Open world
games need to deliver two things: Power and Freedom. Saints Row 4 delivers both, along with generous helpings of style
and humor.
Top of the World
As the
opening remind us the Third Street Saints have gone from thuggish street gang
to something more akin to an international multimedia empire. The series has
followed a similar trajectory, starting as an off-brand Grand Theft Auto and evolving to embrace an ever escalating level
of absurdity. Anyone who played the third game might ask, not
unreasonably, where the series can possibly go next.
The answer
is straight to the top and over. The opening mission concludes with the Boss (the
player character) disarming a nuclear missile in mid-air to the tune of
Aerosmith’s "I Don't Wanna Miss a Thing". Events then jump five years
into the future where the Boss has (improbably) parlayed their heroism into a
successful run for the office of US president.
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| Choices, choices. |
Commander in Chief
We rejoin
the story in the middle of an average presidential day of signing bills to cure
cancer, discussing policy with Vice President and talented actor Keith David,
and punching obnoxious senators in the groin. Sadly before we can finish out
the term in the shoes of the POTUS an alien invasion arrives. Despite a brief,
valiant battle through the White House the Boss and the rest of the Saints find
themselves captured and imprisoned in a series of virtual reality simulations.
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| The Zin empire bought their vehicles straight from the TRON surplus sale. |
You see
where this is going? Every time it appears events have hit the level of maximum
absurdity the game boldly states: “That’s nothing. Watch this!” Even if whatever
is going on doesn’t make a tremendous amount of sense the energy is infectious.
Like a hyperactive friend rattling off directly from their stream of consciousness
SR4 is clearly having so much fun
it’s hard not to get carried along by the enthusiasm.
All this
setup is an elaborate excuse to turn you lose in a virtual version of
Steelport, now featuring hostile red Tron lines and an alien mothership
hovering ominously overhead. Of course any computer program can be hacked and
manipulated. After a mission or two of getting your bearings the Boss finds themself
armed with what amount to superpowers.
Man of Steel
Once you
obtain your first set of powers the Boss can sprint up the side of buildings,
glide from rooftop to rooftop, and hurtle vast distances in a single bound.
Cars and even helicopters quickly become obsolete. These powers put SR4 more in common with the Prototype and Crackdown series than its crime-themed themed roots.
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| Melee enemies at super speed to trigger a brutal takedown. |
Moving
around the city is a kinetic joy. At full speed the Boss can effortlessly
plough through fences, pedestrians, and even oncoming cars, giving you a
perpetual and destructive right of way. Few enemies approach your level of raw
mobility and disengaging from a losing fight is just a charged leap away. Literally
hundreds of collectables scattered over the city rooftops encourage exploration
and using your powers to the fullest.
SR4 hurls concepts like balance boldly out the window in
the name of joyfully broken, chaotic fun. The power to materialize a tank at
will (available quite early) is but one of the least of your abilities. Basic
enemies serve more as physics props than a combat challenge. Once you’ve secured
a few upgrades the difference between a squad of alien warriors and a squad
of alien warriors that are exploding, on fire, and hurling through the air all at
the same time is less than two seconds.
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| Why drive when you can glide? |
Guns remain
useful but superpowers are unquestionably the stars of the show in combat.
All are fun and tremendously satisfying to unleash on hapless Zin troopers or
random pedestrians. Icy blasts turn foes into frozen statues, shattering at the
slightest touch. Telekinesis (one of the better implementations of this kind of
ability I’ve seen) turns enemies and vehicles into improvised projectiles or
simply lets you send them soaring over the horizon. Even simply ploughing
through a pack of infantry with super speed engaged knocks them over like
bowling pins.
Dangerous Toys
Outside of
the more linear and scripted missions you generally have the freedom to tackle
enemies in whatever way you see fit. If you want to faff around on rooftops and
pick at guys with the sniper rifle that’s certainly an option. You’ll probably
have more fun calling in a squad of backup Saints and wading in with powers and
guns blazing. As mentioned powerful vehicles are available quite early on, so
summoning the appropriate ride and obliterating the opposition with hovercraft
missiles or tank cannon fire does the job nicely.
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| Cultured but ruthless alien emperor Zinyak fills out the antagonist role with style. |
Completing SR4’s missions and activities supplies a
constant stream of rewards beyond just XP and cash. Weapons, powers, vehicles,
and allies are all doled out at a steady clip, ensuring you’ve always got
something new to try. Their actual effectiveness can range from purely cosmetic
to ridiculously overpowered, but as is appropriate for an open world game there
is no shortage of toys to play with.
