If there is one thing Volition aren’t afraid of doing is the amount of homage to video games and films that is included in Saints Row IV’s plot. Due to this, the plot feels constructed with a good focus on pacing, making each main mission feel appropriate to the overall game’s tale. There are no gangs here to split the story up into two or three directions. The narrative of Saints Row IV is helped along with the fact there is just one main enemy in the story. It’s not a pretty outcome, as the Saints are captured and thrown into a computer simulation of Steelport, the city that featured the escapades of the Saints back in Saints Row: The Third. After some homage, you find yourself back in the White House and are about to do a speech at a press conference when alien invaders, led by one Zinyak, an alien with a love for classical music and Shakespeare, comes crashing down and begins to assault the President’s residence. Set five years after Saints Row: The Third, the protagonist of the series has been elected as the President of the United States (well that’s a start to push Saints Row IV up the ludicrous scale) and is currently on a mission to stop a terrorist plot from blowing up the land of the free. Saints Row IV is one of the most enjoyable open-world games I have ever gotten to play through, from story to gameplay, nothing is in the way to let the player do anything but have gleefully fuelled fun. With that said, where could Volition go next after their third instalment? It’s pretty darn hard beating an already outlandish game, but somehow Volition found a way to make Saints Roweven more over-the-top, and this isn’t limited to story, but gameplay and everything else you can think of when it comes to a video game.

Volition opted to have a laugh with their series, going the way of comedy and keeping the serious tone down, and no matter what one highly regarded game creator might think, Volition took the step in the right direction and gave us a game that has never heard of the words realism or dull. Saints Row: The Third was the game to bring the series into the spotlight, splashing its own DNA onto the open-world gameplay and throwing out the rule-book. As each sequel released, the series began to gain confidence and grow out of its shell to become its own Identity. Volition has done wonders to change their approach to Saints Row, which started as a GTA-like gangster game back in 2006. Crazy, insane, nutty, wacky, bizarre, ridiculous and comical are all words that probably came out of your mouth while playing the 2011 extraordinarily absurd Saints Row: The Third.

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