Speaking as someone who has only played "Saint's Row the Third" and this one, I can safely say this is one of the best games I have ever played. It is such an enjoyable experience there is no person I would not reccomend this to. Coming off "Saint's Row the Third", I was enjoying my time with the franchise, but it didn't stand out to an amazing degree, but this game took everything I hated about 3, fixed it, and added in all new things to enjoy.

So why is it so good? Well, I'll start with the central combat mechanics, which I would say are overall better than in 3, with a ton more weapon variety, including all sorts of crazy and amazingly fun weapons, including the Dubstep Gun and the Black Hole Launcher (My personal favorite!), though alot of the more ordinary guns feel alot weaker than in 3. For example, the Alien SMG felt more like it was firing air powered brussel sprouts than laser shots. Also, I feel the weapon balance is a bit off. Though it may be really fun, and I definately prefer it to the alternative, from a technical standpoint, I shoud not be able to one shot with a completely unimproved melee weapon, recovering all lost health from a pickup he drops. Later on, I would clear entire flashpoints with nothing but a tentacle bat or a laser sword. Combat also includes the brand new superpowers, which are mostly really fun to play around with, and can do some real damage. However, I think alot of powers are either useless, or made obsolete by other powers. Why would I shoot a fireball at one enemy when I can surround myself in a temporary aura of fire, burning all nearby enemies as I get them well acquainted with my tentacle?

Alot of people point at the character customization in 2 as being incredible, and say they were dissappointed in customization in 3 and 4. Having very briefly played 2, I can say there is such a thing as too much detail, and that has it. 4 has plenty of choices to make whatever character you want, including different voices with different dialogue, though I found the developers really didn't put a whole lot of effort into the voices other then Male Voice 1 and maybe Male Voice 2, since, in my first playthrough as Female Voice 1, the subtitles constantly said something different to my character, which is a minor complaint, but it really annoyed me. Another complaint is they didn't seem to build on the wardrobe from 3, and rather replaced it, so alot of clothes I liked from before are gone, in favor of four of the same fedora with a slightly different rim.

Until I heard complaints about it and actually took a good look at the map, I couldn't even tell it was Steelport again. The jump and sprint powers make travel so much fun for awhile, though it did eventually become routine, and that verticality to moving on foot makes it feel like a different city, at least to me. However, that hits upon one of my main complaints: cars. In 3, cars were vital, and in 4, they added tons of new cars, most of which are incredibly interesting and funny in concept and execution. There's a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ man-a-pult, for God's sake! However, I was almost never tempted to use vehicles of any kind, since traveling on foot was so much faster and more efficient, which is a real shame, because vehicles seem so interesting. The problem is really exemplified whenever a mission requires you drive around and you realize how much you want to get out, jump into the air, and dive nuke a city block.

*YOU MAY FIND SPOILERS IN THIS PARAGRAPH* The story is honestly pretty shallow in its broad concept. Break the simulation by doing activities while rescuing your crew. It's a means to an end, but alot of the individual missions, particularly the rescue missions are very fun, though many of the normal missions are very very repetitive and even kind of 'grindy', you could say, which is one of the biggest criticisms of the game by most. But all these missions present a bonding experience to get you to care about each and every character, and that's really the games strongest point: the characters. I absolutely love every character in this game. They are all well defined, and the game lets you spend casual bonding time with each one to make you actually enjoy having them around, not to mention every one is enjoyable in their own way. I'd imagine this would be rapidly trumped in a story-focused game, but as someone who hasn't been exposed much to those, one of my favorite character moments came in this game, and it was when Pierce and the Boss start singing along to the radio during a mission. The dialogue, humor, and sense of absolute careless fun from the voice actors makes it a scene with not much depth, but just a flat out good time, a scene that just makes you feel happy and invested, which is really what games are about, right? And the ending. I ended up getting the good ending first time, and it is such a good ending. No poetic depth, no thought-provoking parting message, no final riddle, but just a good, light-hearted ending that made you feel accomplished and all warm inside, seeing the characters have just a good a time as you.

Switching over to the other main strength, let's talk about the humor. This game is filled with absolutely hillarious moments. One big complaint I have about 3 is it really just has one joke: ♥♥♥♥♥, BUMS, TITS, SEX, GET IT, IT'S FUNNY RIGHT?, which can be good when done right and in moderation, but was seriously overdone. This game has references, parodies, that oh so random humor that's fun when done right, which it is here, original dialogue humor, and it still retains that dirty humor from 3, but in a much better balance with the rest of it to make those jokes consistently funny. The dialogue is amazing, and I willingly listened to all of it and wanted more just because it was so good.

In conclusion, I highly reccomend this game. Sure there are some goods and bads I left out, but I think this covers the important points, at least in my experiences. It had plenty of flaws and missed alot of potential in alot of its elements, but the action, powers, characters, and humor in this game, combined with an obvious sense of absolute dedication to fun has this game stand out as being superb, and I truly cannot understand how people would rather have some dark and serious "Grand Theft Auto" clone over this gem.

