats enabled. Yeah, I certainly had a blast, but was it anything particularly special? Not really. In all honesty, it felt more or less like a cash cow. Release-day DLC that allows you to purchase a cheat pack and a whole bunch of other nonsense really diminishes the feeling of developer cooperation with gamers. I am hoping that this cash cow is being used to create something more next-generation, but who knows?
So let’s cut down to a legitimate review here, shall we? The mechanics are identical to The Third, except now you have superpowers. Your superpowers are strangely acquired quite early on in the game, and you’re able to accumulate stronger ones later. There are a significant number of new guns and customizable features for weaponry, outfits, and vehicles. You’ll also find new and old mini-games spread throughout the city, as well as some orb collecting that bears similarity to Crackdown’s orb collecting, without the immense frustration. The storyline is quite entertaining, with laughs to be had at every corner, and is completely cooperative. The mini-games range from ridiculously fun to mildly entertaining. The voice acting is good for a game based around action and comedy, and although the game has switched from gang warfare to aliens, it’s nice to have one big bad guy to focus on.
So what does it all come down to? Saints Row IV is a fun game but nothing worthy of incredible praise. It is a carbon copy of its previous installment and could be considered nothing more than a big bundle of DLC thrown onto a disc. Now, is that a bad thing? Well, that depends on whether you enjoyed Saints Row: The Third. Where I’m sitting, I enjoyed my experience. I enjoyed every laugh, character, and ridiculous moment, but I’ll admit that I succumbed to investing in a cash cow. If you’re wondering whether or not you should invest in this game, then my advice is that you should wait for a bargain deal or a price drop before you go spending your money. You’ll probably enjoy yourself, but it’d be up for debate whether that enjoyment was worth the price of a new game.
