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Syndicate: The Kotaku Review

From Kotaku
By Tina Amini

The year is 2069. The government as we know it is obsolete. In its place are various syndicates, all racing to develop the most advanced bio-digital implants that allow their host to connect to the dataverse, and even control it. Syndicate is a telling of that story, originally written by Bullfrog Productions in 1993, and rebooted into the first-person shooter by Starbreeze Studios that hits stores today. You play as an agent of Eurocorp, Miles Kilo, tasked with infiltrating and investigating competing syndicates.
That corporation-controlling-society story has been done before, and not always to great results. Didn't we just recently play Deus Ex: Human Revolution? Wasn't Mindjack kind of a disaster? I still like the concept of the business world becoming less of a metaphorical warfare based on increasing stock value, and more of a literal one with double agents and terrorists making plays for power. It's an interesting area of storytelling to explore, especially considering how powerful corporations already are today. So I tore off the shrink wrap on my 360 copy of Syndicate with hopeful anticipation.
What I found inside involved every angle of conspiracy a corporate-entangled society would be subject to. There are corporate overlord baddies with penchants for greedy business moves, and a disputable "hero" on the inside trying to make a difference with attempts to expose the moral indecencies of the syndicate in question. Whether Dr. Lilian Drawl plays the role of a genuine hero in Syndicate can be up for debate, especially when Kilo starts to identify a very particular pattern in her behavior (I'll leave it at that to save from spoilers).
This isn't the tactical shooter that you may remember from Syndicate's past. In an attempt to modernize what became such a cult favorite in the gaming community of the 90s, Starbreeze has opted for a first-person shooter take on the story, with the added flavor of digital-dependent abilities.
In addition to the standard stock of weapons and grenades (if you're in one of the few levels that houses the grenades) at your disposal in Syndicate, your newly-installed bio-chip also opens other areas of tactical fighting. These abilities - Suicide, Backfire and Persuasion - come in handy when you're faced with aggressive rival agents, who often actively pursue you and flank you from all angles. As an alleged "elite" agent, I was surprised to find that enemies more than just outnumber you; they're coordinated, they have impeccable aim, and they are equipped with some of the most powerful weapons - amongst them lasers and flame throwers - even before you're introduced to them.

WHY: Syndicate challenges your brain's flexibility in chaotic situations, while testing your ability to adapt to new threats.

---

SYNDICATE

Developer: Starbreeze Studios
Platforms: Xbox 360 (Version played) / PlayStation 3 / PC
Released: February 21 (U.S.), February 24 (EU)

Type of game: First-person shooter with light RPG leveling aspects.

What I played: Cleared the main campaign on Normal difficulty in 15 hours, and completed all co-op missions on Normal difficulty in 5 hours.

My Two Favorite Things

• More than just a first-person shooter, Syndicate requires you to juggle your abilities for appropriate tactical play against challenging enemies.
• It's fun to contemplate the potential outcomes of themes like corporate takeover and transhumanism.

My Two Least-Favorite Things

• You play as an agent who is horribly disadvantaged at every turn. Enemies best you time and again with their weaponry. Feels like bringing a revolver to a rocket launcher fight (and that actually happens).
• Oddly paced storyline takes more than half the campaign to start getting you more involved, and to start to get more interesting.

Made-to-Order Back-of-Box Quotes

• "Syndicate challenges you in ways most first-person shooters can't." -Tina Amini, Kotaku.com
• "I'm inspired to enroll in experimental medical programs so I can start controlling doors with my mind." -Tina Amini, Kotaku.com
• "So much patent leather you can practically hear the squeaking." -Tina Amini, Kotaku.com

