Agents of Mayhem - GI Jo....Wait Just a Second!!??

Agents of Mayhem

I am going to start this review with a quick side note : A lot of people thought/wanted Agents of Mayhem to be the next Saints Row game. It wasn't and it isn't. Expectations seem to have slanted some of the public reception of Agents of Mayhem. You will not find that in this review. I am big fan of Saint Row but I knew not to expect this to be the next one.

Okay, with that out of the way...

Agents of Mayhem is a squad based third person open world shooter. And it comes with all the tropes that those buzzwords bring into a game in 2017. Set in Seoul, Korea (though that doesn't seem to be that important in game) and tangentially in the Saints Row universe (via some iconography and characters) Agents of Mayhem is a loud and colorful action game.

I think the core concept of  Agents of Mayhem (AoM) was to make a more "adult" version of GI Joe, or at least one that fit within the sensibilities of the Saints Row world. This is the one part of the game that I felt really missed the mark, but I'm not sure if they just didn't pull it off or they did and it just didn't gel with me. GI Joe with cursing is fine I guess, but the story is thin (even by GI Joe standards) and the characters are shallow (more on this later) so just having them throw in swearing seems a little jarring. I am not against cursing at all but like a lot of the story and tone of AoM I feel they just failed to land. The core story concept was fine but they walked the line between the two just a little to safe and didn't commit to either making it real bonkers or real Saturday morning cartoon. Instead we got watered down version of both.

Part of the reason I think the story feels to light is due to the huge cast of characters you control. Currently through the course of the game you can unlock 12 different agents (with a 13th coming as of the time of this review). At any time you pick 3 to form your squad and then go on a mission. There are some solo story missions to introduce each new character as well. Each of the agents have skills (active and passive), abilities boosts they can level up and equipment too (also unlockable alternate costumes/weapons skins!). So lots of game mechanics behind each agent - but that's about it. We briefly get to know their most basic motivations and the rest is a few throwaway line of conversation between them and other agents that you may never hear for various in-game reasons. There's no reward to sticking to just using the same agents, as they feel more like weapon load-outs rather than characters and the paint by number missions don't help either.

Now I feel at this point I am being a bit hard on Agents of Mayhem so lets switch gears to something that it does really well and that's the action part of the game. Once you've picked your agents and all their paraphernalia, a mission and a location to drop to you jump out of the Ark (your home base) and the real game begins. Traversing the world feels good. You have a triple jump (because why not) that allows you to get around very nicely. Some characters even have skills that allow for additional traversal options or boosts. For longer distances you can call in your agency vehicle (many to pick from, unlock and more skins) and drive around. The driving model is simple and ranges from feeling great as you perform a perfect power slide around a tight corner to getting stick on some tiny object that for some reason you can't drive over/through even though you just toppled some other object 10 times bigger two blocks back. Grrr! Ahem. It's a mix of Saints Row 4 and Crackdown. With all the super high buildings I was expecting a flying vehicle at some point but alas no luck.

Once you get where you're going (sometimes before - lots of open world interactions to distract) the fighting begins. This is where the game really picks up as the combat, weapons and systems really shine here. I should note that while you do pick 3 agents for a mission you only control a single one at a time and switch back and forth. Synergy between their abilities can make a big difference. While the shooting and combat in general feel good and can be quite dynamic (you are rarely standing still in fights, lots of running and jumping, closing in and backing off depending on the situation) there is a slight lack of enemy diversity. LEGION (the bad guys) troops come in squads of 3 normal guys or 1 special guy every time. There are only a few of each type and even mixing them, while providing dynamic combat, does get stale over the length of the game (about 20-30 hours unless you really bare bones it). Nicely if an agent in your squad is better equipped to take out a certain enemy they will prompt you to switch to them, which is good early game for learning how to combat the different enemy types.

Agents of Mayhem has an odd experience point and difficulty system. Each agent earns XP when they are out on a mission and that levels them up, each level giving them points they can spend on boosts that affect their skills. Also each level they have more hit points, shields and deal more damage. Before each mission you can also pick from a wide range (1-15) difficulty levels, the higher the difficulty the more XP and cash (used for buying equipment and agency upgrades) you get but the harder the enemies will be. The problem is that is it a self defeating system. As you level up you pick harder difficulties so you level up so you pick....see where this is going? Higher numbers for the sake of higher numbers. Since the core important skills of an agent are not linked to level, being a higher level is not needed unless you are wanting to play at a harder difficulty, which you only do if you want to level up...and here we are again. One or the other would have been fine. Neither would have worked too. Lots of faffing about for no real gain.

Speaking of faffing about...in between each mission you go to the Ark - your invisible floating MAYHEM base. In the Ark you make all your purchases, upgrades, skin selections, etc. It's also they only place you can change your squad and difficulty. While you can jump into missions anytime out the open world if you want to change anything else you have to go back to the Ark and mess around with more menus than a game like this really should have. Menus with menus. Recursive menu hell. All that load just a little to slow. Really not being able to change agents in the world (outside of active missions) would have at least been nice.

Agents of Mayhem is also a really good looking game. Both day and night time bring out they clean smooth look of the world. While the streets and sidewalks are maybe a little sparse in terms of people the city covers a large range of neighborhoods and diverse styles without being to large (no 10 minute drives to get to where you want). Both the not-quite-neon lighting and smooth texture style looks great. LEGION base design can get a bit cookie cutter but they do look good (and remind me of the tech bases in City of Heroes, rest in peace). 

So Agents of Mayhem is a bit of a mixed bag. Good game play and graphics tripped up by a few to many pointless systems and a shallow story. It's of the category I would call "more fun than good". Maybe a little to long for the depth? Your mileage may vary. At this point I would say unless this is exactly what you are looking for wait for it to go on sale. Not that production wise it isn't worth the price, there is just a feeling that it could have come together a little better. Maybe in the sequel.