Saints Row: Gat out of Hell

Saints Row: Gat Out of Hell is a 2015 action-adventure game developed by Volition and High Voltage Software, published by Deep Silver and distributed by Square Enix in North America. It was released for Microsoft Windows, Linux, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One. The game serves as an epilogue to Saints Row IV and is a standalone expansion, not requiring the original copy of Saints Row IV to be played. The plot follows Johnny Gat and Kinzie Kensington as they travel to Hell to rescue the leader of the 3rd Street Saints from Satan.

Saints Row: Gat Out of Hell
Developer(s)
Publisher(s)Deep Silver
Producer(s)
  • Kevin Sheller
  • Keith Hladik
  • Jim Boone
Designer(s)Micah Skaritka
Programmer(s)
  • Dan Kaufman
  • Justin Gantenberg
Artist(s)
  • Cary Penczek
  • Joe Hamell
Writer(s)Steve Jaros
Composer(s)Malcolm Kirby Jr.
SeriesSaints Row
EngineVolition
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows
Linux
PlayStation 3
PlayStation 4
Xbox 360
Xbox One
Release
  • NA: January 20, 2015
  • EU: January 23, 2015[1]
Linux
  • WW: December 21, 2015
Genre(s)Action-adventure
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game were released both physically and digitally, same for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions, although the latter two also saw a release bundled alongside Saints Row IV: Re-Elected.[2][3] Gat Out of Hell was released as a monthly free game on PlayStation Network in July 2016.

Gameplay

The player controls Johnny Gat or Kinzie Kensington in an open world environment. Gat Out of Hell shares many gameplay aspects with the previous installments, being primarily played as a third-person shooter in an open world city scattered with quests, secondary objectives, and various collectibles. Superhuman abilities return from Saints Row IV. Gat Out of Hell introduces "angelic flight", giving wings to the player.[4] Unlike past Saints Row games, players cannot customize the playable characters; however, by importing a Saints Row IV save, players can import their custom Boss character to replace the default Boss.

Unlike game progression in previous titles, players advance through the story by completing activities to fill a "Satan's Wrath" meter, which unlocks cutscenes and further story elements.[5] Gat Out of Hell takes place in an open world new to the series, New Hades, made up of five islands: Shantytown, Barrens, Downtown, Forge, and the Den, all surrounding a central tower on a middle island.

The player is able to fly around the open-world hell. They can also summon demon allies to flight alongside them.[6] The game's weapons are inspired by the seven deadly sins (e.g. the Gluttony Gun that shoots cake batter on enemies for other people to consume).[6]

Plot

The 3rd Street Saints hold a birthday party for lieutenant Kinzie Kensington on their spaceship, but while playing a game of Ouija with a board that once belonged to Aleister Crowley, they unwittingly contact Satan, who proclaims that the Boss will marry his daughter Jezebel. Satan then drags the Boss down to Hell, with Johnny Gat and Kinzie volunteering to rescue them.[7]

Upon arriving, they find that the Ultor Corporation has a branch in Hell and go to confront their CEO and former Saints enemy Dane Vogel. Vogel denies involvement in the Boss' kidnapping, but admits he is taking advantage of Hell's economy, and offers to help the Saints save the Boss. At Vogel's advice, Johnny and Kinzie attempt to get Satan's attention by recruiting several allies across Hell, including Kiki and Viola DeWynter, William Shakespeare, Blackbeard, and Vlad the Impaler. Eventually, Jezebel, who began rebelling against her father, finds Johnny and takes him to confront Satan. Johnny surrenders after Satan threatens to kill Jezebel, prompting Satan to name him worthy of marrying his daughter. Johnny agrees to do so after Satan promises to free Kinzie and the Boss in return, but changes his mind at the wedding and attempts to kill Satan. After killing his minions with Kinzie's help, Johnny defeats Satan, who banishes him, Kinzie, the Boss, and Jezebel back to the mortal realm.