The good doctor is introduced in the game as a respected lead in her field, and she's also the doctor who oversees your experiments. These experiments typically involve implanting an unbalanced and untested chip into your brain. While your role in the storyline is mainly to obey orders given to you by the CEO of Eurocorp, Denham, Lilian is in a position to change the way bio-chips and the Dart technology that powers them are made and used. Most of your time spent in the game is to investigate what competing syndicates are funding their scientists to create in their labs, and to keep tabs on what exactly Lilian's intentions and loyalties are.
The only advantage that you have fighting the security agents you're often up against is the ability to manipulate both the environment and the chips implanted in their brains. You can breach certain constructions to create points of cover, or alternatively breach existing cover to have them retract into the floor, thereby exposing enemies to your rapid gunfire and the now-uninhibited echoes of your cackling laughter. Your breaching ability can also activate EMP blasts, or move platforms to create new pathways. The Dart 6 chip can affect enemies outside of breaches that impact the environment. The Persuasion ability, for instance, forces your enemies to fight on your side. Or you might prefer to watch as your opponents kill themselves after being subjected to your Suicide commands. A simple Backfire attack will turn the agents' weapons against them, basically blowing up in their face for some gleeful damage.
Even with the latest Dart 6 technology, Syndicate was a lot more difficult than I anticipated. You'll find yourself forced to scamper around the level, hunting for proper cover (which is all too often scant), while your enemies wield massive rocket launchers and riot shields. Even if you do find a good place to hide while taking out enemies one by one, the agents are typically very mobile and fast. You'll start learning to depend on activating your DART Overlay ability that works like something similar to bullet-time. Once you start upgrading your chip, you'll begin to see added benefits rather than just the standard slowed-down time and highlighted enemies; you can look forward to health regeneration and increased damage that makes a huge impact on your standing against the other syndicates' defenses.
These upgrades are paramount to enjoying the game. They ensure that boss battles aren't infuriatingly difficult. But even so, you're still prevented from using many of your Dart abilities on bosses, including one boss fight in particular where you aren't even given a weapon. I do have to hand it to developer Starbreeze for making boss battles that are wholly different from one another. After successfully combating a boss that can split into multiple duplicates, you'll be pushed to rethink your once-proven strategy for the next boss that renders himself invisible. You'll have to find new ways to complete the same task.
Reaching the latter half of the game at around 10 hours in means you've probably upgraded to a formidable chip against bosses with lock-on targeting rifles and other equally exasperating situations. It also means that the storyline finally starts to pick up and gain some semblance of an actual plot. You'll finally see how citizens are impacted by the corporate takeover—mainly consisting of homeless drones blindly soaking in televised propaganda—rather than just tediously shooting down suited-up, faceless enemies in pristine buildings with white walls.
At this point in the game, players will also start experiencing a light puzzle aspect in breaching elevators and doors, something akin to a far less beefed-out version of the concept of Deus Ex: Human Revolution's hacking mechanic that requires you to complete a mini-game to effectively hack through a door's lock. You'll have to breach certain security systems and locks in the right order to be able to gain entry to the next level. It's an interesting concept that could have diversified the gameplay had there been more puzzles, and more challenging ones at that. The ones I was "challenged" with were more like walks through a park while eating cake. Unfortunately this means that puzzles end up being just a minor, yet refreshing bonus in the few levels where they are available.
Syndicate constantly makes me feel like an inadequate agent compared to the beefed up, heavily armored and armed enemies. Fights against bosses almost always favor my opponents beyond a line that I'm comfortable accepting. I wanted to feel challenged, not infantilized. But when I finally had the elusive scientist, terrorist or other opponent on their knees and extracted the chip from their respective brains with what could only have been technology straight out of the Matrix, it was incredibly gratifying to finally have bested them, seemingly against all odds.
Co-operative missions open the door to several new Dart abilities. These range from defensive strategies, like Squad Heal, to more offensive options, like Damage Link that boosts the damage output from every team member. The game feels much more suited to a co-operative experience based on the fact that power by numbers proves to be a huge asset, and that far more tactical strategies are open to you with the addition of more than several Dart abilities. Each map is just as lacking in terms of cover as single player is, but you have up to three teammates to cover your back and, regardless, the fast pace required of you rarely allows for taking advantage of them.
Every team member can heal one another, and even reboot you when your systems have crashed (also known as death). This will happen often. Enemies flank you from every direction and height, and they're just as troublesome as they are in the single player campaign. Most missions task you with retrieving items of importance—usually stashed in a briefcase—or guarding a robot while it cuts down metal to make new routes for you. These babysitting missions add an extra layer of challenge to an already hefty one, but they're welcomed additions when taking them on with a quality team. Each map set culminates in a seemingly impossible battle against health-regenerating agents with unlimited ammo and apparently no need to stop to reload. Teamwork is not only encouraged, it's essential. You'll need someone to watch your back with suppressing fire, and another for healing while you make a mad dash to the ammo case after you realize that unloading on your enemy isn't, in fact, fruitful at all.
Each mission completion rewards you with options to level your guns and chip, and modify your loadouts, a la Call of Duty and Battlefield. It's clear that Starbreeze Studios intended on creating a robust enough multiplayer for players to continuously revisit the title. I daresay it's likely I'll be doing just that. Co-op is exciting, tough, and incredibly gratifying once you finally figure out the strategy that each cluster of enemies requires before even being vulnerable to your attacks.
The one recurring problem that I foresee that is unique to the multiplayer mode was forcing a team to decide who gets to extract the brain chip upgrade when a the appropriate enemy gets taken down. It felt reminiscent to Borderlands when having to democratically split the prized loot. But playing with random gamers online, how often is that possible?
Various flaws and oversights aside—like an unreliable save system that puts you at the mercy of the game developers, or a consistent and tiresome use of button mashing to open doors throughout the campaign—Syndicate is an unexpected challenge.
You've already played hundreds of first-person shooters, and Deus Ex: Human Revolution may have satiated your desire for corporate conspiracies and transhumanism, but Syndicate pushes you to react quickly in the face of dangerous, well-organized enemies. Think of the game as a chance to test your multitasking skills while you breach the shields off turrets and command agents to commit suicide.

