Sometimes, a product can be lesser than the sum of its parts. Even if a product contains top quality components created by some of the best minds in the business, the way in which those components are implemented will ultimately dictate the difference between a stud and a dud. Off the top of my head, the ultimate example of this phenomenon is the mid-to-late 2000s New York Knicks. Despite spending the largest amount of money on players in the NBA, their team was terrible; all because its players could not mesh into a championship team – or even a competent one.
Judged on its components alone, Syndicate is a stud. Sporting gorgeous art direction, a great soundtrack (with a contribution from Skrillex, if dubstep is your thing), and clever moment-to-moment gameplay that’s been clearly thought out, there’s a distinct level of polish that most games wish they could boast. However, throughout my time playing it, I couldn’t shake my general sense of apathy towards the proceedings.
In this 2012 reboot, you assume direct control of Miles Kilo, EuroCorp’s most technically advanced Agent; destined to work a career in corporate espionage. Armed with heavy-duty futuristic weaponry, and the ability to hack into anything with a chip (including human brains), you’re one mean killing machine. Unfortunately, there isn’t really much more to our protagonist. He never speaks, shows no emotion, and is never developed beyond his role as a private soldier until its way too late. Failing to offset Kilo’s blank slate as a character are allies, and enemies that are equally unlikable. To top off the story fail trifecta, the overarching plot is fairly boiler-plate in nature, featuring plot points you’ll see coming from a mile away.
This distinctly weak context really puts a damper on an otherwise top-notch title. Regardless of how pretty the game looked, how great the gun sounds were, and how fun the mechanical aspects of playing the game were, I had a really hard time caring for any of it without a strong character/story driver. Without that context, I felt like I was simply walking into rooms and shooting dudes strictly for the sake of shooting dudes, which is only fun for so long.
It’s evident that the makers of Syndicate tried really hard to put their best foot forward on this one. Most of its presentation, and gameplay components would stack up against any AAA title on the market. Unfortunately, the human elements of characters, and plot are sorely lacking, which makes it feel a lot more soulless than it should. Depending on how important context is to your, you may walk away from this somewhat satisfied at best, or underwhelmed at worst.
In Third Person 