Syndicate Review

[Slycne]

Syndicate Review

Syndicate is a decent albeit uninspired shooter. While there are a few highlights, it mostly feels bland and homogenized from other games and cyberpunk fiction.

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[JokerboyJordan]

I agree, the only fun aspect is the Co-Op, which is the reason I bought the game as that was what the Demo was.

Ultimately it's very short, repetitive, and uninspired.

It's filled with a variety of bugs too :-/

It's a shame as it could've been something so much more, I'll probably sell it as soon as I 1000g it.

 

[Waaghpowa]

You know, I was actually interested in this "re imagining" of Syndicate. It had so much potential to be good and was developed by Starbreeze, the guys who, with the Riddick series, were capable of making a surprisingly good First person game (not necessarily shooter).

I was all set to buy it off Gamersgate, but held off because I wasn't too sure. Then there was that announcement that there would be a demo. "Oh goody!" I said, but found that they omitted the PC demo for, literally, no reason. No response was given as to why, I even went to their forums. From that point on, I lost my interest and felt a heavy doubt that the game would turn out as well as I was hoping. No demo? Can't be that good then right? Well after numerous reviews, I guess my suspicions were close and that the game going to be below expectations in the single player side of things. Guess it's good that I didn't spend 60 dollars on a PC game huh?

Pretty much every other review I've found for the game said the same thing as you Justin, safe and formulaic. When you said that the game appears much deeper but never has the time to touch on it, Jim Sterling actually said that the game desperately tries to be a conspiracy thriller like Deus Ex but failing miserably.

 

[ThatDarnCoyote]

It seems unfair to ding them for "the corporation you work for turning out to not be very nice."

While I grant you, that trope is one of the most tedious cliches in games, to Syndicate's credit, they don't even bother with the pretense that EuroCorp is nice.

 

[Scarim Coral]

I suppose it's was a good thing that my mate graphic card (well it's still bad that it happen) was busted before it was out otherwise he would of bought it on release day. Yeah I agreed that the game isn't worth it (from what I read) until it drop down in sales.

 

[Therumancer]

the worst part of this is the wasted potential of the IP.. they could of brought it into the 21st century but no they took the IP and wasted it on a bog standard bargin bin fps that people will forget in a month or two.

i never thought i would say this but im glad its banned here in australia at least people wont be regretting their purchase of this

Out of curiousity what was the reason for banning this in Australia.

That said, the review is pretty much what I expected. I am pretty much disgusted with them taking some classic squad based psedo-RPGs of yesterday and turning them into shooters. I considered this Syndicate reboot to be heresy of the highest order, closely followed by the X-com reboot as a shooter.

Really we need fan-sponsored Warhammer 40k-style Inquisitors to hunt down heretics within the gaming industry. Ruthless killers for the Ordo Fanboi to light up the darkness with flame throwers (as opposed to just message board flames) and purify developers and publisher alike with divine excruciation in hopes their successors will learn from their mistake, before sending them off to the foot of the emperor.

Albiet, I suspect the ordo would collapse into civil war over philsophical discussions about whether it's worse to create a crap game, or an unworthy, and out of context reboot of a truely great property from yesterday. The battle between inquisitors over which heretics deserve more pain would probably be never ending, and allow crap games to flourish anyway while they were distracted in theological "debate".... I mean that's one problem with Fanboys to begin with, we generally can't agree with each other about the silliest things.

While I'm rambling insanely, just imagine how awesome it would be to have Bobby Kotick turned into a low-end servitor drone, forced to eternally polish the armor of his umm... saviors, for his crimes against gaming. I'd imagine the servitor skull of Peter Molyneux (condemned to service for failure to deliver on hype) would probably become one of the Ordo's most cherished artifacts, as would the sacred twin flamethrowers inscribed with the names of Saint Gerstmann and Saint Croshaw....

 

[BloodRed Pixel]

6 Hours for the campaign, are you kidding!?

NOW i am going to buy ME3 NEW, just to show my appreciation for games that are not finished in one day!!!!

FRAKKIT!

PS: I already got the original 1994 Syndicate from GOG.com, again.

 

[JokerboyJordan]

the worst part of this is the wasted potential of the IP.. they could of brought it into the 21st century but no they took the IP and wasted it on a bog standard bargin bin fps that people will forget in a month or two.

I never thought I would say this but I'm glad its banned here in Australia at least people wont be regretting their purchase of this

Out of curiosity what was the reason for banning this in Australia?

"The Board was especially critical of what it considered as the game's excessive violence, complaining about explicit depictions of dismemberment, decapitation, exposed flesh and bone from injuries, and copious blood spray."

