BAD NEWS FIRST
The first thing that needs to be addressed are the features that didn’t make it back into the game from previous Saints Row titles or player mods.
Character and clothing customization in Saints Row IV is largely carried over directly from Saints Row: The Third. This means we still do not have clothing layering, logos, custom walks/expressions, or the Saints Row 2 sliders with more dynamic range.
Vehicle customization remains unchanged from SRTT, so there are once again no hydraulics options. There is also still no sign of either plane, heli, or boat mechanics which have been a fan favorite mod since Saints Row 2.
The diversions from SR2 like taxi, fire fighting, tow truck, etc are not returning.
There is still no npc air traffic or water traffic like SR2 had, so the airport and waterways are devoid of life.
There are no player idle nodes like in SR2 where special animations would play if the controller is left idle long enough. i.e. smoking, drinking, fishing, etc.
Crib customization has been removed completely due to the story and how the open world itself is now handled.
Food/drink/drugs from SR2 are sadly not returning.
There is no sign of the tagging diversion.
Fuzz will not be returning. I’m pretty disappointed since it was my absolute favorite activity from Saints Row 2. According to Steve Jaros, it was cut because it was a “scripting nightmare.”
Player upgrades are still not able to be toggled on and off which is something fans have been asking for since the launch of SRTT. This means you will once again be stuck dual wielding after upgrading.
There is sadly still no day/night cycle which is probably my biggest disappointment with both SRTT and SRIV. For a player like me who loves spending hours in the open world, it really sucks to be stuck in one single time of day while I mess around. It makes everything feel and look static and the same after a while. Saints Row IV is even a step further back where most of the Steelport open world simulation is played at nighttime with different evolving lighting changes as you progress after each mission. While each of these changes do look fantastic, I jokingly mentioned to the devs that at times it felt like I was playing “Dark City: The Game.”
Mission replay and cutscene replay were not in the build I played, but Steve did tell me they were working hard to overcome some technical difficulties to include it. I touched base with him on Saturday though, and he didn’t think they actually made it in.
So, that sounds pretty grim, huh? A lot of the features that we all desperately wanted back aren’t happening. You’re also probably wondering why the hell I’m still so excited about the game, so let’s move on to the new features.