14 DAY TRIAL // Saints Row IV is the greatest mash-up in the history of video games, based on the time I spent with a near finished version of the game during E3 2013.
The series might have started life as an alternative to the Grand Theft Auto franchise from Rockstar but it has matured into something greater than that, a video game that takes the best ideas from other series and creates a new experience that unlike any other title on the market.
As I took a controller into my hands and started the demo of Saints Row IV I expected insurance fraud and some firefights.
Instead I got to fire black holes out of a gun that comes complete with a warning to not stand to close to the resulting explosion, deforming the game world and sucking enemies in.
I also chose to fly around, engulfed in a blue glow, playing a sort of drunk Superman as I hit a number of walls while trying to land on top of enemies who were trying to stop me with puny human weapons.
I got my hands on the dubstep gun, which might be the weirdest weapon ever included in a Saints Row IV.
The game looks very good on current gen consoles, with some and it's incredibly easy to forget that you are playing a story based game and just start flying around, looking for fights and upgrades.
The E3 2013 was too short but it's a good indicator that the new Volition title might just be the craziest expeience gamers will get to play this year.
Saints Row IV will be launched on the PC, the PlayStation 3 from Sony and the Xbox 360 from Microsoft on August 20 in North America and three days later in Europe.
There are currently no plans to launch the game on the Xbox One and the PlayStation 4.