Congratulations President of the United States! Aliens have invaded. You're trapped in a simulation and you've got superpowers. Sound crazy? Well you're in for a treat.
Oh, the beautiful chaos that is Saints Row. If you're new to the franchise there's a simple way to think of the earlier Saints games--Grand Theft Auto on steroids comes to mind. A heavy emphasis on the run and gun way of life, it was nothing out of the ordinary to pinch cars, rob banks and get plenty of revenge in the mix. What set Saints games apart from GTA though? For a start, the absurdity of every detail began to evolve with each title over time--Saints Row (one) was fairy normal, but by the time we hit Saints Row IV, things were about to go off the rails. Allow me to explain:
All you need is twenty minutes of tutorial time to really see firsthand how high the roof has been set for insanity in Saints Row IV. You'll find that you're now the President of the United States, staying true to yourself with the same about of crass behaviour in office. Things are going great in the first five minutes--you're passing bills, punching annoying senators and generally trying to stay in your seat from laughing your head off behind the screen. The writing is impeccable and just so devilishly funny.
Only a brief taste of the top however--aliens. That's right, I said aliens. Insert the insane History Channel meme guy with the fuzzy hair here. ALIENS. Saints Row IV decides to blow it all out of the water with the most insane concept yet--an alien invasion cometh! Keep in mind, there's no real spoilers here--IT ALL HAPPENS WITHIN THE FIRST FIFTEEN MINUTES OF PLAYING. As the invasion starts to envelope the office, it's clear the Saints are outnumbered and start to disappear as they're beamed up to some mothership. You meet the head of all this carnage briefly, and after all is said and done get dumped into a simulation of the 'real' world. As nerdy as she is kinky, Kinzie is one of the only Saints to have escaped this fate, contacts you and hatches a plan to beat the simulation from the inside. Whew. Got all that? Don't worry if you didn't, Saints Row IV is so off the wall that you could play it without an ounce of attachment to the storyline and still have an absolute blast.
As no concept is now off limits for the player to experience, you end up slowly acquiring what can only be described as super powers to conquer the invasion. This is where Saints Row IV REALLY shines. You always have the option to, but suddenly stealing and riding around in cars doesn't seem as much fun as running as fast as the Flash, or gliding literally a half city's worth in the sky. Simply getting around in the game becomes wonderfully fun in itself, nevermind that they're loads of knick knacks to collect sweetening the deal.
The missions are great, both side and main, hilariously done and will keep you busy for hours on end. Customize cars, your look and strut around like the big cheese, because, well, you are. Saints Row games have a wonderful way of making the player feel great while they play. Of course, there's challenge to the missions, but it's truly a game designed to have FUN.
Now, the Nintendo Switch port, if that's what we're all here for. Re-released under the name Saints Row IV Re-Elected, this tidy little bundle includes all the previous DLC (Hint: they're incredible too) and acts as a Game Of The Year edition. It's listed as being cleaned up from the previous release version, and promises some good ole' fashioned carnage at your handheld fingertips.
Originally released in North America on August 20, 2013 for PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360, it's now had a fair bit of time to gather age. No doubt the whole package still runs great and plays great, but it's now without its own special set of glitches and bugs. With any sort of GTA style sandbox game, you're always going to run into a host of glitchy happenings, most of which will just make you laugh. I've never run into anything gamebreaking in both the original PC and Xbox 360 releases, nor the Nintendo Switch release.
At times it does seem like the Joy Cons don't feel so right for the job, but this quickly vanished as I realised when you aim your gun, you can take over zeroing in on your target with the gyroscope feature. Leaning and pivoting in real life around to take out baddies, this feature really took the fun up for me to a next level and felt fantastically immersive.
Overall, it's a great way to go back and revisit a cracking installment in the Saints Row universe. You'll be hard pressed to find a game that balances the absurd with fun quite as effortlessly as the way Saints Row IV Re-Elected does. Highly recommended as an avid Saints fan, and even more so if you've not have the pleasure of playing one of these crazy games. Take it from me, it's a good time to be a Saint.