City control
returns, bringing with it a host of optional activates that let you wrest
control of the simulation away from the Zin piece by piece. There are an embarrassment
of things to do, though the super-speed racing and telekinetic object hurtling stand
out. Success rewards you with an ever increasing regular income, generic Saints
backup in areas you control, and the satisfaction of slowly turning the city
from hostile red to soothing blue.
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| Wardens take a combination of superpowers, concentrated fire, and a QTE to finally take down. |
Since much
of the game, even within its own context, takes place within a VR simulation
there’s little reason not to run amuck whenever the mood takes you. While you
can’t demolish buildings the various cars, pedestrians, and smaller
environmental props can all be hurtled, ignited, and exploded at whim. Causing
enough chaos eventually causes a hulking “Warden” mini-boss to be dispatched to
the scene. These creatures provide a much needed combat challenge at first,
though the quick-time event required to finish them off eventually becomes a
bit monotonous.
Represent
SR4 is unafraid to wear its geek cred on its sleeves. The
game is unashamedly crammed with references from stock material like the Matrix and Mass Effect to more eclectic cult favorites like They Live. Fans of the series will enjoy
a host of returning characters and nods to previous games. Even amid all the superpowers
and general lunacy the game takes a few moments to make peace with its gangland
origins and tie off dangling plot and character threads in satisfying fashion.
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| A great many characters, gangs, and locations from previous games show up at one point or another. |
The often
playful back and forth between the Boss and the rest of the Saints is the core
of the game’s humor. An open-world game can conceivably get away with minimal
cast and characterization but SR4
delivers consistently strong character work and dialog. There is a level of
fourth wall breaking meta awareness that may annoy some tastes, but it’s
generally used with an appropriate level of restraint.
Even with a
cast of strong characters (including some returning fan favorites) alien emperor Zinyak earns his place as a memorable and worthwhile antagonist. His
introduction establishes him as a more than credible threat: intellectually,
physically, and technologically superior to the Boss. Excellent voice acting
presents him a man who maintains a thin veneer of culture and playful civility
over a core of utter ruthlessness. Every time Zinyak and the Boss square off
it’s a treat, and he stands bulbous head and spiky shoulders above your average
video game villain.
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| SR4 never misses a chance to lampoon another game. |
Past the
introductory set of missions the core structure becomes an oddly effective Mass Effect Two parody/homage. Each
member of the Saint’s crew needs to be rescued from the simulation and, once
secured, bolstered with a loyalty mission. These missions allow some one on one
time and character development with each member of the gang, but also let the
designers and writers to cut loose and fit in as many loving parodies of other
games as possible. Keep an eye out for
the excellent side-scrolling beat-em-up.
Riding Dirty
While a
beautiful example of the open world genre there are a few issues with SR4. The super speed and jump, while
ridiculously fun, are frustratingly imprecise at times. They’re fine for
traveling vast distances but can be infuriating when trying to pluck a collectable
off a narrow surface or perform any sort of other precision maneuver. Some sort
of setting between the sluggish normal movement and blisteringly fast and
powerful super-movement might have helped.
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| All clothing is purely cosmetic, so free and breezy (with built in censoring) is a legitimate way to play. |
Late game
rampages also become awkwardly paced. As you processed through missions the
game shifts from throwing large numbers of basic troops at you in response to
open world chaos to deploying smaller numbers of tougher and more specialized
enemies. Alert levels also seem to ramp up much more quickly. It starts to feel
like you can barely get a good rampage started before you find yourself facing
a Warden. All this can make grinding for the many kill related challenges and
achievements a pain, if you care about that sort of thing.
Finally a
few of mini-games (particularly the bomb tossing one) are more annoying than
fun. None of these things should dissuade you from trying the game if you enjoy
open-word style gameplay at all. Saint’s
Row 4 consistently delivers over the top fun with a healthy dose of genuine
humor and serves as a worthy capstone to the long running series.
Reasons to
play: Excellent navigation and combat superpowers. Huge toybox of weapons,
powers and vehicles to play with. Hilarious characters and dialog. Infinite
cosmetic character customization.
Reasons to
pass: Movement superpowers can be frustratingly imprecise. Grindy challenges
and achievements, especially in the late game.
Articles copyright James Cousar, games and images copyright their respective owners.
