I can't say I'm a big fan of the super-absurdity of Saints Row games but I do appreciate their candor and humor. A few new videos for Saints Row IV have gone live and it should go without saying that since they're story-missions they contain obvious spoilers. So for those who already have their fingers primed to type out a “F*** you Cinema Blend for spoiling the game!” in the comment section... Obvious Spoilers Are Obvious, son.
VG 24/7 managed to get their hands on some of the new gameplay and the videos are hilarious. I'll talk briefly about the second video first because it's less significant and not as funny. But yeah, the Leave it to the Saints video is still pretty entertaining – that walking animation and the whole 1950s clean and pristine aesthetic fused with Saints Row's typical color palette just mix perfectly. It almost felt like a goofy version of X-Com in an open-world 1950s setting. You can check it out below.
The thing about the Leave it to the Saints video – obviously mocking the overly sensitive and censored era of the 50s with shows like Leave it to Beaver – is that the concept was a lot more fun than the actual gameplay. Although Volition might really consider doing a game completely set within that era, because it could be really, really fun.
Circling back around to the first video... the entire Call of Duty: Modern Warfare parody is hilarious, especially considering that Cryus, the all-American war general has sided with Arab terrorists to get revenge on the Saints... it's just... there are no words to describe the laugh out loud worthy absurdity of that scenario.
Even more than that are the completely ridiculous linear objectives. It was so just silly that each objective marker was just a few meters from each other and right in front of the player. The over-dramatic music, the silly over-importance of the mission where only a few people were tasked with stopping an evil terrorist that could potentially change the face of the world... and that over-the-top fight scene with Cyrus is just too good for its own good.
In actuality, I have to give Volition props for not just mocking the linear pretentiousness of Call of Duty, but doing so in a very entertaining way. The fight at the end also mirrored that stupid showdown between Price and General Shepard where Soap gets stabbed in the chest and players have to QTE the knife out of their heart and throw it at Shepard. Amazingly, Saints Row's finale of the showdown between the player character and Cyrus is a little less bombastic than Call of Duty, which kind of says a lot about Call of Duty.
I don't know how well the other parts of Saints Row IV will turn out, but the AI looked about as atrocious as the AI from Saints Row: The Third. If you can get passed that, maybe the superhero stuff, open-world stuff, co-op, customization and the wacky storyline which is chock full of romance will win you over.
