They’re trying really hard to portray Agents of Mayhem as some sort of throwback to the old 1980’s with a lot of themes, edits and leitmotifs from the classic films of old. In this particular case the new trailer for Johnny Gat from Saints Row becoming a playable character in Agents of Mayhem is based on the old Flash Gordon movie from 1980 starring Sam J. Jones and Max Von Sydow.

The thing is, the trailer is cut together great but the gameplay still looks extremely lackluster. We get a few snippets of different skills Gat can utilize, as well as a look at his specialized Seoul squad car. You can check out the trailer below.

While the trailer is well put together, you just can’t sell a game on nostalgia and decent trailers. So far the gameplay that they’ve had on display looks like a less enthused version of Saints Row and Crackdown. In fact, a large part of the appeal of Agents of Mayhem is that the trailers make it look like a new version of Crackdown, but then when you actually see the gameplay in action you find that out that it’s like a very generic version of Saints Row 4.

The biggest issue is that the open-world of Seoul feels extremely soulless. NPCs hardly occupy the streets; the environments seem very barren; there’s almost a lifelessness to the overall design, and nothing comes across as if it’s this bustling place worth exploring.

Now there’s still an opportunity for them to showcase some elements of the game that erase the impressions some of us more cynical critics have taken up with the game, but August 15th is fast approaching and they’re really going to need to start showing something worthwhile if they want to convince people that Agents of Mayhem is more than just a re-skinned cash-in clone.

Gat is available as a pre-order bonus, containing additional skins, guns and vehicles for those who commit to an early purchase of Agents of Mayhem.