Saints Row 4

SR4 by Volition

This wankend I have been mostly playing this game

I really want to write a full review for it but there are so many spoilers as you proceed that I do not want to ruin this fabulous experience for you lot who have not started it yet.

But I can give you a little taster.

SR1 was a clone of GTA that imho was better than the then current GTA 3 when it was released onto the 360. It was brasher and ruder and more fun. Then we had SR2 which beefed up the gameplay and attitude and started to add extra layers of crudeness which of course I enjoyed immensely. But GTA 4 contained a lot more of a story and the lead that SR had in this open sandbox world battle was pegged back.

So in order to outdo Rockstar the devs of the SR world must have gone into a dark room armed only with a bag of Columbian snorting powder, 2056 acid tablets and fourteen gallons of purple paint and a giant dildo, because that it the only way they could have designed Saints Row 3 which wiped the floor of all before it. It moved us to a new area of Steelport and left the relative sanity of Stillwater behind it. Everything in SR3 was just bigger and better and for me it was possibly one of the greatest games evah!

They made the ach/trophs possible without any mp ones or diff level replay ones, and they provided a collectible finder once you had reached the max level which is right when you would need it to mop up the ones you had missed. They made a storyline which rocked and had the greatest game character ever devised in Zimos.

So SR4 could have been a disaster for me as I could see no way it could better SR3 and had the worrying chance of spoiling the franchise.

But worry ye not. Its fucking ace!

It was originally gonna be DLC for SR3 but I think that must have been in its earliest stages as the game is at least as big as SR3 and I think slightly larger. It has a very good storyline and I am really looking forward to seeing it all pan out. Its set again in Steelport so having played SR3 to the max on both 360 and Pissy3 I am sort of navigating ok but TBH the early twist means its a little bit like a whole new map.

But here is what is the new thang. The devs this time obviously thought that GTA was no longer sufficient to plagiarise. So they must have read my mind and thought what other game can we copy and maker bettererer and mash it up with SR. They chose my second fave game Crackdown!

Seriously SR4 = SR3 x Crackdown with a hint of Tron thrown in to add flavouring.

You now get the power ups and all the associated mayhem that it brings.

Do not play past 3 hours on this if you need to do anything or go anywhere because once you reach a certain point in the game you just wont want to leave it.

The only downer for me so far is that I have not yet come across Zimos and a couple of the mini activities are a little tough, but they have retained the great choice of achs and although there are now a crackdownian amount of collectibles, there is a mission which allows you to bag a finder facility on the map so its all good.

Its brilliant and if you like sandbox like me then go to your fine local gamery and pick this bastard up.

10/10
totally SR and totally fun

Excellent review Everton. I really want to get this but I'm dazzled by GTA V... I enjoyed SR3 so much and you comments of Tron reminded me of the missions thread where you end up in the simulation. more of that please Will get to this eventually, I have high hopes for GTA V after the mehhh of IV. Great job fella  

matey, I would bag this now and you should have it finished nicely in time for the release of gta5

If you liked sr3 then this is a must

Sounds awesome, I will catch up with the SR franchise one day!

Stunning Mini big E!

I'm off out to buy SR 1,2,3 and 4!!  

Colne Crusader wrote:Stunning Mini big E!

I'm off out to buy SR 1,2,3 and 4!!  

get 1+2 or 3+4 and play them together

they are almost 2 separate styles

not much links 2 and 3 apart from the title and some characters


But play 3 before 4

And I need a voice synth or voice app to make me sound like Zimos

I quickly started this up the other day and I'm looking forward into jumping into this properly tonight. Good review fella!

Good review mate, I really enjoyed SR3 and was going to get this, but with GTA V coming out in a few weeks, and having very little time for gaming at the moment I decided to hold off buying it. Will definitely pick it up when I've got more free time.

Well as I am getting much closer to the end now (can hardly believe I have put nearly 20 hours in so far as it has flown by) and the story is now throwing up blasts from the past from SR1 and 2. Its little touches like this that reward the folks who have played the whole franchise. I am a massive fan of cameo (word up) appearances in games.

My superpowers are now almost at a max too and so I am getting into some epic fits of mayhem.

Again the fact that they have made all the ach single player but allowed coop and mp options is class.

I look back at all of my rants or requests about titles and whoring in the past and it seems that Volition have answered everything in SR3 and 4

Am so pleased I have got this at release so it can be enjoyed to the max before GTAV as then I can have a week or two between the games so I don't start comparing and contrasting too much.

