It’s a case of Bad vs. Evil
If we were to describe it, Agents of Mayhem would emerge as a third-person shooter, set in an open world, where you have to make a way between hordes of enemies by dynamically choosing between different types of heroes available.
Over the last year, especially after Overwatch’s release , we have seen how heroes-based mushrooming games defeat online battles in various forms; In this case, however, the whole game is intended for a single player experience and knowing how to choose the right trio of agents is a key component in completing the various missions.
The general structure is in some respects very similar to the previous games of Volition, namely the Saints Row , with which Agents of Mayhem It also shares the narrative universe: in this case the city concerned is a futuristic Seoul under attack by the Legion, where the player can move freely on foot or by car to carry out the various missions. At any time you can return to the Ark, the Mayhem ship where you can control your progress and engage in various activities, such as buying new features, modifying agent skills, trying challenges, and having access to the so-called Global Conflict, where we need to send agents searching for information around the world, and then be able to attack the Legions in the heart of Moscow.
Of the twelve agents, who will also have to be unlocked in the course of the adventure, will take action only three of them, with the ability to interchange them with a rapid push of the d-pad side keys.
To change the team you will have to return to Ark, so experience does not get much closer to that of the open world classics, but more like a Metal Gear Solid V, to make a bold comparison, where the continuous alternation of base-mission can make the experience more linear than expected. Additionally, the sixty missions you can take are all on the same row, that is, reach the place, kill all enemies, reach the next place, activate these terminals, and so on.
The situation becomes even more overwhelming when orders take us to a Legion base, and it will happen very often: they all have the same identical design and always have the same rooms but re-arrange them differently. Unlike the previous works of Volition, there is no shaking here that makes the difference; even in theSaints Row ‘s mission structure was baseline, but situations above the lines led the game to a higher level. In the case of Agents of Mayhem irony stops at radio communications between the Ark and agents, or some verbal scandal with enemy sergeants, you will never be faced with such absurd missions to become memorable.
Evolution with ignorance
As mentioned earlier, agents get up through field experience and consequently increase their stats.
The player is given the opportunity to distribute points earned on four special features of the agent, as well as being able to choose between the various active and passive skills. Each agent has a unique weapon, a special skill that usually requires a cooldown, and a Mayhem ability that can only be activated once the special Legion ring bar is dropped. Taking advantage of the diversity and extreme dynamism of triple jumping and rapid dodging, gameplay now becomes particularly challenging, so that in order to reach the highest difficulty we will have to make little effort.
Each of the twelve agents has a unique combination of skills, weapons and personalization of statistics, so that from time to time you will want to experience new tactics by modifying the active team. In this regard, you can select the difficulty at fifteen different levels so that if you enter the field with a low level agent team you can still be able to take home the mission or with a group at the level cap you can still find the challenge.
The diversity of agents is certainly one of the most prominent elements of this game, in addition to the melting pot of personality and nationality that the agency represents: starting from the French femme fatal Persephone founder of the Mayhem, through mission mission coordinator Friday with his brilliant British accent, ending perhaps among the many extras like the Italian Quartermile caring car.
