How do you feel about Saints Row IV?

I fear that they're escalating the premise to the point where it won't be funny anymore, just ridiculous.

The latest trailer just looked too crazy, even for Saint's Row. Not a big fan of all these super-powers they're gonna get, but I'm most likely buying the game anyway.

It's looking really good. I loved SR3 and this is looking great.

In my opinion the Saints Row games are a lot of fun, but they're nothing without Grand Theft Auto. The Houser's style in evolving the urban open world setting and mechanics is what powers Saints Row - they build their games around what GTA innovates. Sure, the humor is more dumb laughs than satire, and there's less physics and more explosions, but the design of the world, the vehicle and player customization, AI interactions, story progression, the firefights, it's all a glorified Grand Theft Auto with the mayhem cranked up.

SR2 was fun because it built around San Andreas, SR3 was fun because it adopted the GTA 4 vibe, SR4 is looking kinda meh because GTA5 isn't out yet for them to copy.

It looks like fun, but it looks like more of SR3 with the mayhem cranked even more up, nothing more - as opposed to the evolution from SR2 to 3. If I'm looking forward to any Saints Row, it's SR5, because it's gonna copy GTAV's evolution and build around that, and THAT is gonna rock the way SR3 rocked.

I'll skip SR4 and enjoy GTAV until its redheaded step sister SR5 comes out.

...

wut

@yummylee: I didn't expect your reaction, I thought the way Saints Row clones GTA and puts a spin on the humor and ridiculousness of the action is common knowledge?

If not by all means tell me why you disagree!

@wiseblood said:

The more realistic/less cartoony aesthetics, the cellphone and its functions, focus on crowded urban street blocks and big skyscrapers as opposed to SR2's/San Andreas' smaller quieter city corners, and about a hundred other things I noticed while playing.

3 was good but was crazy hyped up on here. I also think it is a dumb decision to release a month before GTA5, that just seems like the stupidest fucking move you could make

Like GTA V, I'll be getting it on launch. Love me some Saints Row.

@jouseldelka: What are you even talking about? Of course Saints Row shares a relation to GTA, but SRTT in no way shared a 'vibe' with GTAIV. They were as opposite as you could get.

Furthermore, SRTT made the series look even more cartoony, and the cellphone mechanic actually originated in Saints Row before it was in GTAIV. Well, technically it was first introduced in Vice City, but Saints Row was already letting you manually call up people and taxis well before GTA.

I'm gonna pass. I really think Jeff especially overestimated how good the game actually is. I was pumped like a motherfucker when I finally got to play it after hearing Jeff describing it as the holy grail to end all gaming. Well it wasn't the holy grail. It was a fairly mediocre game with some cool ideas/moments but it tried WAY too hard to be funny. I think it's interesting that Jeff slams Blood Dragon for trying too hard to be funny, when he praised SR3 considering it featrues the EXACT same kind of dumb humor. Also I really didn't like the way the controls felt, I think the shooting worked but it wasn't satisfying to play at all.

This is not a popular opinion on this site, but I'm going to say it anyway: Saint's Row 3 might be the most overrated game of 2011.

With GTA V coming out and Saints 4 looking a LOT like "just more saints 3" its not looking good. In any other year where GTA V wasn't coming out I'd be all on board for more "Saints Row 3" but...why burn myself out on open world crime game in August when GTA V is coming out just a few weeks later? Most likely going to pass which...kind of saddens me really.

The Third was super boring to actually play, I hope the super power stuff will offer something more interesting... I didn't really like the game anyway thought for all the alleged humor the game had in it I can count them with one hand. Don't get me wrong those moment were definitely special, but the rest 80% of the game was just boring to me.

I'm disappointed this is where they are taking the Saints Row franchise, so I will still play it but pretend it's not a Saints Row game.

Can't wait considering how much I love 3. I'm interested to see how far they can push it without losing it lol.

Look, GTA V has bank heists. Saints row IV has super powers. I find super heroes extremely boring, but I absolutely love heists/bank robberies to DEATH. I've spent 3 years playing Kane and Lynch 1/2 online just for the heists... and now, after those three years of gaming, I can finally move on to one of my favorite game series: GTA.

At the moment, I have absolutely no interest in SR IV. If anything, IV decreased my interest in the series as a whole. I like the concept of gang warfare in games, but SR IV completely went away form that. I won't be picking it up until it goes on sale for $5 or so, just like Dead Island: Riptide.

Saints Row is hardly a GTA clone. It's a gang simulator.

I felt that The Third took the story stuff too far by changing the world between missions. They should focus on the open world shenanigans like gang fights over territory and side missions instead.

BTW the shooting and flying felt really flat and the AI were more or less bullet sponges.

IMO Volition should just focus on a new Geo-Mod (open world) game.

It looks more like an expansion than a full on sequel. But it is of course too soon to tell.

Did anyone else grow to really like their main character? I really like the way they kept the same voice options from 2 to 3, atleast the one I chose.

Only two of the voices from SR2 made it over into SRTT; the male African American voice (who also voiced all of the efforts for your main character in SR1 if you chose to be African American as your basis), and the female Latino voice. Though the voice selection is still a significant improvement in SRTT than it was in SR2 all the same.

