Fourth release in series combines fan favorites for entertaining challenge
Fans of the “Grand Theft Auto” series likely have fond memories of enabling cheat mode in “San Andreas.”
There was joy in taking a few hours to ignore the story, the missions or anything resembling structure, and simply create complete chaos — be it with an infinite rocket launcher or with flying cars. It felt at once rebellious and liberating.
In many ways, it felt truer to the promise of the open world genre than any one game had ever been.
“Saints Row IV” is much the same. It embodies that feeling of chaos, insanity and anything-goes stupidity, but it’s expanded into a full-length game. It is the ultimate power fantasy, drenched in the crudeness of adolescence and filled to the brim with pop culture references, postmodern video game satire and dubstep.
The absurdity of “Saints Row The Third” is a pretty difficult thing to top, which is precisely why “Saints Row IV” begins with the player stopping a nuclear launch and consequently being elected president.
Earth is then invaded by an alien race called the Zin, and the player becomes trapped inside a computer simulation akin to “The Matrix.” Not long after that, players are given superpowers. Among them: the ability to run faster than any car and jump up the sides of buildings.
That’s just the first few hours.
The game world is packed with dozens of the wacky side activities that the series is known for, and a lot of these have never been better (the insurance fraud activity is now, in particular, one of the funniest things in the series).
With all the new ways to traverse the environment like super jumping, gliding, or running up walls, “Saints Row IV” takes a page from the 2007 Xbox 360 game “Crackdown” and litters its rooftops with more than 1,000 superpower upgrades called “data clusters.”
Players addicted to collectibles, beware: This game knows you need your fix, and tantalizingly lays all its shiny trinkets out in plain view.
“Saints Row IV” originally began development as an expansion pack to “The Third,” and unfortunately, that’s evident in its recycled environments and assets. In typical “Saints Row” style, the developers are completely self-aware about the reuse, and they make joking references to it, but honestly, being cute about the game’s remixing of previous content doesn’t exactly excuse it.
It bears mentioning that “Saints Row IV” is not really a game about challenging the player. It’s more interested in empowerment, of trimming the fat of traditional game design and ensuring that it never becomes boring or predictable. It achieves varying levels of success in this endeavor, but between its insane arsenal of weapons, clever writing and absolutely killer soundtrack, it’s practically impossible not to have a blast with it.
Essentially, the game is a love letter to loyal fans of the series. It builds off of gags from its predecessor in a way that fans of the series are sure to adore. The way the game idolizes its cast of characters is so genuine that it’s impossible not to fall in love with them.
Borrowing a bit of structure from Bioware’s “Mass Effect 2,” “Saints Row IV” is all about rebuilding your team of gangsters, MI6 agents and general psychopaths to take on the alien horde. From there, “loyalty missions” begin to spring up, each focused on the different characters’ greatest fears and equally scary fantasies.
All told, the last hoorah of the “Saints Row” franchise is one of the craziest games ever constructed. Anything and everything is fair game here, from a 40-story tall-energy drink can ravaging the city to actor Keith David playing himself in the game.
“Saints Row” has been one of the rare game franchises willing to take big risks, having consistently evolved itself from entry to entry in its never-ending pursuit of raw, open-world fun.
Given how mildly iterative most big-budget video games are, the fact “Saints Row” has been able to so drastically alter its identity is incredibly refreshing.
“Saints Row IV” may not quite surpass “The Third” in terms of raw creativity and pacing, but it certainly sends the series off in style.