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dkirschner's Saints Row IV (PC)

[June 12, 2017 05:22:11 PM]

At least as good as the third one. Thoroughly entertaining arcade third-person shooter superhero mayhem. What they teased at the end of the previous game became the core of this one. Within an hour, you're jumping over tall buildings and flying through the air across the map. Reminds me a lot of Infamous, predictably mixed with GTA.

The story involves an alien invasion and the Saints saving themselves from their new alien overlords. They all exist in a simulation Stillwater (aliens destroyed Earth), and that's why you get crazy super powers. It's very Matrix-ish, and they spoof The Matrix in the training missions (practice your new abilities on some very high rooftops) and with a character in a DLC.

Your powers are amazing. Aside from super sprinting and basically flying, you can shoot ice, fire, explosions, and money. You can mind control enemies. You can fly up and super stomp the ground. You have telekinetic powers. And you can like charge yourself and your ammo with different elements. I mean, you wreak total havok on enemies. It's great. I never got tired of flying toward a bunch of aliens, hurling a massive fireball, and exploding the whole city block, killing everything. The movement and combat are extremely fluid and feel natural.

There are also new activities (mini-games / side missions), and I got an achievement for doing ALL of them, haha. And there are about 10 different kinds, from rather mundane ones like stealing and returning a car or killing all the enemies in an area to Prof Genki's murder bowl, this other crazy Genki one where you use telekinesis to hurl objects (people, vehicles, or Genki heads) through colored hoops, races, platforming puzzles, hacking puzzles, mayhem (with tanks, mech suits, RPGs, you name it), something I can only describe as Wii Soccer meets Breakout, and more. Oh, and insurance fraud returns! I didn't like it at first because I didn't get it, but then I figured out how to do well. The premise of this is that you throw yourself into oncoming traffic and rack up insurance claims. Your character is a hilarious ragdoll if you get to doing it right. I would flail from one side of the map to the other bouncing along the street getting hit by cars and ramming into signs and benches and knocking people over.

I remember I had issues with sexism in the last game, but I didn't get that vibe in this one. You still get a dildo bat and other sex toy weapons. Female blow-up dolls are set dressing sometimes. The first DLC is called Enter the Dominatrix and is BDSM-themed. It all seems to be much more in good fun and equally distributed, i.e., women are not only the butt of sex jokes. Plus they made it so the main character can "romance" the entire crew. You have two options to talk to anyone at all times: "Talk to [crew member]" and "Romance [crew member]." The romancing options are funny and lead to sexual activity with men, women, and a robot.

Hmm, what else? Ah yes, they upped their game with the music. TONS of sing-a-longs and hit songs in this game from the 80s and 90s, most notably for me Biz Markie's "Just a Friend." And when the simulation starts glitching out, the art is so cool. You'll notice that walls "crawl" during the game, but as you go on, the effects get cooler as the city and its people get more messed up. By the end, there are like insect people and toilets and cars start driving of the road and the screen tears, and all sorts of stuff.

Also, nod to the DLCs. Enter the Dominatrix was actually supposed to be DLC for Saints Row: The Third, but was shelved. So in this DLC, it tells an alternate history of Saints Row IV and is made to look like a commentary by the Saints themselves as they watch the mission. It's really neat the way they did that, used old content in a self-referential manner set up like a talk show interview / commentary. The Christmas DLC was fun too. Turns out the aliens abducted Santa Claws and destroyed his mind and only the Saints can save Christmas. You like A Christmas Story and other Christmas movies? Enjoy the parodies. Each DLC is just about an hour long.

You like parodies in general? Enjoy Saints Row IV. You'll find wonderful levels referencing Metal Gear, Streets of Rage, and other franchises. Will miss the humor. Do I have another funny game to play in my queue? I dunno. Probably none as good as this. Well, on to the next thing.