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Syndicate Reboot Coming Next Year

Posted by Soulskill on from the what's-old-is-new dept.

Electronic Arts has announced that the popular 1993 cyberpunk game Syndicate is getting a remake. This time, instead of being a tactical action game, it'll be a first-person shooter, and co-op play is planned. The Guardian's games blog sums up what the new Syndicate will need in order to succeed: "The biggest challenge will to replicate Bullfrog's brilliant story-telling and its keen eye for cyberpunk details. The original titles were also fascinating for their amorality – players were neither rewarded nor penalized for gunning down civilians or destroying vast areas of real estate, reflecting the wider themes of urban nihilism and social breakdown. Fans certainly won't be appeased by a vaguely near-future shoot-'em-up with some hackneyed hacking mini-games tossed in for cyber-credentials."

11 of 184 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Fucking Lame by Gadget_Guy · · Score: 4, Funny

    Absolutely. This is not a reboot, it is just game that uses the same name as an old classic from a different genre.

    What is next? A flight simulator named Tetris?

  2. How can it be a remake... by Amarantine · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ...if the remake is a different genre than the original? Syndicate was no fps...

    1. Re:How can it be a remake... by professionalfurryele · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Third person RPG and first person RPG are compatible genres. Both tell the story from the perspective of a protagonist who is the player. Fallout 3 being a (pretty decent) oblivion clone with guns was not especially unnatural. Now WoW is not a Warcraft game, and having been a fan of Warcraft I was very disappointed that we got a MMORPG instead of something compatible with an RTS. But you know what, it wasn't a remake, it was the next iteration in a series. They weren't trying to make another Warcraft style game and at the time Warcraft was frankly a bit tired as it was implemented, so I don't really feel justified bitching about it. Series take different directions. Similarly if they made a Civ6 which was in the style of Paradox Interactive titles like Europa Universalis I wouldn't bitch at first, both because it would be a new direction and because these represent compatible genres.
      That is not what this is. The squad based RTS genre is not tired (the FPS certainly is), it is completely ignored because it doesn't play so well on consoles. But we need a gimmick to make our latest FPS more appealing! I know, lets slap on the name of some old piece of IP we happen to have the rights to, preventing anyone else from release a genuine re-imagining and piss off all the fans. You know what is really sad, it will probably work.

    2. Re:How can it be a remake... by professionalfurryele · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It cant be a good game, and be Syndicate at the same time in this genre. Syndicate divorced you from the consequences of your actions by allowing you to control a squad. You ordered persuasion and murder rather than doing it yourself. You cant do that from a first person perspective. So either you make a good FPS, or a good Syndicate game, but you cant make both in one game.
      My point was that Fallout 3 was not a new direction, and I never complained at the time. It was an evolution of a concept. Fallout Tactics on the other hand was a bucket of shit, for precisely the same reason this will either be a bucket of shit, or not be Syndicate. You cant capture the essence of the Fallout universe in a TBS game.
      Warcraft gets to go in a different direction because at the time RTS games were tired as was the perspective on the Warcraft universe offered by the RTS genre. Do you want to try and argue that morally ambivalent, squad based real time strategy is tired? Do you want to try and make the case that the FPS genre isn't over done?

  3. So in other words... by Xest · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It's going to be a really really shit version of Deus Ex.

    Seriously what the fuck is the aversion to the classic genres nowadays? Where are modern day games like Cannon Fodder, Syndicate, Desert Strike, Magic Carpet. Hell it's hard to even find RTS games like the original Command and Conquer now, they're all just a bit too futuristic. The original C&C was at least set reasonably in near future but the latest in the series are all about fucking UFOs and aliens and mega-robots.

    There's so many genres out there that have basically just died off and are begging for modern day remakes done properly. By done properly I mean not turned into some shitty FPS that'll probably flop.

    1. Re:So in other words... by Xest · · Score: 3, Insightful

      But you can replace the old 2D isometric engines with a nice 3D engine and get some fantastic effects- that is after all basically how the RTS genre has evolved, but the genre hasn't died off. I see little reason you couldn't redo a game like Syndicate or Desert Strike with a modern RTS type 3D engine.

      When you say full 3D helicopter games, do you mean full blown flight sims? To me that's a separate genre and not really the arcadish top down blastfest type of feel I'm looking for - effectively it's a different genre, although I do like them too.

