12 reasons Agents of Mayhem isn't just another open-world playground

[tomchick]

@Telefrog

Tom, what did you think of the way the bad guys periodically take back the towers and force you to fight through all the associated side missions to retake everything?

That it would be a pretty crappy action RPG that lets you wipe all the enemies off the map. :)

I can see why this would bother people expecting something along the lines of Homefront’s “take back the city”. But the model for Agents of Mayhem really is an action RPG. Taking back Seoul would like taking back the Plains of Despair in Diablo. How are you going to level up your characters without the goat people out there?

@Ravenlock

I do agree with RockPaperShotgun that it kinda sucks not to have any clear indicator of taking damage without watching the healthbar in the corner, but that’s my only real gameplay complaint so far.

Not true! You’ll be glad to know there are three (3!) indicators that you’re taking damage. If your shields are getting hit, you have a direction-specific 3D representation of the incoming damage hitting your shield (pardon my crude photoshoppery):

When you lose your shields, there’s a splash red-diamond effect that crosses the screen, and then the border of the screen gets a red lining:

When your health is taking damage the shield indicators become red arrows:

As I said in the review, everything in Agents of Mayhem has a visual component. You just have to learn to read it.

-Tom