2013
Available on PS3 Xbox 360, and PC
$59.99 USD
Special editions and collector's editions available
Volition & Deep Silver
Rating: M - (blood, alcohol, sex, nudity, language, violence...)
Plot:
You are the player. The leader of a street gang that has risen from being a small time hood to major international celebrity sensation, and now President of The United States. Seems like a good life right? Sure, until an alien menace appears out of nowhere and kidnaps all of key members of the Saints (including you) and other prominent people. You're obviously not going to let the aliens get away with this, it's time to go open a can of whoop ass.
Features:
Customize your player (looks, clothes, gender, etc.), gang, weapons, and cars
Return to Steelport, though not as you remember it, welcome to the simulation where you get super powers!
Be all you can be as a hero, or muck around in a vibrant city.
Aside from super powers deal some hilarity chaos with unique weapons like the Inflation Gun, or the Abduction Gun, watch as your enemies' heads grow until it bursts or lift a horde of enemies high into the sky...
Take on the Zin threat through a story that brings out a few (if not all) the major characters from S.R. 1 to now.
Review:
So the game opens up with a pretty familiar images from the 80s, a homage to a certain barbarian king. After that you're introduced to a mission before the player becomes the POTUS. This serves as a tutorial mission and also a filler mission for what exactly happened after S.R.: III.
The banter between the action of the tutorial mission from the start is a reminder that this is a Saints Row game. A series know for its outrageous stories, features, and of course humor.
After the tutorial mission the story begins, and true to the way of the Saints, the white house is pimped out and all the bureaucrats are partying hard while the player has solved all kinds of problems facing the U.S. The alien invasion suddenly shows up and forces an armed confrontation within the White House eventually leading to an anti-air turret (decked out in patriotic colors) being piloted by the player.
Eventually the story progresses and the player finds him/herself in a 1950s version of Steelport, that is way too clean and straight laced. The player manages to get free and finds her/himself in another simulation...this one being more akin to the Matrix a cyber version of Steelport minus all of the Saints' safe houses and Planet Saints (their clothing store) warped into Planet Zin, as well as some Zin theme architecture. From here the missions, side missions, and quests are available to the player to pursue.
One of the first missions available is the discovery of fractals of coding left all over the city. Each of these fractals is currency to apply towards powering up the super powers as the story progress. Here is a break down of available powers and weaponry:
Combative/Active: telekinesis, blast, stomping, and buff
Each of the active powers have elements that provide additional effects when used.
Telekinesis:
- Arc Lightning - the ability to turn any levitated object into a lightning point to electricute nearby foes.
- Vampire - absorb a grasped enemy's life to replinish your own
- Push - turn any grasped enemy into your own personal baseball and throw them around.
Blast:
- Ice - adding a freezing time out on any struck enemy/enemies giving your weapons better a more potent punch
- Fire - strike an enemy and roast 'em for dinner
- Mind Control - Turn enemies into your allies.
Stomp:
- Rock - generates a shock wave that has the potential to throw enemies away from the player
- Gravity - effected enemies will float for a few seconds turning them into pinatas basically
- Shrink - turn the enemy into mini-mies, increases potency of attacks on effected enemies.
Buff:
- Fire - the player is engulfed in flames and any enemy contact sets said enemy ablaze
- Lightning - turn the enemy into their own personal lightning rod
- freeze - like the fire element, only turn the enemy into popsicles.
Abilities/Passive: super sprint (wanted to be like the Flash? Here's your chance...), super jump (able to leap buildings in a single bound), death from above (jump into the air and target an area, turning the player into a human bomb), and force shield (not quite in the Star Wars sense). There are no mod elements that can be attached to this powers, they can only be upgraded for distance, duration, and consumption of the stamina bar. Though some do have some enhancements that will prove entertaining...
Weaponry:
Tanks, attack choppers, APCs, and alien equivalents are available - the player just has to find 'em.
Most hand-held weapons can be upgraded...
Guns:
alien hand gun, a heavy human hand gun, and a regular mediocre quick fire hand gun
SMGs:
Alien version, heavy type, and quick fire
Shotguns:
Pump action, semi-auto
Rifles:
Alien, burst, automatic (this a heavy MG-type)
Explosives:
Alien RPG, and regular RPG
Special:
Sniper rifle, alien mine thrower, alien, lasergun
Melee:
the player's super powered fists, and base ballbat
Extra Special weaponry:
Melee type: energy katana, rectifier probe (I will let your imagination run with this one), dildo bat, and tentacle bat
Dubstep Gun - kill 'em with music! No I'm not kidding...seriously...kill 'em with music!
Abduction Gun - Really don't like an enemy? Call in the mother ship to get rid of them permanently...
Black Hole Gun - the power of a black hole now in your hands
Eraser rifle - Permanently remove an enemy from the field of play without a drop of blood
Bounce rifle - the shot fired from this gun will bounce off multiple targets, and with each bounce become more and more powerful.
Inflation gun - When you really want someone's head to go pop...
New addition: weapon skins. Customize each of your weapons look to your liking.
So once the tutorials are finished the city is basically open all optional mini-games can be completed quickly or leisurely. If a quick play through is required there some missions one can skip to progress through the story, but in doing so the road will be tough. These optional missions and mini-games also serve a purpose down the road in the story as well as add to the hourly (in game clock) income one can collect.
Some mini-games when fully complete (all medals earned - bronze, silver, and gold) will offer additional powers or features not available (i.e. boost in the effectiveness of a power). This along with a leveling system seen from previous games provides the option of boosting certain aspects of the player to special them, or if one wanted to make the player as strong as powerful.
As the play-through progresses rival gangs are replaced by alien control points that the player can defeat in order to gain control over the virtual city, each one is different from the last. Also there are several high towers to practice the jump and sprint abilities out on.
If one desires to bring a friend alone, the city is scattered with co-op missions consisting of: either chasing a friend, or fighting a friend. All co-op missions are optional.
Story missions vary from escort, grab and fetch, killing enemies, various computer related missions due to the environment.
If one gets bored of the virtual world, they can return to the base and interact with the crew. One option is to chat, the other is...well...coitus (off screen of course).
The verdict:
The story is per the franchise's over the top and funny usual deal. Though in this one there is a sense of closure and a feeling that the story is complete in a Saint's sense. The super hero powers were experimented with as a DLC in the last game, and sow as some of the alternate virtual world as well. Alien invasion seems like the most logical progress of the Saints. Aside from the good story the game does NOT escape without some strikes.
Strike one: like most games with an open world, and the massive code to make the world vibrant, things sometimes get stuck out of the map. Game freezes (after two hours of play), some audio bugs from the last installment carried over. I.e. voice clip that now plays every time my save loads up.
Strike two: Customization is hit and miss. The wardrobe is a rehash from the last release, and there a few new additions but they are spares compared to the last game. Safe houses are no longer in the game, so they cannot be customized - which was one cool thing about the series making your base/home look awesome.
Car customization has been improved with decals now being an option, but at the same time feel pointless due to the super powers can get the player to the destination far more quickly. Player customization is there, but no substantial changes.
Strike three: the game is linear when it comes to the story. Sure there are a couple of options for the player to make a choice, but in the end they're far and few in between. The only non-linear option is the side quests. The main story takes place in mostly corridor scripted environments exploration and cross-roads decision making are really not existent.
Over all this game a is a fun ride, and there's plenty to do as you can get at least 20 hours (or more) play out of it depending on how much rushing is done. Just don't expect a masterpiece, but a good send off to conclude the Saints Row franchise.
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