Saints Row: Gat Out of Hell

By: Robert Murphy

Saints Row IV took players in a different directions that the ones of previous generations have, instead of going from rags to riches, you go from riches to politicians. Long time leader of the Saints gets elected president and your rag tag team of lovable gangsters joins on as cabinet members. Then, an alien attack comes out of nowhere, the earth gets destroyed and the few remnants of humanity were dropped into a computer dream program like the one from the Matrix. Saints Row: Gat Out of Hell, picks up from the conclusion of all this as the team is all semi safe and flying around outer space in a stolen space ship. The day we pick off from in particular is a special one, it is red headed heart throb, Kinzie Kingston's birthday and all the surviving Saints members are celebrate and what better way to celebrate than with a good old fashion ouija board. However, unknown to all of them this board is possessed and it in turn opens a portal to Hell and sucks up the President of the United States (your former main character.) Now, you take on the role of big time muscle, Johnny Gat and optional go between Kinzie Kingston to go down to Hell and get back the President before he is married off to the devil's daughter, Jezebele. 

The name of the game for Gat Out of Hell is destruction and chaos, basically Johnny's plan for getting back the boss is to shoot the devil right in the face. An admirable plan to be sure, you will be going around the five districts of Hell during the game, the Barrens, Shantytown, Downtown, Forge and the Den to try and attract as much of Satan's attention as you can. You do this by completing Diversion mission strewn throughout the districts which are basically minigames and throwbacks to the classic Saints Row minigames we have seen before. A standard Survival mission is present where you kill off a varied wave of demons and other enemies. There is also a mission involving a capture the tower type scenario where you take over three spots in a soul extraction facility as well as a Pledge challenge where you whack frat boy demons with popped collars into a Stargate looking portal with a studded paddle. Admittedly fun for the first few times you do it but sadly this is the extent of the games range in terms of gameplay missions, there aren't any story style missions to go through that players have become familiar with and the game boils down to repeatedly doing these minigames over and over again. 

The new look and style for the game is a bit of an enjoyment though as you dawn the wings of the fallen angel and gain the ability to fly, run at super speeds, jump super high and etc. Gat and Kinzie get new demonic stylings to their old looks and new abilities from some of your unlikely allies. Former enemies of the Saints are now on your side as well as two new but well known names from history aide you in your quests, a disc spinning DJ Shakespeare and a still impaling people with pointy sticks Vlad are here to help. They all introduce you to new abilities, a force stomp, an aura area shield, summoning and a blast ability all become a part of your arsenal. Each of which has a cool down system to limit your use but this can be upgraded through collecting the soul clusters that can be plainly seen from any high place. There are also ritual spires throughout Hell that unlock different effects for all these abilities such as a vampire perk to your aura that drains life from those around you and a holy stomp ability that harms nearby enemies with a flash of divine energy. 

Along with these new abilities, Gat Out of Hell features new hellish weaponry for you to find and use. Weapons modeled off of the Seven Deadly Sins are present for your destructive pleasure, Sloth being my personal favorite which is an arm charm equipped with two mini guns and rockets below the foot rest. There's also a soul sucking Sloth gun that turns souls in rockets which burst on impact and shards target nearby foes, a Greed style SMG with enough bling to make Liberace faint. Outside these big named weapons though are other guns such as the Lil' Croaker that shoots plague referencing frogs everywhere which explode on impact along with other gems to add to your chaos across the land. While the Seven Sins guns are more unique, the other guns really are just remodels of things like grenade launchers so there isn't much diversity among them but it's still a kooky element of fun for the game that we know Saints Row is famous for. 

It is a bit of a let down to see features that work so well for previous games be gutted in this stand alone DLC though. There isn't anything in the way of weapon purchasing outside of finding and then upgrading the stock weapons you are given and vehicle purchasing and upgrading are gutted from Gat Out of Hell too. Also, character customization and custom penthouse cribs are left out of the picture which made me feel that the game wasn't as stand alone as it is made out to be.

All in all, I am a bit torn by Gat Out of Hell. The ridiculous gameplay and laughs are still there as it is with the previous Saints Row titles but something about it just doesn't feel well worked out. It is incredibly fun and easy to get yourself started on the road to hell but once you realize what little there is to do, you'll find yourself beating the game and ending it before you even really began. I had just started doing more of the main minigame missions after causing serious havoc when the game chimed in with it's musical halfway point and then the final battle with Satan was shortly followed without me doing much of anything. The weapons, abilities and demonic powers/look will all be fun for you but to quote Johnny Gat, "Is this really all Hell has got to offer?"

Good:

- Crazy weapons, abilities and characters

- Hell is interestingly designed and is frankly kinda cool, despite how awkward it is to say that out loud but it's true

Bad:

- No real missions to speak of, mainly just minigames that are carbon copies from past games

- Character customization and other favored features are left out

- You could almost do none of the "missions" for the game and still reach the end, making you ask "what was the point?"

