Gaming —

Agents of Mayhem review: Destroying a really dull open world

Saturday morning cartoon style struggles against a fatiguing open world.

Scheherazade is great for taking out large groups.
Enlarge / Scheherazade is great for taking out large groups.
Scratch beneath the surface of Agents of Mayhem—the hero-based shoot-and-loot open-world game from developer Volition—and you'll only find more shooting, looting, and hero-based action. It lacks the surprisingly heartfelt camaraderie of the studio's later Saints Row titles. It's not as beautifully, thematically simple as Red Faction: Guerilla, but it is still a few solid hours of fun.

Agents of Mayhem is a pseudo-sequel/reboot/spinoff/prequel to Saints Row (and subsequently Red Faction—all three series are connected in subtle and not-so-subtle ways), but only diehard fans will likely notice it. Saints Row regulars like Pierce Washington, Oleg Kirrlov, and even Johnny Gat make appearances (that last one, only for pre-orderers). Yet they all operate under codenames in the G.I. Joe-like Mayhem, doing battle with the Cobra-esque Legion.

The game tries to seal the Saturday morning cartoon deal with actual cartoon cutscenes. They're just too cheap looking—like Marvel's oddly shaded modern fare, but jerkier—to take the gimmick all the way. It doesn't help make it seem any less rushed when some of the scenes are notably not animated at all.

The soul in Seoul

Cheap or not, the animation is what is used to get the game’s pretty decent core conceit across. Legion's evil council wants to take over the world, while the slightly less reprehensible Mayhem aims to stop them. A battle of "bad vs. evil," as Mayhem's ex-criminal director puts it, ensues. It's a brighter and more colorful conflict than 90 percent of open-world games and far better at putting me in the mood for the open-ended shenanigans.

Said battle occurs in the streets of a futuristic Seoul, South Korea. By all rights, that should provide as evocative a space as any open-world game setting has ever provided. Here, though, it's as flat, un-contrasted, and even lifeless at times as the 2D scenes that purvey the story. There just isn't much going on in Agents of Mayhem’s world. That’s partly because of the lack of interesting side content and optional missions throughout the game and partly because of the noticeable scarcity of people and cars throughout the city.

Thankfully, the agents you control and work with are more vibrant. You can swap between up to three of them as seamlessly as other games let you change guns, and in a way you are just cycling through an arsenal of destruction. Every agent is locked to a single weapon with infinite ammo plus special and "ultimate" abilities that charge up while you fight. The perk is that each "weapon" has its own unique design, personality, and response to barking bosses.

The huge roster puts me in mind of Overwatch—both mechanically and with its multiculturalism. There are a few awkward character choices, though. "Hardtack" is the same beefy, shouting, swearing black man we've seen in everything from Mortal Kombat to Gears of War. "Oni" is a stereotypically named Japanese ex-Yakuza who mostly blurbs about "honor" and his dead family. Most of the cast sidesteps clichés, though, and I can't think of a single agent that I didn't enjoy playing.

Trigger happy

Swapping between characters on the fly feels natural and doesn't interrupt the weight of shooting. I liked to start with the minigun-hauling, roller-derby-blocker Daisy to chew up enemy shields. Then I'd pop onto Oni to debuff large targets before letting close-range ninja Scheherazade mop up.

That rhythm is essential, since the actual mission design is awfully uninspired. Nearly every chapter follows the same three-act structure: scan the city for something to fight or blow up, enter a Legion facility that looks suspiciously like every other Legion facility, fight a boss. If the driving, shooting, and hot-swapping agents weren't as individually fun as they are, there wouldn't be much reason to churn through the game's entire structure.

One other thing that might have alleviated the tedium is co-op. Saints Row: The Third and Saints Row 4 had excellently ridiculous multiplayer, and Agents of Mayhem's cadre of characters seems even more perfect for it. Sadly, the only communal activities are daily challenges, which task players on each platform to work toward meeting quotas like killing X elite enemies, opening Y chests, etc.

It's the first, most obvious sign that Agents of Mayhem is meant to be played regularly—even after the final boss is slain. By the time I beat the game, only a handful of my dozen agents were at "max" level. It seems you can also grind out sort of "prestige" levels, like Diablo 3's Paragon system, to keep the upgrade cycle going. Also like Diablo, there are scads of difficulties to choose from, with greater rewards for completing missions on higher ones.

Good enough to grind?

I'm just not sure that's enough for me. As endearing as Mayhem's employees are, the world and mission design don't match up. I could dive through dungeons. I could grind up the agents I wish I had a better excuse to spend more time with. I could hunt for loot drops that change their looks and augment their special abilities. The excuses are there. I just don't know if they're worth it.

Even the character-driven stuff felt a little dry by the end. Agents of Mayhem's conclusion is as "video gamey” as any I've ever seen. You fight a boss. There's a quick and slightly cheap-looking cutscene that sets up an obvious sequel or bit of DLC. The battle is over, but the war rages on—that sort of thing. I suppose it's thematically appropriate, in the same way that G.I. Joe never truly beats Cobra or that the Autobots never defeat the Decepticons. I just would have liked something with a bit more heart focused on the characters I enjoyed more than the rest of the game.

But hey, the nice thing about the promise of DLC or a direct follow-up is that I might get my wish. Until then, I'm happy enough with the time I had; happy enough that I doubt I'll go back for the grind any time soon.

The good

  • Light, cartoony flair is a nice departure from drabber open-world games
  • Every agent feels unique and useful
  • Swapping between characters is seamless and gives the game identity

The bad

  • Missions and side activities are incredibly repetitive
  • Cartoon cutscenes are a nice idea but just look bad
  • Co-op feels like a glaring omission

The ugly

  • A couple of tired stereotypes among the main cast.

Verdict: Agents of Mayhem has spirit, but not as much as its Saints Row predecessors and not enough to completely outshine the paint-by-numbers design. Try it.

Channel Ars Technica