Agents of Mayhem

Agents of Mayhem wasn't what I expected at first. I thought from the trailers I saw a long time ago that I'd be using my own created agent to play the game. After the initial tutorial I was ready for the Volition style of killing off characters and letting me restart all over again. I was surprised that that wasn't the case, and in fact I would be playing with a cast of characters that were created for the game. It definitely was a bit disappointing if I'm honest since I felt like being able to do that would have set the game apart from what it actually was. I don't believe the game is as lifeless as most people claim, but it certainly doesn't have all the charms that the Saint's Row series does.

I have to talk about the world you run around in. The game is set in Seoul, South Korea and there is definitely definable proof of that with the huge neon signs and the citizens speaking Korean as I run by them. The problem is largely that the world feels lifeless and the way the buildings are laid out hinder the gameplay. Skyscrapers, construction sites, and a myriad of too tall buildings litter the world of Agents of Mayhem, but they don't have any life to them. Bland colored buildings and plain design make traveling through the world boring. There's also the problem that AoM's buildings are too tall like I stated previously. AoM borrows from previous Volition games and allows you to leap around like a super-loaded spring around the world but the sheer size of the buildings left me bouncing around aimlessly trying to find a way UP them instead of OVER them like I wanted. I wish the world was downsized a bit so I could utilize my abilities a little easier.

Like I believed earlier, I thought this was a create-your-own character style of sandbox game, but I was mistaken. Volition gives you a bunch of their own imagined agents to play with. I think for the most part that the characters are all unique enough that it certainly gave me a unique experience each time. Some characters used rifles, others shotguns, and one even had a gun that fired ice which was awesome! All of the characters certainly gave me a MOBA feel for sure. Every character had their own special attacks and mayhem attacks which are basically their ultimate attacks. Volition did a fine job differentiating the characters that none of them felt like carbon copies of one another. I certainly had my favorites and I think most players will also find the right combinations for themselves.

Above I said the characters were all unique in terms of gameplay for sure, but again, like most of this game, they all felt lifeless. None of them were memorable enough that I can say for certainty I'd rally behind any of them. I don't know how important that might be for some people, but I think that adding that many characters in a single player game demands enough personality for all the characters that fell short because they fit maybe too many characters into the game that none took the spotlight. The lackluster story also didn't add much to the development of the characters and I wish there was more of the wild Volition touches that made previous games from the developer so fun to play through.

I did appreciate the scaling difficulty that was in this game. I liked that based on how successful I was the game increased the difficulty. Succeeding consecutively gave me more XP and other bonuses and it was fun to keep working hard to force the game to try and challenge me. I have to say that the combat was great for the most part. I think the game shines during combat more than anywhere else and the world building felt best then to be honest. Enemies leaping up and down several levels kept me on my toes as they tried their best to sneak up, down, and around me as best they could. The individual combat is fun because there is always something going on. Bright, colorful explosions rocked the screen and a decent variety of enemies kept the combat fresh.

In closing, Agents of Mayhem is not a bad game by any means. I wouldn't even classify it was mediocre because there is plenty here to enjoy I believe by anyone. I just think Volition took the idea in a different direction than what I expected and maybe the lack of any sort of multiplayer mode might have been a mistake to be sure. I'd definitely recommend giving this game a shot because you'll find enough here to get your money's worth.