Back in 1993, Peter Molyneux’s Bullfrog Productions released a now-classic PC strategy title in which players commanded a squad of four agents working for a super-corporation on a multitude of missions to dominate the world. Now Electronic Arts has resurrected the franchise after many years, transforming it from an isometric strategy game to a first-person shooter. If you’re a hardcore superfan of the original who has an issue with this decision, nothing anyone says is going to change your mind. But if you’re open to an FPS reinterpretation with loads of references to the old games, or if you’ve never heard of “Syndicate” and like sci-fi shooters, this may be the game for you.

Rather than put you in the role of a commander like the original games, “Chronicles of Riddick” and “The Darkness” developer Starbreeze puts players in control of Miles Kilo, a Eurocorp agent enlisted in the company’s experimental new DART 6 chip program that gives him the ability to subvert the chips in other people’s heads and hack the environment around him.

The story follows a predictable arc, with oppressive corporations simultaneously empowering and controlling much of the populace with implanted chips while an underground resistance fights back in the year 2069. Kilo starts out as an errand boy for shady Eurocorp boss Jack Denham (played by Brian Cox) performing assassinations, surveillance and the like, all with the goal of keeping the company on top. While there are no “Jenny on the couch” moments here, plenty of well-acted scenes play out while you’re strapped to a chair or hoofing through a level.

Players will spend the first chunk of the game shooting up rival syndicate factions with elegant backdrops inspired by “Blade Runner” and “Mirror’s Edge” (there’s even a massive floating city raft). You and the rest of the highly skilled agents in the world wear snappy trench coats like Neo from “The Matrix,” but act more like the deadly, emotionless agents. Your partner, Agent Merit, practically goes out of his way to shoot civilians, and you can too without penalty if you want. Eventually, you’ll take on unchipped resistance fighters in the grimy streets who have invisibility suits and other toys. While they don’t have any chip powers to use against you, they can’t be manipulated by yours either.

All of the onscreen HUD elements and agent powers come courtesy of the DART 6 implant. At a press of the shoulder button, players turn on DART vision, a temporary overlay filter that highlights all enemies in orange while the world turns a digital gray. While in this mode foes slow down, you take less damage, and your weapons are more effective. The DART 6 chip also has three different apps that you can use to persuade goons to fight for you, make them blow themselves up, or backfire their weapon (which makes them fall out of cover and become more vulnerable to attacks). Performing well in combat allows the apps to recharge faster.

The most-used DART 6 power by far is the standard breach. This allows you to remotely unlock doors, reprogram turrets, and disable the armor of mini-bosses. The breaches and apps require you to get in close to the action and add in the tension of watching the progress bar fill up above the enemies’ heads as you hold the button down. Some foes are invincible until you breach them, so there’s an interesting dynamic of breaching and hiding while a big guy with a minigun flanks your position. Once his armor is disabled it’s time to come out of cover, turn on the overlay, and unload. It’s a nice volley of attack and defend.

Early missions task you with assassinating a rival syndicate’s key scientist and then dealing with one of its vengeful agents. Killing high profile targets allows you to gruesomely extract their chips and use them to upgrade your health, accuracy, the length you can use DART vision and other abilities. You can upgrade skills in any order, but you get minor health bonuses if you beef up abilities located next to each other on the board. You can’t re-spec or fully upgrade everything, so choose your investments carefully.

The single-player campaign offers some entertaining set pieces, like shooting at a flying craft from atop a speeding train and battling a variety of super-powered agent bosses. Most of the missions are spiced up with new guns, enemies and abilities, but the last 20 percent of the game gets stale as you battle endless waves of goons. “Syndicate’s” cooperative mode is completely separate from the story campaign, and it also shares the most similarities to the source material.

I went into “Syndicate” with very few preconceptions and came out pleased. EA’s lackluster promotion of the game implied that the publisher might have been trying to sneak out a sci-fi shooter disaster, but Starbreeze managed to add another unique spin to the FPS genre that’s worth checking out if you’re not hung up on the property’s legacy.

‘Syndicate’

8 (out of 10)

Xbox 360, PS3, PC

Electronic Arts, Starbreeze Studios

ESRB rating: M for Mature

TOP 10

ACROSS THE BOARD

The editors of Game Informer Magazine rank the top 10 games for March:

1. “Mass Effect 3” (PS3, X360, PC)

2. “Journey” (PS3)

3. “Twisted Metal” (PS3)

4. “Asura’s Wrath” (PS3, X360)

5. “ Jak and Daxter Collection” (PS3)

6. “Tales From Space: Mutant Blobs Attack” (Vita)

7. “Soulcalibur V” (PS3, X360)

8. “Syndicate” (PS3, X360, PC)

9. “Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning” (PS3, X360)

10. “Uncharted: Golden Abyss” (Vita)

— McClatchy-Tribune News Service

Weekly download

‘Nexuiz’

For: Xbox 360

From: Illfonic/THQ

ESRB Rating: T for Teen

Price: $10

“Nexuiz” may proudly proclaim it’s one of the first downloadable games available that’s powered by the CryENGINE 3 engine, but anyone with a discerning eye for shooters knows that the presence of “Quake III Arena’s” heart and soul is the real story here. Originally conceived years ago as a “Quake” mod, “Nexuiz” comes into its own by taking that series’ core principles — blindingly fast first-person shooter combat, small but intricate maps laden with weapons and game-changing power-ups — and giving them a polished, modern sheen (thanks, largely, to CryENGINE 3’s impressive visual capabilities).

Those in search of storytelling need not apply: “Nexuiz” offers a practice mode with A.I. bots, but you must play against others (eight players, online only) to pad your statistics and get those achievements. But much like “Q3A” was so pure in its freneticism that anyone could play it, so is “Nexuiz,” which plays spotlessly online and offers a lot to like for its $10 price tag.

— Billy O’Keefe, McClatchy-Tribune News Service