A review of the game Agents of Mayhem

C Agents of Mayhem had a very interesting story: being the first in a long time, a new project from Volition (creators of Saints Row), the game remained indirectly linked to the old universe. The first commercials much confused players, and they began to take the game almost as a "new Overwatch". To understand what came from the pen of Volition, we will try right now, but one thing is certain: Agents of Mayhem is one of the most crazy games to date.

In order to understand what is Agents of Mayhem-let's go back to 2006. It was then exclusive to the Xbox 360 was the first game in the series Saints Row. After the success of GTA: San Andreas, many developers at that time wanted to do "the same only better" (see, as the years passed, but nothing changed). Among who were the guys from Volition who laid the Foundation of the series and came up with a gang Saints 3rd street. The gameplay is not much different from any GTA-like game, offering to explore the open world of the city of Stillwater, like both Detroit and Chicago. On the side of the Saints already mentioned, players were asked to participate in gang warfare, the struggle for districts and other "joys of life" of the criminal world.

A Game relished by the players but the developers themselves understood that creation to beat Rockstar at their own game is almost impossible, so with each new part of Saints Row, more was spent in frantic gameplay with lots of humor, references to popular culture and the complete lack of realism. But with maximum fun and variety. Reaching the peak of video game schizophrenia is a large standalone DLC for Saints Row 4 called , developers had to move on. But where, if, during previous games in the series, the heroes managed to visit hell, on the moon and in a kind of analogue of the Matrix? And one of the main protagonists johnny Gat tried on the guise of a gangster, an actor, a astronaut and even the President of the United States of America?

And here on the scene the Agents of Chaos (original M. A. Y. H. E. M. — Multinational AgencY Hunting Evil Masterminds), the main characters of the game. More precisely, they come not immediately, but after the ending of Gat Out Of Hell, in which the main character meets with God himself, and he "rolled" a while ago, but with one small exception: Saints 3rd street is no more. And once in Stillwater, we do nothing more, then the scene is transferred to Seoul, which was referred to as the "city of the future".

The Capital of South Korea, are represented in the game, really looks very futuristic. Here and there are giant skyscrapers lit by neon lights, the streets scurrying robotic cleaners. Cars, though not fly, but they look like guests from the future with the sleek lines of the bodywork and wheels, as if printed on a 3D printer. This whole futuristic setting seeks to destroy the organization of the LEGION (L. E. G. I. O. N. — the League of Evil Gentlemen Intent on Obliterating Nations). At first glance the structure of the LEGION and Agents of Chaos includes the usual characters. But this is exactly to the moment until you start to know them better.

And to learn for almost the whole game. The fact that throughout the series, you will have the opportunity to recruit a team of 12 agents (13-th agent, the notorious johnny Gat, available exclusively pre-order the game). At a time on a mission you can only take three characters, among which you can switch instantly by pressing one button. Each character has standard attacks melee and ranged, and one unique skill, and the most ultramodernist of Chaos, which carries everything around with a fair amount of creativity. For example, one of the three primary characters named Hollywood during the "ultra" under the pompous music of the militants shooting the enemies. Hollywood – the former movie star, what is his personal history. Talk about abilities and biographies of the characters would be a crime, as it is one of the best in the game. Almost every story is filled with crazy humor and lots of references. And the game itself is literally breaking from the amount of Easter eggs: on the main base of the Agents of Chaos (not so much the size of the location) I managed to find these five pieces under the condition that specially I was not looking for anything.

Have a great variety of heroes and back: the origin of each character is dedicated to a small piece of the story, often the story of the hero with the main line tied very poorly. 3-4 mission for the only open character we have to defend the control point, a ride in the car and fight off waves of enemies pushing. Now multiply these numbers by the number of agents and you will get a nearly 40 missions, like each other as two drops of water. And this, for a moment, almost half of the game. And it is unclear where they did the brand variety Volition, because in the main storyline with fun frenzy no problem. It turns out that, chasing a number, the developers forgot about the quality by making the reward for the monotonous shooting enemies funny video with a personal story of a minor character. So so encouraging, to be honest.

The game is very controversial physical model of the car that transcends seems from Saints Row 3. Cars do not differ from one another (with the exception of top speed and fast acceleration), and managing them is arcade and uninviting. And if the Saga of the Saints, we were entertained by a nontrivial racing races, combined with the shooting, the Agents of Mayhem like we almost do not indulge. The picture in the game are not enough stars in the sky, but looks neat and is quite beautiful. Graphics is well-suited reckless style of play and did not harm the atmosphere. Apparently, it was some «cartoon» coupled with the unique abilities of the characters forced gamers to draw an analogy with Overwatch.

Disappointed me in-game radio. In the commercials, which sounded melodies and rhythms foreign hits 80-x years, mixed with music from the TV series "the a-Team", "Magnum p. I.", "Knight rider" and others, the impression was that the game soundtrack will be appropriate. It turned out that nothing even remotely similar in the game. Once in the car, you listen to some wishy-washy "Toot-Toot" ambient, occasionally interrupted not memorable tracks. This is doubly strange, because the taste of the developers have. The same music in the trailers sounds just fine.

Sometimes it seems that Volition has put a lot of time creating different and unlike each of the other characters, forgetting the world in which these characters are. Virtual Seoul do not "breathe". NPC loiter, not even trying to portray at least some pitiful semblance of "life". The city is practically the same desert as in the game series Need For Speed. Only if in the creations of EA, we had to rush through the streets and look around not have the time, the Agents emptiness and lifelessness constantly catch the eye.

Looks Extremely ambiguous and the decision of the developers to abandon the multiplayer. In the game a lot of characters from which it was possible to collect dozens of different "setups" for virtual battles. Moreover, all this has: Volition already did hurricane coop in their games, and quickly switch between different agents and the combination of their abilities would be given the opportunity to make a simply enchanting as fights with friends or against them.

Not done in the game without leveling. With each new level, agents can use various gadgets that improve performance (time savings "ultra", its duration, and so on), as well as to active and passive skills like shield regeneration or increase of ammunition. But then there is the "fly in the ointment". The fact that pumped only those agents that you bring on a mission therefore decided to change the team, you have to start from scratch. This decision is frustrating, given that mission, over time, become more complex and "in case" I want to try each character. Why not "spy" from your colleagues, and to give points of improvement for all agents at once — personally I do not understand.

With all this it is evident that Agents of Mayhem – very important for the developers of the product. They staged a large-scale advertising campaign not only online but in real life. A domestic publisher in the face of the company "Buka" for a few weeks before the release of journalists was invited to a private screening of the game where it was possible to evaluate its pre-release version and to learn a lot of interesting details. This happens infrequently, so I would like to thank the "buke" for such a wonderful opportunity. The presentation, by the way, there was a funny moment when I shared experiences with representatives of the publishing house, casually remarked that in the beginning of the game, there are flaws in the translation in the form of non-compliance cases and times. Playing in the final version of the Agents of Mayhem before writing this review, shortcomings of the translation I don't found. Don't know if the localizers fixed a bug due to the fact that she pointed out to me, or is it the merit of local testers, but it turned out very nice.

A few words about localization: translated in-game text only, but this is done at a very high level with presence, which is important swear words. And they are exactly where they should be. Personally, I've always wondered why the "strong" expression, we are constantly translated as "damn" or "hell", when the developers had in mind quite another. Don't get me wrong, I am not a supporter of the Mat. But I think his expressive artistic technique, which may highlight the nature of the character or a certain piquancy of the situation. In translation Agents of Mayhem, all localized according to the "Canon...