Saints Row IV: Re-Elected

When Saints Row first emerged on the scene, way back in 2006, it was immediately labelled as a poor man’s Grand Theft Auto. It was a similar open-world sandbox shooter - only filled with juvenile egotistical humour, cheesy one-liners, and comic-book like plotlines. It even lacked the graphical polish and decent voice talent of it’s aforementioned "rival".

But it was fun. Especially when compared to the occasionally tiring, demanding attention that GTA required. And over the years, developers Volition have taken this over-the-top, testicle-laden fun formula and continued to build on it - culminating in what has to be the most ludicrous outing for the series yet, Gat Out of Hell.

First things first though, following recent trends, Saints Row IV has been carried across to current-gen consoles. Labelled as "Re-Elected", it adds a whisper thin layer of paint to the visuals, but it’s nowhere near what PS4 or Xbox One owners might want graphically. I can see why they didn’t use the term "remastered" to describe it, as it is only a modest update with no gameplay improvements.

Which is fine for those who haven’t played the original version, and it comes with all of the DLC that accompanies Saints Row IV as well. But there is certainly nothing new here to warrant a second run-through.

However it is also bundled up with the aforementioned new add-on chapter, Gat Out of Hell - which delivers an aircraft carrier sized load of madness onto your screen. Here the city of Steelport is exchanged for a Hellish setting which resembles a cross between some of the scenes from movies like Mad Max and Constantine. Everything is crimson and purple as streets burn, rivers of lava flow between monolithic buildings that look like tombstones, and skeletons and demons roam the landscape.

Stuck right in the middle of it all is Johnny Gat, a crowd favourite character from the series, who has been sent to Hell in order to save you - the leader of the Saints (it even brings in your created "Boss" character from Saints Row IV). It’s up to Gat, accompanied by Kinzie Kensington, to stop you from marrying Satan’s daughter and unsetting the balance of existence as we know it.

It’s still an open world environment, except Hell is about a third of the size of Steelport - which might sound like a step backward, if the environment wasn’t so captivating. There are hundreds of side-missions and places to explore, including William Shakespeare’s infamous nightclub in the middle of downtown where you might meet colourful characters like Blackbeard and Vlad the Impaler.

Even getting around the netherworld is fun thanks to Gat’s new-found fiery angel wings. Because of the depth of control when flying, such as being able to swoop and dive, flap and climb, and using altitude and speed to launch attacks on your enemies, it can take a while to master. But it gives Gat Out of Hell a completely different feel to Saints Row IV, and the city of Hell has certainly been designed with flight in mind, filled with vertical height and open spaces.

Steelport is exchanged for a Hellish setting which resembles a cross between some of the scenes from movies like Mad Max and Constantine.

The missions in Gat Out of Hell are essentially the same as in Saints Row IV - Mayhem, Survival, and Insurance Fraud (now Torment Fraud) - for better or for worse. They all revolve around causing as much destruction as possible within set parameters.

But there are interesting new missions too, such as one where you have to fly around preventing (or "saving") souls from being beamed up to Heaven; or you can wander around town finding Souls (the game’s version of clusters) to upgrade your powers, collect money through missions, or track down a variety of amusing audio recordings scattered around Hell.

But the highlight is that Hell also gives you a whole arsenal of superpowers to play around with. Among them, the ability to turn the flesh of your opponents into stone, or being able to cast a blanket of darkness around your enemies which slows them down and slowly tears them apart. You can also summon Hell's minions to create chaos and pandemonium, or use Force-like powers to push and pull enemies off cliffs or into your awaiting boot.

It’s as much fun as a box full of kittens, and you can easily while away the hours laughing like a lunatic. But the end result is that Gat Out of Hell never feels like a proper game, but rather a collection of minigames and side-missions.

It tries to tie everything together with cutscenes, and the presence of the arch-enemy Lucifer awaiting you at the end helps to give the game a goal to aim for, but ultimately the in-between parts feel like filler. It also doesn’t help that one of Saints Row’s better features - being able to create your own character - is missing. At least you get the option to dress Gat or Kinzie in some ridiculous costumes.

However if you walk into this as purely a bonus round of overindulgent action to the original Saints Row IV, then you won’t be disappointed. Although you might still feel a bit short-changed with the mediocre transition across to the PS4.