Throughout my gaming years, when it comes to racing games the one team of developers that comes to mind is Codemasters and what they do, they do well.  Rally Cross has never really been a sport I have watched, but as a game, it offers a unique driving challenge for players and the Dirt series is a popular and highly regarding one and following a successful release last year, this year’s Dirt 4 promises the same quality experience. A someone unfamiliar with the sport, I had my reservations about the learning curve of such a specialty driving game, but fortunately, Dirt 4 surprised me with one new feature.

Dirt 4 instantly surprised me with something I had not expected, a choice to choose what kind of experience I wanted with it. Players are given the option of picking a more Arcade driving style or pure simulator style like traditional Dirt titles. Arcade makes the driving a little easier and more accessible allowing the player to really just focus on the racing itself whilst simulation is pure Dirt action, every little detail matters from how the car is setup to handling on environments. Both offer two different experiences but for me, to see the series become more open to those players, who like me tend to avoid such simulation focused games just because of that level of detail required, is a positive one. I can see how the fans of the pure Dirt games might feel it has become diluted but making the game more open to more players is always a good thing and with the simulation option still offering what Dirt is known for, nothing is really lost for the die hard fan base.

The core of Dirt 4 is the career mode, which challenges the player to progress and succeed through a series of courses to obtain new licenses and new cars to become the top rally driver. The mode starts off with very basic courses and cars to ease players into the career mode which is handy because the element of the co-driver can be strange for newcomers. The co-driver is there to help the player navigate the different stages in this point to point racer with the job of giving advice and information on the course pointing out bends and hazards for the driver. Now at first, this feels strange and on the opening straightforward courses it does not feel needed but very quickly, the environments change and it is made very clear why a co-driver is very much needed. One particular stage was set in pure fog and after the second turn visibility just vanished for me which showed another strength but even with selecting the arcade driving option a steep learning curve..

Dirt is as much a case of needing to have faith in what the co-driver is saying as it is about having the skill to follow and react to that advice, and Dirt does this brilliantly. It is a real Adrenalin rush to use pure reaction yet maintain speed when you are unable to see the course ahead. Point to point rally racing is all about getting from the start to the finish as quickly as you can and not being able to see the track ahead or tricky turns coming up on the different courses and environments relies on having that trust and faith in the instructions from the co-driver who in some cars is right beside you and at other times just a voice on the radio. I did find this tricky to get used to, and even after hours of play, I never quite found the confidence to blindly follow the instructions, my brain is just too programmed by other racers to go on my own instincts based on what I can see.

The goal of becoming the best racer in career mode allows for some nice touches such as creating your own team of co-driver and engineers to look after the car whilst you as the driver focus on winning but also gaining and keeping sponsors happy along the way. Keep them smiling and sponsors will continue to help make money to spend on cars but go on a losing streak and they will quickly become unhappy with you. Career mode offers a great deal of content with an increasing difficulty to keep players motivated on improving.

Whilst Dirt 4 certainly has plenty to do in it with various car types, race environments and modes, it fails to really take a leap forward from last year’s release. Visually it is still great but remains on par with last year, there is nothing really new here for those familiar with Dirt Rally. Weather effects add a lot to the stages and do actually show improvement with the rain effects looking visually stunning. Dirt 4 is very much the best of Dirt Rally from 2016, with some tweaks rather than big improvements.

For fans of the series this is certainly a good entry and for long term fans it has enough to challenge what their skills whilst the new feature for selecting a more arcade toned down experience offers a way in for newcomers to this long running series but still keeps the degree of challenge high enough to be rewarding. It may not be making massive jumps forward but it keeps the quality in good stead for the series and you enjoy the series, this is definitely deserving of being in your collection right now.

MARVEL’s Guardians of the Galaxy: A Telltale Series (MGotG) started off really promising, similar but a refreshing twist on what fans of the big screen version know and love. Episode two however was a disappointment for me, it fell flat is far too many places and whilst the side story of Rocket’s origin was indeed fun to explore, overall the pace dropped too much for me and it became all a little meh. I really hoped that Episode Three ‘More than a feeling’ would get the series back on track and show my player choices starting to have an effect the story-line, thankfully it does.

Episode 3 picks up with Star Lord and Gamora on the path to trying to find the mysterious figure appearing as Peter’s Mother speaking to him via the Eternity Forge. Just as with Rocket in Episode 2, we get to see more back story of the Guardians as the Eternity Forge continues to share their memories as each member relive past events with this episode featuring a past memory to open the episode of Peter and his mum as her illness begins to show more and more, scaring a young Peter. Next we see Gamora reliving her past training alongside Nebula before Nebula had cybernetics installed by Thanos and undertaking a mission from Thanos.

Experiencing these past memories allows for some nice player choices that shape that memory in either dialogue exchanges or decisions that could influence character relationships in the present. Though I did enjoy seeing into Rocket’s past in episode 2, I did enjoy the exchanges between Gamora and Nebula, getting an insight into how they were both raised and treated by the Mad Titan Thanos which shaped events leading to the animosity between them in the present. The dialogue exchanges are really well written and back in tone with Episode One with a nice comedic edge to some of the moments with one in particular making me chuckle and laugh, so I won’t spoil which one it was but it should be obvious.

