Agents of Mayhem [Xbox One]
Set in the streets of a highly futuristic Seoul, South Korea, the Agents are here at last to protect the world from L.E.G.I.O.N (which stands for the League of Evil Gentleman Intent on Obliterating Nations). Volition have given us a fantastic spin-off to the Saints Row series, allowing us to continue on in the world from back in the humble beginnings of the 3rd Street Saints, all the way to now. With 12 characters on the roster, plus two pre-order bonus characters (who will later become available for everyone) you can pick and choose who you want as your three heroes for each mission.
Making a return from the Saints Row games, we have Oleg Kirlov (going under the pseudonym Yeti), Pierce Washington (who now uses the alias Kingpin) and fan-favourite Johnny Gat (who is currently only available for those who pre-ordered physical copies of the game), and a bundle of brand new characters, including The Bombshells: Rama, Joule and Red Card; the Carnage á Trois, which includes Yeti, as well as Daisy and Braddock; the Firing Squad, which Kingpin is a part of, alongside Oni and Scheherazade; and the Franchise Force, the games initial trio: Fortune, Hardtack and Hollywood.
Gat's back, baby!
Each mission is set out like an episode of a TV show, with its introductory GI Joe-inspired cartoon segments to boot. The humour is a mixed bag, with it sometimes hitting the right notes and other times sadly falling flat, but for the most part I still enjoyed the typical Saints style tomfoolery.
There are tonnes of things to collect, which is always a good thing for us here in the Asylum. Crystal Shards, which you can save up to make Power Cores (10 shards = 1 core), and then use to upgrade your Agents. Each Agent can only be upgraded this way three times, however there seems to be more than enough Cores for this. You can also upgrade your Agents with skill points - these can be edited afterwards, but Core upgrades are permanent once applied.
You also have a variety of different Special Moves, Gremlin Tech and Legion Tech. Unlocking all of these counts towards your completion of the game, so ideally you want to be getting everything when you can (even though you might not use some of the things you unlock). Cars and weapons also count toward this, and you'll want to stick to the Agents cars as the standard civilian ones are complete dogshit. The driving is a little off, kinda floaty feeling (whereas the recent Saints games felt pretty decent), but you do get used to this.
One downside to the game is that it is repetitive at times, due to the Missions following the same basic premise. A little more diversity in the levels would have been much appreciated. We've also come across quite a lot of glitches and bugs, including one which wiped a few hours of Allan's progress - almost making him throw in the towel on the game completely. The completionist in him made him come him crawling back for more, though, and he was glad he did. Shout out to Jirard for being his idol, haha!
The Agents lair: The Ark, was also a really well designed place, and we enjoyed seeing what the Multinational Agency for Hunting Evil Masterminds (which M.A.Y.H.E.M. stands for, yep they sure love their huge acronyms!) had to go back to after missions to upgrade and no doubt get some R&R.
Overall, we've had a great time with Agents of Mayhem, and would highly recommend it to any fans of the Saints Row series. So we decided to give AoM an 8/10.
Have you played Agents of Mayhem? What did you think of it?
Let us know in the comments below!
- V x
Thank you to Koch Media for the Agents of Mayhem Xbox One review copy!
