Saints Row IV Review

Despite the City of Steelport feeling somewhat bland while traversing it, there is a lot to do. The usual slough of side activities return, along with a handful of new ones that mostly focus on superpowers. There are now side quests where members of your crew will ask you to perform a series of activities, with a special reward at the end. There are also optional loyalty missions you can perform to gain access to "super homies" who you can call in to help you wreak havoc on the virtual city. These loyalty missions are often quite good, and will remind players of the story missions from older Saints Row games. On top of these side missions, there are Alien checkpoints and strongholds throughout the city which you can destroy to gain control of these areas. In order to upgrade your superpowers, you must pick up "clusters" which are scattered around the map. I spent just under 15 hours with Saints Row IV, which allowed me to complete the main story, all loyalty missions and a good number of side missions, although apparently this resulted in only 60% overall completion.

Who needs planes when you have superpowers

As with the previous Saints Row, the entire game has full co-op support; everything you can do in singleplayer can also be done with a friend. I did not have the chance to test the co-op out myself, although assuming it works the same as in Saints Row the Third, adding another player usually serves to increase the general hilarity and insanity of the experience. There are a handful of co-op only side activities in Steelport, although Whored mode has not made a return.

Two-player co-op and the city of Steelport aren't the only things that players of Saints Row the Third will find familiar. Huge swaths of that game have been pasted over without change, such as the leveling/upgrade system, menus, most vehicles and even the character models of pedestrians throughout the city. Character and vehicle customization is basically identical apart from a few new assets, although it was so good in the last game this isn't much of an issue. In many ways, these similarities make Saints Row IV feel like a giant expansion rather than a full-blown sequel.

"Rifts" cause simulations to break down with bizarre results

While the Saints Row games have never been the most visually impressive titles on the market, this latest addition to the series has seen no visual upgrades compared to its predecessor, and as a result looks decidedly dated. Textures are often blurry and character models are muddy. Fortunately, it is the best optimized Saints Row game to date, and ran at a blazing frame rate even when I cranked everything to the max and layered on anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering. Explosions and effects still look good and their abundance gives engagements an intense, dynamic feel.

The sound in Saints Row IV is also a mixed bag. Sound effects are generally good, but the quality of radio stations has taken a steep turn for the worse. If you like metal or classic rock, you are totally out of luck, which is a shame because within the simulation you are allowed to listen to the radio at any time. Voice acting on the other hand is sublime, with a variety of big names lending their vocal chords to the game. Keith David plays himself in one of the more memorable roles in series history, and you can now select Nolan North as one of the voice options for the main character. The writing throughout the game remains very sharp, with plenty of funny lines concreting the self-aware nature of the game.

Side activities remain absolutely ridiculous

While all of the small issues Saints Row IV has are irksome, the biggest sin is that it sacrifices the identity the series managed to cultivate for itself over the two previous games. The superpowers are fun, but aren't particularly creative, and pull focus from the zanier options in combat that make the Saints Row games stand out. While fighting the different types of Aliens is enjoyable, they are incredibly generic and are not as interesting as the different gangs that occupied Steelport and Stillwater in the two previous Saints Row games. When Saints Row gang members start populating the streets of Steelport after you take control back from the Aliens, they feel out of place. Even though this sequel has a few good ideas and a lot of content that is largely of high quality, it doesn't feel like a Saints Row game, and should be approached with this knowledge. Regardless, this is still a fun game with strong level design and a big open city with lots of fun things to do, and those who enjoy Saints Rows' particular brand of madness will surely have a great time.