Scully Rating: 4.5 out of 10 

  

Saint's Row IV

By: Robert Murphy

Well it finally happened, I finally stopped laughing enough to write the review for my play through of Saints Row 4 and I’ve had an absolute blast with the game as you’ll soon find out. Now through the years the Saints Row games have specialized in the ridiculousness and downright laughable but at the same time providing a story and enjoyable gameplay for players and the latest entry into the series doesn’t disappoint either. You have come a long way since being the leader of the Saints, now you’re the leader of the free world as President of the USA and you’re doing a crack up job of it, at least in my opinion because I’ve always said that the White House could do with a lot more stripper poles. After passing a few bills and punching out a few non supporters of your regime, out of nowhere an alien attack occurs and take captive almost all of your favorite Saints. And after a frankly badass attempt to save everybody and take out the aliens, you yourself are captured and put into a virtual containment area, don’t worry though you don’t have to wear skin tight leather in this world. This free roam area is a copy of good old Steelport and from here we dig into the meat of most of your gameplay for Saints Row 4.

From here we are introduced to a whole new kind of Saints Row and that is one with super natural type powers right out of your favorite comic books. Almost immediately into the game players are introduce to our new super powers that bend the rules of this virtual world and allow you to jump to sky scraper heights, glide across the skies and sprint through the streets so fast that you leave mayhem in your wake. And these are just the first basic powers that you are given in the game, as you progress you gain new abilities to be upgraded and used to tear down this phony world and take down the alien scum from the inside. Unfortunately, we don’t receive super human healing abilities but hey if everything was super charged then the game would be very boring. Enemies in the game and if you adjust the settings even pedestrians drop health for you in the form of little blue health signs which seems a bit childish and ridiculous…..and I loved it. Enemies however do come in large groups most of the time so if you aren’t being tactful in the beginning of the game (especially on higher difficulties) you will find yourself full of holes. If you’re smart however and buy a few health upgrades, things become much easier on you, even more so when you take a look at the impressive store of weaponry that comes with any Saints Row game. There are of course the standard human weapons like SMG’s and pistols but the real fun comes from the alien weaponry like the Disintegrator or the Black-hole gun that make for a devastating amount of fun. But if you like using the classics, I’ve got good news for you, your standard weapons come with a great amount of upgrades and skins to make them just as fun and powerful and at the same time goofy and awesome.

As for the city itself, you don’t really spend much time appreciating it rather you spend most of your time zooming through it or soaring over top of it with your super natural powers which makes all the work and funny things that were put into the city seem a little irrelevant. The thing that brings you down to Earth is all the various side quests sprinkled throughout the area and the collectibles that are quite literally inches from each other. These side quests include various things such as fighting through waves of enemies to completing races using your super sprint and other tasks meant to thwart the evil aliens that are holding your crew and humanity hostage. As for the collectibles  they are anything but hidden, in one super jump you’ll gaze at about 15 of the 1,400 collectible glowing blue nods that are used to upgrade your super powers to more destructive levels. These things were so easy to collect though and at first it was fun and entertaining but it quickly became mind numbing and a bit of a letdown to easily get all these nods and rapidly upgrade my abilities so early in the game. Other collectibles are a bit more scattered and harder to find like the alien statues and audio logs from your crew but these didn't really pull me out of soaring through the skies either but it’s just so much fun.

Of course, what would a Saints Row game be without a bit of co-op fun for you and your mates to enjoy along the way, you can either choose to play through missions or free roam with your friends across virtual Steelport. All the while enjoying the ridiculous outfits you two may have on, which in previous games and in Saints Row 4 is truly a fun and enjoyable experience to behold. You can literally be just about any type of character you want to be, the number of customizations in the game is endless, ludicrous and an absolute riot to behold, not just in co-op but in single play as well. I myself am dressed as a super saiyan badass with a British accent that is auto tuned to a higher pitch and it makes me laugh every time my character opens his mouth.

Overall, I love this game, it is everything that I was looking forward to in Saints Row 4, things are even more over the top and the good old fashioned Saints Row humor is back and better than ever providing me with hours of amusement. With the added ability of super natural powers, the game becomes an even bigger riot and way to make mayhem, it’s like using cheat codes without using cheat codes and I find that pretty cool. It is upsetting though that you are able to upgrade your abilities so quickly in the game which leads you to ignoring a great deal of virtual Steelport and makes the ability to drive cars pretty pointless, why drive when you can sprint there or glide. But with all the guns, laughs and massively customizable character pallet, Saints Row 4 makes for an awesome experience for fans and new comers to the game.

Good:

-Great and ridiculous humor

-A destructive weapon and ability selection for massive chaos

-Super powers are fun and make you feel like a little kid with all that power

-Solid story and follows in the footsteps of previous games

Bad:

-You’ll find yourself ignoring Steelport city aside from getting collectables and doing missions, you end up sprinting by it all with super speed or soaring over it jumping from rooftop to rooftop

-Upgrading your abilities comes far too early and is way too easy to do

Scully Rating: 9.0 out of 10