About the game
Saints Row IV is a 2013 action-adventure game developed by Volition and published by Deep Silver. It is the sequel to 2011's Saints Row: The Third, the fourth game in the Saints Row series, and the last main installment of the original series that began with 2006's Saints Row. It was released in August 2013 for Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, and later ported to PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Linux in 2015.
It is an open world action game with third-person shooter elements. The player explores a simulation of the fictional city of Steelport and plays story or side missions at their own pace. Most of the action is shooting and driving, with plenty of odd detours such as fighting crowds of zombies, tank battles, side-scrolling brawlers and using a dubstep gun to interrupt 1950s Americana. The player gets superpowers that greatly increase jump height and running speed, plus fire, ice and telekinetic attacks, and can upgrade them with data clusters scattered around town. The character editor lets the player build their own look, and there is a two-player co-op mode.
The story follows the player-created leader of the 3rd Street Saints, who is elected President of the United States after stopping a terrorist plot. Five years into the term, an alien empire called the Zin attacks Earth, destroys the White House and captures the Boss and most of the cabinet. The Boss is trapped in a simulation of Steelport, and with help from allies who hacked the simulation to give them powers, sets out to rescue the captured friends, escape the simulation and defeat the Zin leader Zinyak. The ending depends on how many optional Loyalty missions were completed.
Saints Row IV was the first game Volition made after Koch Media bought the studio in early 2013, following the bankruptcy of the series' original publisher THQ. The superpower idea came from Enter the Dominatrix, a cancelled expansion planned for The Third, which the team grew into a full sequel. The team chose to remove the previous game's phone-based navigation, replaced it with a quest log, and spent less time on graphics because next generation consoles were close. The in-game radio has seven stations and 109 licensed tracks, and the original score is by Malcolm Kirby Jr.
It came out in North America on August 20, 2013, and worldwide three days later. Pre-orders included a patriot-themed pack with flamethrower, dubstep and rocket launcher weapons, a bald eagle jet and an Uncle Sam outfit. A limited edition added a replica dubstep gun, a doomsday button and a Johnny Gat statuette, and a Game of the Generation Edition added a display case on top. The game was first refused classification in Australia, which effectively banned it, and was accepted after changes. Later summary editions, Game of the Century and National Treasure, bundled 20 and 29 DLC sets.
Critics gave it generally positive reviews. They praised the humour and character customization and criticized the lack of challenge, and several singled out its treatment of gender and the character of Kinzie Kensington. It sold over one million copies in its first week. Volition later released Enter the Dominatrix and How the Saints Save Christmas as DLC, and the standalone expansion Saints Row: Gat out of Hell followed in January 2015. A reboot titled Saints Row came out in August 2022.
The text above is adapted from Wikipedia and licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
What critics said
Metacritic 76 out of 100 (PS3). Individual reviews: IGN 7.3/10, GameSpot 7.5/10, Eurogamer 8/10, Polygon 9/10, Destructoid 9.5/10.
Extra content
Two mission packs, a free weapon pack and a long run of costume, weapon and vehicle packs, plus a Season Pass that covered the two mission packs.
- GAT V: Johnny Gat inspired weapons and character customization options, free
- Enter the Dominatrix: Five missions, new weapons, vehicles and homies, an alternate story where the simulation is hijacked by the Dominatrix. Carries 10 trophies
- How the Saints Save Christmas: Three missions about rescuing Santa Claus, new weapons and vehicles. Carries 10 trophies
Good to know
- The game was first refused classification in Australia, which effectively banned it, and was accepted after the offending content was changed.
- Enter the Dominatrix started as an April Fools joke for Saints Row: The Third in 2012 and grew into this game. The leftover content was released as the first mission pack.
- The Saintified trophy asks you to create and share a character online.
- The PS3 disc has three regional disc IDs: BLUS31205 for North America and BLES01889 and BLES01954 for Europe.
- Patch 01.03 is the biggest on Sony's server, at about 938 MB, and the later patches are listed as separate packages rather than one rolled-up file.
Made by
Producer Jim Boone, Designer Scott Phillips, Programmer Ryan Spencer, Artist Stephen Quirk, Writer Jason L. Blair, Writer Jeffrey Bielawski, Writer Tony Bedard, Composer Malcolm Kirby Jr..
