Syndicate

From what I have seen, Syndicate has not gained a lot of attention prior to its release considering its origins. Developed by Starbreeze, the team behind the acclaimed Chronicles of Riddick, Syndicate is a re-imagining of the classic 90s game, now in a shooter form.
Now before you go ahead and presume this is just another generic shooter hold on, there is a bit more to there is a bit more to Syndicate than just gunning down enemies. It isn’t perfect but it’s an experience well worth your attention.

Set in the near future, humans are now all wired in to the data-verse thanks to the advent of chip technology which a large portion of the population now has inserted in their brains. The companies that created these chips have become so rich and influential that they’ve become the new world powers, essentially replacing countries. Each has its own private army as well as agents that conduct industrial espionage.

You play an agent working for Eurocorp, one of the largest companies that has recently released one of the most advanced chips, Dart 6. Equipped with this chip allows you to interact with the world and people around you in various ways. You also have the ability to use Dart vision, which allows you to see things of interest such as enemy positions. This is particularly useful when trying to take out enemies from behind cover.

The chip provides an interesting game mechanic to an otherwise standard shooter. The latter is not a criticism mind you. Syndicate plays extremely well and does a great job of making you feel you are the character on screen. When you run for example, the screen jogs from side to side giving you a sense of the momentum. So good is it that during particularly frantic fire fights, I found myself actually ducking when my character did.

The weapons available are pretty much what you’d expect from a futuristic shooter, with assault rifles, snipers and shotguns as well as laser weapons. Each one is fun to use and most have a secondary fire option allowing the player to adopt different strategies. Indeed for a shooter, there is a surprising amount of strategy. Although the game always follows a linear path, with chip abilities, you can order a turret to begin firing on enemy troops or breach an enemy troopers chip and persuade him to turn on his comrades before topping himself whilst you pick off survivors from a distance with a sniper. The possibilities aren’t endless but it does allow for a more compelling game. You can also upgrade your chip every time you defeat a boss and extract theirs from their brain (it’s not quite as gruesome as it sounds) allowing learn more useful abilities. This becomes necessary as running and gunning is not an easy feat to pull off in Syndicate as enemies are smart and will take a beating before going down.
Perhaps one of the most impressive things about Syndicate though is the look of the game. With mind blowingly good graphics, the game does an incredible job of creating a bright and colourful futuristic world with a Blade Runner feel about it. Environments range from office blocks in skyscrapers to desolate streets in the poor and abandoned districts bellow. Combined with a Dub-Step heavy soundtrack and some talented voice acting, the game does a brilliant job in bringing this world to life.

Where the game falls though is the campaign. Despite the fantastic gameplay, the plot is somewhat predictable and not always entirely clear. Initially only partaking in espionage, you begin to question your actions and the company you work for as well as the system as a whole. The rest is fairly self explanatory. I eagerly played the whole way through but not because I was gripped by the story. The experience was sadly over fairly quickly, six hours was definitely not long enough.

The craving to play more led me to start the coop side, perhaps the better half of the experience. Again putting you in the shoes of a Eurocorp agent, you are this time accompanied by three team mates and sent to locations around the world to perform various tasks for the benefit of the company. To be honest I wasn’t really sure or even aware of what my actions were leading to, I didn’t care. The fact that I could play more Syndicate with my buddies online was enough for me. Like the single player you have breaching abilities, though this time you can personalise and upgrade them making the character feel more unique to you.

The experience you earn from each mission can then be used to purchase weapon and chip unlocks allowing you to build a more powerful agent. Although you won’t be the powerhouse you were in the campaign, having a well organised team all with different abilities means you can still create a force to be reckoned with.

Syndicate then is a shooter with a bit more to it than just shooting – which is what makes it such an interesting game to play. The added depth and strategy the well implemented breach mechanic adds, takes Syndicate from being another good shooter, to a great experience in its own right, despite a short campaign.