PREVIEW – Volition has been in a bit of a pickle ever since the Saints Row series went off the rails regarding storytelling. While the first two Saints Row games were grounded in reality (as much as we can call it that), but Saints Row 3 and 4 ended up being so over the top, that the developers needed an out from The Boss’s storyline. With the Gat Out of Hell, this opportunity presented itself, as one of its endings now lead into a newly reformed Earth. This ending leads directly into Agents of Mayhem, a new open world action-adventure game where you take control of the Agents of Mayhem, who are trying to stop L.E.G.I.O.N, from destroying the world.

The game takes place in a futuristic version of Seoul, South Korea, where the agents must defend its citizens against L.E.G.I.O.N. The game allows you to take on the enemy through multiple missions, side quests and, and even quests to unlock new agents for your team.

G.I. Saints?

Agents of Mayhem’s inspiration based on the developer interviews and the trailers seems to be a healthy dose of 80s nostalgia. It’s a mix of He-Man, GI JOE, and even A-Team themes played in an over the top mode for this game. You have your evil maniacally leader whose organization is hell bent on taking over the world, and you also have a team of scrappy underdogs trying to thwart them. The organization of M.A.Y.H.E.M (Multinational AgencY Hunting Evil Masterminds)  is led by Persephone Brimstone and founded by the Ultor organization. In order defeat the Evil masterminds she has recruited the world’s best, and reckless people.

There is a total of twelve agents to be unlocked throughout the game for the player each with their own unique abilities. They will react to in-game events, and to story cutscenes differently. All of the agents have their special weapons, abilities, and assists. The first three agents we get to use are Fortune (an Uzi using hacker with a drone), Hollywood (a B tier Actor who uses a body double to cause kamikaze attacks), and Hardtack (A Shotgun, and spear using US Navy officer).

Before commencing on a mission, we can select three agents that we will use in the world. Switching between the three agents is seamless, and is encouraged to mix up with switching around for maximum destruction. Also, the movement in this game is unbelievably fast, and is similar to Sunset Overdrive, with all of the characters having triple jump, and quick traversal over the landscape. The characters are written in an over the top way, plus even their backstory is not the usual gritty soldier who has to save the world. Instead, they are a colorful bunch of misfits that might have a chance to save the world.

Cartoons, explosions, and a blender

The aesthetics and the graphics are an evolution of Saints Row 4, so for those who were expecting a hyper-realistic graphics will be disappointed in this spin-off. It has a mix of old comic books, and a bit of an Overwatch aesthetics. The world, effects, characters are all highly stylized, and colorful, which matches with the Saints Row aesthetics, but at the same time tries to do something distinct with the futuristic design of Seoul. The enemies, main characters, and the world are all designed purposefully to add to that 80s retro action cartoon feel. While this might bother some people, it does not take away from the quality of the graphics.

While the gameplay and graphics look great, all this mixing and adding different gameplay styles does remind me of Battleborn. A game where Gearbox did try to mix elements in a similar way, but what we got, in the end, was a Frankenstein of a product. Here though it looks much more cohesive, but at the same time, I’m worried that Volition will end up with the same issues as Battleborn, a game that is basically a master of none.

The more you know

Agents of Mayhem looks to be a fun, fast-paced action game, with a lot of elements mixed into one product. Let’s just hope that all these elements will add up to an actual coherent game, rather than a Frankenstein of a game like Battleborn was.

An interesting concept for a spin-off for the Saints Row universe. Hopefully, it will have staying power, and will not be a short-lived attempt at a new IP.

-Dante-

Publisher: Deep Silver

Developer: Volition Inc.

Genre: Action-Adventure

Relase date: August 15, 2017