It was developer by Volition and published by Deep Silver, since THQ filed for bankruptcy in December 2012.
When the game was announced I was somewhat skeptical. I mentioned continually how I felt that I would be downloadable content. I was then swarmed with people insisting that it was a game.
They didn't quite understand what I meant.
"Enter The Dominatrix" was the supposed expansion for Saints Row the Third. I assume either Volition wanted to use art assets quickly before the PS4 and Xbox One hit the market or Deep Silver wanted to publish a decent game, given the fact that they barely have any AAA games on the list of games they've published. (And the ones they do have tend to be co-published.)
If I'm completely honest, I liken this game to a small barrel trying to catch the run-off of a much larger barrel so that it wasn't wasted. Only the small barrel had a label attached insisting that it was just as big and important as the original barrel and not giving off the slight hint of stagnation.
As a general rule of thumb, communities that support video game franchises do not appreciate that.
If you do not believe me, go on the Facebook page/Twitter page and tell me what you find in the comments.
But enough of being harsh, let's give this game some praises.
Saints Row 4 carries on from Saints Row 3 after you pretty much make America a free state. You then become the President after a short mission involving chasing down a boss from the previous game with people who should have died in the previous game if you chose to go and kill the boss.
So yeah, no continuity. Whatsoever.
Like Saints Row 3 it is also completely serious and involves a subtle balance of nuance and dark humour.
Here's me suplexing a sex doll.
Talk to any Saints Row fan and you'll hear the same story "Saints Row 4 and 3 are almost entirely different franchises compared to Saints Row 1 and 2."
It's not surprising, the games original themes of gang warfare seem almost alien in this game.
This leads me to the games main premise. Aliens kidnap you and hold you in a virtual version of Steelport, the city of Saint Row the Third. How convenient for the games coders and visual artists.
A new game mechanic that's been added is superpowers, which make your character able to jump super high and run super fast.
However, this renders cars and jets obsolete. You don't need to use them if you can run and jump faster by default.
Given the updated soundtrack with decent music including The Pharcyde, In Flames, Papa Roach, Great new Classic FM selection, Blur, Cypress Hill, Thin Lizzy, *inhale* OutKast, Haddaway, Aerosmith, EMF ' Yaw unbelieveable. Dun dun-dun dun dun dun', Paula Abdul, Nero 'Promises' and Kendrick Lamar (Better Kendrick song than the one in GTA 5. Just sayin'), it just seems a massive waste.
You won't hear 90% of the music in the game unless you go out of your way to do so.
Complaining, as I was, about the mildly dated graphics, I have considered that there is a bonus. I can play as pretty much the exact same character that I played as in Saints Row 3. A black haired guy who dresses in techno-punk and has a cockney accent. (How he became President of The USA is anyone's guess.)
Customisation is great, and Saints Row the Fourth will not disappoint anyone who liked Saints Row 3's customisation features. You can also customise weapons with loadsa shizzle now. Bonus!
Also, you can take pictures in-game and put them on Facebook, Twitter, or personal blogs that nobody will read. You can take some quite suspenseful ones.
It's like amateur photography. Kinda.
Fun, right?
Oh but you can do the same thing in GTA 5.
Well this is pretty awkward.
In summary, there are lots of things about Saints Row 4 that will entice players both new and old, especially the references to all previous characters in the game. However, when you consider that most of the missions simply involve activities you'd do anyway just by playing through the game, which are largely, and suspiciously, cut-scene free... Tedium may set in, despite the quickened pace set by the health pickups from enemies.
It was when I was collecting my 700th cluster in order to improve my superpowers when I realised that I wasn't particularly enjoying this pointless hunt and doing it simply because of a completionist behaviour that the game encourages.
I was doing some of the minigames involving throwing electrical balls into hoops which was about as fun as an AIDS diagnosis when I felt that I'd rather be playing the Insurance Fraud minigame.
But there wasn't many of those.
This is a game that's very much "Eat all your broccoli and have your chocolate cake later."
In short, this game may give you minor Asperger's syndrome.
Another point. The game's a bit small. You'll go between:
America in the 60's, all wife-beaters and plaid skirts.
A wrestling ring.
Virtual Steelport, Virtual Stillwater and the Spaceship which acts as the game hub and makes fun of Mass Effect 3.
Yet it still feels slightly small when you've maxed out your superpowers as you can travel across the map in about three minutes. Sometimes the game will make missions in which you can't use your superpowers, but they seem slightly under explained and lack motive.
I bought the game new and traded it in the following week. All in all, I spent about £20 on the game. And that seems fair for what I've got.
I would recommend this game to people looking for a casual game with RPG mechanics that doesn't require too much thinking and also likes obvious pop culture references.
You can also kill men dressed as cats.
Fuck you, catman.
Fuck you, other catmen.
To summarise, Saints Row is that game at the back of the class throwing paperclips at the nerds and laughing along with the jocks even though it'll sidle back over to them later and ask in quiet tones to join their Dungeons & Dragons game later.
It likes to make fun of characters in game such as Kinzie or Matt who have in-depth knowledge about seemingly everything but yet the game itself contains text adventures, side-scrolling beat 'em ups and many other great game changers you wouldn't see in other games of its class. It's just a shame that it seems almost embarrassed about them.
All in all, 7.8/10. Being generous tonight.
Thanks for reading!
