Monday 29th September 2014: 1.50pm. Location: Dromahane.
Finished Saints Row 4 last night, it took me just under 17 hours spread out over this past week of vacation. It is, for once given how the games industry buys overly positive reviews, a much better game than its top 250 position by aggregate critic review would suggest - by rights it should be at least top 50, especially as borrows heavily from (whilst openly mocking) the format of Mass Effect 2 and in a good way. It isn't quite as good as Mass Effect 2 though, in particular the gameplay isn't anything like as balanced, but they similarly hit the ball well with the team building and the camaraderie and a tightly woven if somewhat ludicrous plot line based on the Matrix (yes you get to be Neo, indeed your entire gang does, after all why not?). They also reused Saints Row 3 particularly well with the same engine and city maps, albeit polished with many bugs and driving glitches fixed. All in all, a better game than any of the previous Saints Row games, and most definitely underrated given some of the really very crappy games ranked better than it on the All Time rankings. On my own scoreboard this is a top 15 game of all I have ever played, and that is an enormous recommendation from me given I give up on most games out of boredom. Recommended.