It’s a rare treat when I can make the time to replay a game I’ve already finished. It’s even rarer that I return to a game like Saints Row IV, which at release, I completed 100% and earned all of the Xbox 360 achievements. Somewhere along the line my opinion of SRIV soured a bit — perhaps because of its admitted rough edges — but returning to it on PS4, with barely a graphical upgrade to justify the replay, I found myself having a blast with it. Yes, the game is glitchy beyond the intentional glitches in its Matrix-style simulation world. Yes, you can find moments where the awesome super powers feel hastily bolted onto the existing Saints Row 3 engine. And yes, some of the mission design is a little half-assed. That said, the adventures of my personalized boss and his crew are as charming as ever. Even better, SRIV might have one of the most satisfying open world gameplay loops and traversal mechanics in the genre — even a second time around.

4/5

Closing Thoughts are reviews-in-brief, meant for games I play that are either too old or too small to write a full review for. That, or it’s the only part you would have read in a full review anyway. The world may never know.