'Saints Row IV' Is the Funhouse Mirror of Third-Person Games

What's This?

By Chelsea Stark2013-08-19 20:59:40 UTC

Saints Row IV is the video game equivalent of an action movie. It's not a summer blockbuster like Pacific Rim or Avatar, in which everyday people rise to the rank of hero. It's more analogous to such tongue-in-cheek action films as Crank, Shoot 'Em Up! and The Expendables. It's as ridiculous as you can imagine and it damn well knows it.

Let's set the scene. You play the boss of the Third Street Saints, a street gang that has risen from petty crime to become a household brand. The Saints own businesses, run a successful line of products and are now tasked with missions of national security.

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In the first five minutes of the game, you must disarm a nuclear missile while it's flying toward the United States, climbing along its back during suborbital flight. To really get the mood right, the game plays Aerosmith's "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing," the same song played in Armageddon when Bruce Willis blew up an asteroid. This re-appropriation of that schmaltzy ballad was perfectly timed humor.

After you land in the White House (excuse me, I mean the White Crib), the game flashes forward five years into your presidency, where you're running the country with your crew. Saints Row IV won't allow a lull, so a race of aliens shows up. The extraterrestrial Zin toss the Saints into prisons, a la The Matrix, as they wreak havoc on Earth.

Quirky Missions Mock Gameplay Tropes

The best parts of Saints Row IV hide within its story. The missions are snappy, funny and downright weird. The main story thread dips in and out of the simulation prisons created by the Zin for the boss and several of their crew members. Since these are digital worlds, the rules of reality break down quickly, and the story can take on the most fantastic elements. In this way, Saints Row IV toys with gameplay elements, becoming a funhouse mirror version of what'd you expect from the open-world third-person genre.

The characters question and mock so many gameplay elements we take for granted. The character assigning you tasks like hacking stores and stealing cars admits these are silly gameplay tropes. When you end up on a spaceship between dips into the virtual world, you can opt to romance each and every character — a jab at Mass Effect.

The game is at its most bizarre and original in the missions in which you save characters from their simulated nightmare worlds, again thanks to the lack of any rules grounding the gameplay. It's rare for a game to realize it can make its own rules to give this kind of over-the-top experience.

I don't want to spoil the surprises, but the game includes some nods to a very popular stealth franchise, '80s arcade games and even text-adventure games.

The missions required to earn your team's loyalty are even more wacky. For instance, imagine smoking alien drugs from a busted lightbulb and then attacking furries when you're high. Yup — that happened. Saints Row IV was almost banned in Australia because of this scene, but they settled on just removing that particular scenario.

Snappy dialogue runs through each mission, including your own commentary. Saints Row IV's superior character customization engine allows players to pick from seven voices: three male, three female and one by game vocal celebrity Nolan North. Each voice is well-read, and I appreciated the equally-great female options.

Superpowers and Weapons Add Tedious Confusion

But not all of the game's missions are created equal. The first few hours are structured with missions that force you to make introductions to the game's various activities, which are timed events outside of general gameplay. Some of these are entertaining and fun such as the dark "Insurance Fraud," where you bounce your limp body between speeding cars trying to rack up as much money as possible. Some are more tedious, like the one where you jump between platforms to implausibly improve your data connection.

The main problem with these activities is you feel like you're being strung along a tutorial mode that takes several hours. They're not optional; optional, they are forced in as mission objectives, meaning you can't avoid them to get to other parts of the story.

The addition of superpowers also can be a mixed bag. These superpowers, which you gain through hacking your virtual world, grant incredible speed, amazing jumping ability, elemental combat powers, telekinesis and more. Traditional modes of transportation and weapons are thrown out the window. Why drive when you can bound across your virtual Stillwater in minutes instead of fighting traffic? It's a blast to use, but you'll rarely get a sense of place in the city since you are normally just gliding above it.

There are some traditional weapons, too, though the more novel ones are better in theory than in practice. The dubstep gun, which drops some bass lines as it shoots beams of energy, is a a fun concept that is difficult to actually wield. The same goes for the weirder alien tech you'll pick up along the way.

The superpowers also mean the game's option for co-op play is less useful. In many open-world missions, you could suddenly find yourself several hundred meters away from your partner, which is tricky if either of you need immediate assistance. The story missions are also not designed as cooperative experiences, as many of them have cutscenes that only focus on one protagonist.

Overall, Saints Row IV is a solid experience with a few parts that really drag the game down. Once I got past the first five or so hours of gameplay, I was completely hooked — but getting there was a bit tedious at times. Several game-stopping crashes, as well as glitches that forced me to restart a mission, also complicated things. For the ticket price, this is an enjoyable thrill ride improved by its self-awareness.

Saints Row IV is out Tuesday for PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 for $49.99.

The Lowdown

The Good

• This game takes pride in throwing the weirdest stuff at you and making it enjoyable


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• Hilarious dialogue makes fun of everything, including the game itself


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• Solid shooting mechanic makes the game's combat fun

The Bad

• The game's forced activities can get tedious


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• Some low budget moments, including cut scenes where characters don't move much


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• Bugs and glitches caused the game to crash or required a mission restart

Images: Deep SilverTopics: Entertainment, reviews, Gaming, saints row IV