There ya' go

 

[Redem]

6 hours campaign, how I hate how that became acceptable

 

[1337mokro]

the worst part of this is the wasted potential of the IP.. they could of brought it into the 21st century but no they took the IP and wasted it on a bog standard bargin bin fps that people will forget in a month or two.

i never thought i would say this but im glad its banned here in australia at least people wont be regretting their purchase of this

Out of curiousity what was the reason for banning this in Australia.

That said, the review is pretty much what I expected. I am pretty much disgusted with them taking some classic squad based psedo-RPGs of yesterday and turning them into shooters. I considered this Syndicate reboot to be heresy of the highest order, closely followed by the X-com reboot as a shooter.

Really we need fan-sponsored Warhammer 40k-style Inquisitors to hunt down heretics within the gaming industry. Ruthless killers for the Ordo Fanboi to light up the darkness with flame throwers (as opposed to just message board flames) and purify developers and publisher alike with divine excruciation in hopes their successors will learn from their mistake, before sending them off to the foot of the emperor.

Albiet, I suspect the ordo would collapse into civil war over philsophical discussions about whether it's worse to create a crap game, or an unworthy, and out of context reboot of a truely great property from yesterday. The battle between inquisitors over which heretics deserve more pain would probably be never ending, and allow crap games to flourish anyway while they were distracted in theological "debate".... I mean that's one problem with Fanboys to begin with, we generally can't agree with each other about the silliest things.

While I'm rambling insanely, just imagine how awesome it would be to have Bobby Kotick turned into a low-end servitor drone, forced to eternally polish the armor of his umm... saviors, for his crimes against gaming. I'd imagine the servitor skull of Peter Molyneux (condemned to service for failure to deliver on hype) would probably become one of the Ordo's most cherished artifacts, as would the sacred twin flamethrowers inscribed with the names of Saint Gerstmann and Saint Croshaw....

They banned it cause you can.......

Force a guy to kill his allies then turn a gun on himself and commit suicide.
Make a chip in another person head superheated and self destruct destroying most if not all of the cranium.
Shoot people in half with the chain gun.
etc.

It's a shame this game will only be remembered for how it defiled and wasted the original IP. I doubt people would remember what kind of game it was in 10 years. Just that there was this really good Strategy game in 1993 that got a really shitty reboot in 2012.

You went from basically holding the remote control in the palm of your hand to being a puppet. In other words you were the CEO in the original to the Puppet in a children's play. I'm not joking about the children's play.

The story here is something I would use to teach a 5 year old why it's bad to be a murdering corporate puppet who was cybernetically enhanced. The original game asked one thing of you. Be Ruthless and play as you please. Here you can't go one level without getting a sermon.

I liked the music though.

 

[Comando96]

6 hours?

OK... I liked the look of this from the trailer... but... 6 hours... not in a million years...

Mediocre game... for me thats a kill in itself.
EA... pretty much a kill...
6 hours... for a single player game? An egg go suck... thats not a kill factor but a Mexican Abortion. -insert family guy video of Peters mum being beaten with sticks-

(no offence to Mexico... just ripping off of the comedy show)

 

[Chimpzy_v1legacy]

This reviews sums up my feelings quite nicely: safe, bland & boring. Such a waste really, because there are some good ideas in this game. It just doesn't do anything with them.

I'm selling this off tomorrow. I'll lose some money over it, but I'm better off replaying Deus Ex HR and using whatever I get back for Syndicate 2012 to buy Syndicate 1993 on GoG.

 

[Shadowstar38]

Despite the problems with it, Syndicate is still the best FPS I've seen sense Bullet Storm. Its a hell of alot of fun.

 

[XMark]

My only complaint with the game is its short length. The combat was great because you had to think strategically and manage your adrenaline, and breach things. The art design and presentation of the setting were awesome. I just wish that it had gone on longer and got more in-depth with the story. I feel like it just scratched the surface of its world. And the ending was anti-climactic as hell.

 

[Sprinal]

EA's Chance to redeme themselves.... Wasted... Better luck next time I supose.
Banned in Aus... Was going to Import if good... Doesn't look fun at all... Not gonna play...
Might try gog.com and play origional (or try finding my Father's copy next time I see him).

Meh... Here we go again... Probably should link to Extra Credits vids so EA actually has some idea of what they're doing wrong....

