Saints Row IV | Geekscape

‘Sunset Overdrive’ & ‘The Wolf Among Us’ Headline Xbox Games With Gold For April!

by The_aczMarch 25, 2016

April is shaping up to be a really good month for Xbox Live gold members. Throughout the whole month of April, you’ll be able to pick up the complete 1st season of Telltale Games The Wolf Among Us for free if you’re a gold user. After that, you’ll be able to pick up and cause some carnage as Insomniacs Games Sunset Overdrive blasts its way to gwg from April 16th to May 15th. Not interested in those? Not a problem.

This month’s backwards compatibility games are also very solid. First, from April 1st through the 15th you’ll be able to relive the horror of EA’s Dead Space all over again. Then from the 16th to the 30th, you’ll be elected president in Saints Row IV. What do you think of april’s line-up? Will you be trying out any of these games? Let us know in the comments!

Geekscape Games Reviews: ‘Saints Row IV’

by MoreLikeAndyAugust 14, 2013

Saints Row: The Third proved that when the core essence of a game is built upon having fun doing some pretty goofy things, people will love it. When Deep Silver took over Volition when THQ went bankrupt, everyone worried that the Saints Row franchise would never be the same. Saints Row IV will silence those doubts with nothing more than a smile.

Saints Row IV has a story premise that can be considered a throwaway when you first see it. War Vet running for and eventually winning the role of President of the United States only to deal with an alien invasion. Trapped inside a simulated world on the alien mothership, you and the rest of The Saints must fight their way from the inside to save the world. What Volition does within this premise is nothing short of awe-inspiring goodness. There are so many little things scattered throughout that keep the momentum going. It’s hard to talk about anything without spoiling everything but one thing’s for sure, there are a lot references and call backs. If you didn’t play Saints Row: The Third, most of the call backs to previous story elements will be easily overlooked.

The sheer amount of references are astounding. From Harry Potter to Metal Gear, it’s like there is a holy grail of references that was lost to the ages that Deep Silver Volition finally uncovered. The biggest surprise is made for the fans of a cult classic movie in the late 80’s. I had to pause the game from my sheer excitement after the reveal late in the campaign. It made me wish I still had a pair of Ray-Bans.

Saints Row IV has also mashed up bits and pieces from other franchises in its gameplay mechanics. Using the core of Saints Row: The Third, adding abilities such as super speed, super jump, air dashing, gliding and even a dive move that when executed from a certain height, the impact will cause a nuclear explosion. How can you not use that all the time, every time?

When it’s time to stand your ground and fight, you’ll have a set of other powers to utilize. At first, it seems like just four different powers at your disposal. Once you level up more, you’ll see these powers expand into a multitude of uses. Freeze Blast now adds fire and mind control augmentations. Telekinesis with lightning or life steal is now possible. Ground Stomp aliens to shrink them down to nothing? Got that too. For the guns blazing fans, Buff is there to augment your bullets with fire, lightning and frost.

I found myself using Freeze Blast the most. The rhythm of freezing a group of enemies, switching to a rocket launcher and watching them explode in an icy death was too effective not to use all the time. Using special weapons such as the dubstep gun were fun to use a couple of times but never felt effective enough to get the job done. Most of the weapons will feel weak in the beginning so you’re going to spend some time earning enough cache to purchase upgrades at the Friendly Fire before you feel like your weapons are worthy enough for a Saint to hold.

Saints Row IV included my weakness for collecting glowing objects. With Crackdown being influential to adding these luminescent collectibles, I couldn’t help but move towards their direction whenever a glimpse of one was in sight. The more of these you nab, the more upgrades you can unlock for your powers. Fully upgraded jump, run speed, air dash and glide make exploring simulated Steelport a joyous venture.

All this leads into how pointless vehicles may seem. Even with the ease of adding vehicles to your virtual garage and simply placing a phone call to instantly retrieve said vehicles can’t compare to zipping around town on your feet. Who wants to be tied down to a slow ass tank when you are the tank?

