Review: Syndicate
First person shooters are undeniably an oversaturated genre, but the average quality of these games tends to be very good. Unfortunately due to the standards of shooting currently being so high even well refined and fun games are often identified as generic and average. In this sense Syndicate is generic and average.
A reimagining of the classic isometric strategy game, Syndicate is the latest first person action offering from Starbreeze, who were previously responsible for The Chronicles of Riddick and the original The Darkness game. Unlike those previous titles, however, Syndicate is a straight up first person shooter in terms of gameplay, with no in-depth melee system like Riddick, or free roaming environments like The Darkness.
Anybody who has played any shooter of late will be right at home with the controls, aiming down sights and scoring headshots right from the get-go. What Syndicate brings to the table that many other shooters don’t is an RPG-lite upgrade system (with upgrades only being given at certain story points in the single player campaign rather than on an experience based system like the online mode), as well as the ability to “breach”. Breaching work as the special attacks of Syndicate, allowing the player to turn enemies into allies or commit suicide, as well as cause guns to backfire, deactivate turrets, open doors, defuse grenades, heal teammates, lower shields, negate armour… The list goes on. A seemingly complex system on paper that is thankfully user friendly thanks to the context sensitive nature of many of the actions. Only three selectable powers are equipped at any time (with only suicide, persuade and backfire available during the offline campaign) with everything else being as simple as aiming at what you want to breach and holding the button. The DART chip that allows this breaching to occur also acts as a high contrast vision mode, highlighting enemies who have already been seen, even through cover (which with the right weapons can be shot through), and comes with the added bonus of extra damage, more health and in single player slow motion.
The bosses are the major low point in the single player portion of the game, with each one presenting a gimmick that hinders rather than presents a challenge to overcome. When a boss can become invincible, invisible, or initiate a game of rocket based tennis the game starts to drag, even before they long overstay their welcome.
The majority of your time is spent aiming and shooting in the traditional sense, with ballistics rather than software against enemies that die when they should. Each gun feels heavy and accurate while the impacts have a satisfying connection, but the variety is a little lacking, with the majority of the game spent with one of two assault rifles, or a singular shotgun, although certain ultra-satisfying sections see you take control of a minigun that decimates everything in your line of sight, often shearing limbs from bodies in a spray of gore. The futuristic setting also allows the introduction of weapons such as the multiple seeking rocket launcher and even a gun that can lock onto an enemy and allow its projectiles to home in on them even when fired from any angle, even round corners.
Story wise, unfortunately, the game has less weight than its weapons. As an agent for a mega-corporation prototyping the newest version of the DART chip you find yourself performing industrial espionage, and ensuring the sole success of your own corporation. The world itself is given little to no backstory in game, with exposition relegated to text documents that need to be collected from the environment. The story does try its best to present twists and turns, but if the gameplay can be referred to as generic then its story certainly can, it’s the same obviously evil mega-corporation plot that every futuristic tale has told; only this time we, at least primarily, are one of their employees. While often being vague and sometimes even being confusing through its lack of information (at a couple of points the story suddenly seemed to have shifted for no apparent reason) it does its job of providing a connection for the series of events you find yourself shooting through. The conclusion even has an almost satisfactory climax, although it is a little premature, clocking in at around 5-6 hours, and leaves certain threads unfinished as potential sequel hooks.
Where Syndicate is truly worth the asking price is through its online mode. A separate campaign designed entirely for up to 4 player co-op, in which your global adventures entail protecting the interests of your corporation in multiple missions. Co-operation is absolutely required in these missions as the difficulty can be brutal, and even with an unlimited ability to heal your teammates it isn’t an uncommon occurrence to be downed. Breaching is really expanded upon in these missions, as not only do you have access to new abilities such as upping the damage of your allies, or creating shields, but also with the fact that the more simultaneous breaches are occurring on a target the faster said target is breached; an invaluable tool for some of the major encounters, which again highlights the necessity of teamwork.
Also exclusive to the online mode is the ability to upgrade weapons. Rather than unlock weapons as you level up you instead gather points to allocate into research for new weapons, and to upgrade your existing armoury. This upgrade system also applies to breach apps, with another currency used to develop and upgrade your abilities. It may just be another variation of the persistent unlocks used to keep people playing games, but it adds a sense of customisation to an otherwise standard feature.
Graphically Syndicate shows the level of shine Starbreeze are known for, with environments presenting a clean futuristic look without venturing into the overly sterile look that often plagues such environments. Even within the corporate headquarters there can be seen variation in architecture, and a trip to the slums or a fight on top of a speeding train adding fresh environments to the mix. The guns all have realistic designs while still maintaining the high technology look of the future.
Overall 7/10
Syndicate is a very solid game, but is really a game of two halves. The single player campaign is short, basic and lacking narratively, but the online co-op mode has enough to keep most people coming back for many many hours. At its core it can generic as they come, but a world where there are enough games of a good enough quality that a game as refined and fun to play as Syndicate is considered generic is no bad thing in my opinion.