It feels like Saints Row IV was originally meant to be DLC for The Third, but then was expanded with a bunch of side missions and activities to fill up the gameplay hours. While it’s understandable to some degree given the plot, another thing that bugged me was the fact that the game is set in Steelport… again.
This is further compounded by the reused jokes or memes that were established in the previous game, which were very obvious and hard for me to enjoy when I knew the writing staff was trying too hard to capture the spirit of its predecessor. When that game did reference something, it was for one or a few missions, not through the entire main plot. However, I didn’t think this didn’t fit within the Saints universe I am just saying that the previous Saints Row game was more original and much more fresh.
The whole game feels like one element or another has been taken from something that was established somewhere else, thus this made my whole experience feel a little cheap and predictable.
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The player will see many similarities to their favourite or loathed science fiction movies or TV shows. In gist, the story is very straight-forward and unoriginal. It just means nothing has changed, so it feels reused and done before – which brings me to my biggest complaint about the game: The story.
This is not to say that it’s a bad thing by any means, especially if you enjoyed the mindless murder and mayhem from the previous games. The game combat has not changed from the previous game in fact, it is practically an exact clone. This change isn’t necessarily all bad, but it does make a large portion of the previous game’s appeal go right out the window. This also means that aircraft serves almost no purpose unless it’s required for a mission. This is both good and bad the game wants you to focus on customizing vehicles early on, but this is a waste when you can run or glide faster than anything on the road or in the air. The inclusion of super powers has changed how the player will travel around the world. Powers are upgraded by finding clusters scattered throughout the world, which can take a long time to collect but can be easily maxed-out well before most of your other weapons or traits, because the cache income is still low throughout the whole game. Instead, you hack them, but negating that perk is the fact that the upgrades still remain costly. This time around, gaining cache (aka: cash) is easier because you don’t buy store fronts.
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The upgrade system for the weapons, introduced by Saints Row: The Third, is still in place. Upon completing these side quests, you will also gain control of a small section of the city the more you control, the more money you earn. Many of the new powers and weapons will be given either by buying them at a store or completing the many side quests given to you by your closest homies, where the Boss (aka: you) needs to partake in hacking, blitzes (running game), Genki Bowl, fight club, and so forth, throughout the city. The virtual world is a pliable space, the Boss can now use special powers within the Steelport simulation to quickly navigate the city by leaping tall buildings in a single bound, being faster than a locomotive, setting enemies on fire, picking things or people up telekinetically, and oh so much more.
Saints Row IV brings us back to the city of Steelport – well, a virtual one – where it works much like a network information hub, connecting the different simulations together. The Boss, along with the other Saints, find themselves against the most dire of odds and must form new allies to achieve their ultimate goal: To kill Zinyak. Their intent is to enslave the human race, and they’re doing this is by breaking the abductees’ will by tossing them into their own virtual hell. The Boss, the Saints and the rest of planet Earth are defenseless against the invasion. These achievements are quickly overshadowed when the world is invaded by Zinyak, however, an evil alien overlord who rules the Zin Empire – not to be confused with that other alien, Zim. The Boss of the Saints has achieved much since we last played him/her in Saints Row: The Third, having stopped a terrorist plot to nuke America and then becoming the President.