Whatever GTAV throws up it certainly wont have the Dubstep gun which has now become my fave weapon of all time.

Aweome review mate. Got this at the weekend and I'm loving it. Not played any of the other SR games before was wasn't sure I should pick this up but I'm glad I did. I was almot late for work yesturday because I didn't want to stop playing. Will throw another couple of hours at it tonight when I finish work.

Well am nearly at the end of the storyline now and it keeps on throwing up surprises

As with SR3 there is a guest star appearance from someone which I found funny as I was a massive fan of where the star is from back in the day. Lots more refs to SR1 and 2 as well which made me smile with nostalgia!

Some levels are just odd and show off how great the programmers are on this as the scenery changes make you realise these folks could develop a fantastic set of FPS's if they wanted

Found two new weapons and have enjoyed causing some serious Brian Damage with them
Death from Above when leaping off a skyscraper is immense

If I get back from my evening apt in time I hope to finish the story tonight and then the fun of the mop ups but I reckon I might have this finished well inside the 40 hours for that ach so I may just leave the 360 on overnight!

This title is just Epic

If GTAV is as good then we are in for a treat

cool review I am going to get the other saints row as well the fourth one

IAmProjectAlice wrote:cool review I am going to get the other saints row as well the fourth one

Definitely worth playing them in order Alice, SR2 is much better than SR1 in my opinion, but I don't think I'd have appreciated SR2 as much without knowing the story from SR1.

You can probably pick up SR1 for a couple of quid anyway now.

I played SR3 for about 10 mins at Gamefest, but that is all I have ever played. Definitely like the look of 4 though.

Thinking of having a wander into town later to see if I can find some cheap copies. Not sure wether to get all 4 or start with the 3rd game.

I still haven't had a good chance to play this but it has made me think that maybe that's a good thing and that I should finish the story on Saints 3 first. I'm not far off the end now. I am terrible at not finishing games. Will see if I get a chance to crack on a bit over the weekend!

Tricky34 wrote:I played SR3 for about 10 mins at Gamefest, but that is all I have ever played. Definitely like the look of 4 though.

Thinking of having a wander into town later to see if I can find some cheap copies. Not sure wether to get all 4 or start with the 3rd game.

I'd start with the 3rd chap just in case it's not for you because it's a lot cheaper. 3 was a pretty good game imo (although I still need to finish it!)

do 3 before 4 tricky matey

finished up the storyline last night and now just have 7 more challenges to do and it should be maxxed apart from the 40 hour playtime

I say should be as at the moment there seems to be a glitched cheevo which is a shame

they are working on patching this and also on stopping the freeze ups which have been occurring more frequently as I reached the final stages so all will be well soon

the last battle is very intense and the end credits are just pure SR

Rick
I am close to finishing the story on Saints row 3 and am notbothered about a completion so you can have this one if you can hang on till next week. It was Everton's disc anyway (I think Trunky still has the dlc disc too)

Everton wrote:do 3 before 4 tricky matey

finished up the storyline last night and now just have 7 more challenges to do and it should be maxxed apart from the 40 hour playtime

I say should be as at the moment there seems to be a glitched cheevo which is a shame

they are working on patching this and also on stopping the freeze ups which have been occurring more frequently as I reached the final stages so all will be well soon

the last battle is very intense and the end credits are just pure SR

WHAT??? this is the most forgiving you have ever been, what's wrong??  

Imagine a nintendo game had glitches, nintendo do better play testing than anyone else though, so unlikely  

KENT HAMMER wrote:

Everton wrote:do 3 before 4 tricky matey

finished up the storyline last night and now just have 7 more challenges to do and it should be maxxed apart from the 40 hour playtime

I say should be as at the moment there seems to be a glitched cheevo which is a shame

they are working on patching this and also on stopping the freeze ups which have been occurring more frequently as I reached the final stages so all will be well soon

the last battle is very intense and the end credits are just pure SR

WHAT??? this is the most forgiving you have ever been, what's wrong??  

Imagine a nintendo game had glitches, nintendo do better play testing than anyone else though, so unlikely  

It may be glitchy but it has no annoying "muzak" lol

Cheers for the replies/info guys. I've been looking at some of the achievement guides, and I think I'm gonna skip 1&2 and go straight to 3.

Not gonna get into town today now anyway so will have to wait.

And Mark that would be great thanks.

No probs
I will pm you for an address as soon as I finish up.