Zero Punctuation: Saints Row 4

[Balkan]

The funniest part was that both the president and vice president were british.

 

[Stabby Joe]

I'm actually glad it he liked it to a degree if only to not give ammunition to the hardcore Saints Row 2 fans who hated on this game long before the game even came out and still do. While I did prefer 2 over 3, 4 is like a whole different game, a great one at that. As Yahtzee correctly pointed, the Third was the odd one out really.

If the developers intend on keeping this identity, the next step would be mixing elements that made 2 great into it, such as territory and greater choice.

 

[teebeeohh]

this is my favourite saints row game. 1 was utter shit, 2 was probably better but the pc port sucked a lot of fun outta that and 3, while still a lot of fun, just felt like a downgrade(i know this is silly but one thing i loved in 2 was that you could put on layers of cloth). this one has superpowers and superpowers make sandbox games so much better.

 

[templar1138a]

Well, THAT explains why it took so long for you to get this review up. I was starting to worry.

Points you raised in your Saints Row 2 review led to my buying that game. Points you raised about SR3 made me decide not to buy it. The points you've raised about SR4? Hm... well, between those and the fact that the transgendering options are back, I guess I'll buy it via Steam when it's down to about thirty bucks.

 

[Frezzato]

I enjoyed them all, though SR3 was a bit to over the top, though it had its moments. I enjoyed SR4. Was a lot of fun and its exactly what i thought it was. An very funny places, loved the singing scene in the car. They said this is the last Saints Row game. I would like another gang game, i did miss the whole starting from nothing and slowly taking over areas, buy houses and buildings etc

It might be a little late to suggest this with GTA V right around the corner, but have you ever played Saints Row 2? If not, I highly recommend it. That being said, I'm in total agreement with you.

As for Yahtzee, Saints Row 2 was no GTA knockoff. They had 3 more years of development time after San Andreas was released, and it shows. As far as I'm concerned, Saints Row 2 kicks the ass of every GTA game made up to today. That doesn't mean I don't love GTA San Andreas though. Or Saints Row the Third. Or Saints Row IV.

 

[MB202]

So I'm wondering, is Yahtzee going to review Rayman Legends? I can think of several criticisms that he'd make for the game, even though I loved it.

 

[teamcharlie]

For all the pretensions of 'quality' in Saints Row IV, this was absolutely the least fun I've had playing a game in the main series (never played SR 1, so take that with a grain of salt if you like).

The writing is decent, the missions are inventive, but when it gets right down to it there's just nothing spectacular about SRIV. Where's the moment when you realize the Boss is about to give Worf face cancer? When does the Hulk make you drive around in a convertible with a tiger riding shotgun? When am I going to meet and gain the trust of a new, absolutely ridiculous lieutenant like Zimos locked up in a sex dungeon?

In the end it just felt like an extended, official piece of fanfiction. Put all the old characters in an enclosed space, make the main character bone/explode/shoot/shockwave whoever you want, spank the monkey, repeat. I never felt an attachment to anybody in the game except for Pierce and Zinyak (I was surprised to realize I no longer cared what happened to Kinzie, but she's really changed from the 1337 haxxx0r who IRL hides under the table at a pancake house), and for all the talk of 'inclusivity' what that really seemed to mean was that nothing was particularly fleshed out and that none of your choices mattered. Maybe it would have been interesting if Gat was homophobic, or Pierce was totally gay or Kinzie wouldn't sleep with you unless you were part cyborg. In fact, I can't recall making any choices in the game after the white house mission, and never any with a lasting effect aside from when I want to buy X, Y or Z.

So, yeah. Disappointed.

 

[Strain42]

I played Saints Row 1 out of a deal with my best friend (we would each play a game the other one likes that we normally wouldn't play. I played Saints Row and he played Persona 3) and I thought it was pretty good. I liked the characters and story and all that good stuff.

Saints Row 2 came out and I freakin' loved it. One of my all time favorite games, easily in my top 10. Loved the mix of wackiness still fairly grounded in reality.

Saints Row the Third I thought took a huge leap towards crazy, with stuff like one of the enemy gang leaders being defeated through a freakin' video game and then just chased out of town rather than killed, but despite the story being a little bit TOO wacky for my tastes, I still had fun with the actual game.