Probably the most loveable thing about Saints Row IV for me is the audio. Whether it’s the stellar voice acting or the bevy of musical choices with the in-game radio, you’re auditory senses will revel in glee. Every line spoken in the game may not be a winner. That is easily overshadowed by the delivery of all the lines by every voice actor. Nolan North as a voice option for character creation just screams, “PICK ME! PICK ME!” I was hoping for a little more Nolan North making self references. At least he sounds like he is having fun with the lines, like everyone else seemed to be.

The music choices this time around on the radio stations are an eclectic mix of new and old, timeless classics. I found myself drawn to two stations for my radio needs; Mad Decent and Mix 107.7. Mad Decent has features a strange mix of artists I’d never heard of but also, Riff Raff. Having him as the DJ is pretty brilliant. Not as witty as previous DJs in Saints Row: The Third, but the ridiculousness of his persona is engaging in a way it shouldn’t be. Mix 107.7 is all the great songs the past that make you go, “I remember that song!” as you start to sing along with the track immediately after.

Biggest addition to the music in the game is that you can take it with you wherever you are, regardless if you are in a vehicle or not. This new addition brings so much value when doing anything in Saints Row IV. Moments such as blowing up a city block with “B.O.B.” by Outkast as your theme makes causing mayhem that much more fun in Steelport.

Volition continues the incredible usage of licensed music at key moments in their games with Saints Row IV. From Aerosmith’s “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” playing in the first ten minutes of the game to the end credits, you’ll be remissed if you don’t give the dev team that worked on the placement of these songs big praise. Even when they go back to the well from previous ideas in Saints Row: The Third, it still works to put a smile on my face.

Smiles across the board is what you’ll get when playing Saints Row IV. With the exception of a bland boss fight near the end of the game and some repetitiveness in the side quests, I couldn’t stop smiling. I imagine the team at Deep Silver Volition will be smiling as well knowing that their main goal was achieved; an insane amount of fun.

Score: 5/5

Geekscape Games Previews ‘Saints Row IV’: A Recipe For Fun

by MoreLikeAndyJuly 16, 2013

Recipe for the most fun you’ll ever have this year:

1 cup of the 1992 movie, Stay Tuned
1/2 cup Crackdown
A dash of Saints Row: The Third
Add a pinch of Keith David, Benjamin King (Only use the muthafuckin’ kind, the other brand has less flava), and Nolan North.
Mix well in a blender with ice.

Finished product should be the best funtini you’ve ever tasted in your life.

Let’s break down this one of a kind recipe, shall we?

1 cup of the movie, Stay Tuned

Many of you are too young to have seen this fine motion picture starring John Ritter. The synopsis of Stay Tuned: a husband and wife get sucked into TV land and try to survive all the 100+ channels of programming in order to escape. Saints Row IV approaches this theme with the way it seamlessly cuts from each scenario. From playing a super soldier that saves the world while Aerosmith’s “Don’t Wanna Miss a Thing” plays, to fulfilling your Presidential role of abolishing cancer and bringing the fist of justice to the low road of filibusters. When Saints Row IV switches from Leave it to Beaver land to the virtual reality trap the alien race Zin and its leader Zinyak has the Saints in, that’s when the fun factor really picks up.

1/2 cup of Crackdown

Crackdown is one of my favorite titles for the Xbox 360. Realtime Worlds really crafted the perfect playground of superhuman-like abilities in an open environment. Jumping 30 feet in the air, running faster than any car, and throwing any car that tried to be faster than you gave me the first taste of what true freedom in having fun was like.

Saints Row IV provides nostalgia for those feelings by letting you play like kid in a candy factory with absolutely no rules. Collecting bits of data to upgrade powers such as super jump, super speed, gliding makes me wonder if Crackdown was part of the design document for Saints Row IV. Beating the Wardens, the super soldiers Zinyak has placed in the virtual reality you are trapped in, grants you special abilities to augment the already exuberant fun factor with the other powers. Freezing the aliens which in turn lets me do double damage for a brief period of time is a great way to deal with a groups of enemies. The one things I would want to make things a little more sweeter is being able to shoot while jumping. In Crackdown, raining hell down unsuspecting fools with rockets while free falling never, ever gets old.

