Saints Row IV Review

Saints Row IV is the culmination of years perfecting the open world formula and a testament to the oft-overused adage, "if you build it, they will come". A franchise so dedicated to a singular yet hilariously ever shifting vision that was destined to culminate in this near perfectly executed fourth entry. This is where Saints Row was always meant to be, at the very height of absurdity, revelry and utter comedic brilliance. And while many open world games continue to chase the untouchable Rockstar developed Grand Theft Auto, Volition has carved and nestled into its own place in the ever growing genre. At the start of Saints Row IV the Saints have already transcended their gang status and even the pop-culture icon status they received in the last game. Instead the Saints have ascended to the highest position of power achievable, President of the United States of America and Chiefs of Staff. It's ridiculous but par for the course in this series and things only get crazier when an alien race known as the Zin and their leader Zinyak invade earth and throw you and the Saints into a virtual simulation of Steelport, an unfortunate excuse to reuse the city from the last game.

Since the entire game takes place in a simulation the big new feature Volition has decided to throw in is superpowers, from skyscraper bounding jumps to fireball projectiles. It's the latest insanely fun mechanic that Volition implements spectacularly well, never making you so powerful as to make combat monotonous. It's incredibly impressive how perfectly balanced the game remains even with as much freedom in combat and mobility as you are afforded. The game retains the same great progression of power and unstoppability the last game excelled at but the scale in which it takes place has simply quadrupled. That being said many meticulously designed elements of the game are easily ignored, why would you drive a car when you can sprint 3 times faster, it's an interesting yet odd design choice. And with superpowers, you may think that weapons have been made obsolete and while that's true for the traditional pistol, rifle, shotgun categories it has forced Volition to come up with weapons like the dub-step, black hole and abduction gun that will encourage most players to land from there skyscraper hopping and lay waste.

Saints Row IV continues to build off the humor and tone of the last entry throwing pop-culture references both big and small in such a flurry you'll oftentimes be overwhelmed, going from a cheap sex joke to a deep Edger Allan Poe cut. But it's all in line with the highly self-aware tone and absurdest storytelling. A story that is shockingly well told with character arcs that have surprising depth and an overall message of friendship that while corny is better told than most video games. That being said this game expects you to be a huge fan of the franchise with callbacks to events of all 3 previous games so I would recommend playing through them to fully enjoy the story. But back to the games deservedly praised humor, the song choices in Saints Row IV reach astronomical heights as most story missions are accompanied by a couple of incredible song selections, with Aerosmith's "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" being a gut busting standout.

While Saints Row seems to get even more insane with each new entry, it has found a surprising way to stay grounded through its characters. Saints Row IV feels at all times like hanging out with long-time friends, it's fun, comforting and can sometimes get a bit crazy. And while the mounting weight of the absurdity is bound to break at some point it's still holding strong here. It's refreshing to see a franchise willingly change gears so significantly and often. Saints Row IV is so purely enjoyable it's hard to decry the minor technical blemishes and large swaths of reused content. References are cleverly delivered, characters you'll actually care about, and easily the most empowering and exhilarating character progression I have experienced in a long time. Saints Row IV is the unadulterated embodiment of unhinged psychosis fueled by pop culture references and an unbridled sense of fun, an engaging romp that never loses sight of its small beginnings and is all the more endearing for it.

(5 out of 5)