Saints Row: Gat Out of Hell

For those never venturing into Saints Row IV this is a must-buy, and for those that did, Gat Out of Hell is a solid expansion that should satiate the hunger for the inevitable Saints Row V we all hope is coming sooner rather than later.

Interestingly, Gat Out of Hell doesn't really feature traditional story missions. Instead, it tasks you with completing handfuls of side activities for its condemned supporting characters, and triggers cutscenes once you've finished a certain number of them. It's an odd, somewhat repetitive approach, although making side tasks key to story progression does make them feel a lot more worthwhile.

Gat Out of Hell comes up short in mission variety, but concludes in a tantalizing way: with five different endings.

Saints Row: Gat Out of Hell is a bargain for fans of Saints Row IV. There's less content included, but what is on offer here is good.

It's the kind of expansion that gets you imagining what else this world and these characters are capable of, which is the best kind of disappointment you can have.

I can only do so much collectible hunting and identical mini-games, and this is coming from someone who has loved the inFamous games. As such, Gat Out of Hell is strictly for fans of Saints Row IV, those who have been wanting to play more of exactly that.

Gat out of Hell lack the deep humor that characterized Saints Row IV, and its almost non-existent story make it more a collection of random missions than a proper story epilogue. It's still enjoyable thanks to the new powers and a solid gameplay, but it remains far from the original game's quality.

Saints Row: Gat Out of Hell is the Big Mac of games. You know what you’re getting, it’s a bit cheap, you enjoy eating it, you don’t have to chew and an hour later you’ve forgotten all about it. Utterly unchallenging and lacking in fresh ideas, Gat Out of Hell is still capable of making you smile.

The key problem with the expansion is that Saints Row has now become impossible to one up, even by its makers, due in no small part to the fact that it went off the scale bonkers in the main Saints Row IV adventure. Mix this in with the fact that the port is poor, bordering on shoddy, and you are left with a game that looks last gen, plays last gen and offers very little in the way of new content.

Gat Out of Hell is the first title in the series for the current generation of consoles, therefore we expected improvements on both, graphics and gameplay. Unfortunately, Gat Out of Hell feels like an expansion, not a brand new title.

Saints Row: Gat out of Hell is the Saints Row you know and love, minus the good stuff. A lack of humor, repetitive missions and structure for this short expansion leave a lot to be desired.

If you’re looking for a new collection of Saints Row activities in a new setting, Gat out of Hell is just that, so it can be enjoyed if you go in without expecting a significant upgrade to what’s been seen numerous times before in the series.

Although it pains me to say this, Saints Row: Gat out of Hell is sinfully disappointing. That's not to say that it's a bad game, because it isn't, but it's far from what it could've been.

Flying is fun, but flimsy presentation clips its wings. [March 2015, p.78]