EA: "Syndicate is tough, really tough"

EA has described Syndicate as a "really tough" shooter that will challenge hardcore gamers.

The Starbreeze-developed FPS has "best in breed" AI that makes for more "traditional" gameplay.

"It's cool," Jeff Gamon, EA Partners executive producer, told Eurogamer. "It's an excellent shooting experience. We think our AI is best of breed. It's very light on scripting. It's a very challenging, hardcore shooter game. It's very traditional in that sense. It's tough. It's really tough. It's challenging."

Starbreeze's Syndicate revives what many consider to be one of the greatest strategy games of all time.

While fans remain divided over this latest effort, Gamon said both EA and Starbreeze were keen to replicate the classic, Bullfrog-created Syndicate feel - including its difficulty.

And he pointed to one mission in particular: Atlantic Accelerator, a mission from the first game famed for its difficulty.

Syndicate's four-player co-op experience takes some of the settings from the first game and reimagines them in a new genre. Atlantic Accelerator is one of them.

"It's part of the legacy really," Gamon, who played Syndicate in the early nineties and completed Atlantic Accelerator, said. "Atlantic Accelerator is a case in point. It's not punishing, I don't think. What makes Syndicate fun is it is challenging without being frustrating. When you get beaten by the AI it's because they've got around you. It's not because they can bull's-eye you through cover from a million miles away. It's all about playing like a hardcore gamer. It's a good challenging experience."

One aspect of the first game that is not replicated in quite the same way is the extreme gore.

Bullfrog's Syndicate allowed players to mow down civilians at will - and while Starbreeze's Syndicate will allow players to kill innocents, it keeps the random murder to a minimum.

"It's difficult to do these days on that kind of scale, where you could use them as human shields," Gamon explained. "The world of Syndicate is these consumers who have bought into this lifestyle by putting this chip into their heads.

"So a lot of the action you'll raise when you go into the other syndicates' territory is in civilian areas. So, there are certainly moments in the game where civilians get in the line of fire. But you're not encouraged to or rewarded to [kill them]. They're there, basically. They're part of the environment."