Modern Warfare 3: ***Breaking*** PS3 ELiTE Subscribers Getting DLC Feb.

From Charlieintel: 

UPDATE: PS3 is also getting a title update this evening.

Fix Includes:
-improved voice chat quality
-theater fixes
-weapon rebalances.

Modern Warfare 3 Patch 1.08 Going Live on PS3 Very Soon

From Call of Duty Community:

The patch that went live for Xbox 360 users on January 24th, will be going on live for PS3 users at “2AM” (somebody needs to tell Mr. Bowling about time zones). The delay was caused by exclusive updates for PS3 users. Robert Bowling announced:

The latest #MW3 title update for @Playstation goes live at 2AM. Includes improved voice chat quality, theater fixes, weapon rebalances.

When Robert refers to the “weapon rebalances”,  he means the Striker nerf and the buff for all the other shotguns and the 50% fire rate reduction for all Akimbo weapons.

To see this patch and all the previous patches on 1 page, you can visit our dedicated forum thread: Modern Warfare 3 Patch Notes

MW3: First DLC Coming January 24th For XBOX COD Elite Members Only

From DW24/7:

The first piece of downloadable content for Modern Warfare 3 finally has a date...
The game has been out for a month and a half and as expected the attention has started to focus on what will be offered post-release as DLC (downloadable content).
First of all, let's recap what we know so far about Modern Warfare 3's downloadable content. There will be 20 lots which will dispatch monthly during a 9-month period. Premium members of Call of Duty Elite will get DLC earlier than everyone else and they will still be released first on Xbox 360 before Playstation 3 and PC users get their hands on them. New maps will be playable in both Multiplayer and Spec Ops Survival, and maps won't be the only offerings. If you're a Call of Duty Elite Premium member then not only will you be the first to try the DLC out, but you'll receive it automatically and for free.
Today some new details have arrived, included a release date for the first DLC. In an interview on Call of Duty Elite TV's Roll Call show, host Jay Frechette visited Infinity Ward for a sneak peek at the upcoming DLC and grabbed an exclusive interview with creative strategist Robert 'fourzerotwo' Bowling.
In the interview Bowling announced that the first DLC will be released on Tuesday, 24th January 2012 for Xbox 360 Call of Duty Elite Premium members. What will be included isn't yet known, but he did say that for the whole DLC cycle they are doing things they've "never done before" instead of just maps, before using Spec Ops missions as an example. Bowling highlighted the three teams of Infinity Ward, Sledgehammer Games and Raven Software working together as proof of allowing them to do new ways of how the DLC drops or the content that is included.

