Joystiq: "When Saints Row: The Third was still in development, we talked about it as "a dinner of doughnuts." The first mission in the game was just as stimulating and over-the-top as the last mission of your average Grand Theft Auto game. But if Saints Row 3 starts on the last mission of other sandbox games, then Saints Row 4 picks up even later than that: in the end credits."
Remember this year's Saints Row(opens in new tab)? Volition would probably prefer that you didn't, which might go some way to explaining why the studio recently decided to upgrade everyone's copy of Saints Row 4(opens in new tab) to its full-fat Re-elected Edition, containing all the game's story and cosmetic DLC and even introducing cross-play between Steam, Epic, and GOG versions of the game.
Unfortunately, that upgrade seems to have backfired, and players now report a myriad of bugs with their new version of SR4. Both the Saints Row Steam forums(opens in new tab) and subreddit(opens in new tab) are filled with players complaining of broken saves, crashes, and mods failing to function. It's also received a few hundred negative Steam reviews(opens in new tab) since the update. If it's succeeded in washing the taste of Saints Row (2022) out of players' mouths, it's only because it tastes even worse.
I wonder if Volition's getting reorged under Gearbox impacted the quality of their release.
When it comes ranking the Saints Row games, there are a couple of weird ones you have to consider, though this is Saints Row after all.
Juan at SwitchWatchTV got his hands on Saints Row 4 Re-elected for Nintendo Switch. Check out his review here and see what he thinks.
At first National Lapoon's movies were goofy and offbeat, and offered a nice touch of levity. As each new NL movie came out, they became more and more outlandish to the point that their movies tried so hard to be edgy and raunchy that they not only stopped being funny, but became painful to watch.
Personally, this is what I see happening with the Saints Row franchise.