Syndicate

Right from the start, you feel like a demigod, dispatching enemies with ease thanks to an overpowered arsenal and a whole bunch of 'breaching' powers that let you slow time, enhance damage and decrease ouchies from incoming bullets. [April 2012, p65]

No, it doesn't stay true to the franchise at all, yet Syndicate still manages to impress with both a well executed artistic vision and a thoughtfully implemented co-op mode that takes some fresh approaches.

Graphically the game is great, aside from the multiplayer, and the storyline is one of the most gripping and enthralling we've seen. If you were thinking of buying it for the single-player alone, you could easily give it a rent, but the multiplayer makes it worth the buy.

Syndicate is a really cool game that shines through its great co-op modes. The singleplayer is great, but the multiplayer is where its at. Beware for an action overdose.

Syndicate is a funny shooter and has several interesting visual aspects starting from the excellent graphics to the HUD. At the same time the game doesn't introduce anything to the usual gameplay of any other FPS and this could be a problem in terms of gameplay mechanics.

It could have been something really big, but the remake of the good old Syndicate from 1993 is just a solid FPS. The storytelling is not stunning, the missing freedom and some technical issues drag down the overall impression. It's a quite solid game, but nothing more.

Syndicate's guise is thoroughly unoriginal and yet irrefutably stylish. Its guns aren't distinctive but feel great with every pull of the trigger. Breaching is debatably necessary and still every time it's engaged. Cooperative plays feels more like beating the game than beating the intended challenge, which somehow makes for a better feeling of elation. In conforming to the first person standard, Syndicate has turned in a wave of contradictions that, almost in spite of itself, typically emerge on the right side of social order.

Syndicate is definitely one of the nicer surprises of 2012 so far. The graphics may not be on par with genre toppers like Battlefield 3, but the tactical gameplay and co-op options make for a very entertaining shooter.

Starbreeze managed to add another unique spin to the FPS genre that's worth checking out if you're not hung up on the property's legacy.

Syndicate is a good FPS. It had enormous potential but, in the end, the developers weren't able to make the most of it. A pity, it could have been truly an amazing shooter.

Maybe this is not the (new) Syndicate that older gamers were waiting for, but it's a very good and solid FPS experience... for single and multiplayer fans.

Syndicate really shines when you get together with a few people. The campaign really isn't bad at all – and I don't want to give the impression that it is – but having a ton of info thrown in your face doesn't necessarily mean you're fleshing out a story. And the pacing is off, too.

No classic, but it's still easily one of the year's stronger shooters so far. [Issue#216, p.74]

A solid shooter with relatively interesting unique features, Syndicate's co-op outshines the otherwise lackluster single-player campaign.

Syndicate's cooperative play is undeniably thrilling. Too bad the single-player campaign doesn't reach the same heights.

Grabbing three friends and battling for corporate supremacy online is well worth your time, but don't expect to be wowed by playing alone.

There are small mistakes everywhere. The occasional glitchy corpse is to be expected (and even entertaining). Less funny are the times when you are stuck trying to solve a simple puzzle because it's impossible to see which objects are interactive. [March 2012, p.80]

Players looking for a truly innovative first-person shooter will find glimpses of one, but not as a single-player experience. Syndicate's world is oppressively violent and cynical, which doesn't do its messy story any favors, but when opened up for 4-person teams and a standalone mission structure it makes perfect sense.

Syndicate is a fun shooter but it falls short of being great. The campaign is on the short side and feels slightly generic, although the action itself is immensly entertaining. The separate co-op mode adds some great value and ends up being the stronger part of the package.

There's a lot to like about Syndicate's mechanics and recoil-rich gunplay, and your cache of cybernetic powers elevates the game above most rote corridor shooters. But Syndicate doesn't know what it wants to be at its core, and its dry protagonist blasts through hyper-violent environments with no motivation or desire.

It's an above average monthly achiever; a confident performer that pushes itself hard, but never quite goes the extra mile to secure employee of the month.

Solid shooting and a handful of suicide-inducing party tricks can only get you so far, and it's this absence of atmosphere and lack of connection to your surroundings that holds Syndicate back from becoming a fulfilling experience.

Awful bosses, poor story, and unimaginative level design bury sexy guns and good looks. [Apr 2012, p.92]

Thanks to the flawed fundamentals, all the great mechanics in the world can't save Syndicate. [Apr 2012, p.84]

The co-op mode saves it from complete failure but this is a disappointingly timid update of the original, that squanders its potential in both gameplay and storytelling.

Swapping freedom and tactical depth for twitch-based thrills and teamwork has certainly made it a viable multi-platform release...However, those with longer memories may argue that rebooting Syndicate as yet another FPS, complete with identikit hero, is a bit like remaking Citizen Kane as a rom-com starring Adam Sandler. For all its multiplayer merits, I'm afraid I'm with the Luddites on this one.

I can look at Syndicate from any angle I want: In the end it stays a mediocre, though not entirely charmless Shooter, whose only real redeeming factor is the coop-mode, which also comes off a little bit half-hearted.