Co-op

Syndicate – Co-op Demo Impressions

Syndicate is a cyber-punk first-person shooter thats been reimagined from the classic 1993 game of the same name. For the record i played through the co-op demo of Syndicate via my Xbox 360. This cyberpunk fps was developed by Starbreeze and published by Electronic Arts for the PC, Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. It releases February 21, 2012. The co-up demo for Syndicate was a mix-bag overall. The demo did some things right and some wrong regarding gameplay. To find out what exactly keep reading.

The main menu screen sported Campaign (unplayable), Co-op, Options and Quit. The button layout: LT-zoom, LB-breach, LS-move, LS (down) – sprint, Back-journal,, D-pad-Up-breach 2, Down-switch fire mode, Left-breach 1, Right-breach 3, RT-fire, RB-DART overlay, Y-switch weapons, X-reload, B-crouch/sprint/slide, A-jump, Start-pause, RS-look and RS Down-melee. The button layout was fine i really had no problems with that. Despite that the controls seem sluggish. Maybe it was the choppy connection while i played online i don’t know. It just seemed like my Offense class character was slow and had some lag. And yes i know he is the tank class of Syndicate but still laggy.

Although much of the content was locked in the demo you could still navigate around and check out what the full game will have content wise. The demo itself from a co-op standpoint actually has alote of content regarding your character. But first i want tell you about the Maps. You can only play on one map in the Syndicate co-op demo that being Western Europe. On that map your pitted against a opposing Syndicate team called Cayman Global led by Captain Gabron who is the boss of the level and resembles a mech to boot. Some of the other maps which takes place all over the world gives insight into the single player locations (possibility). These are the maps i saw on the demo but unplayable Mozambique, Atlantic Accelerator, Colorado, China, Scandinavia, Northern Territories, Argentina and New England.

The Lobby section broke down into Play Quick Match, Map Selection, Difficulty and Private Game. You can set different criteria for private games. I didn’t play any private games. I stuck 100% to online 4-player co-op matches for this article. The Agent menu has sub-menus of Loadouts and Chip Upgrades. Loadouts are split between three different classes that you can customize. The classes include Offense, Defense and Support. Each class comes with two weapons (main and secondary) and App1 and App2 (perks). In the Chip Upgrades menu you can choose special abilities like Heal, Reboot and Breach. There is a tree associated with chip upgrades that remind me of the augmentation tree from Deus Ex: Human Revolution.

Backtracking back to the perks (App) you can choose between Backfire, Shielding and Damage Link. The Agent menus under the Co-op section of Syndicate has you all covered from a content and information standpoint. There are sections that keep track of your rank, experience and unlocks. Not only that but also your Research, Challenges and Stars (all collectibles). Lastly the Agent section keeps tracks of squad stats, challenges and leaderboards. As you can see Syndicate does have you covered from a co-op content standpoint. But what about the gameplay?

The gameplay regarding Syndicate’s online co-op multiplayer was a mix bag. First off it does have a high difficulty like many online co-up fps games. That wasn’t a problem as my team beat the full 20 minute level on normal difficulty. The problems arise mostly from technical issues. The game just isn’t smooth from a gameplay perspective. Shooting, running and doing mini parkoor style moves are not fluid. Not much is fluid regarding gameplay overall. The games i played were all pretty choppy and had framerate issues. Don’t get me wrong yes i could shoot and heal my fallen comrades decently. I even came in first place in a group of four players one match. But the technical issues did at times get annoying.

The gameplay level took place at what looked like a factory headed by Syndicate soldiers. The level design was designed around breaching sections of the map. You fight your way through groups of armored soldiers with the occasional Lieutenant who has heavy armor and is agile. At the end of the level you fight a boss “Captain” who is extremely armored and built like a tank. The bright spot as it should be is the co-op. You have to help each other and you will learn on the fly how to (LB Heal). If you do not heal other members as they take damage or revive them your team will lose eventually. As far as enemies go there are all types of snipers high up on perches and shotgun guys down below taking it directly to you.

The guns all have a futuristic design as they should since the game takes place in 2069. I came in contact with assault rifles, rocket launchers (that enemies dropped), SMGs, sniper rifles shotguns and an assortment of handguns and pistols. Ammo crates are scattered about with weapons near them. Enemies do drop guns that you can swap if you don’t like what you loaded out with. One other thing regarding guns, they look huge on the screen. They reminded me of Crysis 2′s huge guns that seem to take up half of the screen.

As far as the presentation and atmosphere go Syndicate was pretty good. I love cyberpunk themed games ala Deus Ex and this one seems to deliver. The visuals are ok. The texture work could be better as i spotted blurry textures during my matches. I’m nit picking so take it for what its worth. Overall i really do like the art direction of Syndicate. The sound design and music was good. The voice acting is kinda cheesy however. Like everything else regarding Syndicate’s presentation it gives you that sci-fi cyberpunk vibe during cutscenes and gameplay.

All in all i did like Syndicate’s co-op demo. Its not perfect by a long shot with its performance issues but did give me some fun with its online co-op action. I would say its a rough around the edges demo but a good demo. Thanks for reading.