Syndicate is a reboot of the classic 1993 game made by Bullfrog productions on the Amiga which many people will fondly remember.

This reboot is a First person shooter with an emphasis on co-op play. The plot remains true to the original universe set in 2069 with the population all having Dart 6 chips imbedded into their brains which enables them to control the digital world around them. Personal Information and money is also facilitated with these chips but the syndicates that feed the data begin a war set on greed and corruption.

The Syndicate single player campaign can be summed up in very few words. Adrenaline pumping, Action packed, Futuristic, Gory.

Now that I have got all you FPS fans excited with those few words I shall whet your appetite some more.

The best way to describe Syndicate is to say it is Deus Ex on hardcore drugs. From start to finish it is non stop action and backs it up with a very well written story. You are an agent for EuroCorp, one of the many Corporations that run the world. The main stream population choose from one of these corporations to have a chip installed into their brain which gives them many benefits.

The plot revolves around industrial espionage at a grand scale with all the rival companies using agents to spy and steal information from each other. As is becoming more prevalent in the world today patent infringement is a big deal and in the world of Syndicate such infringements are usually dealt with by super human dudes wearing leather coats killing people with bug guns.

Gunplay looks and feels a lot like Crysis 2, its fast and fluid and any Call of Duty player would feel right at home playing this. (It really is one of the most smooth gunplay experiences I have ever had in an FPS) Every weapon has 2 fire modes and the addition of most guns having 2 scopes on the barrel is just super cool and does a great job at making you feel like a proper bad ass. The cover mechanic is good but I didn’t find myself making use of it too much. You crouch behind a barricade and you can use the left trigger to aim and pop out of cover to shoot the enemy which does come in handy in the bigger fire fights.

The chip in your brain gives you the ability to see everything in augmented reality and it’s a really good way to use as a hud. For example you see how much ammo you have left come up as an icon that pops out of your gun, every object you look at interacts with your chip and a brief description comes up which I think gives the game a great look and feel. All the futuristic locations are full of gorgeous detail and the flying vehicles give a pleasant reminder to the Blade Runner film.

Another cool thing about the chip in your brain is that it grants you super human like powers which give you the opportunity to breach other people’s chips. You get three powers to use and they can be upgraded as you progress through the game. The abilities are awesome and deadly and give you the power to make enemies commit suicide, give a shock so they drop to the floor in pain for a quick easy and kill or my favourite, making them kill their team mates. These powers run on adrenaline so once you have used one it will take lots of kills and time to fill up the bar to use them again.

Syndicate single player campaign is at the average length of around 8 hours on normal difficulty and didn’t really pose too much of a challenge until I hit the infrequent boss battles. As like many of the bigger enemies in the game most of the bosses will be invincible until you breach their chip to bring down the shield so you can cause damage. Many of these battles can be frustrating at times because at various intervals you will become overwhelmed by other enemies entering into the battle and with little cover you may find yourself redoing these battles a few times.

I can’t forget to mention the really good choice of sound track that has been put into Syndicate, it does a great job at setting the mood at the right times and when that beat kicks in you know its ass kicking time. (I really felt pumped up when the cool soundtrack kicked in)

As always with recent EA titles they have done a really good job with all aspects of the sound from the music to the sound effects of the weapons etc and if you haveTurtleBeachheadphones or a great surround sound system then make sure you crank the volume up to 11 (You won’t be disappointed)

Overall I had great fun with the Syndicate single player campaign which felt like an intense rollercoaster ride from start to finish. I would urge anyone who enjoys a far out story on corporate corruption set in the future to pick it up and I look forward to playing the co-op with the 360G community in the near future.

Score: 8/10

Notice to readers: At the time of writing I had no experience with the online coop portion of the game except in demos so a separate review for that portion of the game will follow as soon as the coop has been played in the full version.