Recent reviews by Tomato Grandpa

I've seen a lot of reviews coming down pretty harshly on this game, so I thought I'd throw in my two cents about it.

First and foremost, I think it's important to throw out the idea that this is a new Saints Row game. Coming into it from that perspective probably won't lead to you having a particularly good time. In reality, this game is closer to a G.I. Joe game that never was. Right off the bat, AoM styles itself as a Saturday morning cartoon and the parallels to the hyper toyetic, badly animated series of the 1980s are pretty immediate. It is more vulgar than what you may have watched growing up to be sure, but tonally it's more akin to the goofiness of Cold Slither than to any of the Saints Row series.

From a gameplay perspective I would agree with many reviewers that there is a somewhat limited number of things to do. As opposed to Saints Row where there was a wide array of minigames and side missions, AoM has a pretty narrowly focused gameplay loop: Go to X location, kill the enemies there, maybe also blow up a large set piece or boss. Again, if you are coming in expecting a Saints Row experience, this will disappoint you. But truthfully, the gamplay here is top notch and extremely well-refined, so I find that to be fair tradeoff. Characters feel unique, and figuring out how best to pair their abilities lends itself to a lot of experimentation, so while the encounters can be somewhat generic, they play out different each time. Abilities are widely customizable so even bringing the same agents repeatedly can play out differently. All in all, where it lacks variety, I do feel the core mechanics are more fun to play than the somewhat basic combat of Saints Row.

It's a new release and it this point, as is the nature of the current games industry, you can be sure that there are some glitches. In 9 hours I've had one crash, and during the first few hours of gameplay I noticed some definite slowdown, although this has since stopped. I wouldn't consider any of these gamebreaking, although certainly they were inconvenient.

All things considered, AoM is a blast to play. It's not without it's flaws, and if you are looking for constant spectacle you may find it lacking, but at its core it's a great gameplay experience. Is it worth $60? I think that's honestly up to you. If you, like me, have a fondness for the goofiness of one dimensional characters named after their singular character traits fighting wildly over the top villains, and if you like the Overwatch hero-based gameply formula but don't necessarily love it's multiplayer-only format, I think you will get your money's worth.

There were no horses at all in this. It is the second result for horse on steam. I can't help but feel disappointed. Yes, there were boys and some of them appeared kissable, but knowing that I would never do so in horse form, certainly left a bitter taste in my mouth. I did not very much enjoy my time at hoogwats wizardy academo.