The era of regression is in full swing. It’s not just politics where we’re seeing regressive ideologies take shape and push stupidity into the mainstream, it’s rampant in the AAA video game business too. Take for example Agents of Mayhem, a game with cartoony, Overwatch-style graphics and class-based anti-heroes from a “diverse” background. They hit most of those diversity checkpoints (although they would still need someone to come out as part of the LGBTQI before they satisfy the SJW-ran media) and yet it manages to showcase regressive gameplay, features, and mechanics that were already standard fare back in 2007 when Crackdown came out.

Volition Software and Deep Silver released the official gameplay trailer for Agents of Mayhem, and it looks like a reworked, re-skinned version of Saints Row 4, just without the character creation utility, a lack of vehicular customization, and limited class restrictions for each of the playable characters. Essentially, it’s regressive gameplay on a re-skinned game.

You can check it out below.

The biggest appeal that the trailer has going for it is that it’s essentially a spoof on old 80’s and 90’s shows that were popular. It garnered a few chuckles at my expense, and absolutely nothing else.

Heck, I’m almost shocked they didn’t show one of the boring and completely uninteresting characters filling out an affirmative action application before heading into battle in order to instantly beat the boss, since it doesn’t look like any of them are capable of doing it on the merit of their own skill… or originality.

I mean, speaking of originality… these seem to be some of the laziest character archetypes in gaming today. I’ve seen jizz on cardboard cutouts with more spunk than the characters in Agents of Mayhem.

But beyond having one of the most generic looking cast of “diverse” characters, the absolute major problem is that there is nothing about the Agents of Mayhem trailer screamed eighth-gen. In fact, it all seemed to point in the opposite direction… toward seventh-gen.

Agents Of Mayhem Trailer Featured Everything That Was Already In Crackdown 1

The graphics are passe, the action is uninspired, the world looks pretty empty from what they’ve showcased and nothing in the gameplay seemed to suggest that you can do anything outside of what’s already featured in older third-person shooters… from A DECADE AGO.

You might think it’s hyperbole to say that Crackdown 1 already did everything Agents of Mayhem is doing, just a decade earlier, but I assure you it’s not.

In fact, here’s the original Crackdown trailer from way back in 2007 for the Xbox 360 exclusive from Realtime Worlds. The game was running on the Havok physics engine and featured a colorful, explosive sandbox of destruction, complete with eight playable Agents hailing from all over the world.

Actually, I take that back… it appears you can do more in Crackdown from a decade ago than you can in Agents of Mayhem. I forgot about being able to transform cars, pick up any object in the environment and use it as a weapon, and even kick vehicles into the sky after leveling up your agent. Good times.

Over the course of a decade, Agents of Mayhem shows us gameplay with limited physics, shallow cities, uninspired graphics, and a bigger focus on identity politics (yet actual fewer options for diversity) and a game that’s already advertising season passes and pre-order DLC. Who cares about changing the skins on lame characters when they’re already in a lame game? Even their armor pales in comparison to the designs featured in the decade old Crackdown.

Who in their right mind would waste their time buying Agents of Mayhem when it launches on August 18th when it’s possible right now to buy Crackdown 1 and have a more unique experience?

They’re four months out from release, and the only thing their newest trailer did was repeat what the original announcement trailer did: showcase how diverse and wacky the cast is. Great. Now what part of that is going to convince people that the game is worth $60, a season pass, and microtransactions?

Unless Volition has some serious physics-based gameplay, or emergent features tucked away somewhere inside of Agents of Mayhem that we haven’t seen yet — or at least something that adds more depth to the pitiful looking gameplay they’ve put on display in that trailer — there’s no way in the world they’re going to convince many people to plop down $60 for that stinker. It’s looking like a repeat of Battleborn all over again.