Saints Row IV

There's some uneven bits but Saints Row IV captures what video games should be or at least strive to be: Fun. And that exuberance of playing around in a big sandbox with almost no limits placed on the player while spinning an entertaining yarn that fully acknowledges that it's a game should put Saints Row IV on a lot of Game of Year lists.

A fantastic game, keeping up the series' tradition of giving players a wide open world and the tools to go absolutely bonkers within it. It's hilarious, it's action-packed, and most of all, its fun to play.

I found its story to be genuinely engrossing as it involves much more than eliminating street gangs and taking out the leader of an international crime syndicate. Saints Row IV is a long game as well, taking me close to fourteen hours to finish (and I still had a large number of side quests and Diversions to complete).

Every single thing in Saints Row 4 is worth doing, which is a huge accomplishment on its own, but its story missions in particular are inventive, hilariously unexpected examples of truly inspired game design.

Volition it seems has made a new standard in over the top…no really I don’t think you understand… they went over the top before. Now they had to raise the bar in standards as well, just so they could go over the top of that.

Let’s put it plainly: if you don’t play Saints Row IV, it means you hate having fun. [CD-Action 10/2013, p.40]

What I love most about IV is how it puts the player first -- absolutely every new feature and ability gifted to the player seems designed purely to make the game more convenient to enjoy, and more fun to play.

Midway through the game, one characters asks The Boss “you’re easily bored, aren’t you?”, to which the boss says “I don’t know, I’m too busy being awesome to notice.” Saints Row IV is all at once puerile, profane and touching, but mainly, it’s too busy being awesome for you to ever get bored.

And for that, warts and all, Saints Row IV became my favorite gaming experience of 2013. Cynicism couldn’t hinder that.

A combination of sublime and ridiculous, Saints Row IV is outlandish fun. [Nov 2013, p.97]

Saints Row IV is wild and wacky, but also provides first class entertainment. [Sept 2013]

Saints Row just got bigger, and even more crazy then ever. After an alien invasion you get stuck in a virtual Steelport. Superpowers, warmongering aliens, crazy minigames and a compelling story make number four the best in the series.

While the game's roots as Saints Row: The Third DLC are still showing, Volition has put together an amazing game from a wide variety of sources. If you're on the same mental wavelength, Saints Row IV is a class act.

Silly, exuberant, funny, chaotic: Saints Row 4 sets you loose in a virtual world and lets you cause havoc however you damn well please.

Saints Row IV jacks up the action, pumps up the silly, but above all, doesn’t lose sight of what makes a game play superbly, and that, Mr President, is how you make an awesome video game.

Saints Row IV is an incredible achievement in the sub-genre of super power action.

I'm not going to even attempt to suggest that Saints Row IV is some kind of video-game-defining-moment or whatever, but at least for this generation, we might have found the best example yet of a big-budget developer doing whatever the hell they want and rather than being generally criticized for what doesn't work, being celebrated by newcomers and fans alike for what does.

The entire time I was playing Saints Row IV, I found myself constantly thinking "It would be totally awesome if..." and then the game would do that awesome thing before I could finish my thought.

Even if you don’t have someone to play co-op with, this is an absolutely captivating experience from start to finish. Whether it’s taking on hordes of endless alien invaders or driving around with your homies, Saints Row IV is just pure, unadulterated fun.

It might not have the sheen of Grand Theft Auto, but Saints Row IV is both gloriously stupid and stupidly good.

Saints Row IV combines irreverence, comedic genius, and fantastic characterisation with one of the most bizarre and ridiculous storylines you’ll see all year. As a total experience, its got the goods.

Overall Saints Row IV is a marvellously enjoyable game, while still suffering from a few of the complaints that the series has always had. The main quests are great, and although the side missions are not painful to play, they don’t pack the same punch. If you played and enjoyed Saints Row The Third, then picking up this sequel is a must. Equally if you’re looking for a game that lets you act like a badass with special powers, this might be a better superhero game than many others that are actually billed as such.

