This game is pretty O.K.. Actually, better than O.K.. I've been trying out different FPS's in the last month (it's a genre I generally don't play a lot of, trying out something new) , and this was the game I've enjoyed the most, for whatever reason. Maybe it's the cyberpunkiness, love that Gibson and Stephenson.

And, there are still people playing this on PSN, unexpected bonus. Any GB people still playing the PSN co-op?

It's OK.

Not 5/5.

But OK.

I don't need to play it to understand that it didn't deserve to be in their top 10. I'm still impressed that Jeff convinced them (alone mind you) that it was one of the best games last year and to put it in the top 10, well done Jeff, well done.

It's one of the better single-player experiences I've had in a while. Just wish it was a bit longer. I'd buy it in an instant if it came out on Steam, but there's next to no chance of that happening.

I tried the MP demo when it came out and was annoyed by the gun sway. Then, much later when it had gone down in price and having heard Jeff's praise time and time again (and also coming off of Deus Ex and being all for more cyberpunk stuff), I got it for Christmas and was enjoying the hell out of it. The gun sway was nothing once I got time with the game and the game gives you some great abilities. I was a machine running through that game. Really also actually enjoying the compact story that didn't have to last 100 billion hours.

I wouldn't say Cyberpunk but eh, whatevs. I thought it was OK, but a lot of elements in it drove me absolutely nuts

The gameplay is a ton of fun and the environments and lighting are really good. Everything else is kind of weak though. But I'm fine with that. The gameplay is what matters with that game and it was really, really fun.

It was a pretty cool game, but it being in the top ten was craziness. Especially considering it was above ME3 as it was.

Absolutely. I couldn't even believe, while I was playing it, that this game got five stars from Jeff, yet great games (I know, apples and oranges in terms of gameplay but still) like Alpha Protocol get three.

People just don't get Alpha Protocol, man. Fatally flawed as it may be, it's a really, really good (maybe even great) game. Now, I haven't played Syndicate, but to me, AP seems to have a much deeper, richer gameplay experience, in terms of mechanics, length, and I'm guessing character development too.

yeah but Alpha Protocol just isn't fun to play. Syndicate is.

Getting stealth and pistols all the way up and basically breaking the game is fun. Fact.

But sure, playing the first few hours to get to that point could be a frustrating slog. The sheer goofy dumbness kinda makes up for that too, though. So, am I an Alpha Protocol apologist? Yeah, wanna fight about it?

I dont think its that people dont get Alpha Protocol it is just that for people that value gameplay over everything then the game is average at best.

@nightriff: @quarters:

Eh, if you look/listen to their top 10 list of last years, all the bottom slots were basically trades for their personal favorites with usually only 1 person rooting for that game. Only Alex's personal pick got shut down. The rest we're included without much argument or questioning.

Obviously.

I've been wanting to play it after hearing Jeff's praise. I'll have to get on that eventually.

I don't rent games but to me this seems like the ideal candidate for one, finish the short campaign and back it goes. From what I saw though I liked the UI a lot.

It has a feel that is totally different from other shooters on the market. It's hard to describe but the awesome shit you do in the game and the way it feels set it apart from CoD and BF3. Feels a lot less like a shooting gallery than those games do, which goes a long way for me.

jeff was pushing pretty damn hard for this on the goty podcasts as he sometimes tends to do.

Syndicate was pretty terrific. It could have used a couple of months more for some polish (man, I hit a lot of technical snags in the single player), but it was one of the better experiences I've had with a multiplayer FPS in quite some time. The community for that game is great.

@azteck said:

Corporate espionage. Dataverse. Cayman-Global. Miles Kilo.

Miles Kilo.

I always felt the general internet outrage was crazy, the game is good (not great, but good). Starbreeze have still got it, I think, in spite of changes to their staff over the years.

It was pretty incredible the way Jeff got Syndicate into the top 10 last year. :P

It had a lot of potential. A lot. Especially coming from the guys behind Riddick and Darkness, Starbreeze Studios. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a super generic campaign with very little of what makes a ''Starbreeze'' game so unique and different.

It had a lot of weird/bad moments, and even if some settings were inspired and interesting, the gameplay wasn't. Same goes for the multiplayer. I played it for a handful of hours, until I realized how ordinary it was.

Sometimes, people have brainfarts. And in Jeff's case, he did with Syndicate. If he likes it, then by all means, let him. But is this a pile of gold? Hell no, it's just another B-grade generic shooter. It just turned out to have a cool setting.

Jeff was partially right. The game is good. But not that good. And like everyone else said here, it's nowhere near top10 good.

I'd say it was a top10 shooter of that year in terms of innovation in the genre.

i'd say it was easily top ten worthy. i played it on jeff's end of year recommendation and i loved it, more than any other top ten entry i hadn't played at that stage. but - let's face it folks - his choice was ENTIRELY valid regardless of what I thought.

As far as first-person shooters go these days, it's pretty up there.

Syndicate totally deserved to be in the top 10 last year. It was one of the most fun games I played all year. I generally value story and stuff over gameplay, but something about syndicate just clicked with me. What would you put in it's place?

Dust? Psh. I did everything in that game but man did it get repetitive and the story wasn't that great.

FTL? I really like that game too, but bad RNG kinda ruins that game.

Hotline Miami? I had more technical problems with this than with Syndicate. The boss fights and hospital level almost destroyed that game. When it works exactly like it's supposed to it's awesome, though after 3 hours I was ready for it to be over.

Hell, Syndicate deserves to be on there more than Mark of the Ninja and ZombiU(granted I haven't played this, so I could be wrong), I don't know why people are so caught up on this one.