Saint’s Row 4 has been out slightly more than 24 hours (on this continent anyways) and I have spent a full third of that invested into the game. Since I so rarely get to write a review for a recent game here’s one now!
This is going to be as spoiler free as I can get not because the Saints Row series has such a deep narrative but because it’s a game built on shock and awe and if you know what’s coming it would diminish the “Oh. My. God” factor of watching it unfold. Ready for the review? Here we go!
It’s fucking awesome.
End of review.
Okay, maybe that was too brief but unlike Tomb Raider I don’t have a lot to say. The GTA ripoff is still there but, like the graphics which are virtually identical to SR3, they’ve gone and done something you wouldn’t expect them to do with that groundwork. The gameplay is ridiculously fun, the atmosphere is ridiculously engaging, and the plot is ridiculously ridiculous. It’s just the perfect ending (because they’ve said this’ll be the end of this particular series of Saints games) to a series that continually pushed the envelope and did things no one ever expected.
I’m not going to say it’s the best game ever. I will say it’s a contender for greatest game ever. It may not be perfect however every choice and design in this game was put there in the name of fun. It’s not trying to be the focus-tested generic slew of games but it’s also not trying to break the mold. It’s showing us what we can do with the tools we have and the desire to make a fantastic game out of it. I can say without a doubt this is the most fun superhero game I’ve ever played and it blows my mind that it came from a series about stealing cars and mugging drug dealers. The unfettered joy this game unleashes in you cannot be put into a better turn of phrase than “It’s fun and you should play it.”
