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.