Review: Saints Row IV: Re-Elected + Gat Out of Hell

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Saints Row: Gat Out Of Hell tells the story of the Saints leader being captured by the evil Satan. The purpose of the abduction is for the leader to marry his daughter, Jezebel. Kinzie Kensington and Johnny Gat return, seeking to rescue their leader by reuniting with enemies of their past as well as former Saints.

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The game picks up shortly after where Saints Row IV left off. It’s Saints Row in all of it’s glory, and there’s never been a more over-the-top story line. You’ll love every moment as the story pays extreme fans service. It’s non-stop action and it is hilarious.

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Once booting into the game, you’ll get the initial feeling that Saints Row: Gat Out of Hell is just a re-skinned version of Saints Row IV. For the most part, it is. Where the game succeeds is being even more over-the-top than ever before. It’s the representation of the underworld that you have always wanted. It also puts a greater focus on super-powers rather than vehicle transportation which changes how you’ll explore the world. The visuals are almost on-par with the recently released GTA V, though contrasting visual styles make them hard to compare. The game’s frame rate dips slightly at times but nothing too badly.

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The voice-acting is as superb as always; however, one area that the game felt lacking in was the soundtrack. Saints Row has always had such a diverse soundtrack which doesn’t seem quite as present in this game. It’s a small negative but something I noticed regardless.

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For the most part, Gat Out Of Hell feels exactly like Saints Row IV. There is a big emphasis placed on the new flight abilities. Unlike most other games, flight is genuinely a challenge in this game. The developers have placed valleys, cuts through buildings, tunnels and many other obstacles in order to make flying through Hades a genuine pleasure.

The main difference in Gat Out Of Hell is how you progress through the game. Your aim of the game is to fill up Satan’s Wrath meter by completing missions. This unlocks different story elements and cutscenes which makes the story continue. There are five islands within Hades; these are Forge, Downtown, Barrens, Shantytown & The Den.

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This marks the first game in the Saints Row series where you can’t customise your player. You’re able to import your Saints Row IV save in order to use your custom boss, but that’s as far as customisation goes. Longtime fans might not take to this well as Saints Row has been widely known for it’s customisation.

The best thing about Saints Row: Gat Out Of Hell is its standalone status. This is a very enjoyable game on its own and it’s highly commendable that the game is available to buy without ever playing or owning Saints Row IV. I can definitely understand how people would get burnt out after playing these two games in quick succession.

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We initially reviewed Saints Row IV in September 2013. You can read the full review HERE. We praised the game for its high level of customisation, great-coop missions and hilarious gameplay. The negatives that we initially had with the game were its minor glitches as well like it didn’t do enough to differentiate itself from the last Saints Row game. We gave it an 8/10 for it being completely hilarious and providing entertainment like no other open-world game had been able to do before it.

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Unfortunately, a lot of the problems that we had with Saints Row IV remain in Re-elected. There was the occasional glitch and freeze that should definitely have been rectified before re-releasing the game. The game now features a 1080p resolution and better frame rates, but the latter still dips at times. The textures are greatly improved across most parts of the environment and lighting is marginally better in some instances. For the most part, the improvement in the graphics department is extremely minimal. You won’t get the same amount of WOW factor that you did from replaying Tomb Raider or The Last Of Us on next generation consoles.

Saints Row IV: Re-elected includes a ton of extras that weren’t included in the original game. This includes both DLC mission packs including ‘Enter The Dominatrix’ and ‘How The Saints Save Christmas’, an extra 25 DLC weapons, 15 new vehicles, 60+ wardrobe items, 15 new homies and 6 new superpower elements. This ends up being a great package to those that didn’t play the game originally.