Agents of Mayhem (Xbox One) Review

As a fan of Saints Row IV and Gat Out of Hell, I was eager to try out Agents of Mayhem, since it's essentially a spin off game based off one of the Gat endings.  I was fully sold on playing it once I saw the achievement art.  Eighties greatness!

Like Saints Row, this game is a third person shooter.  Instead of one agent, your team consists of three that you can switch between as the need arises.  Each agent has a different weapon and special moves.  There are machine guns, chain guns, shotguns...you get the picture.  All of the agents were unique and stood out as characters.  The specials were sometimes like grenades, sometimes debuffs, or even an alt-fire for their weapon.  To round out their abilities, agents also can use a mayhem move when the meter is filled (this meter isn't shared among them, either).  Most of these were a joy to use.  I'll admit Hollywood, while not my favorite agent, has a great mayhem move.  Just like a Michael Bay-esque action hero, he gets dramatic music and lots of explosions.  It's useful and appropriate.

Movement is...okay at best.  Sure, it has some nice stuff, like a triple jump and a dash/air dash (for some agents).  The dash has a cooldown that isn't shown, but I eventually got the timing down.  The triple jump is serviceable, although it doesn't really seem to cover enough ground considering how high some of the buildings are.  There are lifts and other things to help you get to the top, but being able to scale buildings was something done much better in an older, similar style game.  If the agent doesn't have an air dash, they can usually grab a wall and pull themselves up a bit higher.  While it has its uses, I feel the air dash is better and more useful.

Aiming is also an aspect I had some issues with.  The longer you hold the stick in a direction, the faster it will move.  That's...great for some people, but it almost always messed me up.  I constantly overshot targets while trying to aim at them.  I really wish there was an option to change or reduce this.  There is a sensitivity option, but it doesn't seem to affect that.  After a few hours, I got used to it.  The aiming is also pretty generous, so you don't have to be dead on to get a hit.  You do still have to be pretty accurate for a critical hit, though.

As you kill enemies and complete missions, you will gain experience and level up.  Each level grants a point that can increase one of your passive skills.  Being a team player (and having read some sage advice), I put all my points into the squad skills first, since they would benefit all members of my team.  Each agent also has three core abilities that you must use an upgrade core to buy.  These can either be obtained from mission rewards, or by collecting 10 core fragments around the world.

Oh, and there's still more.  There are three modifiers agents can equip to customize their skills and weapon.  You also purchase base upgrades that effect the whole team as the agency levels up.  Gremlin tech is basically consumables that are special attacks, buffs, or debuffs.  Finally, there is Legion tech, which are extra modifiers that you equip to your modifiers.  It might sound complicated, but it makes sense once you start playing the game.

The game flows like most typical third person open world games.  Go to a place, do the thing, get rewards.  There's some collectibles around the map, but they are basically the core fragments.  I like that you need to do two part missions to unlock new agents.  The second part is basically using them, so you learn what they are capable of.  Since you should switch your teams around a lot, this is useful knowledge.  Story missions are made up of multiple parts, and not many opportunities for a break.  While there is also a mission replay feature, you have to beat the game to get it.

For the open-world aspect, there are many other things to do around the map.  They are all pretty much random, which is good and bad.  Good because you can always have more to do, but bad because they tend to be generic, and you can never be "done" with them all.  That ties into the random contracts that you can do.  Legion also has secret bases that have hidden entrances that can appear out of the environment.  It's something that I would have thought about as a kid, and it's cool to see it here.  It feels legit.  Unfortunately, these bases start to feel very generic because they are randomly assembled from a few different room types.  Completing a base, or taking back and outpost can spawn one of Legion's doomsday weapons.  Doing these wasn't fun for me.  I kept doing them because I wanted to at least try them all.  Getting a golem to spawn took me 22 attempts...which is sad because there are only 3 possibilities!

I liked Agents of Mayhem, but the aiming and movement could use a little work.  It reminded me a lot of Crackdown, a game I love, but wasn't as good as that sadly.  The world is built like Crackdown, but is definitely covered with a Saints Row IV skin...just look at all those purple lights!  I liked my rental enough to eventually purchase and complete the game.


The Good:
Lots of things to do, and characters to do it with.  Some funny jokes and the achievement pictures are awesome!

