I originally bought Saints Row 4 with 'Gat out of Hell' included in a Playstation Store deal, for less than £10 I got both games. I already knew that 'Gat out of Hell' was a standalone game, with characters from the Saints Row world including Johnny Gat following the conclusion of the base game; Saints Row 4. Now as Johnny Gat you are sent to Hell to save the President, or Boss of the Saints from the Devil himself who wishes to force Boss to marry his daughter Jezebel.
Now I already knew that 'Gat out of Hell' was a unique take already on the new zany, over-the-top action, characters and world being that in Saints Row 4 you fight the Alien overlord Zinyak and his alien armada that invades Earth. Now the world is the hellish city of New Hades, the enemies replaced by demons and hellspawn sent by the Devil to stop you in your mission.
I also already knew from press releases that 'Gat out of Hell' would be shorter in length than Saints Row 4, and cheaper than the full retail price of longer games. I took to the game, completing side activities similar to those found in Saints Row 4, but involving demons, angelic air travel and combat to earn credits to upgrade my character, as well as soul clusters found dotted around the city you collect when you fly around the city with your wings.
Missions involve aligning with former enemies and adversaries including Blackbeard, Vlad the Empaler and even an evil William Shakespeare against the Devil, and undermining his control of Hell. However these missions regularly involved repetitive completion of side activities, simply to complete their mission log. However completing these missions and tasks for your allies rewards you with four powers including summoning demons, turning enemies to stone, even burning enemies with hellfire. The passive skills including sprinting and flying truly open the game's world, seamless travel and smooth intuitive controls made traversing the city fun, and pushed me onto to complete the game's activities.
Weapon design is superb with traditional firearms and weapons from Saints Row 4, with new additions including frog launchers, crossbows, hellfire lava machine-guns making the game, and combat even more rewarding and fun.
However even after completing the main story against the Devil, as well as every side activity and mission my play-through was exactly five hours in duration.
The Good:
- Characters from Saints Row 4 including Johnny Gat return, with some moments of comedy and humor.
- Graphically as impressive as Saints Row 4 was, with hellish landscapes, level design as well as weapons, upgrades, powers and abilities.
- Fun, enjoyable combat is smooth, and you can lose time as you have with past Saints Row games in it's activities, challenges, and side missions.
The Bad:
- Short game, clocking at just five hours in length after completing all side missions, activities and challenges. However this is softened by the fact that the game was cheaper on release than full priced games.
If you're a fan of Saints Row, and enjoy the wacky, zany, crazy world and it's characters then you'll enjoy this standalone adventure against the Devil, with a solid several hours of gameplay depending on the gamer, and how long you put into completing every single challenge there is. Worth picking up on sale, or discounted for a fun few hours of mindless carnage.