Syndicate (2012): Review

Syndicate burst into our life with a whirlwind. It seemed that only yesterday they released a debut trailer, and the game was already on the shelves. Well, if

such a thing, then it will not hurt to figure out the review.

Not so far, not so gloomy future

To begin with, we will entrust a small historical certificate so that there are no misunderstandings. Syndicate the original one came out back in 1993 and was tactical fun in the scenery of Cyberpan. The plot message was simple: a relatively near future, human progress came to the point that the chips implanted in the brain appeared. These small microcircuits know how to finish reality, changing what the carrier of such a thing in the brain sees and feels. Of course, there were corporations and the so -called syndicates who delivered this reality to people. And their natural desire was to crush competitors and cleanse as many people as possible. In certain circles, the game is considered a cult, however, an icon seems to Fallout or Diablo did not. You can find out about it in all details from the eleventh issue of the “retro”.

From the first trailers, the current Syndicate was suspiciously similar to the recent Deus Ex: Human Revolution. True, unlike a fellow in Cyberpanka style, Syndicate I emphasized dynamics and shooting, about which the developers regularly talked about. No difficult moral elections and complicated levels, which can be passed by billions of ways. Everything is extremely simple: there is the gut of the corridor by which you need to go and with the maximum high for yourself to smash everything in its path. However, the hope for the intelligible plot remained: whatever one may say, but at the steering wheel stood Starbreeze Studios, Which, using the example of The Chronicles of Riddick and The Darkness, has demonstrated its ability to make atmospheric shooters.

But let’s start with another flank. Despite the general scenery and tone, Syndicate previous and current have a number of significant differences. I will give a simple example: both there and there, no one will say a word to the player if he shoots a civilian. Or two. Or ten. However, there were many in the “aldfaid” version of civilians in missions, and sometimes even a lot. And they often fell under the fire simply because it is difficult to aim in the crowd of one enemy agent. Much easier to kill everyone. The Syndicate of the 2012 model cannot boast of this. And for some reason there are a lot of such non -atmospheric little things.

However, our most experimental surrender with the narrative is most of the problems. The plot is beaten up to the impossibility. Something at the level of attacks of hostile aliens or even higher. And the devil would be with him if in the template history there were bright, charismatic characters or some thermonuclear dialogues. However, no, the characters are cardboard blanks, controlled by a not very skilled puppeteer-scenarist. Behind them, they have no tangible cargo of the past or at least a hint of this load. The motivation in places is more than strange, and the stable “poker” for any reason is the norm.

Perhaps the most charismatic character – our partner, agent merit. Such a hoarse man who does not leave any living witness his steepness. A scene where he absolutely without hesitation cuts out a wagon of innocent people in the subway, among whom both women and children are perhaps the most stylish and stronger moment throughout the story.

However, in the depths of numerous multi -paper messages found at almost every step, the game suddenly has something to say. Biographies of heroes, the history of corporations and various disparate facts about this notorious world. But given the local dynamics, it is completely unclear who needs to read some messages, correspondence and clippings there, when another batch of aggressively “meat” awaits around the corner.

Feed me with lead!

So in the plot of the “syndicate” there is nothing to catch. Absolutely calmly you can not listen to anyone, and during the longest screensavers to leave tea.

But now we’ll put up a word about good, that is, about shootings. For them, play in Syndicate It is definitely worth it. Firstly, the process of destruction of enemies itself delivers a considerable number of pleasant moments. The weapon during shooting demonstrates tangible return, has sets of their own chips like homing cartridges and under -barrel grenade launchers, and it also sounds great. With the sound in the game generally a complete order – depending on the size of the room, the sounds of screams, explosions and shots are always different. A trifle, but nice.

Enemies do not fail. Fussing, looking for shelters, running around, trying to go to the rear. So even at the normal level of complexity in battle, you can extremely successfully lap on the withers and go with a sad mine to the latter “checkpoint”. The nearest association coming to mind is artificial intelligence f.E.A.R.

But here the main and main feature of the “syndicate” as a shooter – the special specificity of the chip floating in the brain comes to the rescue. It not only allows you to honestly display HUD on the screen, but also makes it possible to interact with a variety of electronics and extraneous chips. Removing all kinds of locks remotely, break the weapons at a distance or generally inspire an enemy that everything is around are enemies, and the chiefheror is a paw and it must be protected. It’s only a pity that there are few such abilities – only three pieces.

However, all these bells and whistles do their job, and using them is convenient and extremely useful. The DART mode is especially important, in which you can see enemies through the walls. A little later, if you “pump”, it will be possible to restore life in it, apply more damage and all that. Simply put, it really works and affects the process. Not revolutionary, but quite noticeable.

The last praise of the designers of levels and scold those who were responsible for lighting. The levels to the devils are diverse and well worked out. Moreover, it is surprising that there are not so many bright and memorable places, but the feeling that they drag in the same rooms – there is no. True, the picture is sometimes so bright that you want to get my eyes.

There are four of us, and we are in raincoats!

So the story campaign is for those who did not like Deus Ex with her twisted plot and multimillion -dollar variability of passage, and I want simple shooting happiness. Here his game will deliver full cars and even then add from above.

As for the cooperative, this regime was paid almost more than a single campaign. First, “pumping”. Compared to his “single” partner, this is just a monster. To begin with, there are a banal more diverse bells. The load on this is the opportunity to improve existing programs and buy new ones (now there are more than three of them, although only three can be taken for a mission). We also apply a variety of weapons improvements here, and as a result, such an unclear system of configuration of your character for the needs of the team is formed by our own.

Moreover, in order to improve something, you must first buy a conditional possibility of this improvement, and then choose it as active, so that the accumulating experience fills the scale. And one more improvement can be put in line. So everything is confused like wires at the exit from the system.

And then complete schizophrenia begins: you can create your own syndicate, appoint a leadership and other important positions in it. The game will conduct a variety of statistics about your successes, and in the end, at any moment you can look at the level of your success among competing organizations. The number of text and tabular pieces sometimes naturally takes out the brain: who and why it was necessary to lead so Detailed statistics are not particularly clear.

Well, accordingly, the four of them to bring down the hordes of the piercing spiteful people much more fun than one. So the cooperative is played very, very vigorously, you just have to figure out all the intricacies and beaks on the screen.

Some opponents are dressed in special armor, which must be hacking before the enemy himself is broken.

All in all, Syndicate it turned out not as cool as we were waiting. The plot is predictable, the heroes are slightly expressive than the potato, and there are not so many really new ideas. On the other hand, this is a very tightly shot down shooter on which it is not a shame to spend a couple of evenings in the single and a few more – in a cooperative. And even get over some kind of somehow.

Pros: great shootings;smart AI;pleasant design;A rare game where Dubstep is in the subject.
Cons: slurred plot and characters;too bright lighting at some levels.