Seven things you need to know about Syndicate

With Starbreeze Studios' remake of Bullfrog's classic tactical shooter due in less than a month, Mick Fraser brings you the seven things you really need to know about Syndicate... 

Remaking a classic is never an easy road to walk. No matter how many elements and themes you retain from the original, naysayers will always scrutinise game trailers, screenshots and PR statements for reasons to decry your creation. But it can work: Fallout 3 was a complete reimagining of a classic strategy/RPG franchise reworked as a role-play/shooter hybrid that saw developers Bethesda raking in the awards like they were hoarding nuts for the winter. It certainly increased the popularity of the videogame remake – an inevitable progression for an entertainment industry in it’s fourth decade – and prompted other developers to look to the old classics for inspiration.

Swedish developers Starbreeze are the latest studio to pluck a gem from gaming’s past as they tackle the universe of Bullfrog’s classic isometric strategy-shooter, Syndicate, by transforming it into a brutally-ingenuous FPS. They’ve received a huge amount of vitriol since the game was announced – most of it unfair – but the fact is that Syndicate 2012 is potentially incredible in terms of its themes and unique people-hacking mechanics.

With the co-op demo due to hit consoles early this week, we went trawling the internet for as much info as possible to bring you the seven things you really need to know about Syndicate.

#1 Same old future, brand new vision
It’s a reimagining, but that’s a good thing

Although any announcement that a developer is reworking an ancient, beloved franchise causes the internet to implode with knee-jerk opinion and often-unfounded venom, when we heard the words "Starbreeze" and "Syndicate" in the same sentence we were intrigued rather than immediately disgusted. Yes, Bullfrog’s Syndicate is a hallowed classic, but Starbreeze are a studio who have already shown that they will always treat an existing property with respect (see The Darkness and The Chronicles of Riddick titles) – and while Syndicate was (and still is) very playable, the simple truth is that it’s 19 years old. In an interview with NowGamer, Syndicate’s executive producer Jeff Gamon defended Starbreeze’s decision to rework the old formula into something contemporary:

“Our goal was to reimagine Syndicate for today’s console generation… Many of the themes of the original are preserved as we used those as the starting point rather than thinking about the genre or gameplay mechanics… It was the original Syndicate’s setting in the cyberpunk world that brought all the ingredients together as a whole. That same sense of ominous or imminent brutality remains.”

We have confidence in Starbreeze to stay faithful to the themes and atmosphere of the original, whilst moving the gameplay in a direction that fits the current generation.

#2 Future tales
The single player mode is narrative-driven

By enlisting the writing talents of bestselling cyberpunk author Richard Morgan (author of Altered Carbon, among others), Starbreeze have ensured that Syndicate’s narrative is a driving force in the solo campaign. Taking on the role of Miles Kilo – the Syndicate’s latest prototype Agent – players will travel deep into an intricate, multilayered near-future world where the public are polarized between those who flocked to be chip'd (and now live in the brighter, cleaner areas) and those paranoids who fear change and progress – and don’t believe in giving global corporations complete control over their actions. Of Richard Morgan’s involvement, Jeff Gamon told NowGamer:

“As Richard is a keen gamer, he was able to contribute significantly in the early stages, and that also helped him to better understand the requirements and constraints of game development.”

Hiring bestselling novelists and artists to work on videogames is becoming more and more common, but with Richard Morgan’s credentials and hardboiled, cyberpunk-esque writing style, it seems a no-brainer to have him working on something like Syndicate and reassures us that Starbreeze’s game will be as cerebral as it is visceral.

#3 Welcome to the Matrix
The DART-6 bio-chip brings the awesome

Syndicate takes place in 2069, in a world governed by mega-corporations as opposed to governments and politicians. In this near-future setting, people are “chip’d”, implanted with a neural device that allows them to access and interact with their chosen Syndicate’s data network, including banking, entertainment, consumerism and education in the blink of an eye. In return, the Syndicate gets unprecedented insight into an individual’s behaviour – and unprecedented control over it as a result. In a separate interview with Gamesradar, Jeff Gamon describes the DART-6 chip:

“Everyone has a chip in their head, and as an Agent you have a weaponised version of this. So imagine being able to control the digitised world around you today with the chip in your head.”

In addition to using the chip to access information, its more-practical applications are what make it great – skills like Dark Vision allow you to see the "dataverse" as your chip sees it, effectively slowing down time and allowing you to react quicker than others (as well as see through walls), and the Breach mechanic is particularly cool: 

“The hacks, or ‘Breach Applications’, form part of the trinity of at the heart of Syndicate’s gameplay: shooting, breaching and the DART overlay,” Gamon explains to NowGamer. “The single player features three breaches which you acquire as the narrative proceeds; Persuade, Suicide and Weapon Backfire.”

We can’t wait to try those last two. We’re weird that way.

