Saints Row IV Preview

Hail to the Saints!

After conquering all he/she/you set out to do as leader of the infamous Saints in Saints Row: The Third, what the most logical step for a gang leader to take? Why, to become the next president of the free world, of course!

Yes, it's true; in Saints Row 4, the leader of the Saints has been elected as President of the United States, and the rest of the Saints are the newly appointed Cabinet members. Not long after everyone has sworn their oaths and taken office, a race of aliens called Zen beams down to earth and kidnaps the Saints. Of course the President doesn't stay captured for long, and now it's part of the presidential duties to stop the aliens, rescue the Saints, and perhaps kill voters along the way.



But it wouldn't be a Saints Row game without some insanity, right? Well, how about the fact that the player now has superpowers? It makes it easier to combat the aliens if one has superpowers, after all. These powers include super running speed, gliding, the ability to leap tall buildings with a single bound, ice freezing powers, and telekinesis. Probably one of the most amusing uses I saw for telekinesis during this demonstration was the President—dressed as Uncle Sam, no less—hurling a hapless citizen toward some alien scum, thereby effectively killing both on contact.

Speaking of costumes, Volition has tremendously enhanced how players can customize the look of their characters. Not only can players pick costumes, such as Uncle Sam garb, but they can also customize the look of their weapons as well as upgrade them. These modifications to the weapons are purely cosmetic, so no matter how ridiculous a grenade launcher looks (as depicted below), it will still fire and wreak as much havok as your typical grenade launcher.