Consider it or not, it has been 9 entire years since Saints Row IV, and to be trustworthy, not a lot has modified (minus the superpowers and alien invaders, clearly). The merely titled Saints Row is a reboot of the collection, sporting a wholly new setting, new characters, and a recent story — however the gameplay construction that the property has been peddling since day one stays. At its core, it is a mission-based, third-person shooter with a sandbox setting — however this can be a sandbox that feels prefer it’s flew straight in from the PS3 period of open world design.
The map turns into more and more coated in exercise icons as you progress by way of the primary narrative, to the purpose the place the map display screen really stops displaying sure varieties of markers, and strikes them to their very own separate tab. Right here in 2022, it comes throughout as overkill — the form of bloat that will make even a Ubisoft title blush. However by way of its constantly over-the-top gameplay and penchant for stupidity, Saints Row nearly manages to get away with its brazen content material padding.
Saints Row remains to be at its finest when utter chaos is unfolding. Whether or not it is throughout a very explosive most important mission, otherwise you’re simply making an attempt to outlive towards a dozen SWAT groups, there’s nothing fairly prefer it by way of tone. It is dumb jokes and ultraviolence from begin to end, like a cartoon model of Grand Theft Auto.
All of it kicks off with the sport’s strong character creator. You are free to make any form of murderous antihero you need, and also you’re additionally free to regulate their look at any time throughout gameplay. Whoever or no matter you resolve to be, your creation is the star of the present. In typical franchise trend, your ‘Boss’ is bigged as much as be a born killer — a comically violent pressure of nature who blasts their approach by way of the felony underworld to ascertain their very own gang, the Saints, inside the opening hours.
You are joined by three finest buddies in your conquest of Santo Ileso: numbers man Eli, harmful driver Neenah, and shirtless muscle Kevin. So far as Saints Row characters go, they’re comparatively grounded, and, it could possibly be argued, a bit boring. Their extra severe streaks do not actually gel with the rampant homicide and unapologetically daft plotlines, however they do permit your Boss, in all of their potential absurdity, to face out.
The story’s obtained some genuinely nice moments, however it appears like all the pieces strikes a contact too quick. The primary missions themselves make up roughly a 3rd of the sport’s 25-ish hour marketing campaign, and in consequence, it struggles to correctly doc the Saints’ rise to energy. Most key plot factors drop with out a lot warning, and also you’re shortly ushered from one narrative beat to the following through snappy cutscenes. In the end it does work — we had been left feeling pretty happy because the credit rolled — however there was undoubtedly room for a extra elaborate rags to riches storyline right here.
However our starvation for extra story missions is indicative of the sport’s wavering high quality in relation to facet actions. That is probably the most feature-rich Saints Row but — paired with the collection’ largest map by far — however quite a lot of the actions simply really feel like busywork, plain and easy. Returning excursions like Insurance coverage Fraud, the place you hurl your self into oncoming visitors to make large bucks, are nonetheless nice enjoyable — however they fully overshadow jobs the place you are tasked with driving poisonous waste-bearing vans very slowly throughout the map, or ‘Choplifter’ missions by which you ferry containers between places. Wowzer.
It would not be so unhealthy if there have been only a few of those duties dotted in regards to the metropolis, however as we wrote earlier, the map is lined in icons. Granted, you do not have to do them, however Felony Ventures, as the sport calls them, are by far your largest supply of revenue — and also you want that cash to construct extra companies and subsequently unlock the following story missions. And to be clear, do not go into Saints Row anticipating in-depth enterprise administration. You get to resolve what fronts go the place, however that is about it.
Fortunately, the busywork is made (principally) bearable by way of the title’s punchy gun-based fight and arcade-y driving mechanics. It simply feels good to play; a DOOM-esque system, the place you regain well being by performing brutal takedown assaults, offers every battle an fulfilling circulation, and as you degree up, you acquire entry to varied particular talents that may flip the tide of a tough encounter. A welcome evolution of the Saints Row gameplay system in nearly each approach.
It is price mentioning that there are a great deal of accessibility choices, too, which exist alongside your normal issue settings. You may tweak incoming injury, the severity of closing dates, autoaim, and extra to fit your wants, whereas controller inputs will be remapped fully.
And you recognize what’s additionally price a point out? Co-op, as a result of it is particularly nicely carried out right here. You may workforce up with one other participant on-line and play by way of the entire recreation collectively if you need, most important missions and all. As you’d anticipate, having one other human to clown round with offers Saints Row a further comedic edge, regardless of bouts of co-op-specific bugginess. Any progress that you just make with a buddy carries again to your single-player marketing campaign, and vice versa, which may also help alleviate the grind of ticking off tedious facet jobs.
In the meantime, on the visuals entrance, Saints Row is distinctly last-gen. In no way ugly, however actually not a looker both. Character fashions are fairly fundamental — generic NPCs are particularly bland — and the sport’s graphics choices depart rather a lot to be desired. Favouring efficiency on PS5, you’ll be able to select between a locked 60 frames-per-second at a brilliant muddy 1080p, or you’ll be able to go for 1440p with a body charge that targets 60, however does have a foul behavior of dipping. At 30fps you’ll be able to pump the decision proper as much as 4K, however for a title that may be so action-heavy, the halved body charge is a flip off. However hey, these desert sunsets look pretty — dramatic lighting is certainly one of many recreation’s graphical strengths.
Conclusion
Saints Row is a largely profitable reboot, even when it typically feels dangerously outdated by way of open world design. Its story and characters will be hit or miss, however the expertise is carried by enjoyable gameplay and an endearingly dumb sense of humour. Regardless of the brand new faces, Saints Row is certainly nonetheless Saints Row — simply greater and in all probability higher.
