Syndicate was announced awhile back and with the announcement it produced a lot of buzz. The buzz it provided created a series of questions. One question would be, what is Syndicate? The original Syndicate was created in 1993 by Bullfrog Productions. Syndicate by Bullfrog Productions was critically acclaimed by various sources and listed as #42 in the "Best Games Ever" category on UGO. Now the attention is on Starbreeze Studios who will be making their own recreation of Syndicate; creating some new questions. Will the plot be the same as its predecessor? How is the gameplay in Syndicate? Will Co-op work well with Syndicate? Only a little bit has been revealed, but we will take a closer look and try to answer some of these questions in this preview.



Plot:

In Syndicate, the story lies around syndicates. Syndicates are, basically, stores that house different merchandise for consumers to buy. Their goal through consumers is for global domination through technology. The technology used is a simple neural chip that opens to digital world and this helps the syndicates gain an edge towards their goal. This chip allows consumers to interact with the digital world. This access for consumers is the reason that makes syndicates powerful is because of what merchandise they have to offer: housing, medical, banking, insurance, education, entertainment and jobs. Everything a consumer needs in can be found in one complete package. However, it is the chip that proves to be the problem for the consumer and how syndicates come closer to achieving their global domination goal. With consumers linked to the digital world and buying the merchandise from the syndicates, the syndicates have access to consumer's personal insights, goals, and they can even take control of certain individuals through their neural chip. It is with the chip and the dominance over the consumer population that makes the syndicates powerful. Because of the power the syndicates have over the consumers, global dominance is only a chip away.

Gameplay:

The gameplay in Syndicate works around a chip implanted in the player. The Dart 6 Militarized Chip (similar to the consumer chip) allows players to see the digital world and hack into it. In the game, hacking is called breaching. When breaching, you will be able to see wire-frames connecting objects, such as security panels connected to security doors, and will be able to breach them in order to bypass them and gain access to data, other areas, etc. This ability is just one you will have with the Dart 6 Chip. Another ability for breaching includes gaining access to other people's minds by accessing their own chip. You will be able to select a certain individual and break into their mind and cause some reactions. These reactions include making another individual commit suicide. That sounds a bit gruesome, but it provides a whole new dynamic to the game itself. Instead of just hacking electronics, people, who are not considered breachable, are now targets for breaching. This new dynamic really sets the pace and provides new options for the player to expand upon. The gameplay, so far, revolves around technology and this is just a sample.



Co-Op:

Syndicate will be offering a lot more than just a single player campaign. Co-op is an addition that will allow up to four players shoot it out with each other on a mission. You and your team's objective is to breach security panels while going through enemies. Yes, breaching and the Dart 6 Militarized Chip are still involved throughout this whole process. You are able to access the digital world and breach it when possible. Besides the addition of the militarized chip, there are little additions in Co-Op. During all this destruction, players are offered score tracking and leader-boards. This provides a little competition between players. There is a point system in Syndicate's Co-op mode and points are tallied for each kill, headshot, breach, and much more. This makes Co-op a little more challenging for each player since everyone will be trying to out-gun the other players. Co-op seems to offer a class system. Watching the Co-op video, you can see there are sniper, assault, bruiser, and assassin classes to choose from. While this might not be true, it can be seen through their weapons and augments they use and show throughout the video. This may bring a new approach to Co-op and make it more exciting.



Conclusion:

Syndicate seems like it will be a hit based on the information on the game currently. With its plot that involves global domination through technology, gameplay that requires breaching electronic devices and people, and the addition of Co-op, it appears the Syndicate is the game to look out for in the coming releases.