The Bad:
The movement and aiming could use little work.  Enemy lairs feel very generic.

The SaHD:
At various points, the game was definitely getting harder.  Then I noticed the game kept upping my difficulty setting as I played.  Don't do that!

(Agents of Mayhem was rented and later purchased from Redbox)

Killing Floor 2 (Xbox One) Review

Killing Floor 2 is a fast-paced first-person shooter where you battle waves of enemy monsters called Zeds.  Between each wave, you can spend your earned money for armor, ammo, and new weapons.  After the last wave, there is a boss fight, which is a nice and unique addition to the formula.  My only real complaint about that is the lack of bosses.  There are only three (four including the new free seasonal Krampus update), so you will fight the same one many times.  At least they all behave in different ways, so they don't feel that similar.  Even though most enemies just run up to hit you, there is a nice variety in what you fight to make fights frantic and interesting.

There are several characters to choose from, but it only really affects what they look and sound like.  Furthermore, there are some costume accessories and outfits you can put on them.  Some are only for one person, and some are for multiple characters.  There are a passable number of customization items at the start, but you have to earn more.  Unfortunately, most of them are from random loot boxes you earn in the game, and then most of those require real money to unlock.  In-game currency, called Dosh, that you earn from daily and weekly challenges unlocks a free loot box, but it takes longer to earn those.  Thankfully the game is first-person, so you won't see your own character that often.  That means I can mostly ignore the customization stuff and focus on the gameplay.

Besides the character you play as, you can freely choose which class you are before a match.  Each has different starting weapons, recommended weapons, grenades, skills and perks.  However, you can buy weapons from any of the classes if you want to.  Your character has a total weight limit of 15, and each weapon has a weight value.  At first I was apprehensive about this, but the matches are short enough, and I quickly learned which weapons I wanted, and had just enough room for what I needed.  This isn't great for experimentation of various weapons, but in playing multiple classes and multiple matches, you will likely try out enough to know what fits your play style.

Kills with different weapons will give you experience for the class that it comes from.  I worried that this would slow down the level gain for the main class, but it doesn't seem to.  Plus, you can use a leveled up class to get some experience for a new class you want to try.  At every fifth level, it adds a perk to that class.  There are two possible choices, and you can switch between them any time you aren't in a match.  I really like this.  There are also skills for each class, like the Demolitionist setting a trap on any door they weld or letting other players get a free grenade.  Some get better as the class levels up, like the Field Medic's extra armor.

Another unique addition is Zed Time.  Occasionally when you get a kill or headshot, everyone enters Zed Time, when the world all slows down.  This is best used to carefully aim for more headshots.  Many max-level perks give you bonuses during this time.  That's a good thing, because otherwise it can be hard to use.  The slowed down aiming is useful, but the slowed down reloads are excruciating.  This is less of a problem with most guns, but with single-shot ones, like my grenade pistol, it can be a problem.  Still, a fun system.  It makes things more dramatic.

Thankfully, there are a lot of maps to choose from.  I prefer the brighter ones so it's easier to see the Zeds.  On the Outpost level, my friends and I found a great spot for defense.  It can be hard to stay in a good spot, since between waves you will be running to the open pod for resupply.  Strewn about the maps are various collectibles.  While I do like that, I'm not a fan that you have to get all of them in one run.  Two of the levels make this especially hard.  In those places, each round is in a different location, so you can easily miss them when going from round to round.  It's a neat idea for a stage, but not for gathering collectibles.

If you are a fan of horde mode in games, where you fight waves of enemies, then Killing Floor 2 is an easy recommendation.  The microtransactions are a bit of a downer, but the amount of classes, weapons, and stages gives you plenty to do.  Unfortunately, I have had a few game crashes, and some connection issues, but I think the later is my router dying.  I have fun playing the game by myself, but I'd really recommend grabbing a friend or four and dive in together for a ton of fun.


The Good:
A fun shooter against waves of enemies with lots of classes and weapons.  Even more fun with friends.

The Bad:
A few more boss types would be nice.  Not too fond of giving the player boxes they have to then pay real money to unlock.

