It’s time for another Retro Ad Replay article! This is the series where we head backward in time to reminisce and celebrate the anniversary of some of the most significant moments in gaming. If you find yourself wanting more content like this, be sure to visit Mandatory.com.
In this August 20 edition of Retro Ad Replay, we’re heading back eight years in time to when Saints Row 4 first launched on PC, PS3, and Xbox 360. That’s August 20, 2013. Developed by Volition and published by Deep Silver, this installment took the formula that had made the initial trilogy so successful and injected it with superpowers.
GameRevolution awarded Saints Row 4 a 9/10 in our review, praising the “love letter to all of gaming,” “solid sandbox design,” “fantastic soundtrack,” and “superpowers are incredible.”
SAINTS ROW IV takes the previous installment to the next logical step, or as “logical” as SAINTS ROW can get anyway. By the end of the opening tutorial mission, the 3rd Street Saints elevate themselves from mere pop superstars to a group so idolized by the American public that the entire crew becomes the cabinet of the White House, and you become the one and only President of the United States. As per your order, the Oval Office is decked out in purple, hallways are installed with stripper poles, and your staff handles every bureaucratic affair to keep your life as carefree and hedonistic as possible. That is, until aliens invade the world, kidnap everyone you care about, and give you a very handy reason for wanton destruction and kickassery.
If GRAND THEFT AUTO is drama, then SAINTS ROW is comedy. Both have similar sandbox designs, but their aesthetics are wildly apart. Yet just like drama versus comedy, the former is lauded as superior and the latter is seen somehow negatively as a farce. Those people don’t know what they’re missing. SAINTS ROW IV is exaggerated fun in the loudest, proudest, awesomest, most fuckingest way possible. So if you want to give this five perfect stars, go right ahead. I won’t stop you. Just make sure it chafes.
Check out the Saints Row 4 trailer below:
