Very quick tips for Saints Row IV

Zap the Zin Empire

Saints Row IV is the wackiest game yet. Just when you thought hitting people with giant dildo bats was crazy, how about smacking aliens with giant dildo bats while running 100 miles per hour, leaping 100 feet in the air — as the President of the United States!

Yep, Saints Row IV features super powers, and a giant, sprawling city to play around in. With great super powers comes great responsibility, so read on for some tips to help quell the Zin menace.

Basic Tips:

• Level up jumping powers first. They pay dividends as you’re more easily able to trounce around and unlock more cores.

• If you’re frustrated by climbing up buildings, eventually you’ll unlock the ability to wall-run, similar to Alex Mercer from Prototype — just keep leveling up until you earn the right to purchase it.

• You can “pre-load” super-jumps in the air by holding down the jump button, then letting go once you hit the ground.

• Traversing across vertical terrain is easy if you have the glide ability. Hold down the glide button (LB or L1), then let go when you’re near a building, pre-load a super-jump, and repeat.

• When you’re fighting Wardens, patience is key. Switch to the fireball ability, and wait until the Warden is done jumping around before you blast his shield. Otherwise, he’ll just jump around again and re-cast his shield before you can get a chance to do any real damage. If you’re looking to make short work of them, save up ~30,000 cache (money) for the rocket launcher as soon as possible.

• When choosing what powers to wield, use fire on vehicles, and ice on units. Remember to double-tab the direction pad to switch.

• If you’re in a jam, sprinting in circles and using the sprinting attack can make for a quick instant kill. You can use this multiple times in succession.

• Complete all of the crewmate activity missions (not the loyalty ones, but the ones where the game gives you mixed objectives). The rewards are fantastic. [Jim Sterling]

• If you find yourself in a troubling firefight, try and pick off enemies one by one behind cover. Super sprint into the health, rinse, and repeat. Of course, grabbing the “less damage while sprinting” and “vacuum up health” upgrades will help considerably.

• Don’t forget that you can turn on the radio at any time, even if you’re not in a vehicle. Press the B button (Circle) to bring up the menu, and change the radio station with LB and RB (L1 and R1).

• You may not even notice it, but when you’re not using ammo, a tiny white circle appears on the screen. Use this to aim your projectile powers, and more importantly, aim your jumps when looking down at the ground.

• It’s really easy to forget about your power dive ability that you’ll earn a few hours into the campaign. Press the aim button (LT or L2) in the air to hover, aim the cursor, then press the attack button (RT or R2) to do a Superman-esque dive into a group of enemies. You can do this often — all it costs is stamina.

• If you really want the Dubstep Gun, you’ll earn it towards the end of the campaign anyways, at which point you can just equip it from your armory.

• Don’t forget that you can access the “phone” menu by pressing the Back button (Select), and call your crew for help (it’s the lower left option). I kept forgetting this because it’s so hidden, but it’s very useful.

• If you’re having trouble during missions involving constantly spawning enemies via portals, the best course of action is to head to a nearby building, and shoot the portals from afar. Otherwise, you risk getting constantly hit, and by the time you get your bearings, more portals will spawn. Without spoiling anything, this works very well in the final fight.