Where Dubstep Kills

Frame drops? It's fine. Game freezes? No sweat. Game bugs out? Like I care.

IT. IS. SAINTS. ROW. IV. PEOPLE.

Wow. Just, a great time playing the game, and... WHOO!

*cough*

Alright, back to business. In Saints Row IV, you play as the leader of the Saints, who just got "promoted" from being an international pop culture icon to the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. But wait! Just when you thought you were gonna have a good time being possibly the most powerful man on the Earth, an advanced alien race led by Zinyak comes and ruins everything. It's all up to you to lead the Saints in a battle against Zinyak and the Zin Empire.

Right, so like its predecessor, Saints Row IV has tons of parodies, pop culture references and over-the-top shenanigans. Seriously. A dubstep gun? Giant soda can monster on a rampage? "What Is Love" playing during an action sequence? And, *gasp*, Metal Gear Solid and Splinter Cell references? 

C'mon! What is not to love about all these?

The Boss (your character) mainly operates in a virtual reality, or a simulation. In there, you get to use superpowers. You can freeze your enemies with an ice blast, then super-stomp and watch them crumble; or, you can leap across buildings and run past traffic like you're the Flash. Heck, by collecting Clusters, you can power up to find yourself running on water. So much power, yet so little responsibility. 

The game operates the same as Saints Row: The Third - complete side missions to gain control over territories, gain money and upgrade your abilities or weapons, and mess around in the world while deciding if you are finally willing to move on with the story (I took my time messing around, so...)

So, as you power yourself up, you get more and more prepared to face Zinyak. However, if you are to face Zinyak in the real world, what about your powers?? Your weapons?? Aren't they all in the simulation? *gasp*

Psshh, when I got to the end, I was mindblown. Long story short - I sort of became Isaac Clarke.

ALRIGHT MOVING ON!!

This game is amazing. Let me lay the cards down right now. Yes, the game crashes at times and bugs can pop up from time to time, having you restart the machine (although it could be my console that's buggy, but other games work fine, so...). Also, yes, frames dropped during my playthrough. I stated all of that in the beginning of this post. Guess what? None of that matters. Saints Row IV was about entertainment, and I was entertained.

Let me say that playing this cleared my palate after Assassin's Creed 3. I actually enjoyed myself. Yes, power-ups do come from side missions and challenges, but the side missions involve integral characters to the game, and doing them was less... clunky, so to speak. In AC3, travelling to my objectives was a hassle. In SR4, travelling was fun. Jumping across buildings and running at the speed of a bullet? It felt really great, especially when I ran into cars... Huehuehuehue...

Right! Aside from fun times with powers, I really enjoyed the arsenal of guns introduced in this installment. Take for example, the Dubstep Gun. DUBSTEP. GUN. You wub your enemies to death. Seriously, I'm not joking. You aim it at your opponents, charge the gun and when the bass drops, your enemies start dancing and the guy you aim at, dies. Check out the video.

As if that wasn't enough, Saints Row IV also throws at you plenty of ridiculous enemies. Not convinced? In a mission to rescue your friend, you have to fight a kaijuu soda can. Yes. A huge, towering soda can monster with angry, glowing-red eyes ready to smash you into oblivion. By the way, his name is Paul, so don't be rude now.

Side missions involve having you running a race with your super speed, completing platforming mini-games, causing mayhem with your superpowers... OR WITH A MECH SUIT!!! 

Ahhh... But really though, there are loads of goodies to be discovered in the game. A Double Dragon parody mini-game... Flying an aircraft while "What Is Love" is playing... Having a Mass Effect-esque headquarters... Deciding between curing cancer or solving world hunger... Loads of fun.

I did not play co-op, since I enjoy playing alone. If I am not mistaken, you can get 100% achievement without ever touching co-op, which is nice. If you do have a friend and you choose to play together, I'm sure chaos will ensue. So, go ahead and do it.

Take note however, that this game reuses a lot of assets from the previous Saints Row game. Some people have been complaining about how they feel cheated over being charged so much for a game which might as well have been released as a DLC. Well, for started, I'm not sure if THQ's finances had anything to do with them having to reuse so much stuff, but it could've been a factor. Also, this game plays nothing like Saints Row: The Third, and there are lots of new stuff in it, so don't sulk that much.

Alright. This game is fun. It is over the top. It is meant to be a game where you get to relax and go wild in. If you are looking for something serious and picked up this game, don't be disappointed over it. Well, you have been warned. You probably want a Grand Theft Auto game, not this one.

My mind's all over the place. Need some sleep.

SO!

Should you get this game? Absolutely. Should you get it immediately? Depends. If you are tired of serious games and need a change of pace, you should try it out. If you are interested and you are willing to wait, I would suggest waiting for a price drop/GOTY release/discount. 

Because the game entertained me so, I award it an 8.5/10. Although I really enjoyed myself, I felt that had the developers been more thorough with the development (bugs, frame drops, crashes), I would have had an even better experience (which would net it a 9). 

Alright, onwards!