One of the easiest ways to build a lot of chaos is to do loyalty missions for your deceased peers, but those are simply lists of activities. In reality, much of this expansion hinges on activities, which makes it feel lacking. Sure, there are new varieties, which task you with flying around and saving falling souls, completing timed flight courses, surviving against waves of demons, taking over control points in sin (currency) removal factories and hitting demonic frat boys into rings to score points, but they’re not revolutionary or phenomenal by any stretch of the imagination. They’re fine and do the job, and that’s the problem with Gat Out of Hell as a whole. It’s fine, but it rests on its laurels way too much, and doesn’t stand out in any particular way. At least, as far as its gameplay is concerned.
Those who’ve previously played through Saints Row IV will recognize a lot of rehashed content, including familiar super powers like super sprint, super jump, blast and stomp, as well as over a thousand glowing orbs to collect. The fact that this is an expansion makes those things easier to come to terms with, but it’s hard not to feel disappointed when so much more could’ve been done with the Saints’ trip to Hell.
There are new weapons to speak of – a list that includes a set based on the 7 Deadly Sins. However, though they were heavily advertised, those themed weapons — which are based on the essences of greed, gluttony, sloth and so forth — can be expensive and tough to come by. By the end of the game, I only owned two of them (a diamond-shooting assault rifle and the heavily advertised Armchair-a-Geddon), along with a badass device that shot explosive frogs. Indeed, those were the only two that became available to me during my seven odd hours with Saints Row: Gat out of Hell. That is, despite the fact that I completed every single mission that appeared. This leads me to think that the majority of them are tied to the completion of every level of every activity, which isn’t great design when you consider how much they were promoted.
That said, the weapons are pretty neat. I particularly liked the Armchair-a-Geddon, with its reclining seat and myriad of machine gun bullets and rocket fire, and the frog gun was a croaking hit as well. The diamond-filled Greed gun left a bit to be desired, though, and wasn’t worth its $100,000 price tag.
Before moving on, I should also detail the flight mechanics, which have only been mentioned in passing so far. They’re pivotal, and play a huge role in this experience, but, like the rest of the game, they could’ve been handled a lot better. As such, you can expect to have to put a decent amount of time in before becoming used to how Gat and Kinzie (both of whom are playable in both single player and two-player co-op) get around using their angelic wings. Even then, you’ll still be cursing the cumbersome mechanics throughout your play through.
In the end, Saints Row: Gat out of Hell is merely a decent spinoff and one that doesn’t deliver to the level of its generated hype. As a fan of the series, I enjoyed it despite its issues, but wanted and expected quite a bit more from Volition, High Voltage and Deep Silver. Yes, the musical sections are awesome, the sinful weapons were a good idea and the writing is occasionally witty, but this version of Hell is unexpectedly dull in both its design and dated-looking aesthetics, which also comes with the odd glitch or two. That, and a shitty final boss who’s more of a bullet sponge than an enjoyable combatant.
Unfortunately, this is one that is only for the super fans, who continually crave more Third Street Saints escapades, not newcomers who’ve yet to spend a moment in the digitized group’s shoes. It’s a shame, too, because it could’ve been so much more.
This review is based on the Xbox One version of the game, which was provided to us.
