Agents of Mayhem Review

"Bring the boom"

Campaign

Agents of Mayhem is a spin-off of the Saints Row universe and while it shares some of the same feelings, it's a completely standalone experience. The story starts off with a quick prologue to showcase the agents and base mechanics in action. This aspect is simple as each agent provides their own set of skills and you get a selection of three per mission. The core of the game is based over a decent selection of core campaign missions with a pile of extra side ones to take part in.

These are pushed quite a bit into the main story as you'll need to level up your agency in order to do some of the later game missions. I was fine with this as they're actually fairly entertaining and help build lore around each of the numerous diverse agents that work together. They all have unique back stories and even special cooperative teams that come together to forge groups such as with Franchise Force. It's just as much about battling the evil of Legion as it is getting to know this wide range of characters.

The story was fine featuring many explosions and having a fair length to it all. There was also a nice feeling of variety across the levels with what your goals were and the city of futuristic Seoul was pleasant to move through. I did however feel at times certain aspects were recycled such as the lair areas you visit felt very repetitive after awhile despite having combinations for how they were setup. This would normally be fine, but since you did them so often the appeal did fade.

Agents of Mayhem not only had a diverse group of heroes, but a very odd selection of villains to battle along the way. Aside from completing missions you can also venture into the Global Conflict area or do a wide range of side activities within the city. The Global Conflict has you sending out agents to do side objectives or even having you directly go in to tackle lairs, this section leads into some additional content as well.

Gameplay

Visually Agents of Mayhem comes across as a traditional Saints Row game while leaning a tad more towards the style of Crackdown, at least in an artistic design. The gameplay feels like a grounded version of Saints Row IV where it's less about flying and more about moving swiftly around the environment. The entire thing also loads really fast with limited wait times and I thought that was impressive for an open world.

This game's map is smaller than I would have liked, but it makes up for that with its intense levels of verticality that offer a more dynamic space to hop through. The enemies featured a wide variation of forms and I felt like the game was consistently throwing something new into the mix.

Performance wise is was fine for the most part with nothing that noticeably made the experience any less fun and there could be a pile of damn explosives going off at once. I absolutely loved the cinematics as they carried a cartoon like look that I'd compare to GI Joe to a degree. The agents were also fun to use offering a wide range of unique abilities and these could be improved or changed as you progressed. There were also some fancier tech options for those that choose to invest in certain areas on the Ark hub area within the game.

The Conclusion

Agents of Mayhem brings the boom and all the style one would want with that sort of phrase. The cinematics are awesome with gameplay that was fun and a story that matched the humor I've come to expect from Volition.

It's a solid new game while still retaining enough feeling from the others to make it familiar. The campaign is a solid length and there are hours of missions to tackle. It is however one of those completion type games and I didn't feel that it offered the same longevity that the Saints Row games had. The side activities are plentiful though I wasn't too into them which is my normal reaction.

The game does really try to incorporate everyone as its cast is incredibly diverse from so many backgrounds and each has their own set of lore that gets explored. Agents of Mayhem is a great game and it provides a unique style of excitement.

Agents of Mayhem Review on Xbox One & Playstation 4
Review Code Provided by Tinsley PR

Rating Overall: 8.2