I will not go into too much of the story to avoid spoiling it, but the pacing here is much better than the last episode with a quicker flow to exchanges and deeper story progression along with side moments with the rest of the Guardians which leads to some truly fun elements that fit the tone and expectations from a Guardians of the Galaxy story. My main complaint is the speed at which this episode breaks down the six chapters that make up all the episodes in a Telltale game. In the first 40 minutes I had completed four chapters, and those chapters pretty much consisted of doing nothing more than dialogue decisions and limited on the rails interaction with a few QTE events during the memory sections. The final two chapters were really where the main gameplay came into action with player decisions that would shape the main story progression becoming more obvious. Happily it has a much more action packed finale than the lackluster end to Episode 2.

The introduction of a new character really gave a new ability to bring some laughs and genuinely nice and funny moments to the team with some opportunities for the player to shape this version of Peter Quill as they see fit. There are certainly plenty of choices that would require several playthroughs just to see how they turn out whilst in Episode 2 I had no desire to revisit any of the choices I had made. It certainly takes a lot of what made the opening episode so much fun to play which was sadly missing from episode 2, so to get back on the right track with this was a much welcome factor. I am enjoying the main story which really has a Guardians of the Galaxy feel very much I the tone of the animated series of GotG than the big screen version, but uses the love of music to help both tell the story and give some levity to the characters at key moments.

I am relieved to say that ‘More than a feeling’ was as enjoyable as episode one, with good story telling and character development that allowed me the freedom to make choices both small and large to influence the story path going into episode 4. Exploring the past of Gamora and Nebula did come across similar to how it does in the big screen GotG Vol 2, but depending on which choices you make in their dialogue exchanges made their relationship far more interesting for me. I managed to complete it in just less than 90 minutes, which after waiting quite a while since Episode 2 to play was a shame. I would like to have a meatier episode to play for the third and middle episode in this series but it did do enough to get me hyped for episode 4 which by the thumbnail looks as though it will focus on Drax next as the side story along the main story progression.

I am enjoying this take on the GotG again after episode two really dropped the ball for me. The cocktail of comedy and story telling worked well here with character exchanges that were natural and did not feel forced. My player choices felt as though they had actual impact although I do still find it annoying to have Rocket suddenly act up despite a previous dialogue exchange go well for Peter and him. The QTE event work well but the on the rails feel outside of big story set pieces require little effort to complete and having the player to push up on the left stick just to move a Peter forward for ten seconds just felt tedious. But this episode for me at least, has the series back on track after a worrying second episode. The length of the episodes will make this a great “wait for it all to be released” binge and having the first 40 minutes being mostly dialogue and basic on the rails sections could have benefited from having some more interactivity before the main bulk in the final two chapters kicked in.

I am enjoying my time with this Telltale series again, I only hope the recently launched Batman Season 2 and Minecraft: A Story Mode Season 2 do not lead to a lengthy wait for Episodes 4 and 5 as such short episodes mean it is easy to forget choices made here, but this episode having some replay value just to see the outcome of fun choices should make the wait for the next episode somewhat less painful.

I loved Saints Row because of its pure arcade action and fun but the humour and characters were engraved into my mind and my soul. As a series though, it really reached its peak with Saints Row IV, well that and the fact the Earth was completely destroyed by an alien invasion. This all pretty much made the possibility of a next Saints Row game hard to picture, but the fun that the virtual playground that Saints Row IV lived in created a very interesting use of super powers and now its creators Volition have side stepped that in favour of a new game but very much keeping in the tone of Saints Row. Agents of Mayhem is the evolution of Saints Row and it manages to carry on that torch really well.

The world is in trouble after LEGION, the evil military force of head bad guy Morningstar, has taken over thanks to the advanced teleportation technology which enabled them to instantaneously appear in all the major countries forcing their governments to surrender. Now only one agency is equipped to fight back, MAYHEM. Led by former Legion Minister Persephone, the twelve Agents of Mayhem must use their unique fighting gifts and talents to take the fight to LEGION, and to stop their goal which has brought the fighting to Seoul and to end the plotting of Doctor Babylon who has something in mind for this city and its resources.

The gameplay for Agents of Mayhem is a very interesting twist on the style of Saints Row and focuses on a refreshing take on squad team ups. For AoM (Agents of Mayhem) using a 3 in 1 squad dynamic which will see the player setup a team of three agents to deploy in the city and on the campaign’s story missions. Only one agent can be controlled at a time but the ability to hot switch immediately to another agent in the team can help adapt gameplay to any situation the game will throw at you. Agents all have their own individual fighting style and talents but also have a particular specialisation such as being able to do damage to enemies or structures with shield or armour whilst others are capable of hacking LEGION systems. Now how you form your team will be shaped not just on the fun of the agents themselves but also using a strategic need to balance their abilities to suit the missions. Enemies can have either armour or shields or both, so having a team that is suited to taking on such enemies is key to why the hot switching between the team of three is so key. During a battle if a high level enemy appears, the agent best suited to taking them on will speak up to guide the player to switch to them to do the most damage.

