I love videos games. If you are reading this, there is a good chance you do too, unless you are one of the folk I sent this link to say please read so I get a hit. That said, sometimes there comes along a game that although OK, in your mind could have been so much better. With that in mind, this is a series when I pick out a game and address a few of the issues it has and how I would have done it so I would have given it a few more points in that all-important score out of 10.
As with some games there may be a fair few things you would change, so for these articles, we are limiting it to a maximum of 4 changes. Rule of 3 be damned! Also, remastered / HDR / 4K all that, none of it counts!
So without further ado or padding, lets look at what I would have done with…
Agents of Mayhem.
I was really looking forward to this game. I loved Saints Row, I loved Crackdown, this seemed to be a combination of the two from the trailers and I was hyped, what could go wrong? Once it arrived, I became very “meh” about it very quickly. Back in August Rich gave this game a 7.5 review on TiX and I do agree with a lot of what he said, however, I personally would give it a 6 and part of me says that’s still a bit generous…
There are parts where it really does some things right. I love the whole 80’s carton vibe, it was bright colourful and, for the first hour, fun, but after that first hour I really felt like I had seen all the game had to offer and after hour 3, I was a little bored. So, What would I have done differently?
Well, my first change would be, and I am aware I am going to sound like an old fuddy duddy here, I would have removed the swearing from the script. It’s basically a bright colourful kids game that isn’t for kids. Although novel, I think opening it up for kids would have given the game a much larger play base.
Next up is the agent swap mechanic. Right off the bat, I quite liked this. However after about half an hour when someone with a gun I liked got knocked down, it became really obvious it’s just a fancy weapon swap and on top of it, makes no real sense. So, my second change here would be, while keeping a good selection of agents I would have them so they could individually weapon swap. Instead of swapping out agents, the 3 would then be on screen at any given time working as a team.
Number 2 obviously leads me straight into my third change, co-op. You deploy three agents only to have one of them onscreen at any given time which you can swap out at any time and the alternate just sort of appears, it all makes no sense. This game screams for drop in, drop out co-op. Imagine how much more fun this game would be tearing around with your mates instead of just on your own! Even doing the same things, with a friend it would seem more entertaining.
Number 4, I am starting to wish I made the limit 6, as I have a few things I want to change still, but, a rule is a rule! Number 4. As I mentioned, after playing the game for an hour I was starting to feel that I had seen all the game had to offer. This was pretty much confirmed when I hit hour number 2. Now it’s a tricky balance, you think of Gears of War, Borderlands & Halo for example, it all involves running around and shooting stuff. In Agents of Mayhem though, you know that’s what you are doing, it all feel very samey. With Destiny 2, I’m a good few hours into the grind for my second character yet I still feel compelled to play more, Agents of Mayhem I’ve played for a total of 6 hours and 32 minutes and am honestly not sure if I am going to go back to finish it. So what would I change here? I would add more variation! Basically. With Saints Row there were all kinds of crazy things you could do, timed runs, hose buildings with poop, chase ambulances, destroy things, all sorts. I’d simply take these side type missions and add more of them in to give the game more variation of tasks and I think this would bring me back for more.
So those are 4 key changes I would make to Agents of Mayhem to improve the game in my mind.
Do you agree with my changes for this game or are there others you would rather make?
