The Post-Game - Saints Row: Gat Out of Hell

If Saints Row 4 was a love letter to the franchise, Gat Out of Hell is a postcard. If SR4 was a game you enjoyed, go ahead an get this one, it's just as wild and crazy. The Boss has been kidnapped by Satan and taken to hell to marry his daughter, so Johnny Gat and Kinzie Kensington go after him/her. To get Satan to confront the duo, you have to destroy hell to get his attention. A pretty thin story, but it works well as an excuse for raising hell all over hell.

A number of old characters return, like the DeWynter sisters (SR3) and Dane Vogel (SR2). There are some new characters too, like Vlad the Impaler, Blackbeard, and Shakespeare. Oddly, though, they're not recruited as homies, only as “allies.” Single-player Gat Out of Hell is a solitary effort. And short. Others have claimed 6 hours for completing the story; I took 8, but that's still a quarter of the size of the other Saints Row games (maximum level is 20). If you want to bring the game to 100%, getting all the collectibles and completing all the activities, there's a lot to do, but the game devolves into a collect-a-thon at that point.

Super powers return; Stomp, Minion-summon, Aura, and Blast each have three elements to choose from. The geography of hell is new. Most of the activities are back, though in some new forms. Insurance Fraud is now about removing years off of souls' sentences in hell; when Adrenaline Mode is active, there is an explosive fire effect that can really heat things up. One of the best parts of Gat Out of Hell is the flying, which is good because you'll be doing a lot of it. The weapons are also a highlight; shooting frosting at enemies to make them attack each other? Yes, please. Shooting love dust at enemies to make them break into a sexy dance (even the titans)? Oh, yeah. If there is a downside, it's that the game is easy, even on the hardest difficulty.

I had fun with Gat Out of Hell; Johnny was missing for most of Saints Row 3 and half of Saints Row IV, so this game was like catching up with an old friend. No, you're not playing as the Boss, but “Who wouldn't want to be Johnny Gat?” - Johnny Gat.




Note about Kinzie for single-players: you can play as Kinzie throughout the campaign and switch between her and Johnny whenever you want; you just have to return to the Ultor lobby to do so. For the final boss battle, though, you will play as Johnny; Kinzie enters the room, Johnny shows up, they high-five, and you play as Johnny for the boss battle. It is called Gat Out of Hell, after all.