Our review deemed Volition's return to Steelport a "non-stop cavalcade of self-aware meta-humor and surprising, bombastic gameplay decisions from stem to stern," but there are other crews in town. Here's a meta-sampling of the net's judgments on Saints Row 4.

• The Escapist (100/100): "A fantastic game, keeping up the series' tradition of giving players a wide open world and the tools to go absolutely bonkers within it. It's hilarious, it's action-packed, and most of all, it's fun to play."
• Destructoid (95/100): "What I love most about 4 is how it puts the player first -- absolutely every new feature and ability gifted to the player seems designed purely to make the game more convenient to enjoy, and more fun to play."
• Giant Bomb (80/100): "The game is packed with some great moments that subvert the open-world crime genre even further than SR3 did, it's funny, and its references aren't just lazily tossed off, they're earned. You'll feel like you've played some of this before, but if you're at all interested in Saints Row's brand of weird, it's absolutely vital."
• Eurogamer (80/100): "Saints Row 4 may lack refinement - nothing thwarts a superhero quite so frequently as an overhanging roof or your homies standing in a doorway - but it compensates with sheer exuberance. It's a heartfelt love letter to the superhero genre and to a medium that makes such madness possible."
• OPM (60/100): "Occasionally excellent, often mired in mediocrity, Saints Row 4 is inferior to Red Dead Redemption and even five-year-old GTA 4 in almost every way. And while you're always likely to miss when comin' at the kings, Volition's effort still falls short of the more cohesive Sleeping Dogs, the expansive frolicking on Just Cause 2's Panau and the polished pantomime of Infamous 2."