@Cheeky_Basterds
You have the game mechanics of Crackdown, peppered with the charismatic characters the likes of Overwatch, from the same unhinged minds that brought you Saints Row; blend it all together and you get Agents of Mayhem. We start out with archetype characters, Hollywood, Fortune, and Hardtack, said Agents of MAYHEM, as they’re in the midst of attacking a LEGION base. But is this a breath of fresh air for the sandbox-genre, or just another fish in the over populated sea?
Through an explosion laden introductory level the player learns the gameplay mechanics and differing playstyles between the three agents. Hollywood is your run-and-gunner with an assault rifle and a flair for pyrotechnics, Fortune dual wields energy pistols and has a drone companion named Glory to help even the odds, and Hardtack wields a shotgun and a harpoon. All of which are good at…causing mayhem. Pun fully intended.
Although they’re your starting lineup there’s plenty more agents to unlock, from a bow and arrow wielding doctor, to a former yakuza enforcer, a hungover roller derby star and so many more. Soon after, you land in a futuristic Seoul, South Korea to fight off the LEGION forces hell-bent on taking over. From there on, the world is at you and your agents’ mercy.
Obviously it wouldn’t be a sandbox game without some vehicular mayhem. The city of Seoul is littered with buses, and what seem to be smart cars; of course those aren’t real fast and can’t cause much havoc. Wouldn’t be much of an Agent if you didn’t have a company car to get you from point A to point B. Did I mention it’s a talking car with turbo? Now you can live out whatever Knight Rider fantasy you’ve been harboring, to a degree.
That being said, gameplay is quite repetitive and goes as follows, start mission, go to point A, attack LEGION forces, hack terminal, optional boss fight, repeat. Side missions around the city don’t differ much, there’s your street racing, on foot race/platforming, random crimes, enemy base capturing and searching for energy shards and chests to upgrade your characters. All of which can get old pretty quick, only thing to keep you going is the variety of ways your agents can complete the missions.
There are some agent operations that pertain to individual agents that help delve into their backstory, which I’d say are the best missions out of the bunch as they vary from the silly to the downright poignant and might appeal to your humanity.
Agents of Mayhem is the Michael Bay movie of videogames; it’s loud, it’s colorful, it doesn’t have much in the way of story, and it has lots of explosions. It’s one of those mindless games where you just want to go on a tear and cause as much havoc as possible. Put it like this: it’s fun for a couple of days, then you put on the shelf for a few months and pop it back in and have a blast all over again. Buttttttttt.. paying full price for it, I cannot abide — this is a Bargain Bin Buy.
2.5/5 Bibles