It’s already clear that Saints Row IV is going to be wildly different from any game in the series to date. The gang’s leader has become the president. You have superpowers and exist in a Matrix-like simulation. There are aliens.
While some hardcore fans of the franchise may argue that SR4 is “jumping the shark,” the game still feels like an appropriate addition to the Saints Row lineup, with its crass humor and over-the-top action. This isn’t some reskin of The Third that players will immediately feel at home in – the developers have tweaked, changed, added and removed a TON of content since the last installment, and it makes for an experience that feels both familiar and totally new.
A staple of the Saints Row franchise has always been its deeply customizable game worlds and character creation systems. Players can craft perfect replicas of themselves, or go full-on Dr. Frankenstein and create a hideous abomination with which to terrorize the citizens of Steelport.
The customization features in Saints Row IV are no different, and introduce new options to truly let your imagination run wild. Want to wreak havoc with Han Solo’s signature blaster? Go ahead. Or maybe you’d prefer dual-wielding nail guns as you escape the cops – the choice is yours. While the weapons you can equip all have the same basic classifications (Heavy Pistol, Light SMG, etc) and upgradable stats, each weapon category comes with several different skins and variations for you to choose from (So far our favorites around the office have been Mal Reynolds’ sci-fi revolver and the Colonial Marine pulse rifle).
Unfortunately, the nature of the game demands that certain aspects of the previous customization systems be removed (we can't say too much without spoiling anything, but know that it does make sense within the game), and so players are no longer able to customize their hideouts, cribs and safe houses - which is a shame, considering it would be great fun to put stripper poles all over The White House.
Many of the activities from Saints Row: The Third return for this sequel, including fan-favorites like Tank Mayhem and Insurance Fraud, but in this iteration players will find that the activities are far more challenging. For example, when ragdolling around in SR3’s Insurance Fraud minigame, the average score needed to pass the activity on its hardest difficulty was $450,000. Now, with the addition of superpowers that allow you to hurl yourself into buildings at super-sonic speeds, the lowest score needed to pass the challenge on easy is a whopping $300,000 – which means you’ll need to practice flinging yourself across Steelport for a while before completing all three tiers (bronze, sliver and gold - also a new addition) of all the different activities.
Saints Row: The Third did a fantastic job of improving on aerial combat with it’s addition of the VTOL hover-jets and futuristic rocket cycles. While the previous games had helicopters and planes you could fly, SR3 made it much easier to drop yourself off on top of a skyscraper and do some naked base-jumping to get back to street level. That being said, the majority of the game was spent on the ground, both on foot and in vehicles. With the addition of powers like speed running up walls or super jumping tall buildings in a single bound (literally), Steelport becomes a concrete jungle gym for your character to explore every inch of, be it at street level or atop towering skyscrapers. It also means that new gameplay types are opened up, so it should come as no surprise that...
One of the new additions to the activity roster is a challenging climb to the top of a tower - similar to Assassin’s Creed’s viewpoints or Far Cry 3’s radio towers. While one might not immediately associate a game like Saints Row, the new powers of super-speed and (almost) flight make it a less jarring addition than you might expect. Jumping and wall-running your way to the top of these structures is not only satisfying and fun, but also helps you take over more of the city and upgrade your superpowers so you can jump higher, run faster, and nut-punch aliens further into space.
In former Saints Row titles, you needed to gain the respect of your crew and the people of your city before you could tackle more of the game’s story missions. While this mechanic is still present, ‘Respect’ is now simply referred to as ‘XP.’ While some may say it’s better to call a horse a horse, the lack of an actual Respect-O-Meter makes SR IV feel somewhat less ‘Saints Row’-ey.
Another franchise element that isn’t making a reappearance in Saints Row IV are the multiple factions you’ve had to face off against in previous titles. Instead of being embroiled in turf wars with three rival gangs, the Saints now face only one enemy. You’ll still have to complete missions and activities to wrestle territories out of enemy hands, but gone are the three-way battle-royales of the past titles in the series.
The fact that Saints Row IV takes place almost entirely within a computer simulation allows players to take advantage of some shortcuts that will undoubtedly make their lives easier – the most notable of which is the ability to instantly save any vehicle you’re in for later use. Instead of sneaking into a military base, hijacking a tank, and racking up millions in property damage while you transport it back to your hideout; you can now hop in the driver’s seat and “upload” the vehicle to your virtual garage, then “download” it later to wherever you happen to be on the map. It’s a handy feature that will truly allow players to get the most out of their time in Steelport 2.0.
Similar to the ability to download cars, the fact that your character exists within a computer program means that the radio stations that play in your car doesn’t have to stay in your car. It actually harkens back to a mechanic found in the original Saints Row, where you had an MP3 player that let the music keep playing after you’d exited your vehicle. You’d be surprised at how satisfying it is to fight aliens, blow up police cars, and generally wreak havoc while listening to Haddaway’s "What is Love."
While entries in the series included collectible items, there is a much greater (and necessary) focus on it in Saints Row IV. Instead of finding stashes of drugs or laundered money in exchange for quick cash, collectibles now range from data clusters that will upgrade your superpowers to BioShock-esque audio logs that give you a deeper look into the universe that Volition has created within the game. With over 1,200 items to find, players can expect to spend as much time collecting items as they will killing aliens.
Saints Row has always been synonymous with “insanity”. Whether it was using a septic truck to cover a city block in sewage in SR2 or participating in Professor Ghenki’s Ethical Reality Climax in The Third, the ridiculous activities and side missions have become expected for any entry in the franchise – and Saint’s Row IV doesn’t disappoint. The optional activities found in SR4 take the fan favorites of previous titles (though sadly Septic Avenger hasn’t appeared in the last two games) and cranks them up to 11. Mayhem, where players earn cash and experience for destroying as much of the surrounding area as possible, now puts you in the cockpit of UFOs, hover tanks and warrior mechs. Prof. Ghenki makes a return, only instead of navigating his torturous mazes you now use telekinesis to catapult cars, tanks, and innocent civilians through specific targets. The new variations on old game modes take what players loved about the original versions and, as has become tradition for the Saints Row series, makes them more ridiculous, more challenging, and most importantly, more fun.
Jon Ryan plays games for IGN and helps to build wikis. You should probably follow him on Twitter @USofJR and IGN at JonRyan-IGN
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