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As Grand Theft Auto 5 gears up for its fall release, the latest installment of the GTA series' long-time competitor, Saints Row, looms nakedly upon the horizon. With an unspoken vow, like each game before it, to be more ridiculous than the last entry, Saints Row IV promises a gloriously bombastic plot filled with invading aliens, robots and superpowers.
As the latest in a slew of video game marketing being released especially for E3 2013, Volition has debuted a brand new, full-length trailer for Saints Row IV, which poses as a shameless parody of both typical Hollywood action movies, and other games on the market that take their own stories seriously.
We've previously noted the striking similarities between the superpowers showcased in Saints Row IV's trailers and gameplay footage so far, and those in previous superhero games, particularly the Prototype games. This new trailer however, suggests that the similarities were intentional and are being used to directly parody other games on the market. It doesn't look like the satire is too highbrow - much of the humor in the trailer seems to be based on simply recreating a scene from Mass Effect or Prototype and having the character be naked - but whoever said that jokes had to be intelligent in order to be funny.
Speaking of Mass Effect, this new trailer also makes a point of introducing Keith David, the voice actor for Mass Effect's David Anderson, who will apparently be playing a version of himself (rather than his original character, 3rd Street Saints leader Julius Little) in Saints Row IV. In case you weren't already aware, the trailer also establishes the Boss as the President of the United States, who is kidnapped by invading aliens, the Xin, and appears to be trapped in a virtual version of Steelport.
In keeping with the tradition of the series, it appears that 'fun' will be the watchword of Saints Row IV. The game will allow players to go on the kind of superpowered romp through the sandbox city that was seen in games like Batman: Arkham City and InFamous, but without the potential drag of a story that actually takes itself seriously. Instead, gamers will get to play with ridiculous weapons like the Dubstep Gun and the Guitar Case RPG launcher, hijack monster trucks for a confident getaway, or even climb inside a mech suit and go on a robotic rampage.
If Saints Row IV successfully implements the kind of cathartic entertainment on show in this trailer, then it's definitely going to be one of must-buy games of this year.
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Saints Row IV is out on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 on 20th August, 2013.