 

[Cat of Doom]

Well that's a real shame. Was really looking forward to this one. Have been waiting for an FPS that's not a dull nd safe, clear the room of enemy's, move on to next set piece, game, and syndicate looked interesting. Oh well at least the next halo should be fun. (I hope)

Also, how is this EA's fault. Starbreeze should shoulder the blame for bland and dumb game-play decisions. tbh , bar the darkness, starbreeze games tend to be quiet meh. But I guess EA is the devil of gaming, and most likely in cahoots with Fox news and WBC.

 

[Mrsoupcup]

Looks like a more fast paced linear Human Revolution, with 90% more wub wub.

 

[Gorilla Gunk]

Despite the problems with it, Syndicate is still the best FPS I've seen sense Bullet Storm. Its a hell of alot of fun.

This. It was short (Although I beat it in just over 8 hours; reviewer must have been playing on easy) but I had a hell of a time with it, especially when you find two super-weapons. Going through the last few chapters with that laser cannon and the assault rifle that shot smart bullets, just mowing people down, was pure FPS gaming bliss to me.

I do kind of regret preordering it as I'm sure it'll drop in price by the end of the month though the $20 credit I got for ordering on Amazon softens the blow a bit.

I still haven't gotten into the co-op yet. This and the MGS HD Collection I ordered came right in the middle of a strong Skyrim kick that took awhile to get out of.

I do hope it sells well enough to warrant a sequel. There's so much that could be done with this. Perhaps EA should hand it over to the Bulletstorm guys?

PS. The co-op is ripe for a horde mode. Come on Starbreeze, make it happen.

 

[Therumancer]

the worst part of this is the wasted potential of the IP.. they could of brought it into the 21st century but no they took the IP and wasted it on a bog standard bargin bin fps that people will forget in a month or two.

i never thought i would say this but im glad its banned here in australia at least people wont be regretting their purchase of this

Out of curiousity what was the reason for banning this in Australia.


They banned it cause you can.......

Force a guy to kill his allies then turn a gun on himself and commit suicide.
Make a chip in another person head superheated and self destruct destroying most if not all of the cranium.
Shoot people in half with the chain gun.
etc.

It's a shame this game will only be remembered for how it defiled and wasted the original IP. I doubt people would remember what kind of game it was in 10 years. Just that there was this really good Strategy game in 1993 that got a really shitty reboot in 2012.

You went from basically holding the remote control in the palm of your hand to being a puppet. In other words you were the CEO in the original to the Puppet in a children's play. I'm not joking about the children's play.

The story here is something I would use to teach a 5 year old why it's bad to be a murdering corporate puppet who was cybernetically enhanced. The original game asked one thing of you. Be Ruthless and play as you please. Here you can't go one level without getting a sermon.

I liked the music though.

Hmmm, sad to hear it. I thought Australia was over that and had it's "M" rated games rating and such. I mean as described that's pretty intense violence, but also arguably par for the course for action games. I mean ripping people to pieces with miniguns is pretty much standard for any game with miniguns, and that is well.. a lot of shooters.

I was wondering if it was something new that I had missed. Nothing important, but I remember Australia forcing Bethesda to edit Fallout 3 due to drug content... animations showing the character actually inject themselves with stimpacks and the like.

That said, I agree, I consider "Syndicate" one of those video gaming classics, and it's pretty sad to see how everything turned out. It's not even a good shooter.

As far as the moral subtext goes, I vaguely remember things being fairly ambigious. Your corperation being arguably the most benevolent of a bad lot when you read what some of the other corps were up to, especially in the final missions. I vaguely remember Atlantic Accelerator where your virtually required to sacrifice your team to win, being fairly heroic thematically. I could be remembering it wrong.

In the second game, which wasn't as good, the Corperation might be ruthless, but it was protecting humanity against brainwashing alien infiltrators. That was a bit wonky, but still the direction the series went in.

Still, getting preachy about morality seems to defeat the whole point of a "Dark Future" so to speak. I'm actually fairly shocked to hear they flubbed it that badly. If they are going to focus on the morality of cybernetic puppet killers, the dark future thing to do is to portray it as being the right thing to do in a warped context that pretty much renders any kind of moral system irrelevent before biggier issues and/or simple survival.

 

[Adultratedhydra]

This. It was short (Although I beat it in just over 8 hours; reviewer must have been playing on easy)

I hate this logic.

Modern Warfares second map pack could be completed in under 4 hours on its supposed "Hardest" difficulty as could the Black Ops map pack, less if you ignored the clown sheds of the AI .its not a leap to assume that something shat out by EA can be completed in a similiar time on it's hardest difficulty.

And honestly this looks like Call of Duty: Cyberpunk warfare, and no amount of dubstep can change that. Come to think of it, maybe a game filled with the stuff will make it die out faster.