The twelve Agents are the highlight of this game for me and is far more diverse in their character designs than I had hoped for. As characters they have clearly been inspired by the cast of Saints Row with bombastic personalities but for the first time, they are playable instead of just being background characters. From Hollywood the big screen actor looking to save his career to Rami the archer who is helping MAYHEM in the hopes of finding a cure to the plague ravaging her home of Mumbai and my personal favourite Daisy, the roller derby tough as nails star who skates around with her mini-gun just looking to tear the place up. Each agent has their own personal reason for joining MAYHEM and a back-story that links them to other members of MAYHEM which the game explores through the side missions called Operations, which is the way to unlock agents to use in the game outside of natural unlocking of some via the main campaign missions. The more you use an agent the more XP they earn which can then be used to upgrade their skills and abilities making them stronger. Agents can also be equipped with up to three gadgets which give additional buffs to abilities and something that surprised me, damage over time and status effects to attacks. I never expected the combat to be more than just shooting or hitting but this gives the fighting a real depth and RPG element as you work to develop the most powerful team of agents you can through the game.

To begin with agents can be leveled up to 20 but in order to get them to their maximum potential you will need to use Power Cores to boost them another 20 ‘Super Agent’ levels to fully max out their skills. At level 40 agents are truly powerful fighters but the game will also balance the difficulty according to the strength of your team, so nothing will be a cake walk especially in the later stages of the campaign when all of your agents are hitting that maximum super agent level. Now the game will allow you to turn the difficulty down before deploying your team in the field, this will reduce the amount of XP and money you can earn from gameplay and missions but if the game is kicking your butt, which believe me even with a fully powered up team the game will do which is a harshness I will come to a bit alter on, but does allow players to keep the action going without feeling too overwhelmed.

The RPG elements truly give a depth I had not expected, with leveling up agents being a natural part of the game but to add the ability to craft them beyond that with gadgets to more abilities and then on top of that, the gadgets can be further enhanced with captured Legion Tech just gives extra levels on top of what is already there for the player to enjoy. Evolving the agents will make deciding which ones to use a difficult choice but they are all such fun to use.

So like Saints Row, AoM has a city in which players can free roam to do side missions and find collectibles and the city of Seoul with various tasks to complete as well but it is for me, the presentation of the main campaign. Everything is put together like an 80’s Cartoon series with the cut scenes telling the story. Each episode focuses on taking on one of Doctor Babylon’s lieutenants with the objective of weakening his forces in order to draw Babylon out himself. The strength of the story campaign and AoM comes in the humour, which is very much in line with that of Saints Row but has a much slower delivery pace I found which made it more enjoyable over the 30 plus hours I put into my review playthrough which meant the longer I played there was always something to enjoy and find out about this world and the many agents and characters in it. On board the Ark, the hub flying fortress that MAYHEM uses as a base, there is a database which allows the player to watch any and all cut scenes from the story and individual agents including the back story of the mysterious but beautiful Persephone once enough story progress is made.

AoM feels like the next natural step from Saints Row and whilst it uses the same iconic purple colour scheme and Fleur logo, it plays different enough to make it stand out. The gameplay is rewarding thanks to the RPG elements and with such terrific detail in character design that makes each agent play very different that trying out different combinations is and will be satisfying to players. I love the animations of some of the MAYHEM supermoves, which each agent has and is tailored so well to their character such as Hollywood’s which has him able to fire his gun continuously until the MAYHEM metre is spent but has pyrotechnic explosions going off around him as he moves around to give extra damage to enemies or Oni who enhances his ability to scare the enemy by boosting his aura making all enemies around him panic and run. These are such fun to pull off in the middle of a huge fight and are so different for each Agent it just highlights the real attention to detail in the design that along with a fun story, wonderfully animated cutscenes just brings the whole of AoM together nicely. Even the different skins for each agent reflects this as there are some amazing skins for them with references to modern day geekdom as some will be vary recognisable such as plenty of MARVEL nods, DC Comics nods but also some nice little nods to 80’s such as Yeti with his Panthro from Thundercats skin. It is all just nerdtastic fun and a nice reward for just playing the game and exploring.

I was not sure want to expect from Agents of Mayhem when I first learned about it. Being a Saints Row fan, the thought of a spin off was troubling but with how AoM has been put together, Volition has both started a new potential game series but also a new way forward for future possible Saints Row titles. It looks amazing, though still has some issues with vehicle use and a rather harsh “oh you got a fully powered up team, well let me just show you how killable you are” difficulty spike in the later stages but overall Agents of Mayhem is just great arcade fun to have with surprising depth to it and plenty of room to tell more stories based on the forces of MAYHEM battling LEGION. If you liked Saints Row then you will certainly enjoy this and if you are new, there are plenty of refreshing new gameplay to satisfy you.

Now where can I download Gaunt’s new album?