Saints Row: Gat Out Of Hell was teased and then fully announced back in August during PAX Prime weekend. Many thought that this was going to be the next full Saints Row title to get added to the mix but later we found out that it was a standalone title that was to follow Saints Row IV. This kind of things has worked for other titles (inFAMOUS: First Light) but does it do the franchise justice? Do we want a Saints Row title in hell? Do we get all the mindless fun of the series in Gat Out Of Hell? Here is our full review to help you gauge if you should run out and give into your Greed for games or if you should show your Wrath to Volition for making the title. Let's get started.

Story

We find the remaining Saints from previous titles floating through space and about to get down with a birthday celebration. Things get into full swing when someone decides to pull out the good ol' Juju board and turn the whole thing into a teenage girl's slumber party. Questions get asked and the President/God Emperor of the Universe is sucked into a Hell portal by Satan for an arranged marriage. The Saints can't have that so Johnny Gat and Kinzie Kensington follow along to save the day and stop the wedding. Will they succeed and Gat Out Of Hell or will the leader of the Saints get stuck with a wife? Only you can help save the day…

Hated

While playing Gat Out Of Hell the largest let down I ran into was all to do with the camera. Many times it would float into the environment and other characters on screen causing a bit of confusion as well as a bit of break to the action I was supposed to be having. This also came into a plague of things when trying to perform specific actions or attacks; the biggest one was hovering and firing at enemies. The camera just wouldn't stay still and made things more frustrating than adding difficulty. The camera shouldn't move positions while reloading. At least it shouldn't fly all the way around the character to force you to aim the opposite direction during the reload animation. This didn't lead to anything more than a small case of Tourette's while murdering in the Underworld for me but it did lower the fun factor a little bit.

Gat Out Of Hell also seemed to have issues with triggering story and non-story events during my gameplay. This was to the point where I think the game could have done well with original extra week of polish that was removed to bring the game earlier. There were times where I would reach a location and be standing exactly where I needed to be to trigger the next part of a mission or story but nothing would happen until I reloaded the whole game. There were also other times where I was on a different mission and the game decided it was time to force me back on the story path by changing all of my markers and active events. It was jarring and not well appreciated as I want to play the game as I want to and not how the randomness of the code wants me to. Like I said it could have used more polish.

To that end I also was kind of hoping for more character development for all of the other denizens of Hell I had to work for and aid. I'm not talking other characters from the franchise's past but the ones just for Gat Out Of Hell. Blackbeard and Vlad the Impaler were nothing more than a yellow "?" in the game with a little bit of story surrounding it all. The story feeling nothing more than "Yes I am in Hell. Do these mindless things and you can get superpowers." I'm not looking for full on side companions but you'd think that people being tormented in Hell would want to do more than just send Gat along to hurt Satan all solo. This could just be me wanting more out of the story than anything.

Loved

The humor in the Saints Row franchise is always top notch and it continues into Gat Out Of Hell. Everything from the well timed and cheesy quips to the full on musical that was slightly teased in a promotional trailer for the game. It all worked out well and did what the game set out to do; entertain. Even though the main story mode is a bit short it is full of humor and everything one could want to be entertained and laugh during the insanity the franchise is well known for. Good on the writers for nailing it all down and getting me to actually laugh out loud multiple times during Gat Out Of Hell. Generally this is not an easy task mind you.

I did mention the main game for Gat Out Of Hell is short but that is kind of made up with all of the mindless fun and hours of other content you get while in Hell. There is a plethora of different side missions and events that you get to take part in and I'd be lying if that didn't catch my attention multiple times during my first and now second play through of Gat Out Of Hell. I apparently missed a few things the first time. I would have loved to have all of these better tied into the main story to be honest but just like other games in the past with this kind of structure, the side stuff feels to be more of the bread and butter with the main story line being the distraction when the game feels you need it. That is a good thing.

I touched on the humor and side missions but the last thing that made me weary but I ended up loving was the control scheme of Gat Out Of Hell. When it is first presented to you it seems to be overwhelming. In fact I eschewed many of the other actions and abilities in the game because it just seemed like too much work to have fun. Then I gave it a try and there was nothing more fun than pulling off a sequence of superpowers and weapon attacks to destroy the denizens of Hell. All to shoot Satan in the face. During the end game all of this made better sense and I still find myself mixing everything up to use the full gamut of abilities. If and when you play Gat Out Of Hell don't let it scare you like it did me as you will see it is a great mixture and a lot easier to work with.

Overview

Gat Out Of Hell is fun. There is no denying that. It is the kind of title that you can load up when you had a rough day and just want to put the hurt on a bunch of things you shouldn't feel remorse for doing so to. It is an expansion though, so don't forget that when spinning the game up for the first time. Gat Out Of Hell isn't the size of a full title but if you remember that you will quickly see that it offers up all of the fun. Even if you have yet to play any of the other Saints Row titles it can be fun. You just won't get much of the story so keep that in mind. I loved it even with the issues I mentioned and I have a feeling that if you are still reading here you will love Gat Out Of Hell as well.

I give Gat Out Of Hell 666 spicy burritos on the spicy burrito scale.

Saints Row: Gat Out Of Hell was developed by Volition and published by Deep Silver for the PS4, PS3, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and PC. Saints Row: Gat Out Of Hell was released on January 20^th, 2015. A PS4 copy of the game was provided by the publisher for reviewing purposes.