You, computer purists, probably have already played -or at least heard- of these awesome games from Bullfrog: Syndicate and Syndicate Wars
Rumors were spread on the web that EA was planning a sequel to these games after they purely and simply swallowed Bullfrog. These rumors were true. The new Syndicate game (entitled Syndicate 2012) is going to be released in February next year, almost 20 years after the first game...
You can also find a gameplay video (11 minutes) with comments from a producer:
What do you think?
I personally am a huge fan of the first game. Actually, if I had to make a top 3 of my favorite games of all times, Syndicate is on the list. I expected a sequel to this game so much that, during my studies as a game designer, I wrote lots of documents detailing the first Syndicate game to try to create a sequel on my own. When I knew Syndicate 2012 was going to be out, I kind of left it aside, telling to myself "oh well, they're going to make it faster than you anyway, just give it up". Then I saw the teasers, trailers, and gameplay videos on Youtube.
I am disappointed by the conversion from a RTS game to a FPS game, and somehow it revives my need for a real sequel, a game just like the good old days but only improved here and there. I may actually make a few SC2 maps out of it, if only I had enough time and not so much projects scheduled already. Syndicate 2012 smells like a huge rip off of Deus Ex Human Revolution and a few other games, I would have loved to see a 4 players co-op RTS game instead... I have nothing against the 1st person view, I'm just sad they removed the whole strategy aspect, where you had to tax countries to make researches, persuade cyborgs to replace those you lose during missions, etc... I still have a little bit of hope that the trailers are not revealing how deep the gameplay really is, and I really cross my fingers that EA did something interesting out of it.
You can find Syndicate (from 1993) very easily now by searching "Syndicate abandonware" on Google... Unfortunately, Syndicate Wars is not an abandonware anymore, it's protected by the ESA now probably because EA was about to release the sequel.
I agree with the "FPS are too popular now", and I think that's exactly why they chose to make it that way. I also heard about X-COM, but to me it is and will ever be a squad-based strategy game...
I have watched as many videos as I could find on Youtube about Syndicate 2012, from what I saw about the online part it seems a little bit better than what I expected. They still haven't shown anything about a world-wide "taxing strategy" to increase income, or anything about researching new weapons and body parts, but if they do I think this game is definitely worth trying. It will probably still lack the replayability Syndicate had though... It was fun to see events happening worldwide even though you were not doing anything, you knew the missions were going to be slightly different if you gave the opponents enough time to research body parts or weapons you don't even have yourself.
Why do I have a bad feeling EA is going to screw this up.. They already 'destroyed' the C&C franchise. I worry they will do the same here. Character @ 2:02 looks exactly like one of the characters in Deus Ex 3. Yeah.. I do feel this is a rip-off.
I agree that syndicate is better off as a squad based tactical game.
PS: Forgive my lack of respect for EA, as I feel most of their games are of mediocre quality.
PS: Forgive my lack of respect for EA, as I feel most of their games are of mediocre quality.
Tell me about it... I don't even remember playing any game from EA that was worth buying... Darkspore was kind of a good idea for a game, but when I had access to a beta-key I was bored in less than a day. I'm probably a bit naive here, but I still hope they will listen to the fans about Syndicate and make sure the co-op mode(s) includes enough squad-based strategy. I'm pretty sure now that the solo campaign will be a huge rip-off of Deus Ex HR, but if the multiplayer aspect is well done, it can still be a good/average game. It won't bring back the whole "conquer the world and tax them like hell" part of the game though, which is very sad... Hopefully, we will see videos about this in the next months to come. I think I can deal with the "Deus Ex rip-off" issue, I've seen worse.
You can take your time making the maps, but when you do release them, I'd be interested in trying them :D
I wish I could... I quit 3D modeling years ago, so if I ever make a map with a gameplay similar to Syndicate, I'll need a good team (for modeling, animation, textures and so on)... or damn good tutorials! There is no unit in SC2 even remotely close to the Syndicate cyborgs, and you can't enter buildings either. It means a lot of extra work, and I'm not sure my love for SC2 will remain intact long enough to finish this. I'm not even sure all my current projects will be finished one day, my personal life is taking a huge turn lately. But I'll look into it, it's been years since I wanted a sequel to Syndicate, I'm pretty sure I'll do something about it at some point. :)
You, computer purists, probably have already played -or at least heard- of these awesome games from Bullfrog: Syndicate and Syndicate Wars
Rumors were spread on the web that EA was planning a sequel to these games after they purely and simply swallowed Bullfrog. These rumors were true. The new Syndicate game (entitled Syndicate 2012) is going to be released in February next year, almost 20 years after the first game...
