Saints Row IV: Offering Plenty of Absurd Entertainment

Saints Row IV: Offering Plenty of Absurd Entertainment

Saints Row IV
PlayStation 3
Deep Silver
Action/Adventure

Saints Row IV offers players with one of those experiences that goes so very far over the top that it becomes a stupidly fun time. That’s the point of Saints Row IV, to entertain players with silly situations and crazy out of control gameplay that it’s just simply fun to cause chaos and progress their way through the game. The Saints crew has made their way to the top as players take the role of the President of the United States, and it’s up to him to stop invading aliens from destroying everything they know. Oh yeah, and the president has big and crazily powerful guns, along with super powers that he’ll use to stop anyone who gets in his way.

Players will learn super powers as they progress through the game, such as super sprint and jump. They’ll also be able to shot fire and ice, along with using telekinesis to move most objects in the game. These things create a very interesting time while roaming the streets of the open world, or roaming from one roof top to the next; whatever you prefer. The reason behind these super powers is because the alien captors have trapped the president in a simulation world where, thanks to friends, he receives all the help he needs to learn these new special abilities. He’s in the Matrix!

The storyline feels so bizarre that it’s totally awesome, especially as many situations are based on other games and movies. To name a few of the early on references, players are reminded of Armageddon, The Matrix, Tron, and Metal Gear Solid. It’s quite fun how they add in the little details with each game and movie, which I won’t go into detail because I don’t want to spoil the fun for someone else. But there are a lot of situational aspects and comments that players will enjoy and laugh about. This is a big part of the game’s charm, or charm-like features, because I’m not sure “charming” is a good word to call this game. There are 37 quests for players to progress through and many side quests. There are also challenges to complete throughout the game which provides for many additional hours of fun, crazy fun!

Does anyone remember those old days in the past where friends would get together to play a game and have so much fun with it that they’ll spend all night long going through it to collect all the items, beat all the side quests, and then find something more to do as well? Saints Row IV offers that type of enjoyment for friends to gather around and laugh at the ridiculousness that this game provides, yet still play through it because it’s that entertaining.

Saints Row IV is still far from perfect though, especially when it comes to some moments with the gameplay. I hate traveling by vehicle as it seems to be too crowded on the streets and it’s somewhat hard to handle in some areas. I’m not able to easily cruise around town like I want to without running into something. So, I prefer to use my awesome super sprinting abilities to get around, which is a much faster way of transport anyway. The action isn’t all that great at times either. It’s totally fine when using a new and awesomely powerful weapon for the first time or when going through some of the main quests, but it still has moments where it begins to feel slightly dull. That’s especially noticeable when fighting in the open world against aliens or the police as some situations go on for far too long. I find it better to just run away so that I can continue on with the main quest without running into random side quest annoyances.

I’m simply, overall, not impressed with the quality of gameplay that’s offered in Saints Row IV. The shooting element works fine, though when players are stuck with a basic gun while going against a seemingly endless amount of enemies, it becomes too much and it wares on the players patience. Also, the use of fire, ice, and telekinesis grows old very quickly as well. Unfortunately, most players will want to progress through the story as quickly as possible to be done with it. Thankfully they’ll get some laughs along the way, but the super abilities and super weapons grow old after a few uses.

Still, nothing can even come close to offering some of the moments that this game provides to gamers. Moments that have them laughing out of their seat because it’s just so stupid and bizarre to see in a video game, yet there it is and it’s funny. I may have found issues in the gameplay and quickly grew tired of using my super speed and jumps to move throughout the city, but it’s still worth experiencing, especially if players are looking for a good laugh. A lot of my disappointment probably revolves around how tiring the game becomes after only a few hours. It’s just not funny enough to keep the overall game entertaining.

Saints Row IV is basically like a sandbox full of powerful toys and abilities for players to use to cause massive destruction. That’s what makes the game fun to play, for a while at least, along with paying attention to the absurd storyline and characters. This is a good game for friends to play together while laughing at some of the ridiculous situations, but its appeal won’t last long, especially once the main quests are complete.

Score: 7.5/10

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  1. I played through it a week back, and it is indeed pretty fun. The key is to not take it seriously and just enjoy the crazy gameplay.