I want to like this game. I absolutely ADORE Saints row 4. So I was excited to see the new face of Volition.

Now I kind of want my safe comfortable game back. Yeah while Gat out of hell wasn't as great as SR4, but Gat as a character was great, and the gameplay was tight, the fluidity of motion was perfect, and the experience was great.

Agents of Mayhem seems to go in the wrong direction, and I used to work at Volition (disclosure) so it's rough to really say this, but I just don't think this is their best work.

The real problem of Agents of Mayhem is the minute the player stops playing the main missions, or perhaps as they play the main mission, the game often makes the player run between points and talks to him as he does it. This is a mixed bag but the gameplay he's doing while running between points is rough. The real issue with this is it's not that compelling. In Saints Row 4, they got away with this as this wasn't required for the main game, and got you cool weapons, abilities, and bonuses for every set of them that you did.

The issue is in Agents of Mayhem, these missions are never ending. If you walk around you'll see the same side content that the main mission uses, and unlike Saints Row 4, there's no limit. The game uses a system similar to the Radiant Missions in Fallout 4, essentially every time you come to the main map, there's stuff to do, do all of it and there's still more. Do it again, you still get rewarded for it.

The down side, is it makes these side missions very tedious, dull, and pointless to do. In Saints row 4, I had a sick obsession to do "Everything" in the game, in Agents of Mayhem, it's not that I don't want to, I literally can't. Ok maybe I don't want to either.

The side mission/open world gameplay wouldn't be so bad if it was interesting, but the city doesn't really have a soul (no pun intended) and the missions all feel about the same, either drive/run through markers, or destroy something or a bunch of somethings. Did that? do it again, and again.

So here's the real problem with the game, There's something like 53 missions. Let's break them down. There's 1 mission for each playable character to introduce you to their weapons, abilities, and mayhem power. There's usually a preceding mission where you run around and shoot people sometimes doing something in the open world, or going into a lair. There's a sequel to their introduction (usually a little more story, but mostly just shoot people)... and that's almost half the missions in the game right there. So the main missions. Well there's more purpose to them, but it's hard not to notice that it's mostly re-purposed gameplay from the open world. Drive through markers, kill all enemies, and do it in areas that ... aren't that interesting.

The entire game feels like it's trying to go towards an MMO, especially when you start looking at the chests with randomized loot, and the potential drops from quests. The thing is, I bought a single player game, not an MMO and this game doesn't even have co-op (ignoring an online contract system that.... could have been offline). And the loot boxes respawn... as do crystals and just about everything else..

The MMOificiation is the most bothersome. The game even makes a snide joke at "why do bosses have to turn everything into a game" but then the game is all game systems with in game systems. Every shot you take does variable damage, you level up heroes, you add in gadgets that give you percentage power, and so on. What happened to a simple game where you got some weapons ran around and shot people, that worked fine. This, it's trying entirely too hard to be... well the truth is I'm not sure where they were going, and that's a problem. The way to play this game feels like not to explore the open world, but to just do the main story missions, but... that's not intentional is it? If so why all the other content?

The thing is that the entire game though is just a little boring. I hate to say this but I think rather than a 40-50 hour game or how ever long they wanted it to take, I'd have much rather a tight 8 hour single player campaign that focused on story. The side mission stuff feels more like filler than ever before especially when it comes back so quickly, and since you're not required to do it, it really is filler. It's a shame because I wanted to really like this game, I really did. But at the end of the day, I don't.

And I think I have some Volition friends on Steam still, (at least I did when I posted this) and I want to say, sorry, I still love the company, I still want to play the next saints row, and I don't hate Agents of Mayhem, but I don't like it, and for that I can't recommend it.

I want to like this game. I absolutely ADORE Saints row 4. So I was excited to see the new face of Volition. Now I kind of want my safe comfortable game back. Yeah while Gat out of hell wasn't as great as SR4, but Gat as a character was great, and the gameplay was tight, the fluidity of motion was perfect, and the experience was great. Agents of Mayhem seems to go in the wrong direction, and I used to work at Volition (disclosure) so it's rough to really say this, but I just don't think this is their best work. The real problem of Agents of Mayhem is the minute the player stops playing the main missions, or perhaps as they play the main mission, the game often makes the player run between points and talks to him as he does it. This is a mixed bag but the gameplay he's doing while running between points is rough. The real issue with this is it's not that compelling. In Saints Row 4, they got away with this as this wasn't required for the main game, and got you cool weapons, abilities, and bonuses for every set of them that you did. The issue is in Agents of Mayhem, these missions are never ending. If you walk around you'll see the same side content that the main mission uses, and unlike Saints Row 4, there's no limit. The game uses a system similar to the Radiant Missions in Fallout 4, essentially every time you come to the main map, there's stuff to do, do all of it and there's still more. Do it again, you still get rewarded for it. The down side, is it makes these side missions very tedious, dull, and pointless to do. In Saints row 4, I had a sick obsession to do "Everything" in the game, in Agents of Mayhem, it's not that I don't want to, I literally can't. Ok maybe I don't want to either. The side mission/open world gameplay wouldn't be so bad if it was interesting, but the city doesn't really have a soul (no pun intended) and the missions all feel about the same, either drive/run through markers, or destroy something or a bunch of somethings. Did that? do it again, and again. So here's the real problem with the game, There's something like 53 missions. Let's break them down. There's 1 mission for each playable character to introduce you to their weapons, abilities, and mayhem power. There's usually a preceding mission where you run around and shoot people sometimes doing something in the open world, or going into a lair. There's a sequel to their introduction (usually a little more story, but mostly just shoot people)... and that's almost half the missions in the game right there. So the main missions. Well there's more purpose to them, but it's hard not to notice that it's mostly re-purposed gameplay from the open world. Drive through markers, kill all enemies, and do it in areas that ... aren't that interesting. The entire game feels like it's trying to go towards an MMO, especially when you start looking at the chests with randomized loot, and the potential drops from quests. The thing is, I bought a single player game, not an MMO and this game doesn't even have co-op (ignoring an online contract system that.... could have been offline). And the loot boxes respawn... as do crystals and just about everything else.. The MMOificiation is the most bothersome. The game even makes a snide joke at "why do bosses have to turn everything into a game" but then the game is all game systems with in game systems. Every shot you take does variable damage, you level up heroes, you add in gadgets that give you percentage power, and so on. What happened to a simple game where you got some weapons ran around and shot people, that worked fine. This, it's trying entirely too hard to be... well the truth is I'm not sure where they were going, and that's a problem. The way to play this game feels like not to explore the open world, but to just do the main story missions, but... that's not intentional is it? If so why all the other content? The thing is that the entire game though is just a little boring. I hate to say this but I think rather than a 40-50 hour game or how ever long they wanted it to take, I'd have much rather a tight 8 hour single player campaign that focused on story. The side mission stuff feels more like filler than ever before especially when it comes back so quickly, and since you're not required to do it, it really is filler. It's a shame because I wanted to really like this game, I really did. But at the end of the day, I don't. And I think I have some Volition friends on Steam still, (at least I did when I posted this) and I want to say, sorry, I still love the company, I still want to play the next saints row, and I don't hate Agents of Mayhem, but I don't like it, and for that I can't recommend it.