Reviews// Saints Row IV

For all the use of superpowers in the game, much of the combat is still based around gunplay. It's the fast, furious, manic school of gunplay that's on offer. You'll almost certainly take damage during a shootout, but the trick is to deal out enough of it yourself so that your enemies leak sufficient health all over the floor to keep you going. There's not a lot of art or subtlety to taking out enemies – it's a numbers game.

It's a numbers game that, when you're running round them at super-speed or freezing them on the spot, is immense fun. You have a lot of different options when taking out enemies, and while there's rarely a solution that's particularly smarter than any of the others, it is good fun going about things however you damn well please.

Topographically, Steelport is much the same as it's ever been. What's different here, aesthetically-speaking, is the perpetual apocalyptic atmosphere and hovering warships brought along by the invasion force. The big difference, though, is the way you'll navigate the game. With the inclusion of super-speed, gliding abilities and wall running for navigating the city, the use of vehicles feels a bit redundant.

Sure, you drain a stamina bar as you use your powers, but if fills back up so quickly this isn't much of a deterrent. The fact that you can also go over just about any obstacle means that, unless you particularly fancy a drive, going on foot is a no-brainer. That's a pretty massive twist on the usual vehicle-based sandbox formula. Movement probably feels closest to [PROTOTYPE], and comes with moments of clunkiness. Most likely because of the speed you can move at, it's simply not as smooth as an inFamous or Assassin's Creed. What SRIV lacks in finesse, however, it makes up for in bombast.

It is, however, pretty ugly. There's loads of draw-in, the design behind it isn't great and the textures look a little like Volition just gave up on them. Part of me wants to forgive this because it's an open-world game, but I somehow don't think GTA V will look like this when it launches next month. I'd suggest, however, that this is something you can overlook.

And sometimes, yes, the humour comes off like it was written by a reasonably clever 17-year-old who just watched a few repeats of Jackass. But sometimes it nails it, too. There are knowing nods to things like The Matrix without things ever getting too ham-fisted, and there's some really solid voice acting to help smooth over some of the cracks.

I'm also a little conflicted as to whether taking this direction with the game is a brilliant move or, with Volition having smelled a new GTA on the breeze, a desperate one. But it doesn't really matter, does it? The result is a game rammed with great, varied, overblown content. It might not have the sophistication of inFamous or Assassin's Creed, but there's very little here that you won't enjoy. And it's got a certain gutsy ridiculousness that only Saints Row can deliver.

Pros:
+ Great 'do anything' ethos
+ Powers are a batshit-crazy good time
+ The whole game just sweats fun

Cons:
+ Ugly
+ Controls can be rough

SPOnG Score: 9/10