Agents of Mayhem PS4 review
Posted on: 2017-09-01
Our rating:
Overall Agents of Mayhem is a game that does not take itself seriously, with the G.I Joe style of story to the over the top action. If you want a game that will make you laugh I would highly recommend it though!
The creators of the Saint’s Row series have put that franchise on ice for a while, as the last game we got was released in 2013. Instead they have created a new series set within the same universe with a new twist. Agents of Mayhem is what happens if you mix the wacky adult humour of Saint’s Row and mix it with a Saturday morning cartoon like G.I Joe and it is a blast to play with over top action and humour.
You play as the titular agency called Mayhem, where you are tasked with taking down the evil Legion as they have invaded South Korea trying to enslave the city. You embark on a classic good vs evil quest trying to take down the evil organisation with a colourful cast of villains, as you have to battle your way up the food chain as you take down each Lieutenant. What I like about this game is that some of the scenes are presented as animated shorts and they are beautiful and hilarious as they introduce each hero you unlock as well as each of the villains. If you like animated cartoons you’ll love all the scenes in this game, with their fantastic art direction.
Gameplay is a hybrid of an open world mixed with a hero shooter like Overwatch, now I know what you’re thinking Overwatch? I use the Overwatch comparison loosely as you have a colourful cast of heroes to unlock with special abilities for each one, but the gameplay is not a first person shooter as it is an open world as that is what the developers specialise in. You can choose three heroes at a time and switch between them on the fly to change up each combat situation. You can really cause some devastating attacks when you mix the right heroes together, plus you’ll need to have specific heroes to take on certain foes.
Each character can be upgraded, form the standard health and shield increases that you see in most open world games to more specific such as upgrading your special moves. The special moves are unique for each character and are a lot of fun to use, especially when you are outnumbered, which can turn the tide of the fight within an instant.
There is a small but detailed open world to explore, if you’re expecting something like Grand Theft Auto V in terms of scope with the landscape then you will not find it with this game, as this game packs in a lot of content in a small space rather than little content in a big space. You can participate in races, take down strongholds and of course the main missions which will unlock new skills and characters. The side activities have the same issue that most open world games have, where they have little effect on the game itself as they are just there for the sake of being there.
Visually the game looks fantastic it does not shoot for a realistic look, as I said early it tries to be a Saturday morning cartoon so everything is bright and colourful with exaggerated characteristics for the heroes. Explosions light up dimly lit streets at night with bright yellows and neon purples and they really pop out of the screen once you start causing chaos.
There are only a couple of issues I have, the first being that the game’s frame rate drops when the action kicks in, in general the game is rather unstable in this regard as it runs at an uncapped framerate as it can run anywhere between 60 fps to 20 fps. Another is that I found the driving to be a bit floaty, now I’m not asking for realistic physics but I want to be able to drift around corners smoothly which you can’t in this game.
Overall Agents of Mayhem is a game that does not take itself seriously, with the G.I Joe style of story to the over the top action. If you want a game that will make you laugh I would highly recommend it though!
Rating : 4/5
Article by:
Sam has lived in Bristol all his life. A keen cyclist he speeds around the city but video games are his bread and butter. Whether the old Nes and Snes games or the XBox One and Playstation releases he loves them all. Sam runs his own gaming blog called Bristolian Gamer where he had been reviewing indie games, doing retro reviews and venting his anger at the industry when it does wrong since 2010. Sam joined the 365Bristol team in December 2014.
