Saints Row Gat Out Of Hell - As We Play

Version Tested – Xbox One

Some might say it’s a coincidence Saints Row is quick to follow GTA onto new-gen systems. Many argue there’s been a case of one-upsmanship between the two franchises for years, but to be honest, that’s selling Volition pretty short. Sure, Saints Row started off as a tongue-in-cheek play on Rockstar’s behemoth, but with later installments Volition have genuinely injected some creative juices and fun ideas that actually rival any sandbox game on the market.

With Gat Out Of Hell, Volition have devised a separate, stand-alone expansion to follow on from Saints Row IV, giving players the entire region of the Underworld to explore, with new characters, enemies, vehicles, weapons and story to see us through. But perhaps most excitingly of all, a fresh way to navigate your way around.

The image gives you a pretty solid clue as to what that is. You’ve got wings. Yep, you can flap and soar your way around the Underworld, collecting shards and moving to your next objective with elegance and ease. And it feels fucking great. The responsiveness is sublime and the sensation is slick. That said, holding down the LB button on the Xbox One pad to keep in the air is painful over a longer duration and cramps my hand more than it probably should. While that is absolutely more a failing of the pad than the game, if you have a choice, you’re probably better off using the Dualshock 4 and PS4 to make your way through both this and Re-Elected.

Gat Out Of Hell starts with the Saints celebrating Kinzie’s birthday. They throw her a surprise which she seems less than impressed about. That is, until they tell her games will be played. Among those games is a Spirit Board, which is basically a Ouija board but Saints’ed up. Using the board sends the leader to hell through a huge, all-absorbing portal. Naturally, this causes the Saints to impode and go into disarray, knowing that their leader is apparently floating around in limbo. Kinzie and Gat instantly use the board again in an effort to get the leader back and the game begins with both parties searching for a ride, looking for a way out of hell. But before he leaves, because he is so pissed, Gat’s now all about shooting the Devil in the face.

Johnny and Kinzie must gain the aid of Satan’s most trusted advisers in order to get into the inner sanctum and get a shot at fighting the Dark Lord, so you must perform loyalty missions to get them on side and protect them from harm.

Unlike GTA, the campaign is fully co-operative, meaning players can join up together and fight through the demons and objectives together. This is actually a slight relief as the game is carried mostly by its narrative as opposed to its technical quality. There is a great deal of repetition in the mission structure, so much so that it feels like it should be played in bursts (an odd issue to have with a fairly short-life span)

The mission structure moves from Capture the base to survival waves to collecting a series of glyphs in order to open a chest and even flying through objectives within a set time-limit. At times, Gat Out Of Hell oddly feels like a sandbox Fusion Frenzy, but obviously much higher budget, better designed and more polished.

Of course, the Saints Row humor is solidly intact, including an absolutely amazing musical number around the half-way point of the game that absolutely needs to be heard (and seen) to be believed. Couple that with William Shakespeare acting out as a DJ and Blackbeard and his crew of imps and you’ve got yourself the Saints Row game you’ve been hoping and waiting for.

There’s also very appropriate weapons and vehicles for the Underworld, such as roaring hog bikes and big dumper trucks to whip around with and bee-guns and rocket launchers that’ll cause utter mayhem and carnage.

Gat Out Of Hell is a fun, easy to get to grips with, entertaining Saints Row release. It’s not as well designed and put together as Saints Row IV or previous titles in the series, but as a separate stand-alone release, compared to previously seen DLC from the series, it’s a nice stop-gap until Saints Row V. That said, the mission structure feels repetitive, the environment quickly feels overly familiar and despite the diversity in game-types that make up the bulk of the game, they sometimes feel out of place.

The Good Stuff

Fun Saints Row action. We love the wings!
Hilarious fun
Large amount of content for small fee

The Bad Stuff

Not a major upgrade in graphics
Repetitive mission-structure and odd placement within sandbox setting

Final Analysis

Gat Out Of Hell is a fun diversion, and a great little extra if purchased with Re-Elected. There’s some genuinely laugh out loud moments and coupled with speed-running, flying around the map pretty much means you won’t need to find yourself behind the wheel at all, which feels wholly refreshing for a game of this type. Gat Out Of Hell is well worth its budget price and is great multiplayer fun, though is let down by some odd mission design choices that feel robotic in their execution.