Saints Row IV Critic Reviews

Every single thing in Saints Row 4 is worth doing, which is a huge accomplishment on its own, but its story missions in particular are inventive, hilariously unexpected examples of truly inspired game design.

I found its story to be genuinely engrossing as it involves much more than eliminating street gangs and taking out the leader of an international crime syndicate. Saints Row IV is a long game as well, taking me close to fourteen hours to finish (and I still had a large number of side quests and Diversions to complete).

A fantastic game, keeping up the series' tradition of giving players a wide open world and the tools to go absolutely bonkers within it. It's hilarious, it's action-packed, and most of all, its fun to play.

There's some uneven bits but Saints Row IV captures what video games should be or at least strive to be: Fun. And that exuberance of playing around in a big sandbox with almost no limits placed on the player while spinning an entertaining yarn that fully acknowledges that it's a game should put Saints Row IV on a lot of Game of Year lists.

The consistent thrill of Saints Row IV is how it constantly, eagerly, happily, accommodatingly asks you “Hey, how do you want to break the game now?” And for a game so colossal, so occasionally dumb, so often colossally sharks-with-laser-beams-on-their-heads-that-can-also-breathe-fire-and-fly-and-turn-invisible-and-you-can-even-ride-them dumb, what an incredibly smart thing to do with an open world, a franchise, and a story.

Volition it seems has made a new standard in over the top…no really I don’t think you understand… they went over the top before. Now they had to raise the bar in standards as well, just so they could go over the top of that.

What I love most about IV is how it puts the player first -- absolutely every new feature and ability gifted to the player seems designed purely to make the game more convenient to enjoy, and more fun to play.

Let’s put it plainly: if you don’t play Saints Row IV, it means you hate having fun.

Midway through the game, one characters asks The Boss “you’re easily bored, aren’t you?”, to which the boss says “I don’t know, I’m too busy being awesome to notice.” Saints Row IV is all at once puerile, profane and touching, but mainly, it’s too busy being awesome for you to ever get bored.

And for that, warts and all, Saints Row IV became my favorite gaming experience of 2013. Cynicism couldn’t hinder that.

It might not have the sheen of Grand Theft Auto, but Saints Row IV is both gloriously stupid and stupidly good.

Even if you don’t have someone to play co-op with, this is an absolutely captivating experience from start to finish. Whether it’s taking on hordes of endless alien invaders or driving around with your homies, Saints Row IV is just pure, unadulterated fun.

I'm not going to even attempt to suggest that Saints Row IV is some kind of video-game-defining-moment or whatever, but at least for this generation, we might have found the best example yet of a big-budget developer doing whatever the hell they want and rather than being generally criticized for what doesn't work, being celebrated by newcomers and fans alike for what does.

The entire time I was playing Saints Row IV, I found myself constantly thinking "It would be totally awesome if..." and then the game would do that awesome thing before I could finish my thought.

Saints Row IV is an incredible achievement in the sub-genre of super power action.

Saints Row IV jacks up the action, pumps up the silly, but above all, doesn’t lose sight of what makes a game play superbly, and that, Mr President, is how you make an awesome video game.

Silly, exuberant, funny, chaotic: Saints Row 4 sets you loose in a virtual world and lets you cause havoc however you damn well please.

While the game's roots as Saints Row: The Third DLC are still showing, Volition has put together an amazing game from a wide variety of sources. If you're on the same mental wavelength, Saints Row IV is a class act.

Saints Row just got bigger, and even more crazy then ever. After an alien invasion you get stuck in a virtual Steelport. Superpowers, warmongering aliens, crazy minigames and a compelling story make number four the best in the series.

Saints Row IV is wild and wacky, but also provides first class entertainment.