Experience 0011 - Every Little Thing

After gaining new super powers the only logical thing to do was to go around collecting all the obvious data clusters. With 1200+ clusters to find I ended up playing numerous sessions of flying across the world and bounding up and down buildings. Along the way I stumbled upon numerous other activities and tried them out . Below you'll find some of the better images captured by Fraps along the journey to collect stuff!

Note: This post is quite image heavy as I didn't end up actually doing much other than running around collecting items and clearing out activities... certainly not all of them though.

Seriously what game has this as a normal part of game play?

Some artist had fun creating the neat light pattern under the clusters.

Off the top rope belly flop slam!

Now that I had super jump capabilities I could adventure up one of the many sequences of floating platforms to see what was on top (flying a vehicle also works but missing the data clusters wouldn't have helped the completion obsession in me).

Jumping up the tower reminded me that... this is a video game of stamina/patience.

Taking a break on a floating platform to pose.

The top of the tower has a switch to take control ala Tron.

The huge floating fortress over the city is ominous but harmless... just collision and no door that I could find.

I finally decided it was time to do an actual mission and changed my outfit to be a bit more suitable for super hero hand-to-hand combat. It turned out looking like a workout outfit.

 Kinzie directed me to a doorway where I could leave the simulation...

Step into the light is usually associated with death...

Almost through...

Ooooooops Fraps stopped taking screenshots at this point for some reason so I have nothing to show from the mission itself! I won't spoil it for you but I did return to the Matrix. Some stuff happened that was of significance to the story but the characters reacted as though someone dropped some ice cream on the pavement. I did get to shoot some aliens and fly a ship (repeatedly crashing it into things) so that was fun.

Experience 0010 - Now I am Neo (Alternatively: Sign sign everywhere a sign... )

After returning to the "normal" world simulation from the 1950s simulation I was greeted with numerous entertaining signs to remind me how great the virtual world is!

I have yet to see examples of actual rewards for obedience... very disappointing.

... like more bad guys with British accents from space? I didn't know the British empire conquered the galaxy... they certainly lost track of their colonies.

It's not bad. The super powers help a lot.

My second experience with the game consisted of me mostly exploring the map and trying a variety of activities. I did end up running through one mission... which I should have done first because it super powered my character's abilities! I am definitely now slowly becoming the super powered Neo in the Matrix. I can leap wherever (including up buildings) and speed run through the city. SR4 truly is a super hero game. It's a great departure from the standard Saints Row experience. I am glad it still has the rough anti-hero edge in that your character isn't necessarily a goody goody (certainly a terrible president in many respects).

Before I could run around and try out all the activities I needed to further define my character's style. Clothing shopping was a fun break in the game and certainly provided a lot more entertainment than I expected in SR3. SR4 uses a lot of the same assets as SR3 so everything seemed very familiar.

Steampunkish with French braids... still looks like a college student.

Below you'll find images of some of the various activities I tried out:

"Mayhem" with a black hole gun that sucks everything into the spot you fire at (seemed very unpredictable).

Tank Mayhem is fairly easy because everything counts as an item adding to the bonus (as you can see).

UFO Mayhem certainly was fun... just about every mode is explosion based! Awesome! I think...

After running around for a while it was time to take on an actual mission. As I stated previously I really should have done this first as you gain the ability to speed run and super jump. Both abilities would have been very helpful in taking out the enemy stronghold areas.

POWER UP!

Kinzie ran me through basic training on the abilities in yet another homage to the Matrix. After training I was forced into a "Blazin" timed event where I had to dash through the city and leap buildings in an obstacle course. I think it will take some time getting used to the abilities as they really change the entire game play style.

Zippity Zoom! I'm a super hero now!

 

Leaping the rooftops collecting stuff. This is a good reason to tour the city.

After completing the mission I realized of course that my abilities were always active so I figured I should try to them in hand-to-hand combat. My character broke out some hilariously vicious moves when dash attacking citizens/aliens.

Just about to unleash some wrestling fury upon a poor virtual citizen. The super move animations are humorous and fun.

After all the fun I spent some hard earned cash on my favorite - exploding shells for my, now dual, pistols.

Gloomy Friendly Fire.