The SaHD:
I'd recommend turning on enemy names in the options, as it makes it easier to call out specific enemies (although my friends and I have great nicknames for them already), and makes it easier to remember which ones you need for daily challenges.

(Review code for Killing Floor 2 was provided by the publisher)

School Girl / Zombie Hunter (PS4) Review

Trapped in a school, surrounded by zombies, and no way to escape...what's a girl to do?  Bust out some guns and start blasting!  That's the basic premise of School Girl / Zombie Hunter, a game set in the Onechanbara universe with the title that explains it all.

The game features a single player campaign as well as multi-player missions.  The story is divided into 5 chapters, each then broken up further into 5 to 7 missions.  Side missions are unlocked after completing each chapter.  Missions have story scenes before and after them, which usually take longer than the missions themselves.  I would like a way to advance the spoken dialogue without skipping the scene entirely.  Character selection on most missions is fixed, but some allow you to choose.  Plus, when you complete a mission, you can replay it with any of the girls.  This is useful for getting collectibles (because of course there are collectibles), and grinding.

Each girl starts with a proficient weapon type, but you are free to equip them with up to five different weapons from any type.  I like to keep at least their default one, as most are pretty useful, but I also give each an assault rifle, as it seems the most useful and well-rounded, and a sniper rifle.  The rocket launcher sadly didn't seem as useful as I wanted, and not just because the explosion can easily damage you and your allies.  Since weapons don't really differentiate the girls, they each have a unique skill.  Some are more useful than others, notably Akiha's item-less resurrection, and Mayaya marking the location of items and collectibles.

Besides the different types of weapons, each weapons has many variants.  There are varied stats like attack power and reload speed to consider when equipping your characters.  Plus there are additional bonuses, like blast that knocks enemies down, and dismember, which can cripple the zombies.  You will also unlock outfits and shoes for the girls to wear.  These don't affect your stats, so choose whichever you want.  Lastly, you can change the girls' underwear.  It tracks the time worn for each girl, which at a certain point actually is used for something.  It's weird to be sure, but it is Onechanbara after all.

The default controls are okay, but not really a configuration I would use for a third-person shooter.  The jump I could deal with on the triggers, but having the zoom/look down sights button as a face button is just too weird to me.  Thankfully the controls can be changed, so I set them more like a traditional shooter.  This ended up working really well for me, although the aiming sensitivity and myself were always at odds.

Even on the normal setting, the game's difficulty seems inconsistent.  Some missions are really easy, and some can get quite hard.  It's mostly because of the different enemy types.  The normal, slow zombies pose little threat.  There are some special ones that glow green or orange, which explode in a poison or concussive blast respectively.  These are only a problem if they die near you, or your melee attack doesn't knock them away.  Still, not too bad.

Then there are the glowing red ones.  These will run at you as fast as they can.  As you might have guessed, they are really annoying.  Partially because they only respond to being shot when they die, partly because it can be hard to shoot them, and mostly because the game isn't designed to deal with them.  They are too aggressive, and you can't do much about it.  There is a dodge roll, which takes stamina, and can't be chained too closely together.  Plus, if you do it too early, they just run up to where you rolled to, and hit you there.  Your melee attack may work, but you can't interrupt your reload with it.  I could deal with one or two of these enemies, but they tend to come in groups.  If one hits you, the rest usually will too, which just adds damage you can't mitigate at that point.  Enemies can spawn pretty much anywhere, including right next to you or behind you, and the red ones can spawn while running at you, leaving you no time to react.  Honestly, I wouldn't have a problem if they weren't so constant and numerous on many missions.

The best way to deal with the difficulty is to grind for experience.  The only real way to get experience is by killing enemies, as the end reward is directly tied to the number of kills you get.  So, missions that don't require you to kill enemies, or only have bosses, won't help you much.  Difficulty also doesn't give any kind of bonus, so you are best off grinding a timed survival mission on the easiest setting, since you will kill more enemies that way.  Overall, this system makes gaining levels inconsistent, furthering the need to grind.

While the game boasts multiplayer missions, they are noticeably more difficult than the story ones.  You can have up to five people play them, and it seems to be geared for that, no matter how many join.  I tried a few times to play missions, but was only able to get into a mission twice.  The first time, the other person and I barely won (probably because he was a much higher level), while I wasn't as successful the next time.  At first, I thought the online might be good for grinding, but it's way too difficult to be useful for much of anything.  If you are lucky enough to have a full group, it might be okay, but good luck finding one.

