Ahead of the release of the Saints Row reboot, we reflect on the legacy of the controversial fourth game and why the claim that it ‘killed the series’ is not necessarily a criticism.

“By contrast, IV’s wholehearted embrace of anything-goes absurdism allows it a consistent and satisfying tone which The Third could not achieve.  Whereas that game was stuck flitting between the ironic edgy amorality of its predecessors and a softer Saturday-morning-cartoon goofiness, IV resolves said conflict by prioritising the latter.  That’s not to say Saints Row is suddenly subtle or traditionally mature – this is a game with dubstep guns, multiple sequences where Boss is required to get naked, and Aerosmith needle-drops – but in shifting away from the more try-hard juvenilia endemic in the series’ original approach (which admittedly did have its charms), IV does display a sort of maturity.  A real smartness in its apparent stupidity which all of the best comedies, from Airplane! (which the rapid-fire kitschy parodies of SRIV can at times resemble) to Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping, share.”

Full article exclusively in Issue #15 of The Lowdown (link).

Callie Petch wants the good bits without your bullshit.