It's like what would happen if Saints Row 3 became sentient and played Saints Row 3, then went on to form a successful dev team.

Ah, I see, thanks for clarifying. Guess I was just lucky that I picked the female latino voice :).

I don't love the direction they're going with it. I liked the more grounded overall setting with insanity thrown in strategically. Seems like it's all insanity all the time now, and it's just too much. At least it seems that way. Time will tell.

Anyone who disagrees with that last sentence can get bent.

I think it looks good but does anyone think with what they showed of the super powers that it makes the game too easy? It's currently going for $37 on gmg so I kinda tempted to get it being that I enjoyed SR3 a lot.

I dunno man, that gameplay demo from E3 bummed me out. It looks exactly the same down to the UI, they showed what looked like the most boring minigames ever, it had a turret sequence, generic looking aliens, and the game just didn't look very good.

The superpower thing looked like fun and so did some of the weapons but in a world where infamous and prototype and crackdown exist, an open world game like has something to prove now.

SR3 was awesome because it stuck to the GTA formula and went over the top. This looks like it's going to be a superhero game instead, but being over the top means something completely different in that genre.

I was sold before and pre-ordered it already but this http://i.imgur.com/vC2zAs6.jpgmakes me sure I made the right choice.

sexist

No PC version of GTA5 kinda leaves me with SR4 until next year at least. Not to say I'm not excited for it.

Ahaha, fucking glad I pre-ordered now.

I never would have played 3 had it not been talked up on the Bombcast. I was never a big fan of GTA style games and the marketing trailers were so random and terrible. I ended up really enjoying it though. I was going to wait and see with this one to play it safe, but they sounded like they really were into their pre-release demo earlier this year.

I think its looking good. Honestly though, we really shouldn't compare this to GTA. This game looks like a crazy/funnier version of Infamous. You're in an open world, you have super powers but instead of a dark and gloomy story and atmosphere, these things are absurd in the silliest way possible. This could be the closest thing to a good Superman game that we'll ever get.

Watching gameplay eased any sort of uncertainty I may have had. Can't wait.

I wasn't very optimistic when the first trailer rolled out and I saw re-used assets and the same city layout. Was a little worried at the time. But that's washed away now and it's the only game I care about now! I've fallen in love with what the trailers have shown; Super powers, mech suits and all kinds of other crazy nonsense and the positive things being uttered by the bombcast and a few others before it's on the street or the reviews are up.

I feel like a little kid again. I'm counting the days till it shows up in all it's glorious wub wub edition box set, thing.

YES I BOUGHT THE BIG DUMB PLASTIC DUB STEP GUN! BECAUSE I WANTED IT AND ALL THE OTHER STUPID GOODIES WITH IT! ...what does the dub step doomsday button do? WHAT DOES IT DO!

Honestly I was pretty wary when it was first announced but all my worries are gone now and the 20th can't get here fast enough.

I haven't kept up since I want to be absolutely surprised when I play it. Hopefully they don't simply want to just make it SO MUCH CRAZIER OMG YOU GUYS but more intelligently stupid, if that makes sense. They need to be clever about it instead of just being random.

Got it pre-ordered and I cannot wait to play it. I love The Third and I hope they expand on or refine some mechanics.

I can't wait! I already have it preordered.

Probably the most excited I've been to play a game in years. I cannot fucking wait.

It looks okay to me. I mean SR3 was neat, but it wasn't blowing my mind or anything.If anything, I get to look forward to a potentially fun game.

It does look pretty fun.

I would be alot more excited if it was a new city to explore...

It looks like more of SR3.

Which I have come to realize, I'm totally a-ok with.

You know, I was always going to pre-order it closer to the release date, but...yeah okay I think I'm gonna just go do that right now.

Edit:

'MERICA

I am bubbling over with excitement for it. It just looks so fantastic.

Sold when I tried the demo at PAX AUS.

It looks crazier, but not necessarily in a good way. The game might be a collection of gags stringed together, with little coherence or depth.

Just listened to this week's Idle Thumbs, and was really turned off by how Chris Remo totally dismissed SR3 because he thought it was about dildos. No joke.

He then tries to undermine SR4 by saying "You're the president? What, do you spend your time passing legislation?" and despite that totally being the case, still would give Volition no props.

I guess if it isn't pixel-art and indie the Idle Thumbs crew really don't give a damn. They spent the next 20 minutes talking about an iPhone game.

I'm going to speak some blasphemy here but I thought Saints Row: The Third was just okay. Sure the ending third is amazing and the open world is tons of fun after you have all your abilities purchased but the rest of the game was just dull. Specifically the side missions were just boring and not fun. And you couldn't even choose to not do them because most of the main missions of the game were doing the side missions. Saints Row 4 could sell me with the open world being enjoyable right from the start with the powers but I think I'll wait for a price drop.

My only problem at this point is the lack of the Female Voice 3 (Rebecca Sanabria). I used her in SR2 & 3. Now she's not going to be in the game. Kind of a bummer.

Idle Thumbs is always like that. Had to stop listening to the podcast entirely because of stuff like that.