Recent reviews by Tyler

What kind of monster lets you pick a perk that freezes liquids around you. I had a vial of acid smash on me that trapped me in a literal hell box.

Anyways.... this game is a solid 9/10 on mechanics and art style. Every interaction with the world is a ton of fun and I look forward to seeing and trying new things. The only downside I have found was a lacking story which is not a huge detractor in a mindlessly fun game like this.

So my verdict is don't let the Early Access tag fool you. This is a very solid experience in its current form/price even if it never got another patch.

Over the years there have been a lot of "Harvest Moon"-Like games but Stardew Valley is the first to really nail down the formula. The only downside I have with this game is it doesn't add anything new to the genre but what it does do is done so well that I can still easily recommend it.

To boil it down.
If you like Harvest Moon / Farm Life simulators, buy it.. Even at full price it is worth it.
If you like having free time, avoid it.

Is SRIV worth playing? 49.99? 20 or less? Yes, no, yes.
Is SRIV fun? Yes
Are the new features fun? Yes
Is SRIV a good game? Yes
Is SRIV a good sequel? NO

REASONING / SPOILERS BELOW: Don't read if you haven't played SRIV for at least a few hours
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I enjoyed my time in the virtual world of SRIV but the same things I liked are what make it a bad sequel. Within the first few hours of play, the current world of saints row is blown up in an attempt to keep up with the power creep of each release. In SR1 you fight for the streets; SR2 for the city; SR3 for the island; SRIV for the world; SRV for the universe?. So thanks to their increasing of the stakes, SRIV had no where to go but up in terms of size/wackiness but they went too far and destroyed the world (literally) of Saints Row in favor of a more configurable reality. This new 'world' is one that allows for super powers and other things to occur without it being 'law-defying' but this new mechanic overshadows and effectively ruins the established gameplay mechanics from the older games which they still tried to cram in.

Driving/Customizing - Tons of fun to find your ride and trick it out.. This is made useless thanks to super speed/Jump-gliding
Shooting - Super powers do more damage and use a regenerating ammo. After a few hours you can essentially stop using guns altogether. (Ammo becomes infinite much later)
Gun Upgrades - Same as shooting, super powers upgrade and become practically infinite.
Melee - Now this one they actually did a good job on. They integrated the new 'super powered' melee moves that you could augment with later powers.

If they spent time and thought it out, I bet they could have found a way for the super powers and old mechanics to co-exist better but in the end they left them there to rot.

Now if they would have marketed it differently, I may have let it slide.
As an Expansion: It would have just been viewed as a refreshing change to shake up the gameplay
As a 'titled' release (EX: Saints Row: The Power-ing): Same as expansion
As a 'NUMBERED' release: It is an unwanted revamp to an already fun formula.

The reason why a numbered release pisses me off is it implies the events of the game are of the main story and not some side branch. This means the next game will have to continue where SRIV left off and honestly, the SRIV devs did SR5 no favors in terms of a lead in. They could ignore everything that happened in IV and treat it like a side branch or a dream or something but doing so would just prove the previous game should have never been 4.

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All ranting aside, for ~20 bucks for ~16 hours is a pretty good deal and definitely worth the purchase if you like the crude humor of Saints Row and the crackdown-esque gameplay.. just ignore that it is a Saints Row sequel if it bugs you as much as me.

(Also hunting orbs is too damn addictive)