      Not sure what tablet you have but ScummVM works on Android. I'll admit I'm amazed we've not seen a resurgence of those type of games quite yet on tablets, they're absolutely ripe for that type of adventure game. Still at least I can replay DOTT on ScummVM on my phone ;)

    2. Re:So in other words... by SharpFang · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Syndicate would play out pretty great in 3D as RTS where you control disembodied camera to drive the guys, with option to switch to FPS controlling one of them.

      But if you do away with "control a tactical team" and change it into "control one guy" you lose the main point of the game. It's not isometric graphics that defined Syndicate, it was the tactical aspect of splitting the team.

      Sacrifice half the team to draw enemies away from the target, then assault it with the remaining agent. Send one by one each of the 4 agents to tear further through lethal defenses. Split the team and ambush the enemy. Send away one team member for a vehicle, then drive it like a tank. Send one agent on a suicide mission, self-destruct at the target. Complete the mission using remaining agents. Split the team to kill four hits at four locations before the enemy can react. Set one agent with a flamethrower behind a corner creating unpassable wall of fire while others perform the mission tasks.

      And of course "Persuade" half the town, arm them and run the mob at the target.

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  4. FPS is now the only genre. by MimeticLie · · Score: 5, Insightful

    First XCOM, now this. What I don't get is why. It's not like the typical FPS gamer today was playing strategy games in the 90s, so why all the old properties? What's the point in recycling IPs if your target audience has never heard of them?

  5. Re:Home of the Underdogs is your friend. by LighterShadeOfBlack · · Score: 3, Funny

    In EA's version the city is clean.That is an indication of failure when it comes to atmosphere.

    It's being published by EA. Trust me, you'll feel dirty enough by the time you've waded through the DRM.

    --
    Spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, and stupid comments are intentional.
  6. Re:Home of the Underdogs is your friend. by SharpFang · · Score: 3, Informative

    Actually, in the original, the city areas were varied, and some were very tidy and pretty, with neatly trimmed grass, perfect lines of trees and nicely angled hills. To this day I get "Syndicate vibes" from certain gardens, squares, parks that are all too regularly trimmed.

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    45 5F E1 04 22 CA 29 C4 93 3F 95 05 2B 79 2A B2
  7. Syndicate by ledow · · Score: 4, Informative

    First, "brilliant storytelling"? I don't remember much of that in Syndicate at all. The intro consisted of someone getting run over, turned into a cyborg and then shooting the "viewer". The rest of the cutscenes were a guy in a blimp throwing his lamp, and a party underneath the blimp, to my knowledge. The in-game text consisted mostly of "kill this guy for this reason" or similar.

    That's part of what made Syndicate great - no junk, nothing getting in your way (every cutscene was skippable with any keypress), just you, a target, and a city to hunt them down in. Syndicate was simplicity and atmosphere - I can remember my brother crowing about the Blade-Runner-ness of it all, from the cutscenes to the pre-game interface to the cities. And who can forget that voice that confirmed your commands - "Ser-lected"?

    Syndicate was simple, fun gaming. You didn't need a million keys on your keyboard to play (1, 2, 3, 4 and space if I remember rightly - and everything else on mouse), you weren't forced down any one avenue and the dynamics of "hyping" your agents, controlling four separate agents, loading weapons, the persuadertron, and controllable vehicles were relatively new and interesting (First ever game to feature car-jackings?).

    It ran on everything (386 with 2MB if I remember), didn't need a ton of power, worked virtually intuitively, had decent saves, and the only downside was an impossibly unbalanced last mission (which was weird because all the others were pitched just fine).

    But it sold because it was simple to play. Start New Game, take the default load-out, click to move, right-click to shoot, both-click (a vastly underused input mechanic) to hype temporarily. To enter car, click. To leave car, click. To change weapon, click. To separate your agents, click between them. It was a grown-up Cannon Fodder, with a bit of resource management thrown in (persuade everyone you can, then sell their weapons for upgrades). Hell, it even had radar so you could never get lost.

    Syndicate Wars itself was a bit of blasphemy to the Syndicate fan because it lost a great amount of the simplicity. Full-3D FPS? Why? What's wrong with a 3D-esque layout that players can change if they want? It's C&C:Generals all over again - let's take an estabished isometric Dune-like game franchise and turn it into an FPS. Would you do the same the other way around?

    Personally, it can stay in development for ever. But the second the original comes up on GOG.com, (they've already done a few Bullfrog titles this year) I'll be buying it.