The quirky, crazy Saints Row IV has made its way to the Playstation 4 and Xbox One under the new name of Saints Row IV: Re-Elected. For anyone who hasn’t already played the game on PS3 or Xbox 360, this is excellent news as Saints Row IV is a stellar game.
Much of our original review of Saints Row IV will apply to this game. Our original review can be found by clicking here. As the major changes are found in graphics and stability, we will only deal with the changes to Saints Row IV in this next-gen re-release. Aspects which have changed very little (such as story, sound and gameplay) will not be covered in this review, so, please reference our original review for our take on these elements of the game.
The single biggest change is in graphical performance. The world of Saints Row IV looks better than ever in Re-Elected and also runs with a lot more stability than the original release. The PS3 and Xbox 360 releases were prone to frame-rate drops during demanding, high-action moments in the game. The PS4 and Xbox One are far better able to handle the demand placed upon them and run with a mostly stable frame rate. Improvements have also been made to lighting and draw distance, delivering improved graphics. However, the textures haven’t been updated quite as much as they should have been, leaving some of them blurry and low-resolution.
Of course, the varied, fresh and enjoyable missions are still present in this re-release, as is the fantastic soundtrack. Combat and gameplay is as crazy and fun as ever and a great level of customisation is still available also. However, the base game does not have any additional content added to it. Re-Elected is available in a bundle with the standalone Gat out of Hell expansion (read our review here), however, it is disappointing that the developers missed the opportunity to add some additional content to the core game.
Saints Row IV: Re-Elected is the best way to experience Saints Row IV. If you haven’t already played the game, the PS4 or Xbox One version is certainly the best experience available. However, if you played the game on PS3 or Xbox 360, there is not much in Re-Elected which warrants a repeat purchase, which is disappointing. This lack of effort to add some incentive for players who purchased the game on PS3 or Xbox 360 is the main downfall of Re-Elected.