This game was built as an homage to the history of gaming. Sure it’s derivative. Sure it leans heavily on shallow and easy humor. Sure it borrows unrelentingly and unabashedly from any source Volition could pry into the product. Somehow all of that comes together to create a game that is fun, hilarious, addictive, and demands that you find every single collectable possible.

It feels less robust than the last game, but the amount of fun I derived is more than worth diving in for. Grab yourself a donkey beer and a tentacle bat, it is time for some virtual stimulation.

Saints Row IV is for video games what Epic Meal Time is for food. It's crude, vulgar and exaggerated, yet so absurd and insanely crazy that you will still desire to devour it.

It represents a genre that I can not praise too often: the parody games! Just the Mass Effect allusions are worth gold.

Saints Row IV doesn't excel in terms of gameplay, but it hits a home run in terms of fun and laughter. The plot is both absurd and beautiful and the activities are so varied that one can easily forgive its faults. If you want a sandbox and you don't take yourself too seriously, Saints Row IV is a game you don't want to miss.

The fourth part in the Saints Row saga is an outrageous, silly and incredibly entertaining adventure. The days of Grand Theft Auto is since long gone and the game reminds you rather of the super hero games Crackdown and Infamous. An unexpected but welcome change.

Insanely funny, wittily insane. That's Saints Row IV. However, it could stop stealing everything it sees around it, because it gets to be quite a mess. [Issue#233]

Saints Row IV is a really good, grotesque and engrossing sandbox game. Still, you can't overlook some repetitiveness in terms of script and humor, and the visual side is pretty much identical to SR3. Fortunately Volition's new game offers tons of fun, lots of interesting ideas and solutions - a long campaign and a variety of bonus activities will keep you entertained. All in all, the series should benefit from a change of atmosphere and scenery, because it's beginning to chase its own tail.

Volition manages to create yet another crazy sandbox game packed to the brim with content and insanity. It doesn’t manage to reach the overall level of its predecessor but has enough peaks to make you disregard the valleys.

We think there's a story in there somewhere. Saints Row IV is weird. Too weird, in fact. And we love it for that exact reason.

Saint Row 4 is recommended for fans of the saga, but also to those looking for a fast-paced and disengaged title.

There are times when Saints Row IV feels like the greatest super hero game ever made and there are times when it feels paralyzed by all of its power. Even when Saints Row IV retreats into molds it’s perfectly equipped to destroy, it’s always operating under the some of the most ridiculous and hilarious context seen in a videogame.

Unsurprisingly goofy--but it also just happens to be one of the greatest superhero games ever made.

Saints Row 4 does not innovate nor break new ground. What it does do is reinvigorate a simple idea often lost in the race for cinematic showboating: having fun.

The game is packed with some great moments that subvert the open-world crime genre even further than SR3 did, it's funny, and its references aren't just lazily tossed off, they're earned. You'll feel like you've played some of this before, but if you're at all interested in Saints Row's brand of weird, it's absolutely vital.

One thing’s for sure: it’s the one we’ve been waiting to play.

With this fourth chapter, Saints Row has partially lost its identity. It's still fun, at times, but aliens, virtual reality and superpowers ultimately impact not only the gameplay, but also the overall spirit of the saga itself, as the feeling of being part of a criminal gang is utterly gone.

After reading the above, you may think this game is terrible. Here’s the thing though, it really isn’t. Its Saints Row, looking better than ever with some work done under the hood. The trademark humour is there, delivering some hilarious one liners and some genuinely funny dialogue.

The simulated city of Steelport doesn't offer deep gameplay or the most satisfying challenge, but it is a great place to mess around.

Its appeal is shortened by the ludicrous speed at which we can zip across it and grow tired of its lack of challenge.

The special abilities of your playable character as the game fourth instalment's major crowd-puller are not free and easy as they should be, and from a certain point of view they actually do harm its gameplay. When you look at its content it's the third instalment, only extended. However, it lacks its previous charms. If you carry across some of the problems described in my review, the game will reward you with its crazy and funny experience, which becomes the series' custom. Just lower your expectations before the purchase.