PS3 Owners Sue EA Over Battlefield 3

 No 1943 means litigation, soldier!
From IGN:

Back at E3, Sony took the stage and announced that Battlefield 1943 would be bundled exclusively on the Battlefield 3 Blu-ray for PlayStation 3. Then, months passed, Battlefield 3 came out without 1943, and everyone kind of forgot about it.

Everyone except the folks in the class action lawsuit from the law firm Edelson McGuire. BF3blog.com reports the suit alleges EA was "making a promise they could not, and never intended, to keep." BF3blog.com didn't report on the number of people involved in the class action suit.

Of course, since the release of Battlefield 3, EA has attempted to make amends by promising PS3 players DLC early, but PS3 players were already getting at least one DLC pack early.

Call of Duty ELITE “up and running” by December 1 -UPDATE

From charlieintel.com:

-UPDATE: Daniel Suarez just confirmed with G4, that ELITE’s new target launch date is by December 1st. “They kind of have to bear with us while we bring this all back up,” the VP of production said, “but for us it’s literally ‘give us those couple weeks, we’re giving those to you for free’ and come December 1, the goal is that we’ll have everything up and running.’”

-PREVIOUSLY:
Beachhhead Studios has finally shed some light on the reasons for ELITE’s troubled launch and what’s currently being done to fix it. In the interview, several questions are answered that you won’t find in the official Elite F.A.Q.
“It’s going to take at least a couple of weeks to get Elite operational to the standards we want, we are making progress.”
In a exclusive interview to Kotaku, Daniel Suarez, vice president of production at Actvision, explains how one of the most experienced online gaming companies in the world was “blindsided by the demands for their new stat-tracking”, community-building Call of Duty service Elite.
“We had all sorts of issues: A broken registration system; poor scalability of the service; poor experience trying to login to the web or console and confusion in terms of getting 2XP or your Founders Entitlements,” he said. “A lot of this was just core infrastructure issues – mainly tied to specific databases serving up data for the console, web and ultimately mobile (when that’s released).
“For lack of a better term – our databases got hammered with the millions of people trying to use Elite and it couldn’t put up with the demand.”
In regards to why the Elite BETA didn’t prepare them, he said “Due to the fact that we didn’t have a console app on Black Ops, there wasn’t a clear picture of user behavior coming from the console,” Suarez said. “The beta helped us refine the web experience from a feature set, but really didn’t give us all the metrics at scale we needed, specifically the additional load from the console….which was a lot higher than our expectations. This was key contributor to the performance and stability issues consumers have experienced.”
Premium members able to login faster, “We’ve prioritized premium subscribers into the service via a prioritization queue, so if you are a paid member you get into the console or web automatically,” he said. “Free users, due to demand, are put into a queue and allowed in when we have bandwidth or capacity.”
On Tuesday Activision was finally able to turn clan creation on. Within 12 hours they had 22,000 clans created…
-UPDATE SOURCE: VG247
-SOURCE: Kotaku

Modern Warfare 3 is a joke!

From COD Community and special thanks to them for posting this:

When a game / franchise / developer publisher and so on doesn't have any haters, you know something is wrong. When you do have haters, you just laugh at them and applaud them for the effort they put into the hating.

The same can be said about this video by bideovlogger. The video he made is a brilliant one, but instead of bashing Modern Warfare 3, he's just spreading the word about it. I really like what he did with the video.

PSN Exclusive Dust514 and It's Idea of Microtransactions Within the Game

I watched a trailer for this game and it looked good. How it feels when you play it will be a different story but I wanted to blog on the idea of microtransactions within the game. See full story at Joystiq:

Here is the gist of how it will work:

"You effectively pay what we call a 'cover charge,' we're looking at likely around $20 for the initial download. That download gets you the game client plus a bundle of virtual currency which has the equivalent in-game value of $20. So you're basically getting that bundle of cash that you're using to start the game, and from there if you choose to play for free and just grind, you're welcome to do that. But of course we know a lot of people will convert," a CCP rep explained to me this afternoon. As of now, the plan is to release Dust 514 exclusively via the PlayStation Network.

What do you guys think? I like the idea. Here is some footage, take a look.