Saints Row IV on the other hand...I haven't bought, and I'm not going to anytime soon. Not because I think it looks bad, not because I think it'll be even further away from what I loved about 2, but because I know sometime next year or so there's gonna be a Saints Row IV: Fudge off Aliens Edition or whatever it ends up being called that'll include all the super fun DLC stuff and will probably cost less than buying SR4 right now anyways.

Sooo...y'know...I'll get it later.

 

[Quiotu]

I enjoyed them all, though SR3 was a bit to over the top, though it had its moments. I enjoyed SR4. Was a lot of fun and its exactly what i thought it was. An very funny places, loved the singing scene in the car. They said this is the last Saints Row game. I would like another gang game, i did miss the whole starting from nothing and slowly taking over areas, buy houses and buildings etc

It might be a little late to suggest this with GTA V right around the corner, but have you ever played Saints Row 2? If not, I highly recommend it. That being said, I'm in total agreement with you.

As for Yahtzee, Saints Row 2 was no GTA knockoff. They had 3 more years of development time after San Andreas was released, and it shows. As far as I'm concerned, Saints Row 2 kicks the ass of every GTA game made up to today. That doesn't mean I don't love GTA San Andreas though. Or Saints Row the Third. Or Saints Row IV.

I think better than any other games I've seen, GTA3 and Saints Row 2 both do a very good job of portraying you as the soulless bad guy. You're not even an anti-hero, you're a legitimate monster, and you have to be the BEST monster and defeat all the other monsters to win. Saints Row 2 I think is a step better because there's an actual story behind it all rather than go here, get instructions, and kill things like GTA3.

Which is why I think the stark contrast between SR2 and 3 really disappointed me. Truthfully I think Yahtzee had the bars between 2 and 4 too close together. SR2 was gangsta... SR3 was gangsta in clownshoes... SR4 is just clownshoes. I see the blatant change in design being like Squeenix and their sudden priority on graphics starting with FF7. Those like myself who played FF4-6 saw it extremely disappointing while it gathered a larger new audience that had no idea how good the games were before.

There will be people like me who may never return to SR because we remember when it switched from gangsta parody to a panda suit. Fun or not, it's a complete departure from what it was. It's a definite success, but I think it lost a good portion of its original fanbase while catering to a completely different one.

 

[Frezzato]

I think better than any other games I've seen, GTA3 and Saints Row 2 both do a very good job of portraying you as the soulless bad guy. You're not even an anti-hero, you're a legitimate monster, and you have to be the BEST monster and defeat all the other monsters to win. Saints Row 2 I think is a step better because there's an actual story behind it all rather than go here, get instructions, and kill things like GTA3.

Which is why I think the stark contrast between SR2 and 3 really disappointed me. Truthfully I think Yahtzee had the bars between 2 and 4 too close together. SR2 was gangsta... SR3 was gangsta in clownshoes... SR4 is just clownshoes. I see the blatant change in design being like Squeenix and their sudden priority on graphics starting with FF7. Those like myself who played FF4-6 saw it extremely disappointing while it gathered a larger new audience that had no idea how good the games were before.

There will be people like me who may never return to SR because we remember when it switched from gangsta parody to a panda suit. Fun or not, it's a complete departure from what it was. It's a definite success, but I think it lost a good portion of its original fanbase while catering to a completely different one.

It was really a blessing for me since I played Saints Row the Third first, then #4, and finally, Saints 2. I got to see exactly what was lost in the transition after 2, but at the same time I see why Volition did it. They added tons more Friendly Fire locations, added the ability to customize cars from cribs, and made cribs into safe locations. Also, after Saints 2 it became much easier to make your character attractive. It seemed that in Saints 2 every character but you had a high poly count.

At the same time though, I agree, they sacrificed game play for the sake of better graphics. I think the real problem is that Saints Row 2 is so massive, so well written, and so jam packed with insane activities that the only place for Saints Row to go was down. I don't mean down in a negative way, I mean that I really believe Saints Row 2 is Volition's magnum opus. Also, I prefer your analogy over Yahtzee's complaints about SR3 by the way. It was his critique of Saints Row the Third that actually kept me from playing Saints 2 for a long time. It sounded more like he was whining, and all I could hear was him complaining about what was gone, rather than what The Third had to offer.

