Republished on Wednesday, thirteenth July, 2022: We’re bringing this overview again from the archives following the announcement of July’s PS Plus Additional, Premium lineup. The unique textual content follows.

Saints Row IV is the definitive sandbox recreation for anybody who’s a bit bored with the extra severe makes an attempt like Watch Canines, Grand Theft Auto V, and even inFAMOUS: Second Son. It is consistently at risk of breaking the fourth wall, its storyline is absurd, and its gameplay is totally over-the-top. You are the president of america of America, you wield horribly overpowered superhero skills, and also you struggle ugly aliens in a digital simulation to be able to get nearer to their chief, who blew the Earth to items together with its human inhabitants of about seven billion. It is honest to say that you just both suppose all of this sounds wonderful, otherwise you suppose that it simply sounds far too silly to be gratifying.

In the event you’re of the previous persuasion, chances are high that you have already performed Saints Row IV on the PlayStation 3, however there’s little doubt that Saints Row IV: Re-Elected is the very best console model of the discharge – principally as a result of it would not run at about 15 frames-per-second half of the time. Certainly, the fourth title in Volition’s wacky franchise actually struggled on Sony’s earlier machine at instances, and it is actually the one issue that we marked the in any other case extremely gratifying launch down for in our overview.

Happily, as alluded, Re-Elected is much extra steady performance-wise. You may hearth off your superpowers like a madman, and the sport will are inclined to sustain properly. Unsurprisingly, it additionally seems extra spectacular, though in all probability to not the extent that you just’d like. The draw distance is a lot better, and the lighting seems far smoother, however the title continues to be coated in disappointingly muddy textures. Nonetheless, the sport is but to completely crash on us, so we suppose that reward is owed the place it is due.

Shifting briskly onto the gameplay, we dare say that the re-release is a few of the most enjoyable which you could have on the PS4. The digital rendition of town of Steelport is ripe for sandbox mayhem, and the sport delivers this in spades. It offers you every little thing that you may presumably need in the case of making your individual enjoyable, after which it helps you to free on the populace and your alien oppressors. It might lack a little bit of problem, positive, however it’s a title that is much more occupied with seeing you bend the principles, slightly than throwing troublesome duties at you.

Talking of duties, the map is peppered in non-obligatory targets so that you can deal with, from easy ‘kill each alien’ assignments to favourites like tremendous powered insurance coverage fraud and tank mayhem. All in all, there is not a single mission sort that outstays its welcome barring the still-dreadful retailer hacking minigame. In a launch that prides itself on the ridiculous, this extremely tame mix-and-match puzzle feels completely misplaced, and admittedly, we will not consider it made it into the unique recreation, not to mention its re-release.

It is the title’s fight, nevertheless, that steals the present. As beforehand talked about, you are virtually submerged in a stream of recent weaponry and superpowers, and the sport’s rewarding nature is what’ll preserve proceedings feeling recent. Murderous melee assaults, elemental blasts, telekinetic throws, and devastating aerial bombardments are the order of the day, and mixing all of those strategies with an entire host of weapons proves to be a fluid and satisfying expertise – particularly whenever you come throughout a mixture that basically gels together with your type of play.

If there’s one unfavorable to return out of this, although, it is that some gamers might imagine that they are really given a number of too many choices. The sheer quantity of powers and armaments on supply, together with all of their subsequent upgrades, may be overwhelming at instances, however for those who permit your self to take issues at a gradual tempo with out blowing your whole digital cash on each development in sight at each alternative, you may discover that there is a good, rewarding character development system at work right here.

Which brings us properly to the matter of customisation. Not solely are you able to chop and alter your skills as you see match, however you may as well construct your excellent president with the assistance of tons of of customisation choices. Male, feminine, green-skinned, fats, skinny, horny, ugly – it actually would not matter who or what you determine to create, once more reinforcing the sense that the sport simply needs you to have enjoyable it doesn’t matter what your preferences are. It is price mentioning, nevertheless, that we failed to seek out an choice to add our character from the PS3 model on the time of writing. Whether or not that is merely a case of Volition’s character servers not being matched up but, we’re undecided, however for those who have been eager on importing your Boss into the next-gen version, it is likely to be price snooping round for solutions on-line.

Sadly, issues cannot all the time be about participant freedom in the case of being the final remnants of the human race. Once you’re making waves in digital Steelport, it is liberating to leap over skyscrapers and glide throughout the map dressed like essentially the most nightmarish Batman the world has ever seen, however when it is time to advance the plot, issues aren’t fairly as madcap.

In a Matrix-style twist, your superpowers do not carry over to the actual world, the place you are aboard a spaceship stolen out of your evil alien aggressors. Which means that throughout lots of the foremost quests, you may must rely purely upon your intention as you gun down your enemies slightly than freeze them stable and shatter them with a baseball bat. As such, plot development comes with a little bit of a downer, however fortunately, the story is entertaining regardless of a number of disappointingly temporary cutscenes, the writing is commonly comedic gold, and the missions themselves are various and customarily very gratifying to play by means of.

After all, we will not end this overview with out mentioning the soundtrack, which continues to be arguably the most effective picks of music to be present in a sandbox title. Stan Bush’s ‘The Contact’ headlines a playlist that features Robert Palmer’s ‘Merely Irresistible’, Skinny Lizzy’s ‘The Boys are Again in City‘, and Haddaway’s ‘What’s Love’. Once you’re busy bringing the ache to alien scum to the tune of Optimus Prime’s proudest second, there is not any doubt that you just’re actually beginning to admire the finer aspect of gaming.

Conclusion

Adore it or hate it, Saints Row IV: Re-Elected’s obsession with the ridiculous is what units it aside from the remainder of the market, and the PS4 re-release is one of the simplest ways to expertise the insanity. Coupled with additional expansions (together with Gat Out of Hell for those who purchase the bundle), there’s loads of worth to the package deal, even when it would not take the chance to construct upon the PS3 unique. A blast from begin to end, the president’s story of vengeance is the stupidest enjoyable which you could have on Sony’s latest console, and we imply that in the absolute best approach.