Follow the white rabbit.
For me to properly articulate my feelings on Saints Row IV, I think you need to know a little bit about my taste in movies. I greatly enjoy quiet little indie films like The Science of Sleep, Once, and Closer. I find them to be wonderful palate cleansers from all of the big budget action flicks that come out every summer. However, some of my favorite movies of all time are what I can only describe as “stupid”; stuff like Crank 2 and UHF starring the one and only “Weird” Al Yankovic. While these movies are lacking in artistic merit, they are immensely entertaining to me, and that’s exactly how I feel about Saints Row IV: a game that gleefully throws the “are games art” question out the window.
Fear not, Saints Row is Still NUTS!
Within 20 minutes of my hands on with Saints Row IV I had stopped a nuclear explosion, become president, punched a guy right below the belt, and laid waste to an army of aliens with a Red, White and Blue machine gun turret. I might add, all in hilarious fashion. As I played, I had this huge grin, which kept getting bigger. One of the things I appreciated with Saints Row 3 is how it redefined itself and set itself apart from the juggernaut Grand Theft Auto by getting creative and going off the wall. Saints Row IV has clearly continued down that path.
Hail to the Chief, baby!
It’s been a long, hazardous road from Saints Row the Third to the fourth entry in the series. As Volition began work on a final (and massive) piece of DLC for the third game, THQ was collapsing around it. Realizing that Saints Row was one of the company’s last best chances for survival, then-CEO Jason Rubin got the team working on a proper Saints Row sequel, using the DLC as a springboard for the new game. While this news rubbed some fans the wrong way, it seemed like it wouldn’t matter, as THQ indeed shut down, its major IPs and studios sold off to the highest bidders. Thankfully, Volition survived intact, and from what I’ve seen of Saints Row IV, fans have a lot to look forward to.