Creators of Syndicate had a great chance of failure while they were completely changing genres from the old 1993's strategy Syndicate to the new Syndicate that is FPS. Syndicate doesn't have a good story, but it escapes the term "Just another shooter" with the entertaining co-op mode, fun, exciting, and has a good scoring ideas, yet it doesn't take them far enough to be great.
You take place as a digitally enhanced agent of a mega corporation fighting for domination, and every aspect of the presentation reinforces this notion. In a rainy courtyard shoot-out under the rising skyscrapers of New York City, you're struck by the hazy blue lighting and how text scroll down transparent green computer terminals, and countless objects are identified in your heads-up display. The atmosphere is both gorgeous and emotionally disconnected. This is the future, cool and indifferent, and Syndicate does an impressive job of transporting you there.
Such pace-killing moments are common. Syndicate moves forward in fits and starts, grinding to a halt just when it seems things might finally get awesome. Quiet moments can build tension in games that tell great stories or at least deliver effective payoffs, but Syndicate isn't such a game. You know that you are Miles Kilo, a EuroCorp agent with a special augmentation chip that gives you superhuman abilities. You meet comrades like Lily Drawl and Jack Denham, and you are told of EuroCorp and competing syndicates, but you are never given a reason to care. What does EuroCorp actually do? What makes it different from other corporations? What are the real stakes in this corporate war?
Manipulating the world using the DART chip is what sets Syndicate apart from other shooters. Under this shooter's skin, there's a puzzle game hiding among the gunfire, one of Syndicate's best features. Using a hacking mechanic called breaching, players can enact horrors upon enemies' chips, making them kill themselves, shoot their comrades, or drop to the ground, stunned. By juggling these skills to destroy groups of enemies, there's a strategic sub-layer of action that goes beyond pulling the trigger.
Moment when things turn into puzzle
Four-player co-op is challenging and exciting, a fantastic mix of shooting and special abilities that requires actual cooperation and communication. In place of flaccid pacing and weak storytelling, you get barrages of bullets, as well as areas swarming with thick-skinned sergeants and hoverbots. The varied levels also require you to be conscious of what's above, behind, and below. The AI is tough and aggressive. Hardened soldiers trudge toward you with their miniguns and snipers pelt you with lead, all while you sprint to a security room so that you can disengage a nasty turret threatening to tear the entire team to shreds. Co-op play requires you to think differently, starting with the healing of your teammates. You can heal teammates at anytime, providing you're in range, though it takes a few precious seconds. The importance of this mechanic can't be overstated because it changes the flow of the match considerably. Co-op maintains a delicate balancing act, making you feel as if the odds are almost--but not quite--insurmountable. And that's what makes the action so explosive. Watching your three teammates fall powerless to the ground and then bringing them back after single-handedly cutting through the mob? It's pure adrenaline, and it's all but guaranteed to cause bouts of triumphant swagger.
Syndicate is a game of thrills and missed opportunities. It is important to know what you want from this shooter before you commit. Syndicate remains a good shooter full of incomplete great ideas. Grabbing 3 more friends for playing tough, but fun campaign can be really satisfying. Don't expect to get the same satisfaction while playing alone.
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