School Girl / Zombie Hunter is a pretty average game.  It has a few neat aspects, like the character skills and the weapon variants, but doesn't do many unique things.  The difficulty is wildly inconsistent most of the time, and the loading screens could use...anything to make them not just black screens for several seconds at a time.


The Good:
A good amount of missions to undertake, good variety of weapon abilities.

The Bad:
The red, rushing enemies are annoying, and the difficulty feels all over the place.

The SaHD:
Wait, why do the girls from this school normally carry pistols?!  And how does the jamming not affect the radio?  And since it doesn't, how come they still can't leave?

(Review code for School Girl / Zombie Hunter was provided by the publisher)

Hard Reset: Redux (Xbox One) Review

Hard Reset Redux is a first person shooter set in a futuristic world where humans and robots are at war.  The city has a strong cyber punk and dystopian future vibe to it, and many places are run down.  All story scenes are told through motion comics between the stages, and they look pretty cool.

In some ways, the game plays like what one would expect of a first-person shooter.  Your crosshairs move with the right stick, your character with the left.  A Button is jumping, although you don't jump that high or far.  What sets Hard Reset apart is how the game handles the guns.  You have two basic guns, each with their own ammo count.  The first is the CLN gun, which uses physical projectiles.  The second gun is the NRG gun, which obviously uses some kind of energy as ammunition.  The guns have all of their ammo loaded, so while you will need to pick up refills, you don't have clips and don't reload the guns.  It still took me a bit to get used to this, as I am a habitual reloader, and would hit a button to reload, even though there isn't one.  Thanks, muscle memory!

By getting enough kills and/or picking up yellow credit pick-ups during stages, you will fill your Nano meter.  Each time it is filled, you gain one point to upgrade your guns or yourself.  The CLN gun starts as a machine gun/assault rifle, but with upgrades it can change into a shotgun, RPG, grenade launcher and mine thrower (strangely no sniper rifle, though).  The NRG gun gains a very useful short-range blaster mode, plasma mortar, rail gun and smart gun.  The smart gun is really cool, since it tracks and shoots through objects.  Each shot of the different types of guns takes a different amount of ammo, so even with the upgrades you only have two types of ammo to keep track of.

There is definitely some overlap with the upgradeable funcitons, as the initial modes and the close range modes behave similarly.  They also both have a kind of explosive launcher.  The last two of each differ, though.  Besides that and the different ammo counts, there isn't much difference between the two weapons that I could see.  Enemies didn't seem to be more resistant to one than the other, so I think it mostly comes down to situations and personal preference.

Each weapon also has an alternate fire you can purchase as an upgrade, but I rarely used any of them.  At one point in the game you also get an energy katana, likely as a nod to one of the developer's other games, Shadow Warrior.  It isn't very useful, sadly.  The third upgrade section is for your character, and is mostly for upgrading health and shields.  There is some useful stuff in there for sure, but it's not a very flashy tree, just utilitarian.

Hard Reset is very much a run and gun type fps, since only one weapon can aim down the sights (and it is really weird about it).  Enemies come quickly and tend to travel in groups.  Small ones will rush you and jump around, making them not only harder to hit, but more annoying.  Some bigger enemies will rush you too, notably the big, strong and tough gorilla-like ones.  You have a short dash that can help move you out of trouble, but it seems to get me stuck on the environment when it is least convenient.  There are also lots of things in the environment that can explode or shoot electricity to take out enemies (or yourself if you aren't careful), giving the game an arcade-like feel.

When not in a battle for your life, you walk and occasionally jump around the various locales that you character will travel to.  There are several switches to push to unlock doors so you can proceed.  Several enemy ambushes will also open the way forward.  Poking around in nooks and crannies can reveal secrets to get more credits to fuel your upgrades.  There's sadly no map, so you have to keep track of where you came from and where you need to go.  Even so, I rarely got lost or confused as to how to proceed, since the game is pretty linear.  Some stages even end in a boss fight that can make you scramble around trying to stay alive.  There were several times I had sweaty palms while taking on the harder foes.