 

[duchaked]

the way I see it is that the Saints Row series has indeed stopped being just a copy cat of GTA, and while some people still want it to do that...well they're probably better off hitting their own niche than trying to compete with GTA 5. if I want the traditional car jacking free roam gritty story...I already have that elsewhere.

it's called Sleeping Dogs.

lol oh and maybe GTA too I guess...

 

[Solo-Wing]

But it didn't just immitate, it mocked a lot.
"Hey baby, this Snake is 100% Solid~".
And most importantly, the gameplay didn't suck complete ass, quite the opposite in fact, which made it ok to me.
There have been too many "comedy" games that had gameplay as an afterthought, and while SR4 wasn't really original in any way, it copied enough of the good bits to justify mocking other bits.

Personally, I had a lot of fun with it, even though it was my first entry in the series and I had to puzzle the characters together myself.

Exactly, I loved that the cardboard boxes had little exclamation points on them too. And it had the exclamation sound effect when you were spotted. And the guards you were killing off whilst in the cardboard box made constant reference to how stupid they were for patrolling in such a manner and hoped nobody would sneak up on them while their backs were turned. Oh, and using vents for no reason. And splinter cell referencing about being invisible in the shadows. That was probably my favorite their-own-hell mission, though Pierce's was freaking hilarious too.

[HEADING=2]HERE COMES PAUL![/HEADING]

OT: I think this game is more off the walls then SR3 because it makes fun of a lot more things then Yahtzee said. Hell the biggest parody is of Mass Effect. You spend a good portion on a space ship where you can "Romance" (Aka: Fuck) all your crewmates.

 

[Jburton9]

Thanks for the post as always Yahtzee : )

I mostly enjoyed SR IV, also the poking fun at Metal Gear was lots of fun and indeed made the whole point of that game mockingly silly : )

I found SR IV to be a bit too crash prone, thankfully the game saves constantly so I did not lose too much progress. I had a buddy of mine also suffered the same/similar crash issues as well on his PS3.

Yes once you get the super powers it is pretty pointless to drive a vehicle. They even allow the "car radio" to play while you are running around in super powered mode. Zipping back in and out of the matrix thing got tiring though. "Here do this mission and then come back because I need to talk to you..." Wow really? I mean, you are talking to me now so why not just say it uh now? lol

Also the other bummer is the game focused too much around the already existing activity modes. Sometimes it would break out of that mold but it did not last very long. hrm.

Given the ending I figure they will pull a hyper dimensional rabbit or a reboot of the series. Honestly I am leery of reboots as they are difficult to do and prone to failure but at this point it feels like to me that is the best direction.


Lastly, I could not escape that nagging feeling that it felt like a plump DLC vs a whole new game. This feeling maybe due to the heavy recycling of existing game assets.

Overall SR IV was still a fun romp and it was great to see what they were going to make fun of next. I do hope to see SR V released in the near future : )

 

[AJey]

I'm glad Saints Row 4 exists as a game. It proved that fun does not make a game good and that people want more than stupid, mindless killy-stompy-bang-bang game.

 

[yundex]

Challenging enough to make you not feel overpowered? I disagree entirely, i'm playing on normal and the game has been a complete cakewalk. And I somehow get the feeling that it was intended.

All in all the game feels like a DLC that has been stretched out.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

I've never played a Saints Row game, but I might be willing to give this one a try once it comes down in price.

 

[Darth_Payn]

I think the devs of Saint's Row IV watched Yahtzee's previous reviews of the older SR games and saw it as a challenge to really outdo themselves on the wacky scale. They must have said "Sod it! GTA will be the serious and gritty character-driven crime game, and we'll go full pants-on-head crazy! We'll even outquirk Suda 51!"

Kinda surprised he didn't mention the option to use Nolan North as your character's voice. No, really. You can have Nolan North voice your character.

Perhaps its time for the makers of Saints Row to hang it up and try something new... Like teaming up with Yahtzee to finally make his dream game Mankind Has Yet To Recognize My Genius. If only for the main reason which is to see how he'd run with a sandbox crime game. Could be somewhere in the middle between insane parody and serious tone. Then again, he did describe one character having the face of Frank Zappa with nuclear missiles for legs and voiced by Liam Neeson.

You are referring to Captain Sunshine, who hovers over the player character in MHYTRMG and showers him with rose petals and friendship. At this point, Yahtzee and Volition teaming up for MHYTRMG is the only next logical step.