From the creators of Saints Row comes a new game – Agents of Mayhem!
When I first heard about Agents of Mayhem, being a big fan of the Saints Row franchise, I knew straight away I would be getting this game as soon as it came out! Luckily, I was able to snag a promotional copy a week before public release and I’ve been playing it almost non stop since I got it. I have to say, although I loved Saints Row, I don’t think Agents of Mayhem quite reached the high bar previously set by other games from Volition.
The Good
Agents of Mayhem has proven to be one of those ‘fun, time waster’ games. I have been able to pick up my controller and mindlessly play through them game without having to focus too much or think about it. It’s certainly easy enough to jump straight in and run around the open world map, use character powers, drive cars and wreck mayhem. There are a good array of characters to play as and they have all got their own cool and unique attributes and you can seamlessly swap between characters which doesn’t interfere with game play. I can’t say the rest of the game matches up to my expectations, however.
The Bad
Unlike most open world maps in games, especially on new gen consoles, the map is very underwhelming. It has to be one of the smallest maps I’ve played on my Xbox One and possibly even on my 360. It takes around a minute or two to get from one end of the futuristic Seoul to the other. I also noticed the lack of NPC’s and vehicles on the streets, making it less realistic as you travel around.
The story itself is pretty unimaginative and dull in comparison to other similar games on the market and after a while, I found myself wanting to just skip all of the cut scenes and got bored of the story very quickly. I wasn’t able to immerse myself in the world and empathise with the characters like I can with most other story driven games. This was a big let down as the Saints Row world created such a rich and interesting story in each game, even if it was over the top and silly at times. The story in Agents of Mayhem just seemed dull and lifeless the more I played it.
The missions and side quests were incredibly repetitive and I just grew tired of them in no time. There seemed to be no substance to them and I really found it hard to want to play through the game in this sense.
The Ugly
The graphics were really not up to par. I mean, some games have low quality graphics for aesthetic reasons and they work well. However, Agents of Mayhem? I played games with better graphics on my 360 – including Saints Row. The cut scenes felt cheap and rushed with cartoonish and comic booky images flashing across my screen and the open world map wasn’t much better. It really does seem flat and even lifeless at times and doesn’t have much of a heart of soul to it. In all honestly it feels rushed and like the creators didn’t put the love and care into it like it deserves.
This game could have easily been a really good addition to Volition’s library of games but it just comes across as lazy and an after thought. Very rushed.
The Verdict
I wish I could say I loved this game, but in truth? I can’t see myself picking up my controller again anytime soon to go back and get my 100%. While I do love the characters and the premise, it just didn’t deliver. If a second one comes out in the future I’ll definitely check it out and hope it Volition has learnt from their mistakes this time around. But for now? It’s a no go with me.
Have you play AoM yet? What did you think? Let us know in the comments.
All images taken from AoM Facebook page.
Special thanks to Koch Media for supplying the promotional code.
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