I played the game on the Normal setting (I would have copped out and played Easy, but several of the achievements want you to at least play on Normal...bleh) and it was an appropriate level of difficulty.  There were a few more difficult parts, but they still felt like the right difficulty for a 'Normal' setting.  Health and ammo power-ups are fairly plentiful in each area.  Ammo/energy itself will even refill up to a certain point if you get low, so the game is really nice about keeping you alive and full of bullets between fights.   A majority of my deaths were not from fights, but the environment (traps, pits, etc.)

There are a few unlockable things, too.  My favorite is the artbook of concept drawings that gets filled out as you play the game.  Upon completion, you get an EX Mode, which is basically new game+, but lets you change the difficulty.  I would assume this makes the harder difficulties much more manageable.  Last is Heroic Mode.  This mode is harder than the Insane difficulty, and only saves at the beginning of the level, so you have to do each one in one shot.  While that's fine for others, it is definitely not something I would ever do.

Since the game is all single player, the meat of the game is story mode, and runs about 10-15 hours depending on how much you poke around for secrets.  However, there is also a survival mode thrown in.  There are four arenas to pick from, and power-ups around the area.  At the end of each wave, you get an upgrade point that you have to quickly put into a skill.  The mode is fairly fun, but I would of course love it if there were multiplayer (even though I don't have any friends with the game yet).  Because it is single player, I'm not sure why you have so little time to allocate your upgrade point.  You would have to already know what each point does, and what you would want to buy, since you don't have the luxury to look.  It just seems unnecessary since it's just you and not online.

All in all, Hard Reset Redux is actually pretty fun.  It is a very action oriented first person shooter with many enemies rushing you and not giving you a moment to rest or a safe place to hide.  The two guns and upgrade system is cool, giving the game a very unique quality.  It's not too hard on the Normal setting, and the length is just about right for its price.  There is even a survival mode added to give you something else to do after completing the story.  I'd recommend cyber punk fans and fps single player fans definitely try Hard Reset Redux.

The Good:
Cool upgrades that give your two guns different uses while keeping ammo and inventory management simple.

The Bad:
It can be really hard to hit the little enemies as they jump around and behind you.  Dodging enemies works pretty well until you get caught on the environment at a crucial time and take unnecessary damage.

The SaHD:
That main character really sounds like Steve Blum, but it's not him.  It also took me embarrassingly long to find the option to invert the aim.  Why wasn't it closer to the top!?

(Review code for Hard Reset Redux was provided by the publisher)

Mamorukun Curse! (PSN) Review

Mamorukun Curse! is a downloadable bullet hell shoot-em-up recently released on the PSN.  The US release is a complete package, which includes the DLC bundled in it.  In the game, a group of people are trapped in the netherworld and must make their way out by defeating the demons that stand in their way.

The characters in the game are all drawn in a manga style for the menus and story, but all of the in-game graphics are 3D.  The 3D graphics are fine, not too great but allow for lots of things on the screen with no slowdown (except when intentional).  I like the manga style artwork, and it's really nice that you can unlock a lot of the images in the gallery.  You can also view some nice pictures of the bosses and even some of the arcade cabinet artwork.  Most of the gallery is unlocked through normal play, but there are no requirements on the ones you have yet to unlock so it can be harder to track down the ones you are missing.

There are 7 different characters to use, and each one has a different shot type.  The shot can be powered up in Arcade and Netherworld Adventures mode, but not in Story where it starts powered up.  It also powers up really quickly from collecting capsules from enemies.  Collecting Power ups does slightly change your shot, but it mostly just makes it stronger.

When this game was released in Japan a couple of years ago, there was DLC for it in the form of costumes.  Thankfully, the PSN release in the US has all of that included.  Each character has two costumes to choose from, which will affect their in-game model and the picture of them when conversing in story mode (but not the unlockable gallery images from story mode).

Start shooting!

Since Mamorukun Curse! is a "bullet hell" shoot em up game, you will pilot your chosen character around the screen and shoot lots of enemies and dodge tons of bullets.  The shots themselves have patterns, so learning where to stay and when to weave is the key to victory, especially in the sometimes cramped areas.  The characters themselves look larger than their hit boxes, which is normal (and very good when narrowly skirting bullets).  Shooting can be mapped to the right stick instead of a button.  If you choose not to use the dual stick shooting, you will have to move without shooting to change your firing angle.  I much prefer dual stick style, since it's easier and more intuitive.  You also can't shoot behind you, which while normal, is annoying in a few instances.

