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Saints Row IV is all about making things bigger (ahem), and considering the outlandishness of Saints Row: The Third, Volition had to go to some extreme lengths to make this sequel more fun and more ridiculous than the last game. Game Rant gave our stamp of approval to a preview of Saints Row IV, finding that it delivered the same kind of irreverent humor that fans of the series have come to love, and the latest trailer for the game is a testament to the writers' love of parody.

Catch only a glimpse of this trailer, and you might accidentally mistake it for a new Mass Effect game, what with all the epic sci-fi battles in narrow corridors. Since the President himself is presumably preoccupied with his campaign to save planet Earth from its alien overlords, Keith David takes to the podium to deliver the heart-warming Independence Day speech, which - based on what we've seen so far - will be one of many, many movies and games lampooned in Saints Row IV.

It's not all speeches, though; there's also plenty of gameplay to be seen in the trailer, including a sequence where the player gets to fly a spaceship and shoot enemy ships with lasers, because why not? In addition to the super-powers that the leader of the Saints comes to possess, there is also some old-fashioned, down-and-dirty brawling with the alien scum, and some attention gets paid to their supremely ugly leader, who will serve as the main antagonist for the game.

If you think that the Saints Row developers have written themselves into a corner with this latest episode in the franchise - after all, it's going to be hard to top aliens, super-powers, mech suits and dubstep guns - then you might be pleased to hear that Volition are planning to move on a little. Rather than sticking with the same characters and simply trying to raise the stakes even more (presumably by upgrading the leader of the Saints to god status and making it the goal of the game to invent entire universes before destroying them in inventive ways), the developers have designed Saints Row IV to be the final chapter in this particular saga.

In an E3 interview with Game Reactor, design director Scott Phillips said:

"We're definitely considering Saints Row IV sort of the end of that saga of this character and the Saints as they are. So if there's any more future Saints Rows - which you know we always hope there will be, we hope there's fans for future games like that - they will probably continue in a different direction."

There's not much need to worry about future Saints Row games finding a fanbase, considering how highly anticipated Saints Row IV is, and how successful the series has been so far. Taking the series in a new direction is almost certainly the best way to go, however, as it allows Volition to start anew with a fresh storyline and setting, and perhaps even a different tone. One of Game Rant's criticisms of the preview gameplay was that it was beginning to all feel a little bit too familiar, so perhaps it's best if Saints Row IV is the concluding chapter of this particular iteration of the Saints.

What could happen to the series next? Perhaps now that the science fiction elements are established, there could be a Saints Row game set in the distant future. Alternatively, Volition could find a new franchise (rather than the Grand Theft Auto series) to compete with; it could be quite interesting to see the game series go down the Assassin's Creed route and have some Renaissance Saints trashing fifteenth century Rome. With lute guns.

Saints Row fans, if the series gets a revamp, what would you like to see the developers do next?

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Saints Row 4 releases August 20, 2013 for the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360.

Source: Game Reactor