VIDEO GAME REVIEW: 'Syndicate' succeeds despite beginning challenges
“Syndicate” seemed like it had everything working against it, like its troubled development cycle or fans of the original game who were angry about “Syndicate” being turned into a first-person shooter.
Starbreeze Studios managed to create a game that gives players an incredibly fun single-player campaign along with an addictive online co-op mode. Both are wrapped in a world that features great depth and immersive atmosphere.
The campaign puts the player into the shoes of Miles Kilo. The year is 2069 and the world is ruled by mega-corporations called Syndicates. These Syndicates create armies used to wage war against one another to enlarge their consumer base. Kilo is a deadly agent working for the Syndicate called Eurocorp.
Kilo, like most people in “Syndicate,” has a computer chip in his brain. This DART chip allows players to hack things in the environment such as movable cover and automated turrets.
It also allows players to hack into the brains of the many enemies they will encounter.
There are three basic abilities to use in the game: backfire, suicide and persuade. Backfire makes the enemies’ guns malfunction, suicide makes enemies pull out a grenade and detonate it in their hand, and persuade makes enemies fight their own teammates. DART abilities add a really fun twist to the basic shooter gameplay.
The guns in “Syndicate” are a blast to use as well. Everything from the pistol to the mini-gun has great sound design and tight controls that help the player feel like they are wielding powerful tools of destruction.
Manipulating the environment, along with using DART abilities and guns, gives the game a fast-paced but calculated feel, giving players the sense of being the ultimate weapon.
This all carries over to the online cooperative mode as well. Playing with other people through maps created specifically for the co-op mode is a lot of fun, especially when teammates have to balance their DART abilities to cover any situation.
Leveling up, researching new abilities, weapon attachments and completing challenges make the co-op really fun, even when playing the same level four times in a row.
The world that has been crafted for “Syndicate” is engaging and interesting to learn about. Data can be picked up from various sources that help to fill out the history and inner-workings of various Syndicates and society as a whole. It’s all optional to read, but it lends significant depth and believability to the world surrounding the player.
It’s just one more small touch to an overall fantastic package.
Game: Syndicate Platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC Genre: First Person Shooter ESRB Rating: M (Mature) Score: 5 out of 5