There are no "bomb" items like other bullet hell games, but what sets it apart the most is the unique "curse" mechanic.  Holding the button will charge a curse meter and releasing it will fire the shot off.  If the curse shot hits a medium or large size enemy, they will take continuous damage but fire more bullets and any enemy that enters the radius will also be cursed.  When a cursed enemy is destroyed, they drop candies that increase your score.  They can be collected by moving over them, or if you stop shooting, even briefly, they will all be drawn to you.

However, that is not all the curse can do.  If you tap the button, the curse will hit the ground in front of your character.  If you move through this field, it will curse your character which powers you up for a brief time.  It's really nice on bosses, so you can get more damage without having more bullets to dodge.  It's an interesting mechanic and certainly something to use effectively if you want to do really well at the game.  When you start to charge the curse it will destroy some of the enemy's bullets, so it at least half-functions like a bomb item.  There is a cooldown on the curse shot, but used correctly the curse is a very powerful tool.

Another unique and cool thing is how lives are handled.  Some shoot em ups will have a few hits before you die but no lives and others have 1 hit kills but a few lives.  In Mamorukun Curse!, you have multiple characters instead of multiple lives.  Each hit will kill a character, but then the next takes their place.  It's a pretty cool mechanic that encourages you to try out all of the characters and get decent with them.  I will mention that this is not present in Arcade mode, where you just pick one and they can survive a few hits before you have to continue.  If you pick up an extra life, it will resurrect the first defeated character and put them back in line.

Thankfully, those red bats are yours.

There are three main game types:  Netherworld Adventures, Arcade and Story Mode.  Story Mode will follow the characters as they attempt to escape the Netherworld and reveal the reason they are there.  You pick the order of the characters, but once you run out it is game over and you have to attempt the stage again with the same number of characters that started it, so it is possible to get stuck and have to run through part of it again.  Arcade gives you a time limit and allows you to choose what stages you complete and in what order.  Once you beat a boss, you can opt to do a more powerful version of them for more points and time.  This mode is interesting since it gives you a little freedom in what stages you can do (or avoid).  It also has unlimited continues, so you can get through it even if you aren't the most skilled dodger of bullets.  Since you can only pick one character in this mode, it is also a good way to practice using a single person.

Netherworld Adventures is like a mix of arcade and training modes.  You can choose a course, which presents you with one or more stages that you must complete with a limited number of characters.  They have a broad range of difficulty levels, so it's actually a very helpful training mode, since it eases the difficulty up and helps you improve.  It starts with a few different courses to try, but more open up after completing them.  They can get pretty challenging (especially when you have kids running around and being loud while trying to reflexively dodge a hail of bullets).  If there are multiple stages in a course, losing on one means you have to do them all over again.  One strange thing with the three modes - even in the menu, to back out you have to press start and choose "exit game".  I would expect this while actually in the game, so it was odd to have to do that in the menus.

In the game, there are many standard trophies and a few unique ones thrown in for good measure.  Several trophies are for completing the stages and missions in arcade mode, plus ones for story mode and doing the different challenges in Netherworld Adventures.  The most unique ones are defeating certain bosses with certain characters and a few other feats in Story mode.  The longest would be acquiring a million pieces of candy and the hardest would be beating the game without continuing for the different characters and difficulties.  I appreciate that there are a good amount for different levels of skill.  I rarely get a 1cc (credit clear), but I can usually pull it off in two.

I'm a fan of bullet hell and shoot em up games, so I'm always glad to see another one brought over to the US.  Mamorukun Curse! is a fun game if you enjoy the genre.  There's good replay with (of course) getting high scores and getting the various Story mode trophies, but no multiplayer.  Three similar yet unique modes offer lots to do just going through them the first time.  The characters all have different shooting patterns, but learning to use them all will allow you to smash your way through the various stages.  If you are a fan of shmups (I still don't like using that word), Mamorukun Curse! is worth the price.