Agents of Mayhem: The Saturday morning cartoon of open-world shooters

If you prefer your entertainment to be subtle, meditative, and restrained then Agents of Mayhem is not for you. Everything about Volition’s third-person, open-world shooter is ridiculous. From its cheesy cast of characters and backstory, through to its retina-blasting visuals and ear-melting soundtrack, Agents of Mayhem isn’t afraid to wear its madcap heart on its sleeve.

Which should come as little surprise given Volition’s pedigree. As the studio behind the always outrageous Saints Row, Volition has rarely shied away from controversy. This is, after all, the same studio that promoted Saints Row: The Third‘s in-game “Penetrator” weapon by sending out real-life replicas of the 43-inch rubber dildo bat to journalists.

While Agents of Mayhem—which, in case you’d forgotten, made its debut on IGN during E3 2016—is positioned as a new franchise, it’s more of a spiritual successor to Saints Row, with all the nuttiness that entails.

The hook, which Volition is clearly hoping will set Agents apart in what is an incredibly crowded genre, involves being able to switch between a squad of up to three characters at any time. With combat often involving large numbers of enemies, the option to flick between characters that cover a range of attacking options allows for some interesting strategies to develop.

You might start out by diving head-first into a crowd with shotgun-wielding Ishmael ‘Hardtack’ Funderburke, using his brute force and generous supply of hit points to deplete your foes, before pulling back and finishing them off with the sniper-like bow and arrow specialist Paranati ‘Rama’ Malhotra. Stragglers are easily flushed out with Roderick ‘Hollywood’ Stone’s mighty grenade launcher.

Only one agent can take to the battlefield at any one time, with the new character instantly teleported to the same spot as the old. This gives you the option of continually switching characters to launch a ceaseless attack if you prefer, doing away with long-range combat altogether, and timing the swaps to give injured team members a chance to heal outside of battle.

All agents can perform a ludicrous triple-jump; the inclusion of which acts as perhaps the most overt example of how Volition is embracing the concept of “bigger is better.” And then there are the Mayhem attacks.

Mayhem attacks are special moves that are accompanied by some of the brightest, most out-there explosions in gaming. Think Saints Row IV‘s Dubstep Gun, only somehow even more ridiculous. Each Mayhem attack requires a gauge to be filled—built up during combat—before you can use it. It pays to take an agent’s available Mayhem into consideration when putting a squad together, because the attacks are powerful enough to transform a losing battle into a guaranteed victory. They’re also different enough from each other that one might work in a scenario where another is useless.

Piper ‘Daisy’ Andrews, for example, can transform her standard-issue mini-gun into the most accurate, powerful firearm you could imagine. This makes her and her Mayhem perfect candidates for dealing with a small number of formidable enemies, or for giving you an advantage during a boss fight. Marina ‘Fortune’ Santos, by contrast, foregoes direct damage in place of launching a drone that stuns enemies in place for a short while—an attack option that can save you when surrounded.

All of this firepower is wrapped up in a narrative structure that foregoes serious commentary in place of ’80s action movie one-liners and a charming sense of unrestrained, unapologetic absurdity.

The plot is set in motion following a worldwide attack by Legion, an organisation led by a super villain that goes by the name of Morningstar. Legion’s attack relied on the same teleportation technology that agents use, and which the rest of the world’s armies and security forces inexplicably have no access to.

In response, the people of Earth have turned to Persephone Brimstone, a former Legion employee and someone with knowledge of, and access to, the best combatants. These combatants are the agents, who are ultimately just as morally corrupt, if not worse than the members of Legion. Indeed, Volition has dubbed Agents of Mayhem a battle of “bad vs. evil.” Right.

Playing Agents of Mayhem is sort of like playing a Saturday morning cartoon, only with superfluous profanity. If there’s a game it’s closest to outside of Saints Row, it’s Borderlands, which similarly pairs comedic kills and injuries with a barrage of wise cracks, cursing, and humour. They share a similar look too, thanks to the bold outlines applied to character designs, and the flow of numbers that pour out of enemies as you attack them.