Syndicate | |
---|---|
Developer(s) | Starbreeze Studios |
Publisher(s) | Electronic Arts |
Director(s) | Neil McEwan |
Producer(s) | Jeff Gamon |
Designer(s) | Andrew Griffin |
Programmer(s) | Otto Kivling Fred Gill |
Artist(s) | Nicholas Siren John Miles |
Writer(s) | Richard K. Morgan |
Composer(s) | Gustaf Grefberg |
Series | Syndicate |
Engine | Union Engine |
Platform(s) | |
Release | |
Genre(s) | First-person shooter |
Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
Syndicate is a 2012 first-person shooter game developed by Starbreeze Studios and published by Electronic Arts. The game was released for PlayStation 3, Windows, and Xbox 360 in February 2012.
Syndicate (2012) is a reboot of the Syndicate series of real-time tactics games developed by Bullfrog Productions. Set in the year 2069, the narrative revolves around Miles Kilo, a EuroCorp agent who must eliminate important personnel from rival corporations; in the process, he discovers the evil, secret practice used by EuroCorp to recruit agents. The game features a large variety of weapons; from standard pistols to the futuristic guns. Kilo is implanted with a computer chip that allows him to access the dataverse and can use hacking to defeat enemies and solve environmental puzzles.
Pre-production of Syndicate began in 2007. Electronic Arts approached Starbreeze Studios to revive the franchise because it was impressed with the quality of Starbreeze Studios' previous games and believed they could add "style" to the series. The game was returned to the drawing board after a year of development, and the co-operative multiplayer mode was added to the main game. The development team hoped the game would appeal to both newcomers and players of the original game; they maintained the theme of the original and drastically changed the gameplay. Richard K. Morgan was hired to write the story for the game.
Syndicate received mixed reviews from critics, who praised the gameplay, style, graphics, art direction, artificial intelligence, and the co-operative mode, but the game's story was criticized. The game had sold 150,000 units, which was a commercial failure for EA. Its excessive violence led to the game being banned in Australia.