June 22, 2017 by Paul Curtin
First confirmed in 2014, Microsoft’s Crackdown 3 has been one of the most anticipated upcoming Xbox One titles over the past few years. But recent footage of the campaign showcased at Xbox’s E3 2017 media briefing left many feeling somewhat let down by singleplayer gameplay that already looks outdated… and with Microsoft’s exclusive not launching until November, Volition and Deep Silver are looking to fill that void sooner than later with a similar spin-off from their Saints Row series.
With the Saints Row games getting crazier and crazier with each new release, the devs at Volition have created Agents of Mayhem, a spin-off that naturally takes place in an even wilder alternate universe. Saints Row started out trying to compete with the Grand Theft Auto series, but found success when venturing away from realism and focusing on chaotic gameplay that never took itself too serious. Now, Volition is taking the chaos one step further by introducing even more powerful character classes that allow players even more freedom in the open-world of Agents of Mayhem.
In our hands-on time spent with Agents of Mayhem at E3 2017, we noticed a lot of similarities in gameplay, storytelling, and humor between Volitions new IP and their previous entries in the Saints series. Agents of Mayhem also shares a lot in common with the Crackdown series with open-world third-person gameplay focusing on a team agents in a futuristic Seoul setting who are tasked with stopping the bad guys.
The main difference with Agents is that it will be a singleplayer-only experience. Rather than controlling a single character, one player can assemble a team of three agents and swap between them at any time. This creates an interesting team-building dynamic where certain characters can bring different attributes to fights — especially useful when fighting bosses who require different tactics based on different strengths and weaknesses.
With 12 different agents, each featuring their own ability loadouts and story missions, unique boss fights, a huge arsenal of weapons, and a ton more customization options including hilarious A-Team and Marvel-inspired “legal action pending” skins, Agents of Mayhem should get fans of the Saints Row and Crackdown franchises hyped for its release on August 15, 2017 for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
