Hands on Preview - Syndicate

Read our interview with global marketing manager Ben O'Donnell.

EA Games and Starbreeze Studios (Riddick, The Darkness) surprised a lot of people earlier this year when they announced a big budget reboot of the classic Syndicate franchise. Well we’ve got hands on with a work in progress version and it looks like the gamble is set to pay off big time.

Back in 1993, genre masters Bullfrog released a little tactical RTS called Syndicate – most notable for featuring a bunch of bad-asses in trench coats mowing down all and sundry. It was followed by a frankly improbably good sequel in 1996, featuring an intro we still fondly remember today (cue nostalgia trip...). The guts of two decades later (damn, I’m old), the Syndicate Wars are back, from a whole new perspective...




In the not so distant future, 2069 to be precise, the world has been carved up into territories owned and run by massive corporations. These syndicates control the global population through the use of neural chips – the only way to interface with the life’s blood of the world wide net. But with the chip comes unprecedented access and control, while anyone who resists is dealt with by the agents – clandestine forces who can use the power of the chips at will. As a EuropCorp agent, you’ll start out enforcing their brutal corporate law and end up on the trail of revenge.




Syndicate, 2012 style, switches the action from the familiar isometric viewpoint to the ever popular first person perspective, giving players specific control over a single agent rather than a tactical overview. Purists may balk but the change could be considered a necessity for action-obsessed contemporary gamers. From our hands on, few of the mechanics remain the same, with much of this world focussed on level interaction via ‘breaching’. This allows agents to manipulate their surroundings, from something as simple as opening a door to hacking the brain of an enemy and uploading a lethal virus.

It all comes to players via one of the most impressive HUD’s we’ve seen in a game, full of neat graphical overlays that give you an insight into the world behind an agent’s eyes. Together with the heavily industrial and clean aesthetic, reminiscent of Mirror’s Edge (in a good way) Syndicate really stands out from the crowd, especially in a genre as crowded as that of the first person shooter. The mechanics lend themselves to puzzle elements while our brief look at the single player promised plenty of variety in the challenges you’ll face, as well as brutal melee kills and a massive amount of creative weaponry to take down your foes in style. Plus there’s a bullet time/heat vision mode – who doesn’t love them.

We also got a chance to try the game’s unique co-op mode – which presents a completely seperate storyline from the single player. Here, players are tasked with forming their own syndicate and protecting it at all costs, with you and up to three friends working together to beat any competitors into submission. Tactical play is a must in these levels, which are split into nine levels across three seperate campaigns. Players can breach enemies data stacks, giving their allies a chance to lay down some fire and you are encouraged to heal each other on the fly. A pair of particularly challenging enemies in our demo frequently foiled my gung ho companions til I launched a digital attack, then stepped up close to rip the chip from their neck, earning the rather splendid achievement ‘liquid takedown’.




The multiplayer is set to feature an impressive 12 breach apps, with 25 chip upgrades as well as 19 weapons which can be customised in more than 80 ways. Points earned in missions can be used to unlock new items and abilities, because we all know that multiplayer without customisation is just not cool anymore.

Rather than teasing us with concept art two years before launch, EA and Starbreeze have chosen to keep the lid on Syndicate until it was ready to be showcased fully to the world and it’s an auspicious debut. For a game to look and feel this polished on a first airing is almost unheard of, with a level of slickness in both it’s single and multiplayer campaigns that just reeks of quality. The art is impressive, the gameplay feels solid and the breach mechanics are enough to set it apart from the pack. We can’t wait for more hands on time with Syndicate – February 24th 2012 can’t come soon enough.

Keep up to date on all things Syndicate here.And don't forget to check our our interview with Ben O'Donnell.