Experience 0001 - It all begins again. (Alternatively: Enter the Matrix)

As with Saints Row 2 & 3, Saints Row 4 begins with a basic introduction to the gun combat game play. In this case you are essentially playing the role of a solider attacking a terrorist base in an attempt to stop a nuclear missile from launching. I was confused by the Saints Row gang members (Pierce and Shaundi in particular) involvement in something that seemed like a normal military operation.

Even the characters are questioning how the Saints got involved with this...

Explosions. Check.

The introduction mission is just a stream of parodies and sarcastic comments on the view of a hero in the modern world. I definitely had a few laughs... but I still have no clue why the Saints were performing a military operation ("When no one else will save the world, sometimes the only choice is for the bad guys to step in." - said in super deep movie trailer voice). Throughout the mission your character remains an anonymous soldier (as you have not yet defined the individual).

This is a screenshot from Saints Row DLC - Dead Space.

After the completion of the mission I began the long process of creating my character. I attempted to create an updated version of my character from Saints Row 3. In SR3 I made the mistake of picking a skin color that made her a bit too pale. This time I was a bit more careful in some of my choices.

After finishing my character the plot picked up 4 years later where through an unknown (but not entirely unlikely based on the insanity of American culture) sequence of events has resulted in the Saints running the United States. Your character has made their mark as the president by running his/her mouth and dramatically influencing the direction of the nation to solve (loosely indicated) major problems.

We could, and have, done worse...

Unfortunately aliens are about to attack you learn.

The cape signifies the leader... and the pants too. He looks a little less like a He-Man character than the others.

Is this a huge leap in plot? Yes.
Does it matter? Not really.

I feel that a bit more time exposing the plot of how the Saints came to political power could have been quite funny. As with prior games there are some inside jokes along the way. One such example was a reference to resolving a political issue with a Septic truck (a reference to an activity in Saints Row 2 where the player sprays sewage all over targets around the city).

This is the nicest screenshot of the 520 captured while playing this session (1 image every 10 seconds).

The aliens attack and you switch from presidential mode to Rambo mode fairly quickly. The White House (now called the White Crib I believe) has been outfitted with a lot of weaponry (both personal arms and heavy cannons). You blast some aliens into oblivion and even play through an homage to Space Invaders as you attempt to remove the alien menace. Unfortunately things do not work out as planned and you are taken prisoner.

Things are not looking well.

Not the actual 'merica gun but a worthy weapon for the name.

You become a prisoner in the Matrix.


Is it a leap in plot? Nope.
Everything making sense? Yup.
Does it matter? Nah, it gets things from point A to point unknown without worrying too much about logic.

Pancake eating quick time event (seriously).

To begin with you are placed into a rendition of 1950s Steelport as a much loved politician. The walk animation your (and more importantly, you) character has to endure in this part of the game is all too appropriate. It's so jolly and perfect for the representation of a magical happy time that people have an image of for the time period in America.

At this point another member of the Saints (the hacker girl Kinzie) taps into the virtual world and requests I do as I do in the "real" Saints world: break laws and kill a whole lot of people. Thank goodness it is only a virtual world in a video game (or so I think... is this that movie eXistenZ?). So I have to do what I do and that results in my character being placed into the next level of virtual world: a facsimile of the real Saints World. The very confusing part is that this world is that of Steelport and the aliens are still present... I thought I was still in a virtual world. Wouldn't the aliens want people to think they are in the normal world as with the Matrix? I am confused and should stop asking questions until I play again to further unravel the idea of the virtual world.

Impending Boom

Saints Row 4 is Saints Row 3 on steroids. It looks great and (so far) plays the same. The game is not a complete reboot by any means and is very likely the exact same underlying technology. The presence of quick time events still agitates me but not as much as in other games. This is primarily because when the quick time events come up I can press whatever given key and return to observing the action instead of missing out on said action while haphazardly trying to press a number of keys in a row. They keep it simple/dumb and I appreciate it.

One minor improvement I noticed was the option to customize the visual look of weapons. However minor, it is appreciated as you can already customize everything else about the look of your character.

One part of the game I am disappointed with thus far is the original music. Saints Row 3 had a great theme that was infectious. Saints Row 4 seems to just have a tweaked version that is less intriguing and seems to be a lot more muted.