Believe It Or Not, There's Much More to Saints Row IV Than Dumb Fun

Janine "Iris Ophelia" Hawkins' ongoing review of gaming and virtual world style

I love games that feel like a handmade Christmas card. I love games that make me think and games that make me feel and even games that make me an utter wreck when I've finished them. This is probably why I'm so drawn to indie games, where that kind of experience is much more common than it is in AAA titles; things feel thoughtful and crafted, and they suck you in. But... I also really like just screwing around, laughing at dumb gags, looking totally awesome, blowing things up, and leaving a swath of destruction in my wake. There's nothing wrong with a little cheap, mindless fun. After all, it's all the seemingly meaningless experiences that make the meaningful ones mean even more.

That said, would you believe that Saints Row IV is a surprisingly good marriage of these two very different facets of gaming? I know, I was surprised too.

Saints Row has come a long way as a series, it seems that every iteration has been better than the one before. It started out as a take on the Grand Theft Auto formula, but it embraced a style of play that GTA began straight-facedly moving away from. It turns out that when you give people a sprawling, realistic sandbox, a significant number of them are probably going to want to do all the things they can't do in reality. They're going to want to drive their car off the pier, jump from tall buildings, throw grenades around like confetti at a wedding, and generally just mess with the world as much as possible. Saints Row embraced this with mini-missions as well as weapons and rewards built around no holds barred mayhem and ridiculousness. By throwing superpowers and superpowered-movement into the mix, Saints Row IV takes this side of the experience to the next level in a way that no amount of grenade launchers or air strike toys could do for Saints Row The Third. It's the most childish and amazing kind of fun.

The developers of Saints Row also must have realized early on that plenty of women were just as interested in wrecking shit up in videogames as men. Unlike GTA (which has yet to include a female player character) Saints Row games allow you to customize your character right down to their voice. When I wrote about Saints Row The Third I pointed out that the developers were clearly trying to acknowledge their female players, but were a bit off the mark. There were lots of "sexy" options and lots of ill-fitting masculine options, but very little in between. Although you might hear some people criticizing Saints Row IV for recycling assets from Saints Row The Third, there is a plethora of new fashion that satisfies just about every little gripe I had. And oh, the hairstyles. Whoever is responsible for these gorgeous hairstyles needs to conduct a workshop at Bethesda ASAP because goddamn is this some of the best videogame hair I've ever seen (while Bethesda's are often some of the worst).

Let's get back to that recycling assets thing, though. Saints Row IV started its life as DLC for Saints Row The Third, but when THQ closed its doors and developer Volition Inc. was purchased by Deep Silver, it became a game of its own in a relatively short period of time. Maybe that raises a red flag for you, and that's a reasonable reaction to have, but at no point while playing did I feel like I had overpaid for a product that should have remained DLC. It takes place in the same city (more or less) as the previous game, with a lot of the same clothing items (since you can import your old characters), but much of this old content appears to have been touched up for the new game while plenty of fresh content has been added alongside it. The game's revamped lighting and visual filters also go a long way. Simply put, they did it right.

But here's what really makes Saints Row IV sing: The Writing.

The story missions are unique and well-designed experiences (with only a handful of exceptions) that are entertaining as hell, loaded with great gags and dialogue that feels natural and playful and makes every character stand out. It makes plenty of references, touching on The Matrix, Mass Effect, Metal Gear, and even Streets of Rage... But really, the thing that Saints Row IV spends the most time with is its own history as a series. The downside of this is that if you haven't played the previous games there will be references that go completely over your head. That sucks... But I don't think it's enough to ruin the experience, either.

As I said earlier, Saints Row has come a long way, and I don't just mean that in a technical sense. There were bad characters, bad plots, and just some all-around bad ideas -- ideas that the series has almost outgrown. As much as I enjoyed Saints Row The Third, even it had plenty of skeezy and awkward moments (for example sex trafficking as a plot point, yikes) that make me hesitate before recommending it to someone. Saints Row IV makes a point of unpacking its own baggage, pointing out the things that it used to do, sometimes with a fond smirk and sometimes with an eye-roll and a sigh.

The series is still ridiculous and dumb, but it's managed to become just a little bit more thoughtful about how it does that. Characterization has become more subtle and nuanced even as the world those characters exist in becomes more cartoonish, and even takes the time to go back and add subtlety to the caricatures that it created in the past. This is why Saints Row IV can still scratch my itch for a crafted and intelligent gaming experience, because it's so aware of what it's done in the past and what it wants to do going forward. It's willing to publicly point out and own its less-than-enlightened past choices and not just quietly bury them. Now don't get me wrong, it's still far from perfect, but it certainly offers far more fairness and thoughtfulness than you'd expect from a game that also features dildo bats and dubstep guns.

Ask Saints Row if a game can really have its cake and eat it too.

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Iris Ophelia (@bleatingheart, Janine Hawkins IRL) has been featured in the New York Times and has spoken about SL-based design at the Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan and with pop culture/fashion maven Johanna Blakley.

Comments

[Damien Fate]

I picked up SR2 once on a whim during a Steam sale and became a fan of the series instantly. I can't wait to get my hands on SR4.

Also glad to hear that the skeezy factor isn't as high, I think they even had porn stars promoting SR3 (and that infamous melee weapon)

[Ajax Manatiso]

Its looks like fun, but being a working stiff I would only be able to play it an hour or so on weekends so the price of $60+ is out of line compared to going out to a movie -- but that would probably be best as a totally different article.

[daringabroad]

Is there a fan forum?