Syndicate

[Silver]

Not sure how many of you remember this gem. Was an amazing strategy game and I had been looking forward to the remake ever since I heard about it. Now, I just want to cry...

 

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2011/09/syndicate-is-coming-back-as-a-first-person-shooter-hurray.ars

 

Side note, I remember getting to the last level in the expansion pack (middle of the Atlantic base) but was never able to beat it. EVERYBODY had a freaking gauss rifle.

[Werthead]

SYNDICATE was an amazing game. The remake has been the worst-kept-secret in the industry, as was the fact that it was going to be an FPS.

 

To be honest, it being an FPS by itself isn't the problem. It makes sense in the setting that you'd be controlling these guys through cameras and feedback directly from neural implants rather than sitting in a blimp overlooking the cities, like in the original games. An FPS SYNDICATE which was otherwise identical would be great (and let's be honest, not being able to see what was going on inside buildings always sucked in the original games), especially since Starbreeze have good form (with the RIDDICK games and THE DARKNESS).

 

The problem for me is the fact that you can only control one Agent at a time (although there is four-player co-op), that Agent has a name and personality and will be the focus of a 'story'. In the original game the Agents were cybernetic zombies remotely controlled by an operator (the actual 'you', sitting in the blimp). They had no personalities at all. Furthermore, the new game will apparently ditch the RISK-style world domination map and the between-missions weapons R&D sections which added a lot of strategic depth to the game. It sounds like this will be purely narrative, linear and mission-based. Which is not what SYNDICATE was about, at all.

 

Basically, they've taken the name and slapped it lazily on an FPS, exactly the same as they've done with X-COM. In fact, of the three classic 'old IPs' being resurrected as new games, only CARRIER COMMAND seems to be staying true to the spirit of the original.

[Silver]

Yeah, I heard the rumors before but hoped they were just that. And it really sounds like they just want a reskinned Deus Ex.