Saints Row IV
DEEP SILVER (XBOX 360, PS3, PC)
Crammed with chaotic missions, ludicrous storylines, and schlong-shaped weaponry, the Saints Row series has always been the less stuffy alternative to the Grand Theft Auto games. But with September’s GTA V overflowing with extravehicular activities, the latest Saints Row needs to break new boundaries of absurdity to remain the most wide-open openworld game. And boy, does it ever. Saints Row IV mixes mechanical suits, superpowers, and even a cannon that kills with dubstep in a world where anything goes.
You play the President of the United States (actually, a Saints scion elected to office in a plot right out of Idiocracy). But before you get to abuse the Lincoln bedroom, alien invaders kidnap your entire cabinet and imprison you in a Matrix-style virtual world. Here, you and a second co-op player flip the bird to the laws of physics, leaping tall buildings, dropkicking alien scum bags, chucking cars, and wield ing such superpowers as tele kinesis. “Grabbing one of the evil Zin invaders with the power of your mind and toss ing it into a group of nearby enemies is like bowling with people,” says senior producer Jim Boone, of developer Volition.
Wild weapons abound. Blast an enemy or vehicle with your freeze ray and watch it shatter with one punch
or stray bullet. The Inflato-ray pumps up bad guys until they burst. And then you have the dubstep cannon. Pulling the trigger unleashes a sonic boom of the world’s worst music, compelling enemies to dance to their graves, and beyond. “Even death can’t stop people from moving to the sounds of the dubstep gun,” Boone says.