A dash of Saints Row: The Third

When Volition decided to stop being serious with the Saints Row franchise and just said, “Fuck it. Let’s see how much dumb shit we can get away with.”, what the world was blessed with was Saints Row: The Third. The humor that was put into Saints Row: The Third was in short, brilliant. If you weren’t laughing, smiling or down right having the best time in an 3rd-person open world game, you had no soul. From the auto-tuned pimp, Zimos, the homage to cheesy action flicks, great voice work and dialogue, perfect use of licensed songs in key moments, Saints Row: The Third was like the perfect storm for fun. You can’t tell me Sublime’s “What I Got” scene wasn’t an amazing moment when you first saw it.

Saints Row IV brings all those things that made Saints Row: The Third great, along for the ride. From what I’ve played of the preview build, Volition knew the exact vibe to carry over into Saints Row IV without going too far into making a parody of itself. If you’re worrying about how Saints Row IV was built around what was suppose to be a standalone expansion for Saints Row:The Third when THQ owned the IP, rest assured that enough care went into changing Enter the Dominatrix that the full game flavor is fresh.

Add a pinch of Keith David, Benjamin King and Nolan North

Nothing pleases the earhole pallets quite like Keith David’s voice. Have a listen for yourself:

Having Keith David play himself as the the Vice President of the United States was a genius move on Volition’s part. Something about that commanding voice of his that could get me to do anything, I mean ANYTHING. Benjamin “Muthafuckin” King. Since Terry Crews is taking over for the late Michael Clark Duncan, I see more outlandish dialogue being said. If Volition was smart, they would throw an Old Spice reference in there for us all.

Now we come to what took up the majority of my time in the preview build of Saints Row IV, Nolan North. Whoever made the call to insert Nolan North as a voice option in the character creation menus, I want to say “I love you”. I must have cycled through all the taunts and compliments that you can pick for your created character five times. There is a specific part in the preview that Kenzi asks you to “just be yourself”. Of course the correct response would be, “you mean Nolan North?” I think I snorted from the laughter from that one line. It shouldn’t have been that funny, but I was riding the high from the start of Saints Row IV and it felt it was never going to stop.

I know that in the future, people will find ways to make this recipe even better than the original. Until that far flung future happens, I suggest you get a taste of Saints Row IV when it releases on August 20 later this year.

E3 2013: ‘Saints Row IV’ Gameplay Impressions

by JonathanJune 11, 2013

After the closing of THQ earlier this year, and the firesale of THQ properties that followed, one of the THQ published franchises whose tenuous fate concerned fans the most was the Saints Row series. Generally acknowledged as a more lewd and drunken cousin to the GTA games (yeah… even MORE lewd and drunken), the Saints Row titles are generally praised for offering a “screw everything, let’s just @%$* everything up” alternative to Rockstar Games’ main franchise. This louder and more anarchic approach is a breath of fresh air for Saints Row fans, and the closing of THQ left many of them concerned with the fate of the long planned Saints Row IV (due out on August 20th here in the U.S.). Original developer Volition continued development of the title, but publication moved from THQ to Dead Island publisher Deep Silver, ensuring that fans will ultimately have their insane, anarchic fill. But forget the history… How does that game actually play?

Well, after spending a short time playing the game in Deep Silver’s E3 Oval Office set up, I’m happy to announce that the game is both fun and insane. Is it ultimately satisfying to the extent that we expect from a full console release? Sadly, I think the jury is still out.

The 'Saints Row IV' President's Seal — The ‘Saints Row IV’ President’s Seal

The demo that I played came in two parts, a narrative portion early in the game in which the White House (under your presidency) is attacked by aliens intent on enslaving the human race and a free play, completely unlocked God mode portion set up by the developers to show off the free roam gameplay and the character’s completely insane souped up powers towards the end of the game.

I can’t hold a grudge against any game that features both Keith David’s voice talents and Stan Bush music, and in my time with the title I experienced both. Your character from Saints Row 3 is now dirtbag President of the United States, with a cabinet made up of kiss-asses, traitors and former porn stars ,and your approval rating sits at 20%. As you make your way to a televised press conference, you manage to hilariously cure cancer (or solve world hunger… you can’t do both), kick the ass of a political rival and endorse (or not) a loser hanger-on. And as you approach the podium to address the nation, the walls are blown in and the alien overlords attack. You have to make your way to the Oval Office, retrieve your high-powered munitions and kick some alien ass as the bad guys abduct most of your cabinet up into their space ship.