However, Johnny is detained by God, who reveals that Satan was plotting an invasion on Heaven since Zinyak hastened the Apocalypse by destroying Earth, and hoped to use the Boss as the general of his army. God offers to repay Johnny for defeating Satan, giving him five choices: go to Heaven to be reunited with his girlfriend Aisha, return to Hell to become its new king, find a new homeworld for the Saints to rebuild humanity, recreate Earth, or be told the secrets of the universe. Recreating Earth leads to the timeline of Agents of Mayhem. The universe of Saints Row is retconed, and Johnny becomes a lieutenant within the Seoul police force, hoping to find his friends. Kinzie and Matt Miller converse about "Brimstone", a captured female who Johnny goes to interrogate.

Development

In December 2013, comedian Jay Mohr, who voiced antagonist Dane Vogel in Saints Row 2, revealed that he was doing voice work for the next Saints Row game.[8] It was later revealed Volition would be unveiling a new game at PAX Prime on the August 29, 2014. They teased an image which depicts a Ouija board with the Saints' fleur-de-lis on it. Later, at their panel on the same day, Volition and Deep Silver confirmed a standalone expansion to Saints Row IV, called Saints Row: Gat Out of Hell. The game was initially scheduled for release on January 27, 2015 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One[2] but was later rescheduled to January 20, 2015 in North America and January 23, 2015 in Europe. The game will be released in a bundle alongside Saints Row IV: Re-Elected for Xbox One and PlayStation 4.[9]

The expansion was inspired, in part, by Disney films, which are among the "big loves" of the game's creative director, Steve Jaros.[6] He wanted the game to parody the fairytale qualities and "whimsical love songs" of the Disney film genre.[6] Parts of the plot were taken from such films, including the birthday party prologue from Sleeping Beauty, talking inanimate objects, princess Jezebel rebelling against her father, Satan, through her spousal choice, and musical acts where Satan sings sentimentally.[6] The open world was designed to be a "fun toy box" that encouraged traversal through flight.[6] The January 2015 launch trailer included a hotline phone number with promotional hold music.[10]

Reception

Saints Row: Gat Out of Hell received generally mixed reviews. Aggregating review website Metacritic gave the Microsoft Windows version a 66/100 based on 24 reviews,[11] the Xbox One version a 65/100 based on 16 reviews[12] and the PlayStation 4 version a 64/100 based on 45 reviews.[13]

Brittany Vincent from Destructoid gave the game an 8/10, praising the game's setting, refreshing superpower abilities, new cast of characters, interesting types of enemies and entertaining world, which she stated "feels much more polished and finished than Saints Row IV's Steelport simulation." However, she criticized the game's short length. She summarized the review by saying "There's no agenda and no life lessons to learn in Saints Row. There's only pure escapism, which is what games are meant for in my view. Whenever I feel like I need a break, I will have Saints Row proudly on my shelf."[14] Andrew Reiner from Game Informer gave the game a 7.5/10, praising the worthwhile side-activities, well-designed dialogues, satisfying transversal system, creative weapons and storytelling. However, he criticized the graphics, which he stated is on par with the last-generation version of Saints Row IV, as well as occasional framerate losses. He also criticized the game for lacking in gameplay complexity.[16]

Mikel Reparaz from IGN criticized the game for lacking traditional story missions, as well as featuring repetitive side missions, unimpressive graphics, and being extremely buggy.[20] Alex Carlson from Hardcore Gamer gave the game a 3.5/5, praising the voice-acting, dialogues, collectibles, flight mechanics and the game-world, which he stated "has a balance between familiar and fresh", but criticizing the game for being too similar to the original Saints Row IV in terms of the variety of superpower and mission types, as well as the middling story and graphical glitches.[23] Phil Savage from PC Gamer gave the game a 67/100, praising the world design and in-game abilities such as flying, which he stated "has delivered a new sense of freedom". However, he criticized the lack of proper campaign missions and scripting, limited creativity as well as the poor combat system. He ended the review by saying that "Gat Out of Hell offers all the open-world distractions of a Saints Row game, but it seldom displays the spark of creativity, which made [Saints Row: The Third and Saints Row IV] so remarkable."[21]

