Agents of Mayhem

When the developer behind Saints Row launches a new IP you should pay attention, especially if it’s in the same universe. Agents of Mayhem is a crazy third person shooter game that reminds me a little about the recently delayed Crackdown. Take a look in this review if developer Volition’s Agents of Mayhem is worth buying! 

THE GOOD

• Agents of Mayhem has a pretty interested story and has some exciting easter eggs for Saints Row fans. One thing that powers the story is the great use of animation cut scenes, giving so much personality to all the unique characters. Although it has a lot less humour than previous Volition work, the game still has some wacky use of comical dialogue.
• All twelve different characters is what makes Agents of Mayhem stand out. The chemistry between them reminds me a little about Evolve. The conversations between them are funny, meaningful and gives a lot of flavor for the game. Not only does it benefit the story but also the gameplay, all characters have a different gameplay-style. You can select three different characters for each mission and can change instantly between them, resulting in a big amount of fighting styles. Some out-of-the-box thinking can result in some useful combat tactics that are hard to find in some other games.
• The shooting mechanic is pretty awesome and controls just like it should. You can change on the go from character so building your own tactics is really fun. My favorite, without a doubt, is Rama. A powerful long ranged fighter that has similarities with Hanzo from Overwatch. You have so many ways of defeating enemies, freezing them, blowing them up, long-range or melee that it remains fun to play throughout the end. The game forces you to play with each character too, so you will have a great time learning how to use all of them in a correct way.

Mixed Feelings

• The 80’s and 90’s visual presentation is a nice change of paste, things are really colorful and the art style is spot on. The same cannot be said about the boring linear lair-missions that use the same graphics and environments over and over again. The game is also plagued by some pop-up, so don’t expect to be blown away by the game.
• A mixed sound experience is another thing that gives me some mixed feelings. Characters dialogues are great, but weapon and environment sounds seems to lack a punch. Since playing Agents of Mayhem I also have a deep hate for talking cars, they say the same things a million times. (Sorry Cars, I used to love you)

THE BAD

• The thing that really drives the characters is completely absent in the open world from Agents of Mayhem game world Seoul, personality. The world is barebones, boring and is simply a huge disappointment. They encourage exploring Seoul with collectibles but you won’t be able to find much original places, the fact that the pedestrians have the same IQ as a moth flying to a lightbulb isn’t helping much either.
• Agents of Mayhem is creative in many ways but the missions are a list of boring been there, done that tasks that you will be doing hundreds of time. I am completely baffled by the fact that a great developer as volition didn’t see this before releasing the game, you will grow tired of hacking the same objective again and again and again and again and again and again and again. Even worse are the repetitive dungeon like lair-missions, you will be forced to fight in the same mundane and lifeless closed environments, I had a difficult time to continue playing the game whenever I was in such a boring lair-mission. Luckily the boss-fights have more original ideas, so not all has been lost.
• I couldn’t shake the impression that the frame rate from Agents of Mayhem was all over the place, right from the start it could never hold an acceptable performance. I’m blessed with migraine, so sadly enough I couldn’t play the game for too long without experiencing health issues. (A problem I have with games that have frame rate issues)
• I hate to be so negative about the game but last but not least, bugs are a common thing. Getting stuck in a car, missing map waypoints, random game freezes, agents that don’t want to swap, enemies getting stuck in walls, cars that randomly explode and even starting with the wrong characters. These things aren’t rare but happen frequently, to be honest unacceptable for a high budget game from Volition. It is painfully obvious that this game needed a little bit more polishing.

Agents of Mayhem needed more cooking time in the oven, more polish and it would have been a much better game. The different characters is what keeps the game floating, everything else, like the performance and the open world are disappointing. Shooter fans will still have a lot of fun but don’t expect too much before diving in.