The Commander in Chief gets a lot more commanding in Saint's Row 4, the bizarre superpowers and super-pimps sequel from Volition and Deep Silver. I got my hands on the game at this year's E3, and found a very different experience from even the already-outlandish Saint's Row the Third. Superpowers really do change the game, and these might not be the same Saints you remember.

Volition has officially cranked the dial up from "wacky" to "totally batshit insane" with Saint's Row 4. Your fully-customizable protagonist now has access to a group of superpowers including super-jumps, a glide move, a speedy dash that knocks traffic and pedestrians out of the way, and super strength. He/she will also get four elementally-themed powers, which can be switched up using the D-Pad. 

The Buff power is fire-themed, and gives all of your shots additional fire damage. The Freeze power is just as it sounds - an ice blast that freezes enemies in place temporarily. The Stomp power is derived from the rock element, and sends out a massive shockwave all around the protagonist. Finally, the Telekinsis power, by far the most amusing, picks up cars and people alike, and is derived from the Force element. Combining all of these powers in the game's open world immediately called to mind Destroy All Humans moreso than any Saint's Row game prior... but minus all the jingoistic humor and wonky gameplay bugs that seemed to come along with late DAH games. 

The leader of the Saints will also get more crazy weapons than ever before. In my demo, I had access to three particularly notable weapons. One of them, the Dubstep gun, was introduced during my PAX East demo, but was just as riotously enjoyable as before. The other highlight was the Singularity gun, which produced a black hole that sucked in everything around it (the player included, if you get too close.) The Soakmaster, a squirt gun modified to fire laser bursts, was pretty amusing as well, although not as outlandish as the others.

All of the guns and powers were put to the test when I quickly racked up a Wanted level or two with both the police and the new alien faction that patrols the city on their hoverbikes. Familiar mechanics such as capturing bases and racing (albeit this time on foot, and dashing around at about 100mph) quickly resurfaced, but reskinned with alien weapons and tech.

Whether or not Saint's Row 4 will actually feel like a Saint's Row game with all the powers and aliens running around is still up in the air, but I had tons of fun in my brief demo regardless. Messing around in an open, physics-enabled world with superpowers sounds like a recipe for lots of devious fun, and I can't wait to put that theory to the test this August.