10 Amazing Video Games With Terrible Open Worlds
5. Saints Row IV
Saints Row began life as a middling Grand Theft Auto clone, but quickly evolved into something else altogether.
The series made a name for itself by pushing the bar in Saints Row 2, then kept pushing further in Saints Row: The Third, then broke it right off by giving you super powers in a VR world created by invading aliens in Saints Row IV. (The series is also known for being inconsistent in how it formats its titles.)
It sounds way too over-the-top, but being extra is what Saints Row is all about. Leaping over buildings, punching enemies into the horizon, and running like The Flash only make the ridiculousness more fun, as though the developers made a suite of cheat codes for The Third that just broke the game entirely.
Except, that's basically what they did - because all of this takes place in the same exact city as Saints Row 3, only slightly worse, more devoid of life, and with fluorescent cyberspace colors everywhere. Now you could revisit Steelport, only with all of your progress from The Third lost!
It was far too little to deliver for a full-priced, numbered sequel in the series, feeling more like an expansion pack at best.