Syndicate (2012)

Syndicate is an upcoming game by Starbreeze Studios set for release in February 2012 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 platforms. It is a reboot of the Syndicate series developed by Bullfrog Productions, completely changing the genre from a tactical shooter to an FPS.

Plot

2069: No longer governed by politicians, the developed world is divided up into regions controlled by mega-corporations known as syndicates. These syndicates have revolutionized how the consumer interacts with the digital world. Since the consumer requires a device to access the world's data and control technology, they can do this in the blink of an eye via neural chip implant.

Civilians flocked to be "Chip'd" and enjoy all that their selected syndicate has to offer: housing, medical, banking, insurance, education, entertainment and jobs. One complete package. One complete lifestyle. In return, the syndicates gained unprecedented insights, and control, over the individual and their behavior. With little government oversight, business has become war. The syndicates will stop at nothing for ultimate market dominance.

At the first line of this war are the agents, the syndicate's bio-engineered and chip-augmented enforcers. They can breach anything in the wired dataverse, including their enemies, their weapons and the environment that surrounds them, making them the most efficient and deadly technological weapons in the world. Take on the role of Miles Kilo, EuroCorp's latest prototype agent, and embark on a brutal action adventure of corruption and revenge.

Gameplay

Players are not limited to the weapons in their hands. Through the DART 6 bio-chip technology implanted in their head, players can slow down time and breach the digital world around them to take down their foes using a variety of upgradable hacking mechanics. The game has been described as a "kind of mix between Crysis-style first-person shooter action and the clean sci-fi world of Mass Effect". A four-player co-op mode has been confirmed, with a separate campaign based on missions from the original game. Unlike other EA games, Syndicate will not use an online pass for the co-op modes, Furthermore, EA Partners executive producer Jeff Gamon stated that "If the game had included a competitive mode, it would have had an online pass. But because it didn't have competitive multiplayer and because we wanted as many people as possible to be playing co-op, we got away with it." He also stated that he wanted "as little resistance or barriers to entry as possible".

Reception

The first trailer released for the game elicited polarized reactions. While some were impressed with the gameplay and visual style shown in the trailer, others felt that the change from the isometric strategy format of the original series was unnecessary, and that the new game too closely resembled the Deus Ex franchise.

When the official YouTube channel of Syndicate posted the song "Syndicate" by Skrillex, which was featured in the first trailer, the game saw further exposure through its association with the popular artist. Vorlage:Citation needed

Controversy

On 20 December 2011, it was reported that Syndicate has been refused classification by the Australian Classification Board. 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. EA Australia has announced that they won't be appealing the decision or changing the game to meet the Board's concerns—in the process complaining about what it felt to be Australia's "arcane censorship on games"—and that Syndicate would be released on schedule and uncut in New Zealand with an adults-only rating.

See also

• Syndicate - the original game

External links

• Vorlage:Official website
• Syndicate Wiki