EA Returns To Desert Strike Series, Not Syndicate?

An anonymous reader writes "Plenty of Brit sites have been reporting on new games which Electronic Arts is working on, some resurrecting some of the old legacy franchises. In particular, Spong.com is claiming that a Syndicate remake and a Desert Strike follow-up are in the works. Well, the other sites seem to be steering clear of the Syndicate story, with one claiming Spong 'got their wires crossed'. However, GamesIndustry.biz has a very good article clarifying the Strike game, mentioning that EA Northwest are developing it, as well as revealing that Scot team Visual Science is working on the recently discussed GoldenEye, so both of those games now seem to be a definite. What do Slashdot readers think of returning to old titles like these - especially from a company like EA, whose quality of output is sometimes a bit questionable?"

Comments

Syndicate

[{8_8}]

A revamp of Syndicate or Syndicate Wars selling for $20-$30 would be nice. Nostalgia alone would be reason enough for me to buy it, although new graphics and some new missions couldn't hurt.

My favorite tactic in Syndicate was to use the Persuadertron to minionize everyone I saw until I could persuade agents, then redline adrenaline and rush the enemy. You could get loads of new agents that way, but if there weren't many people around it could take forever. Another fun thing to do was persuade mass amounts of civilans, then arm them with leftover weapons and go around shooting things. Nothing like giving 50+ people miniguns/gauss and shooting everything you came across ;)

Re:Syndicate

[socode]

One button cycles which squad member is currently centred on screen. There, that wasn't so hard.

Re:Syndicate

[wheany]

I only remember that the mission briefings said something to the effect of "You might want to use a single agent armed with a sniper rifle", then I would use 4 agents armed to the teeth with miniguns and gauss guns, start the mission by minimizing all the drugs and waiting for the bars to drop to minimum. Then I would go around the city until I saw a hostile, maximize the drugs and go on a rampage.

It was fun, though...

Re:Specialization

[AllUsernamesAreGone]

(because they actually do a damn fine job with hardware, and their games are pretty good)

I don't know about the hardware, but the reason Microsoft games tend to be better than Microsoft operating systems is, I think, because Microsoft are better at looking for talent than developing it. I can't fault them for being able to identify and buy concepts and teams that further their plans.

Now if only SCO could find something it could do well.....

Destruct testing of lie detectors?

Populous!

[samael]

I'd buy a gameboy if I could get populous for it!

Bah.

[Wanj00n]

EA's creative direction is permanently stuck on a scale from mediocre to abominable. An analogy with the Borg would be apt: they assimilate gaming's most creative forces in order to gain control of their valuable assets, after which the identity /and/ creativity of those forces are wholly subsumed, dispersed, dispensed with.

Desert Strike was originally made by EA, and its generic nature is completely typical of their product. That it's getting a remake comes as no surprise. Syndicate, on the other hand, was essential Bullfrog, whose distinctive charms and talents as a game company are no longer with us thanks to EA. I would neither count on EA to make anything that could actually live up to the series' good name (in fact, I'd sooner count on them willfully desecrating it in their $$$ hopes of appealing to the everyman), nor would I count on them tackling the richness of content that is Syndicate: they'd be too damn intimidated.

Syndicate highly unlikely

[shoptroll]

Makes sense...

Bullfrog closed up shop years ago I think. A new syndicate would be awesome, but the Strike series was done by EA on their own back in the day.

Besides, Moleyneux is at Lionhead right now, and I highly doubt they'd have the IP rights to use the Syndicate franchise. I could be wrong though.

Syndicate aversion not surprising

[martone66]

Considering all the hulabaloo over GTA3 in our over-litigious socieity, I'm not surprised that EA is steering away from making a new version of Syndicate. I haven't played the game in 10 years, but I remember lighting civilians and enemy agents up with flamethrowers and miniguns.

Even an M rating doesn't prevent kids from getting their hands on violent games, and once people start making noise about them, it's a PR nightmare for the company.

Re:Syndicate aversion not surprising

[mrseigen]

If doing a violent game was really such a nightmare, then why is Rockstar selling so many copies of GTA3?

Granted, it's a little bit violent, considering whenever I played I inevitably got my crowd of doped-up cyborg murderers into a car and ran over people before getting out and lighting people on fire (their screams are the best in any videogame, ever). But hey, it's no worse than anything else on the market.

I'm really not surprised.

[mrseigen]

It makes more sense for a mainstream-serving company like EA to wedge in a shooting game between their weekly releases of Sims expansion packs than it does to release a remake of a beloved game where you had to have a fair bit of strategy to survive.

Here's hoping an independent group somewhere picks up on the Syndicate story and makes their own re-release, because none of the console-friendly publishers in recent memory are going to touch it.

Syndicate Remake?

[Operating Thetan]

AFAIK, everyone who was involved with the 2 Syndicate games went to either Lost Toys(RIP), Muckyfoot(RIP) or Lionhead