References
  1. David Witmar (October 15, 2014). "Saints Row: Gat Out of Hell and Re-Elected get new release dates and trailer". IGN. Retrieved October 15, 2014.
  2. Chris Pereira. "Saints Row Expansion Gat Out of Hell Confirmed at PAX [UPDATE]". GameSpot. Retrieved October 26, 2014.
  3. Matulef, Jeffrey (September 15, 2014). "Saints Row creative director Steve Jaros joins Valve". EuroGamer. EuroGamer. Retrieved September 19, 2014.
  4. Kotaku (August 29, 2014), Saints Row Gat Out Of Hell Gameplay, retrieved July 4, 2016
  5. "Saints Row: Gat Out of Hell Gameplay Demo – PAX Prime". YouTube. Retrieved October 26, 2014.
  6. on, TraceyLien (September 5, 2014). "Sleeping Beauty and Snow White inspired Saints Row: Gat Out of Hell". Polygon. Vox Media. Archived from the original on March 14, 2015. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
  7. outsidexbox (August 29, 2014), Saints Row: Gat Out of Hell Gameplay Trailer - Xbox One and PS4, retrieved March 22, 2016
  8. "Comedian Jay Mohr rejoins star-studded Saints Row cast". Joystiq. Retrieved October 26, 2014.
  9. Otero, By Jose. "PAX 2014: Saint's Row: Gat Out of Hell's Underworld Playground Is Fun". IGN. Retrieved July 4, 2016.
  10. Crecente, Brian (January 16, 2015). "Gat Out of Hell's 6-minute holding phone message is brilliant, oh there's a trailer too". Polygon. Vox Media. Archived from the original on March 6, 2015. Retrieved March 6, 2015.
  11. "Saints Row: Gat Out of Hell for PC Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved January 20, 2015.
  12. "Saints Row: Gat Out of Hell for Xbox One Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved January 20, 2015.
  13. "Saints Row: Gat Out of Hell for PlayStation 4 Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved January 20, 2015.
  14. Brittany Vincent (January 20, 2015). "Review: Saints Row IV: Gat Out of Hell". Destructoid. Retrieved January 20, 2015.
  15. Richard Cobbett (January 19, 2015). "Saints Row: Gat Out of Hell review: The satanic versus". Eurogamer. Retrieved January 19, 2015.
  16. Andrew Reiner (January 20, 2015). "Saints Row: Gat Out of Hell review: The Devil You Know". Game Informer. Retrieved January 20, 2015.
  17. Justin Clark (January 20, 2015). "Saints Row: Gat Out of Hell Gamespot review". GameSpot. Retrieved January 25, 2015.
  18. Ben Griffin (January 20, 2015). "Saints Row: Gat Out of Hell review". GamesRadar. Retrieved January 20, 2015.
  19. Dan Ryckert (January 20, 2015). "Saints Row: Gat Out of Hell review". Giant Bomb. Retrieved January 20, 2015.
  20. Mikel Reparaz (January 20, 2015). "Saints Row IV: Re-Elected review: Same as the old". IGN. Retrieved January 20, 2015.
  21. Phil Savage (January 20, 2015). "Saints Row: Gat Out of Hell review". PC Gamer. Retrieved January 20, 2015.
  22. Tom Orry (January 20, 2015). "Saints Row 4: Re-Elected/Gat Out of Hell Review". VideoGamer.com. Retrieved January 20, 2015.
  23. Alex Carlson (January 20, 2015). "Review: Saints Row: Gat Out of Hell". Hardcore Gamer. Retrieved January 20, 2015.
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