#4 Syndicated violence
It features an impressive co-op mode

The co-op mode is a totally separate game to the single player campaign, and stays even closer to the original 4-man set-up of Bullfrog’s game. The imminent demo will feature a handful of missions from the co-op campaign, and if the gameplay trailers are anything to go by they look as though they’ll add a whole separate dimension to Syndicate’s gameplay. Jeff Gamon told NowGamer:

“Co-op is an important part of reimagining the original gameplay of four agents raiding enemy territory. The Breaching mechanics lend themselves perfectly to co-op, and working as a squad is the only way you can win on the higher skill levels.”

The decision not to feature competitive multiplayer at first seems odd – but it’s unlikely that the Breaching element would work as well against other human players. Whether that was a factor in the decision-making isn’t entirely clear, but Gamon says that making the multiplayer co-op only was an obvious choice:

"Competitive multiplayer was on the table at one point, but co-op ran away with it – you know it’s right when all the ideas thrown around and all the excitement is for co-op.”

#5 Original sin
The Deus Ex comparisons are largely skin-deep

With the FPS format and near-future setting featuring ultra-powerful uber-corporations and biological tampering, it’s impossible not to compare Syndicate with Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Eidos Montreal’s recent reworking of another classic PC franchise. But despite the obvious connotations, they are totally different beasts. Global Marketing Brand Manager Leo Soskin highlighted the main difference in an interview with Gametrailers:

“Deus Ex: wonderful game, great RPG, but in my personal opinion, when it comes to the core shooter mechanics – that through the gun feeling – [Syndicate is] more of a tight-knit shooter than Deus Ex.”

Besides the core mechanic, other major differences between the two include the world itself (as you can see from some of these screens, Syndicate’s gameworld is in places much brighter and cleaner than Human Revolution’s), and the protagonist’s motivations. Where as Deus Ex’s Adam Jensen was a human being struggling to come to terms with his forced augmentation - and that really came through in the human-based gameplay choices that had to be made - Miles Kilo is an Agent designed to carry out the wishes of the Syndicate, and as such is a colder, more calculating creature. Syndicate is less a game about examining the nature of the human condition, and more about the nature and evil of consumerism on an epic, global scale.

#6 It’s about choice
The combat is great, but it’s only one option

Another major difference between Syndicate and arguably its biggest rival, Deus Ex, is that Starbreeze’s title is a lot less stealth-centric and more about finding ways to get the job done whatever the cost. While the “Persuade” Breach has obvious uses, being able to force enemies to commit suicide or hacking their weapons to cause face-based mini-explosions highlights Syndicate’s stronger focus on violence.

Choosing the right breach for the situation is important, but you’re unlikely to win any points for humanitarianism no matter how you choose to mess with someone’s mind. “What you do isn’t elegant,” says Gamon. “It’s a violation, to go inside someone’s head and basically fry their brain.”

Senior Level Designer, Andreas Gschwari spoke to CVG and reinforced that choice is still a major element: “To get that kind of feel of being an agent in the field, you’re never really told how to achieve a mission; it’s up to you how violent you are and which technologies you want to use.”

The concept of choice gets us excited, and when those choices mostly involve which way you cause someone’s head to pop open we get even more giddy. We’re sure there’ll be peaceful options, too, but Miles Kilo doesn’t seem the pacifist type.

#7 Time for an upgrade
It has some RPG sensibilities

While Leo Soskin ensures us that Syndicate is less of an RPG than an FPS, there are RPG-lite elements at work when it comes to Miles Kilo’s evolution.

“You can upgrade different mechanics,” Soskin told Gametrailers. “Whether it be health, strength or Breaching mechanics, you can upgrade them to make them a little bit more fun and visceral – to evolve to become this big, badass agent.”

It’s rare these days to see a shooter without some kind of RPG slant, but we welcome it with open arms in this type of cyberpunk-themed near-future action game. Without some kind of choice over the skills you unlock and use, there’s less room to shape the action round you – meaning you’re swept along entirely by the strong narrative current and aren’t able to fully identify with the protagonist. Adding an element of role-playing where upgrades and abilities are concerned seems a smart move to us – and one that will add some much-needed depth to all the shooting and mind-control antics.
 

So there you go – seven things you really need to know about Starbreeze’s Syndicate. What do you think? Are you excited by the prospect of another modern reimagining, or would you rather the past stay in the past and the games industry respect that which is sacred by paying homage to it, and not reshaping it? Whatever your thoughts, drop them in the comments box and let us know where you stand.

Syndicate is developed by Starbreeze Studios and published by EA. It will be released in the EU on February 24th, and the multiplayer demo will be available for download on January 31st (XBL) and February 1st (PSN).

Words by Mick Fraser (Twitter: @Jedi_Beats_Tank)

Please register or login to post comments