You can also find a gameplay video (11 minutes) with comments from a producer:
What do you think?
I personally am a huge fan of the first game. Actually, if I had to make a top 3 of my favorite games of all times, Syndicate is on the list. I expected a sequel to this game so much that, during my studies as a game designer, I wrote lots of documents detailing the first Syndicate game to try to create a sequel on my own. When I knew Syndicate 2012 was going to be out, I kind of left it aside, telling to myself "oh well, they're going to make it faster than you anyway, just give it up". Then I saw the teasers, trailers, and gameplay videos on Youtube.
I am disappointed by the conversion from a RTS game to a FPS game, and somehow it revives my need for a real sequel, a game just like the good old days but only improved here and there. I may actually make a few SC2 maps out of it, if only I had enough time and not so much projects scheduled already. Syndicate 2012 smells like a huge rip off of Deus Ex Human Revolution and a few other games, I would have loved to see a 4 players co-op RTS game instead... I have nothing against the 1st person view, I'm just sad they removed the whole strategy aspect, where you had to tax countries to make researches, persuade cyborgs to replace those you lose during missions, etc... I still have a little bit of hope that the trailers are not revealing how deep the gameplay really is, and I really cross my fingers that EA did something interesting out of it.
You can find Syndicate (from 1993) very easily now by searching "Syndicate abandonware" on Google... Unfortunately, Syndicate Wars is not an abandonware anymore, it's protected by the ESA now probably because EA was about to release the sequel.
I agree with the "FPS are too popular now", and I think that's exactly why they chose to make it that way. I also heard about X-COM, but to me it is and will ever be a squad-based strategy game...
I have watched as many videos as I could find on Youtube about Syndicate 2012, from what I saw about the online part it seems a little bit better than what I expected. They still haven't shown anything about a world-wide "taxing strategy" to increase income, or anything about researching new weapons and body parts, but if they do I think this game is definitely worth trying. It will probably still lack the replayability Syndicate had though... It was fun to see events happening worldwide even though you were not doing anything, you knew the missions were going to be slightly different if you gave the opponents enough time to research body parts or weapons you don't even have yourself.
Yeah, Syndicate was realy cool those days.
And making it FPS ruins the game, I think. Like it happened to Fallout.
@Zolden: Go
Yea whats wrong with all the fps maniacs...I tend to avoid those games since they all look so same due the FPS idea...
I didnt really like fallout 3 that much either...I guess it was ok, but nothing too amazing for me :/
Why do I have a bad feeling EA is going to screw this up.. They already 'destroyed' the C&C franchise. I worry they will do the same here. Character @ 2:02 looks exactly like one of the characters in Deus Ex 3. Yeah.. I do feel this is a rip-off.
I agree that syndicate is better off as a squad based tactical game.
PS: Forgive my lack of respect for EA, as I feel most of their games are of mediocre quality.
Tell me about it... I don't even remember playing any game from EA that was worth buying... Darkspore was kind of a good idea for a game, but when I had access to a beta-key I was bored in less than a day. I'm probably a bit naive here, but I still hope they will listen to the fans about Syndicate and make sure the co-op mode(s) includes enough squad-based strategy. I'm pretty sure now that the solo campaign will be a huge rip-off of Deus Ex HR, but if the multiplayer aspect is well done, it can still be a good/average game. It won't bring back the whole "conquer the world and tax them like hell" part of the game though, which is very sad... Hopefully, we will see videos about this in the next months to come. I think I can deal with the "Deus Ex rip-off" issue, I've seen worse.
I wish I could... I quit 3D modeling years ago, so if I ever make a map with a gameplay similar to Syndicate, I'll need a good team (for modeling, animation, textures and so on)... or damn good tutorials! There is no unit in SC2 even remotely close to the Syndicate cyborgs, and you can't enter buildings either. It means a lot of extra work, and I'm not sure my love for SC2 will remain intact long enough to finish this. I'm not even sure all my current projects will be finished one day, my personal life is taking a huge turn lately. But I'll look into it, it's been years since I wanted a sequel to Syndicate, I'm pretty sure I'll do something about it at some point. :)