Saints Row IV Strategic Preview (Xbox 360, PS3)

Get your groove on with the Dubstep gun.

Saints Row IV is on the way and there are plenty of reasons to get excited for it. The developers at Volition loaded the game with the kind of open-world action and excitement you’ve come to know from the series, along with new additions for good measure.  Throw in some sweet guns and the ability to talk like video game voice actor Nolan North – either as a male or female character since he’s a default option – and there’s potential for a hit.

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The story follows events from the third game, with the Saints performing a military operation on a missile set to be launched by a rival gang on Earth.  After engaging in a firefight with terrorists in a mission titled Zero Saints Thirty, you make a dramatic climb up the rocket, shutting down panels and dodging debris while Aerosmith’s “I Don’t Want To Miss a Thing” plays in the background.  Everyone sends their fond farewells, thinking you’re on a suicide mission – but you survive, and soon after become president.

Fast forward just a bit, and the game takes you through the White House en route to a press conference. Along the way, you make a few key stops – whacking a Senator in the head or groin when he attempts to filibuster, telling your vice president Keith David whether you want to stick it to cancer or end world hunger – before reaching the podium.  At that precise moment, aliens take Steelport hostage and the oversized commander gets in your face, forcing you to fight back the best way you know how – Saints style.

First, let’s discuss the new customization options, which are even more impressive than before.  Along with choosing the gender of your character as well as your dialect, you select the desired clothing.  As the game progresses, you can also customize your weapons to your fighting style, picking up a rocket launcher and adding a motif straight out of the movie Desperado in a custom-fitted guitar case.  In addition, you can also add powers that change things considerably.

Not only do you receive the ability to fly from rooftop to rooftop, but you can also perform a devastating ground pound.  You can launch foes into the middle of next week with power strikes, or you can take off with a full-scale super-run.  Not only is this good for getting around quickly, but it also knocks almost everything out of your way, from cars to innocent bystanders.  

Saints Row IV also has plenty of collectibles, as you roam throughout the city and pick up power cell-like fragments that help boost your abilities.  They’re easy to spot at night, and you can pretty much fly to snag them all.  This adds some replay value to the game, along with the various side missions scattered throughout.  On a side note, we love running through Steelport.  Not only is it fun, but doing this attracts aliens that make for target practice.  

Speaking of which, let’s talk guns.  While there are an assortment of assault rifles and a cool sword that lets you slice enemies with ease, we have three favorite guns.

The first is the Inflator Ray that literally blows up enemies, to the point that their eyes bug out of their heads and their other body parts grow immensely before they explode in a sloppy red mess; this is especially useful against groups.

The second is the Black Hole Gun.  With this, you can actually set up an open abyss that inhales everything in range; keep an eye on your ammunition, as it runs out quickly. Aside from that, it’s great to watch enemies, cars and innocent passersby get sucked in through one clean shot.  Make sure you save this for some of the bigger armadas.

Finally, there’s the coolest weapon in the game – the Dubstep gun. As you might have seen in trailers and gameplay footage, this weapon is all kinds of cool. You hear loud Dubstep, followed by your intended target – car, alien, human, whatever – succumb to its damage, dancing along to the beat for a few seconds before eventually collapsing.  Those who aren’t fans of this sort of music probably won’t like this weapon, but we can’t get enough of it. For good measure, a real-life model – sans ammunition, of course – can be picked up with the collector’s edition of the game.  

With its wide open world to explore, tons of customization options and freaky weapons and abilities, Volition has apparently saved the best for Saints Row IV. We just hope that somewhere down the road, we get to play as Keith David.  

Saints Row IV will debut on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 August 20th. 


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Author
Prima Games Staff
The staff at Prima Games.