Me, sitting in 'Saints Row IV's AMAZING Oval Office — Me, sitting in ‘Saints Row IV’s AMAZING Oval Office

It’s a pretty ridiculous and impressive sequence of events, ending in the President manning a giant surface-to-air cannon on the White House lawn against incoming spaceships, but I couldn’t help but think that the character animations were a bit choppy, and that the gameplay felt slow. I wanted to blast a lot more aliens and explore the White House a bit more and it felt as though the big set pieces and jokes came at the expense of a faster, looser experience. It is fun to blow aliens away with a high powered machine gun, but the scripted encounter events occurred so close to each other that it didn’t leave time for exploring. This really felt like a tutorial level (and am pretty sure that it is, with the game’s release about two months away). Probably not fair to think that it’s representative of the entire game, as even though the gameplay and animations weren’t satisfying, the humor and ridiculousness were EXACTLY what I’ve come to expect from a Saints Row title.

Luckily, the gameplay picked up a lot with the free roam portion of the demo. In this open world sequence, your character is completely powered up, with superpowers involving super-speed, limited flight, freezing, fire powers, and telekinesis. And he also has every weapon in the game and is allowed to unleash them all on both the pedestrians and alien scum inhabiting the massive area. This portion reminded me a lot less of GTA and a lot more of the first Crackdown game, a title I was addicted to years ago. Here, I found myself superjumping around the city, collecting rooftop orbs, and blowing stuff up. It’s actually a LOT like the first Crackdown and even features places on the map where you can activate mini missions and co-op play. But of course, there’s a major difference: the powers and weapons are insane… and Stan Bush is playing on one of the radio stations!

The Dubstep gun may be one of the most hilarious weapons ever.

In my time blowing things up and pretty much destroying everything, I used freezing powers to freeze alien gunships out of the sky and send them crashing into buildings, fire abilities to light bad guys on fire during melee encounters, and telekinesis to pick up bystanders or vehicles (or corpses) and send them hurtling into pretty much anything and everything. And the guns were fantastic. One of the most creative is the Dubstep Gun, in which holding down the right trigger and aiming it at an enemy bludgeons them with dubstep music until they die. Pretty hilarious. My favorite (and most destructive) was the Singularity Cannon, a weapon that fires a mini-black hole at a target that immediately sucks up everything in the nearby vicinity. Cars, pedestrians, aliens, streetlamps, fences, trucks… I had a blast seeing the bad guys scrape and try and drag themselves free of the little black holes, only to ultimately get stretched and sucked inside. It was immediately one of my favorite weapons of any game ever, and it’s a blast just speed running or soaring around the environment shooting the weapon at everything in sight (including getting yourself accidentally sucked in on a few occasions). It was Crackdown… on crack. And I had a blast.

And just as I was warming up and really putting it to the alien scum, the demo was over and I was ushered out of the room by the Deep Silver folks (but not before I got a picture sitting at the Presidential desk!). Yes, the jury is still out on whether or not my time demoing the game is indicative of the full console release, but the personality on display in Saints Row IV and the rampant fun of the open world carnage were definitely enough for me to give the game another chance upon release. I can’t wait to power up, load up and cut an even bigger swath of destruction August 20th.

http://youtu.be/bQTt6bUZrSU

E3 2013 Trailer For Saints Row 4 Released

by MoreLikeAndyJune 6, 2013

Deep Silver has kindly released their trailer for Saints Row 4 that will be on loop at E3 2013. You can set it on loop too. It’ll make you feel like you were there, minus the booth babes, loud music, crappy food and being late to all of your appointments.

Oh man the drama! Honestly, Saints Row 4 is looking more and more like it will be just as good if not better than Saints Row 3. THEY HAVE KEITH DAVID FOR CHRIST’S SAKE!

Saints Row 4 Dresses Up For Box Art, Flys High in an ‘Airplane’

by MoreLikeAndyMay 23, 2013

When you are the President of the United States, you have to look dapper. With the first image of the box art for Saints Row 4 released today, Deep Silver seems to understand this.