[b] Speaking as someone who has only played "Saint's Row the Third" and this one, I can safely say this is one of the best games I have ever played. [/b] It is such an enjoyable experience there is no person I would not reccomend this to. Coming off "Saint's Row the Third", I was enjoying my time with the franchise, but it didn't stand out to an amazing degree, but this game took everything I hated about 3, fixed it, and added in all new things to enjoy. [b] So why is it so good? [/b] Well, I'll start with the central combat mechanics, which I would say are overall better than in 3, with a ton more weapon variety, including all sorts of crazy and amazingly fun weapons, including the Dubstep Gun and the Black Hole Launcher (My personal favorite!), though alot of the more ordinary guns feel alot weaker than in 3. For example, the Alien SMG felt more like it was firing air powered brussel sprouts than laser shots. Also, I feel the weapon balance is a bit off. Though it may be really fun, and I definately prefer it to the alternative, from a technical standpoint, I shoud not be able to one shot with a completely unimproved melee weapon, recovering all lost health from a pickup he drops. Later on, I would clear entire flashpoints with nothing but a tentacle bat or a laser sword. Combat also includes the brand new superpowers, which are mostly really fun to play around with, and can do some real damage. However, I think alot of powers are either useless, or made obsolete by other powers. Why would I shoot a fireball at one enemy when I can surround myself in a temporary aura of fire, burning all nearby enemies as I get them well acquainted with my tentacle? Alot of people point at the character customization in 2 as being incredible, and say they were dissappointed in customization in 3 and 4. Having very briefly played 2, I can say there is such a thing as too much detail, and that has it. 4 has plenty of choices to make whatever character you want, including different voices with different dialogue, though I found the developers really didn't put a whole lot of effort into the voices other then Male Voice 1 and maybe Male Voice 2, since, in my first playthrough as Female Voice 1, the subtitles constantly said something different to my character, which is a minor complaint, but it really annoyed me. Another complaint is they didn't seem to build on the wardrobe from 3, and rather replaced it, so alot of clothes I liked from before are gone, in favor of four of the same fedora with a slightly different rim. Until I heard complaints about it and actually took a good look at the map, I couldn't even tell it was Steelport again. The jump and sprint powers make travel so much fun for awhile, though it did eventually become routine, and that verticality to moving on foot makes it feel like a different city, at least to me. However, that hits upon one of my main complaints: cars. In 3, cars were vital, and in 4, they added tons of new cars, most of which are incredibly interesting and funny in concept and execution. There's a fucking man-a-pult, for God's sake! However, I was almost never tempted to use vehicles of any kind, since traveling on foot was so much faster and more efficient, which is a real shame, because vehicles seem so interesting. The problem is really exemplified whenever a mission requires you drive around and you realize how much you want to get out, jump into the air, and dive nuke a city block. [b] *YOU MAY FIND SPOILERS IN THIS PARAGRAPH* [/b] The story is honestly pretty shallow in its broad concept. Break the simulation by doing activities while rescuing your crew. It's a means to an end, but alot of the individual missions, particularly the rescue missions are very fun, though many of the normal missions are very very repetitive and even kind of 'grindy', you could say, which is one of the biggest criticisms of the game by most. But all these missions present a bonding experience to get you to care about each and every character, and that's really the games strongest point: the characters. I absolutely love every character in this game. They are all well defined, and the game lets you spend casual bonding time with each one to make you actually enjoy having them around, not to mention every one is enjoyable in their own way. I'd imagine this would be rapidly trumped in a story-focused game, but as someone who hasn't been exposed much to those, one of my favorite character moments came in this game, and it was when Pierce and the Boss start singing along to the radio during a mission. The dialogue, humor, and sense of absolute careless fun from the voice actors makes it a scene with not much depth, but just a flat out good time, a scene that just makes you feel happy and invested, which is really what games are about, right? And the ending. I ended up getting the good ending first time, and it is such a good ending. No poetic depth, no thought-provoking parting message, no final riddle, but just a good, light-hearted ending that made you feel accomplished and all warm inside, seeing the characters have just a good a time as you. Switching over to the other main strength, let's talk about the humor. This game is filled with absolutely hillarious moments. One big complaint I have about 3 is it really just has one joke: DICKS, BUMS, TITS, SEX, GET IT, IT'S FUNNY RIGHT?, which can be good when done right and in moderation, but was seriously overdone. This game has references, parodies, that oh so random humor that's fun when done right, which it is here, original dialogue humor, and it still retains that dirty humor from 3, but in a much better balance with the rest of it to make those jokes consistently funny. The dialogue is amazing, and I willingly listened to all of it and wanted more just because it was so good. In conclusion, I highly reccomend this game. Sure there are some goods and bads I left out, but I think this covers the important points, at least in my experiences. It had plenty of flaws and missed alot of potential in alot of its elements, but the action, powers, characters, and humor in this game, combined with an obvious sense of absolute dedication to fun has this game stand out as being superb, and I truly cannot understand how people would rather have some dark and serious "Grand Theft Auto" clone over this gem.