Agents of Mayhem Reviews

If subtlety was a person, I’m pretty sure the Agents of Mayhem would tell them to “suck it”. It flies its flag of in-your-face attitude with pride and does it so well, that you can almost forgive it for making really lame jokes about things like Uranus. If you’re looking for some unadulterated adult fun, then I recommend becoming an Agent of Mayhem today.

Despite fun combat and characters, Agents of Mayhem becomes repetitive and grinding. In trying to chase the popularity of Saints Row, it misses having an identity of its own.

“Agents of Mayhem settles in as an underwhelming, forgetful entry in the overfilled open world genre.”

Agents of Mayhem should be a good game, however it seems like Deep Silver wanted to do another Saints Row game and did things that way instead. Unlike when Capcom did this with Resident Evil and created the great Devil May Cry series, Deep Silver just made a Saints Row game with a different label on it. You’d think that after so many games in that series that we would get something different, but we didn’t.

Agents of Mayhem boasts a fantastic story, but is ruined by dull and repetitive gameplay and level design

You better have to choose if it’s worth spending your spare cash, because it might not be the game for you and it might be for others.

Despite the diversity and progression among the cast of agents and their abilities, the game grows stale too quickly. After introducing each of the few enemy types within the first hour or so of the game no new ones, aside from a few slightly modified bosses, are ever introduced. I found that after a bit of experimenting I discovered a favorite team of agents and left the rest mostly untouched, causing their levels and viability to fall behind. The futuristic vision of Seoul is quite stylish, but ultimately empty. Civilians barely fit the requirements of extras in the background, the few non-linear events feel repetitive and bare, and driving around just isn’t all that interesting. Some aspects of the world fail to make any sense at all. For some reason, murdering civilians or causing general havoc attracts the attention of the supervillain conglomerate, Legion, as oppose to the local police force.

Volition are at it again with their latest game, Agents of Mayhem. If you said the name Volition, most gamers would likely scream back at you “oh yeah, the people that made that Saints Row series of games.” Whilst the Saints Row franchise has definitely been a cash cow for Volition it never quite broke the stigma of being compared to GTA (Grand Theft Auto) no matter how many alien abductions and all-out parodies they might have tried.

Watching Saturday morning cartoons as kid, there was always one thing that bothered us about shows focusing on paramilitary groups such as M.A.S.K. and G.I Joe. No, it wasn’t the fact they were designed primarily to sell toys to impressionable young minds, it was the way none of the teams ever showed up en masse to foil the plans of whichever evil organisation they were up against. Instead, they’d only ever opt to send a few team members (at least one of which would be a laughably over-the-top stereotype).

Considering there are so many big-budget sandbox titles out there, it takes a lot for one to stand out. Is Agents of Mayhem's large cast of characters appealing enough to make it worthwhile? Board the Ark and let's find out.

Agents of Mayhem is Volition trying something new with a bit of their longstanding franchises mixed in, and they mostly do a great job at forging new paths. It has a few bugs and it's not perfect, but it makes for an excellent new game with a heck of a lot of character.

Despite these flaws, Agents of Mayhem truly does offer a unique and fresh spin on the Saints Row world. By distancing itself from the main franchise's core characters and conflicts, the game is able to embrace its own aesthetic and create a new world that is just as weird and addicting as the original.

Agents of Mayhem is a step back for Volition after the success of the Saints Row series. While the characters are good and fun, they don’t feel larger than life when compared to The Boss and their crew. There aren’t as many memorable moments either, and the city of Seoul is wasted. The game is less Agents of Mayhem and more Agents of Mehhem.

The new game from the creators of Saints Row tries to combine the best features of the studio's previous works with solutions typical of MMORPG games. Unfortunately, this turned out to be a bad idea.

At the end of the day, even with it's issues, Agents of Mayhem is still a fun experience that anyone who is a fan of hero shooters or the previous Saints Row titles will be able to enjoy. Shooting hoards of Legion scum won't get old any time soon.

Volition tries to carve out a new spot for itself, with mixed results.

The presentation, the characters, the gameplay -- Agents of Mayhem feels like a great game in spots.  It's got all the Saints Row style that you're accustomed to seeing from Volition, but it lacks in features when compared to other open world games of this nature.

Repetitive and not as funny as Saints Row, but the characters save it.

In many ways, Agents of Mayhem feels like a child smashing action figures together and making explosion sound effects. On one hand (the one holding the bad guy), the game is a shallow rumination on good versus evil. On the other hand (the one holding the hero), it’s silly in all the right ways that make it entertaining and fun to play. The imprint of developer Volition’s previous series, Saint’s Row, is impossible to ignore. Both are open-world games with over-the top characters and explosive action, but despite that heritage, Agents of Mayhem finds an identity of its own thanks to the memorable characters, even if the action is familiar.

A bit of a departure from Saints Row (though not really a massive one), Agents of Mayhem is an entertaining spin-off shooter laced with RPG elements that enhance an otherwise uncomplicated game. There's fun to be had here, providing you can get past the repetitive action.

Agents of Mayhem does a good job paying homage to the cartoon and live-action TV heroes of the 80s and 90s, and revels in the absurd tropes and idiosyncrasies of those inspirations. A broad and goofy arsenal of unique weapons and gadgets and the ability to switch characters on the fly to access complementary abilities offers some solid combat and good mindless fun, but due to some unpolished writing and repetitive environments and enemy types, it doesn't fully live up to its heroic potential.

Agents of Mayhem is a game that tries and accomplishes a lot of things, but a general lack of ambition and mechanics that are often sluggish weigh down the overall experience.

Agents of Mayhem proudly barrels out into the world as a robust and absolutely fun single player experience. If you want an escape from the grimdark settings of most modern games, but still want to make things go boom, you should stop reading and pick it up now. Above all else, Agents of Mayhem is a master class in fun.

Bad attitude.