Lord British
Member
I wrote this for an upcoming episode of my Youtube show (no plug, don't worry) but I figure I might as well post it here:
Every so often there's a game comes along that I just know I'm gonna like, regardless of its critical reception. Agents of Mayhem is one of them. I knew from the announcement CGI trailer that I was going to love it - the Saturday Morning Cartoon personality on display, mixed with the edgier Saints Row style was always going to be a winner, but I wasn't prepared for just how much I'd fall in love with the consistently high quality of the interaction happening among the game's characters.
I wouldn't go so far as to call the cast of Agents of Mayhem DEEP, but they've put thought into each of the fourteen titular Agents' respective backstories in a way that makes them feel distinct just to spend time with. The way they interact with one another, the way that the dialogue is tailored for whichever Agent you're currently playing as. It's so thorough and so convincing, and you really get a sense of this group dynamic you're participating in. Everyone knows everyone else. And it's not just the Agents, but the enemies too - troops will call out the Agent you're currently controlling, and it all comes together to give the game an enormous sense of personality.
Another thing I have to mention is the sheer diversity of the cast; of the fourteen Agents, seven are women and only four are white Americans. While this obviously doesn't have any impact on gameplay, it's utterly refreshing to hear this plethora of different races, colours and backgrounds interact with each other free of cliché, free of tokenism and utterly free of sameyness. Bored with Hollywood's gleaming white teeth? Swap him out for the Italian model assassin Joule, the masked Yakuza Oni, African-American ex-marine Braddock or the German football hooligan Red Card. They all play differently and most crucially, they all feel like distinct, memorable characters. I found myself wanting to replay missions just to see what another character would make of the events therein, and how they'd put a voice to said thoughts.
You'll notice I haven't talked much about the gameplay, and that's because it's pretty bog-standard stuff, in a lot of ways. It's largely entirely competent, with a broad selection of mission types that sadly often end up the same way - run through underground base, kill everyone, hack everything, move on. The game is definitely fun and it has some neat setpieces and highs, but by and large it's quite familiar. It's interesting because the diverse nature of the cast doesn't extend to the gameplay at all, so it can occasionally be a little bit jarring. There's all this fun stuff in the periphery but the moment-to-moment gameplay just doesn't quite reach that standard.
It's fun, and I keep playing it. You constantly unlock new Gadgets and Skill Points to improve your Agents and modify their tactics. Even the most useless Agent will quickly accrue new abilities that make them very much a viable part of any squad you'll care to put together. But, ultimately you'll get a team of old reliables and stick with them for a lot of missions, maybe subbing in the others situationally.
One interesting decision is the lack of any sort of box-ticking open-world nonsense. There are events in the game world that you can partake in like any given Saints Row, but they're... impermenant. For example, there are enemy towers you can seize control of to increase your hourly income, but even if you capture all four they'll ultimately be re-taken by the enemy again. Everything is repeatable and there's no acknowledgement like, hey, this is done, tick the box, 100%. I actually find it kind of an interesting breath of fresh air, but I can see why some gamers might get a little bit OCD about it.
Agents of Mayhem has sold like shit, which is a damn shame, even though I kind of get it. I naturally assumed it was a co-op game until very close to release. It isn't. There is no co-op whatsoever, which is... baffling, because it would have added so much to the game! It's also not a hero shooter, which the marketing for the game really made it look like. It's a straight-up single player open-world shooter and it's a very fun one with a lot of personality and it's that personality and that breadth of character and show of utterly sincere diversity with good character work, great interaction and a real sense of these characters having a history together, that makes me feel kinda bummed out that Volition haven't been rewarded for what their game is, rather punished for what it isn't.
So, Agents of Mayhem gets my endorsement. If you want to see a shooter with a bit of character to it, with a well-realised comical world, with terrific voice acting and silly humour and a feeling of real love put into it, then buy Agents of Mayhem. It's very, very impressive.
Every so often there's a game comes along that I just know I'm gonna like, regardless of its critical reception. Agents of Mayhem is one of them. I knew from the announcement CGI trailer that I was going to love it - the Saturday Morning Cartoon personality on display, mixed with the edgier Saints Row style was always going to be a winner, but I wasn't prepared for just how much I'd fall in love with the consistently high quality of the interaction happening among the game's characters.
I wouldn't go so far as to call the cast of Agents of Mayhem DEEP, but they've put thought into each of the fourteen titular Agents' respective backstories in a way that makes them feel distinct just to spend time with. The way they interact with one another, the way that the dialogue is tailored for whichever Agent you're currently playing as. It's so thorough and so convincing, and you really get a sense of this group dynamic you're participating in. Everyone knows everyone else. And it's not just the Agents, but the enemies too - troops will call out the Agent you're currently controlling, and it all comes together to give the game an enormous sense of personality.
Another thing I have to mention is the sheer diversity of the cast; of the fourteen Agents, seven are women and only four are white Americans. While this obviously doesn't have any impact on gameplay, it's utterly refreshing to hear this plethora of different races, colours and backgrounds interact with each other free of cliché, free of tokenism and utterly free of sameyness. Bored with Hollywood's gleaming white teeth? Swap him out for the Italian model assassin Joule, the masked Yakuza Oni, African-American ex-marine Braddock or the German football hooligan Red Card. They all play differently and most crucially, they all feel like distinct, memorable characters. I found myself wanting to replay missions just to see what another character would make of the events therein, and how they'd put a voice to said thoughts.
You'll notice I haven't talked much about the gameplay, and that's because it's pretty bog-standard stuff, in a lot of ways. It's largely entirely competent, with a broad selection of mission types that sadly often end up the same way - run through underground base, kill everyone, hack everything, move on. The game is definitely fun and it has some neat setpieces and highs, but by and large it's quite familiar. It's interesting because the diverse nature of the cast doesn't extend to the gameplay at all, so it can occasionally be a little bit jarring. There's all this fun stuff in the periphery but the moment-to-moment gameplay just doesn't quite reach that standard.
It's fun, and I keep playing it. You constantly unlock new Gadgets and Skill Points to improve your Agents and modify their tactics. Even the most useless Agent will quickly accrue new abilities that make them very much a viable part of any squad you'll care to put together. But, ultimately you'll get a team of old reliables and stick with them for a lot of missions, maybe subbing in the others situationally.
One interesting decision is the lack of any sort of box-ticking open-world nonsense. There are events in the game world that you can partake in like any given Saints Row, but they're... impermenant. For example, there are enemy towers you can seize control of to increase your hourly income, but even if you capture all four they'll ultimately be re-taken by the enemy again. Everything is repeatable and there's no acknowledgement like, hey, this is done, tick the box, 100%. I actually find it kind of an interesting breath of fresh air, but I can see why some gamers might get a little bit OCD about it.
Agents of Mayhem has sold like shit, which is a damn shame, even though I kind of get it. I naturally assumed it was a co-op game until very close to release. It isn't. There is no co-op whatsoever, which is... baffling, because it would have added so much to the game! It's also not a hero shooter, which the marketing for the game really made it look like. It's a straight-up single player open-world shooter and it's a very fun one with a lot of personality and it's that personality and that breadth of character and show of utterly sincere diversity with good character work, great interaction and a real sense of these characters having a history together, that makes me feel kinda bummed out that Volition haven't been rewarded for what their game is, rather punished for what it isn't.
So, Agents of Mayhem gets my endorsement. If you want to see a shooter with a bit of character to it, with a well-realised comical world, with terrific voice acting and silly humour and a feeling of real love put into it, then buy Agents of Mayhem. It's very, very impressive.
