Saint’s Row the Third was everything that the Grand Theft Auto 4 should have been and wasn’t. Sadly, the developer owning the franchise, THQ went bankrupt after the release of Saint’s Row the Third, and we all laid our beloved Saints to rest. Shortly after this, the publisher Deep Silver bought the franchise and announced a fourth game, much to my dismay. We all thought that the franchise would go out the window, as it couldn’t get any more ridiculous. We expected a low quality reboot, or a dull, bleak shadow of the former games. Thank Zinyak I was wrong, because this game is insanely good.

Zinyak is the bad guy in Saint’s Row 4

You start out and pick your character. In keeping with tradition, I opted for the new (British) President of the United States, and are an absolute dick. You can change everything about your character, giving yourself a female body and a male voice, for instance, but I just went with the default. Earth is invaded by an alien army at the command of Zinyak. He captures you after a pretty intense fight, and essentially plugs you into The Matrix for his own amusement. You fight your way into a simulation of Steelport City and give yourself Goddamn superpowers. This game takes the crazy that was Saint’s Row The Third, and cranks that shit up to well over 9000. It’s the same badass game as before, with the same badass humour, in jokes and pop references… the game even takes the piss out of QTEs, which I loved… but now you can elbow drop a grannie from a skyscraper, you can glide from building to building, and even throw fireballs.

Make your enemies dance themselves to death!

It’s not only the powers that are added, though. You get a whole new range of weapons, including the iconic Dubstep Gun (pictured left) and the DLC preorder bonus ‘Merica Weapon. This gun is insane, and you’ll be pleased to know, now purchasable as DLC. Some of these weapons are a little overpowered, and I don’t think I upgraded more than two guns through the entire game… that’s not much of a critique. All in all, I used each gun a few times, chuckled in amusement and moved back to the overpowered ones. The radio stations, I am sad to report, are not very good. The music choice is weak compared to it’s predecessors, but some of the mission specific songs are nothing short of incredible. There was this one mission at the end (no spoilers) where I was bouncing in my seat, crying with laughter. SO… GOOD… And as for the missions, they’re well-paced and plentiful enough that the campaign feels like a good size; my biggest critique of Saint’s Row The Third was that the campaign felt really damn short, so I am glad they fixed that.

“Let’s kick some ICE…”

I played this on the PC on high definition, but the console versions look pretty similar at a cursory glance. If you’re playing this game though, it’s not because of the way it looks. At this point all you need to know is that it is one of the funniest games I have played in a long, long time, and it is guaranteed to keep you amused for hours. As the president, do you “Fuck Cancer” or “Feed Them Cake”? Because that is one of the first choices you make in the game. Do you freeze-blast and shatter this enemy or simply dubstep them to death? Do you wear clothes or just pixelate your junk as you victory dance, or taunt the next bad guy. Finally are you a Brit, or are you Nolan North playing as Nolan North, talking about all the games he has been in?? Because that really is an option.

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9/10

Version Tested: Steam

Also Available On: Xbox 360, PS3

Out: Now