Hopefully with all the things going on in the reflection of those sweet aviator glasses, the suit won’t get ruined.

Deep Silver also announced they will be releasing small clips of gameplay calling the series “Hail to the Chief”. It wouldn’t be a Saints Row game without some over the top shenanigans so with each video in this series, we will get a little taste of these very shenanigans. With the first video in the series, “Airplane”, we’re shown one of the powers you’ll receive in the game, Telekinesis.

Saints Row 4 releases August 20 for PC, Xbox 360 and PS3.

New ‘Saints Row 4’ Trailer is Completely Absurd!

by Josh JacksonMay 15, 2013

Saints Row has come a long way since its debut. Starting off as a GTA clone exclusive to the new (at the time) Xbox 360, the game evolved from a Rockstar wannabe and became more and more outrageous. And by outrageous, I mean becoming a gangster celebrity while beating rivals to death with farts in a jar and a giant dong called “The Penetrator” in the most recent title. Because nothing’s more gangsta than a fart in a jar.

It’s safe to say that the game doesn’t take itself too seriously. So it’s no surprise that the upcoming Saints Row 4 will feature some ridiculous new features. But after scraping the bottom of the barrel as far as weapons are concerned, (as seen by the above examples,) developer Volition will literally have to go out of this world.

As President of the United States, the Saints leader is abducted by aliens and must use his newfound super powers to defeat them. And yes, I did just type that. When powers won’t cut it, you could always resort to your inflating ray that makes enemies pop driving a bipedal mech, or just go to town with the Dubstep gun. No one can resist the power of Dubstep.

Think I’m making this up? Watch the newest trailer which walks us through these early features of the game. If this is where the game is at now, I can’t imagine how crazy the final build will be when it’s released on August 20th, practically going head to head with its initial inspiration in GTA V. But I think its safe to say that the Saints have “grown” enough to stand on their own.

Source: Shacknews.com

‘Saints Row IV’ Gets A Teaser Trailer, Release Date

by Derek KraneveldtMarch 15, 2013

Deep Silver and Volition today released the first trailer for their upcoming sandbox title, Saints Row IV.

According to the game’s press release, Saints Row IV takes players “From the Crack House to the White House” amidst an ongoing alien invasion. Superpowers have also made the cut this time around, allowing you to “delve into an arsenal of alien weaponry and technology that will turn each Saint into an ultimate entity of destruction.”

Now, I’ve never actually played a Saints Row game. I always thought that they simply looked like a slightly too over-the-top Grand Theft Auto. This teaser trailer however, is pretty damn cool, so maybe I’ll have to give Saints a shot!

Watch the trailer below, and let us know what you think! Saints Row IV hits North America on August 20th!

From the Crack House to the White House –

March 15, 2013 — Larkspur, Calif., Today Deep Silver announced that Saints Row IV, the ball-busting next chapter in the Saints Row franchise, is starting a party in your pants this Fall.

In the next open-world installment of Saints Row, Deep Silver Volition continues the story of the Third Street Saints by elevating their status to the highest level – the leaders of the free world. In Saints Row IV, the head honcho of the Saints has been elected to the Presidency of the United States. But the Saints are just getting started. Now the larger-than-life insanity of the Saints series gets a new twist with a catastrophic alien invasion, and the aliens have transported the Saints to a bizarro-Steelport simulation. Wield gargantuan superpowers and fight to free humanity from alien granddaddy Zinyak’s mental grasp. Escape the simulation that’s trapped the Saints crew, or die trying.

Saints Row IV lets players delve into an arsenal of alien weaponry and technology that will turn each Saint into an ultimate entity of destruction. Utilize out-of-this-world superpowers to fight all the way to the top. With intensified action and enhanced customization, players can use their newfound superpowers and leap over buildings, outrun the fastest sports cars, or send enemies flying with telekinesis in the greatest, most insane installment of Saints Row yet.

Save the world, Saints Style.

Developed by Volition, Saints Row IV will launch on current-gen consoles and PC on August 20, 2013, in North America and August 23, 2013, in the rest of the world.