Recently, NExT Studios and Level Infinite have launched their squad-based third-person shooter title SYNCED into Open Beta. While that is going to continue through the beginning of January, offering more players a chance to get their hands-on experience with this title, there is a lot to look forward to with this game. As it currently stands, this game is a fun little squad game where every round may not lead to a win, but it will lead to character improvements that can ultimately lead to victory. The question around this style of game is simply “is it fun to play?” Let’s dive into that question.

Gameplay

The game is broken up into sectors rather than levels. During the open beta, players have access to three sectors - Surge Sweep, Erosion Labyrinth, and Burn-Off Run. In order to reach the next sector, you must complete the first one, but in order to beat the first sector, you will need to go a few rounds in order to level up. With the strength level of your character, even if your personal skill were purely immaculate, it is just not really feasible to beat the final boss of the first sector.

Each time you finish a round, you are sent back to the HUB area where you can visit the gunsmith and improve your weapons and gear. You will see an overall level as you improve your character and that is what you want to work on improving. Balanced improvement definitely seems to have a better chance to get you where you want to be rather than focused improvement, but it is a bit early to tell that for sure just yet.

Sectors are broken up into three parts. The first two are somewhat the same, where you follow an indicator on your HUD and defeat a load of enemies around that pillar, including the destruction of the pillar. After you take a bunch of these out, you will reach an end-area pillar that is stronger than the others and has its own attacks while you have other enemies around you as well. The first area will seem very easy and the second area will be a bit more challenging. When you reach the third area of the sector, this will be a boss fight and it is where your true power will be tested. If your party isn’t powered up enough, this fight will either take a very long time to win or a very short time to lose.

All of that is just the Player-vs-Enemy (PvE) side of the game. There is also a Player-vs-Player (PvP) side to consider. When it comes to PvP, there are 12 players total, split up in teams of 3, that will face off against each other. It isn’t strictly a game of team deathmatch though as many of the same objectives do come into play.

When it comes to setting up your squad, there are different types of Runners to choose from and they each have their own builds and abilities. While some are good for competitive play, others are better for team play. By this, I mean that there are abilities ranging from radar detection to healing to power spiking.

What really makes this game stand out are the Nanos. A Nano can come in different class types and they offer both an offensive and passive ability. The classes currently available include Crusher, Seer, Guardian, and Suppressor. I found myself preferably using the Crusher as its passive ability offered a bit more defense to my character while it was part of my arm and its offensive ability was to send it out to fight against any specific enemy I wanted it to face off against. Just as with the Runners, each Nano has its own use and style so try to find what fits your playstyle best and try to have it match your Runners abilities as well.

Expectations

While there are currently a few different Sectors available, I do expect to see a lot more Sectors in the final game. Being broken up into three different levels is an interesting idea, but the fact that the first two areas are pretty much identical and one is just a bit harder, I hope to see this changed to be a bit more unique. Especially since the boss fight is nothing like the first two areas, I don’t see why they have a repetitive aspect to the Sector at all.

Making a game based on doing multiple runs in order to complete a single Sector can be a bit daunting to some players. I hope they end up making an easier level or few so that players can have a more accomplished feeling about their growth rather than getting beaten down until they improve enough to win. Running Sector One three times until I beat it with my squad just didn’t give a great feeling until we beat it. There was a bit of disappointment from all of us when we lost two times with very little advancement between the two attempts.

Verdict

SYNCED is a unique squad-based shooter that blends interesting concepts into fun gameplay! I just hope to see some of the repetitiveness of the game and the “fail-before-you-can-achieve” mindset removed with future updates and improvements. As it stands, I strongly suggest anybody that is able to try out the open beta to do so! This is a free-to-play game that is going to launch as a free-to-play title and knowing if it is something to have on your radar now is better than missing its launch later on down the road.