Can Starbreeze Studio's reboot of the 1993 classic match expectation?
The original Syndicate from way back in 1993 put players in control of a small elite force of agents in service to a future corporation, performing missions with a degree of tactical thinking. The 2012 reboot from Starbreeze, who are responsible for some of the Xbox and Xbox 360's most underrated titles (the Chronicles of Riddick and The Darkness games) takes a different, more FPS, approach. Is the change for the better?
In terms of story the game is what a fan of the original titles would expect. It's the future, corporations have their own agents who set out on missions with the aim of executing varying levels of hostile actions against other companies. This time round however, you are one of those agents rather than just controlling a group of them. The game's single player campaign is a bit of a mixed bag; the cold, futuristic environments are well realised and very in fitting with the game's universe. The actions of your agent are, thanks to Starbreeze's signature style of having the camera bob and move with the character's actions, very engaging and add a distinct feel to the game. Actions can be almost felt as they are carried out on screen, rather than the player becoming a floating hand holding a gun. Almost the counter balance this the game seems to have taken a lot of narrative short cuts. The lore of the Syndicate universe is rich and varied, a lot of work has been put into it, but unfortunately the only real way to dive into this is by reading what is basicly an in game encyclopedia. This can break things up a bit, especially when the rest of the world is so alive.
In terms of gaming mechanics you have the usual first person shooter mix of guns, grenades and bad guys, however the game also makes use of 'dart'. This is the chip implanted into each agent to allow them to use abilities such as hacking turrets to turn them into allies, break into computers or databases, cause enemy weapons to backfire, see through walls, or to even neurohack enemies to turn them against each other and then themselves. This offers a new tactical dynamic to the gameplay as you are very often outnumbered by enemies who will rush, flank and even try bait you out from cover rather than wading in to find you one at a time. You abilities recharge over time, but this process is sped up by adrenaline; so the more you get stuck in the faster your apps recharge. This is an awesome feature which keeps you in the thick of fire fights and keeps them fast paced and exciting.
The game also supports multiplayer which is co-operative. This seems more akin to the original Syndicate games as you and your three friends must work together as a team to conquer the challenging missions asked of you. You have a mixture of offensive, defensive and support based apps for your character's chip, which is fully customisable: allowing you to pick and choose which abilities, whether passive or activated, you want to unlock and use in missions. This helps make your character unique, and you never quite know what you might discover when you upgrade next. The co-operative missions are hard, but are not impossible to conquer with a bit of teamwork, lone wolves tend to die fast as a couple of my friends have found out the hard way.
In conclusion Syndicate does feel like a little bit of a missed opportunity. The world is rich, the characters are actually interesting but the single player isn't too great due to pacing issues and it's five hour length. On the other hand, multi-player is a thrill best enjoyed with three friends as you actually have to work together and find solutions rather than just race to be the first one to kill all the enemies in a given area.
Check out the campaign and enjoy it for what it is, but it will be the co-operative play that keeps you coming back to Syndicate.