I played Saints Row: The Third and I had a blast from the beginning because of its exciting, open-world gameplay and zany sense of humor. It reminded me of the Grand Theft Auto series, but with much more zaniness. Saints Row IV includes open-world gameplay and is humorous but it is a different type of open-world gameplay. There are clownish weapons, costumes and activities like Saints Row: The Third and it is set in the same city of Steelport. However, the city has changed because planet Earth has suddenly been taken over by aliens known as Zin and led by Zinyak, an alien overlord with a strong British accent.
The map layout of Steelport is the same as in Saints Row: The Third, but the setting is dark with no day or night cycle. Your interaction with the game world is different because your protagonist has super powers and has become one with superhero powers. The super powers are brand new and they allow you to fly in the air from one point to another. You are so strong that your melee attacks can overwhelm any civilian trying to harm you. The city is really a simulation and not the city you knew before the alien takeover.
You can customize your protagonist the way you want like in Saints Row: The Third to your heart’s content and you can choose male or female. New characters have been added to the narrative, including actor Keith David and Roddy Piper. The signs on the streets indicate that the aliens rule the city such as “obey” and “trust Zinyak.” It reminded me of the sci-fi film They Live, a film starring Keith David and Roddy Piper. One of the results of the alien takeover in the simulation is the access to alien weapons such as the Inflato-Ray, a weapon that inflates its target until its hilarious explosion. All weapons can be customized at the Friendly Fire shops scattered around the simulation.
The super powers are quite varied, allowing you to run up skyscrapers and freeze blasting enemies so that you can shatter them to pieces with one of your conventional weapons. The super powers can be upgraded just like weapons can, but you will have to find data clusters gathered around the simulation in order to buy those upgrades. Therefore, the data clusters are the game currency for your super powers. The ability to fly makes the use of motor vehicles less fun since it is a lot easier to navigate from one part of the simulation to the next by flying or super sprinting. Super sprinting makes you sprint much faster than any car at its highest speed.
There is much replay value in this game because of the diverse activities and challenges. You can complete 60+ challenges in order to improve your protagonist’s XP and they require you to kill a certain number of enemies with a specific weapon. Other aspects of the replay value include the game’s DLCs such as Enter The Dominatrix and How The Saints Save Christmas. These DLCs are separate from the game, but their short stories add more fun and humor to the Saints Row franchise.
I had a problem with occasional crashes on my Windows 10 (64 bit) that occurred, particularly when battles became intense. During the intense battles the game would freeze and then I had to start over from my save file. This problem occurred even with my GTX 980 Ti video card. I got over the problem by recovering my save file. This was my biggest gripe about this game.
The setting of the simulation looks monotonous because of the lack of a day-night cycle. After a while the game looks a little bit more boring than the game’s predecessor. However, the game still retains its great gameplay and sense of humor.
I would recommend Saints Row IV to anyone despite some occasional crashes and its monotonous setting. The main story missions are a blast to play because of the combination of fun combat and lots of buffoonery. There is plenty of replay value in this open-world simulation and it is still funny enough. The opportunities to find collectibles, complete challenges, complete activities, and side quests are well worth the rewards your protagonist will enjoy and the entertainment you will get from playing this game.
My Score: 9/10