Syndicate (1993)

Now guaranteed, there is a lot of innovation to be found here, and if you were a kid that had not a single other game (I mean let's ignore the fact that this was made in 1993 and CONSOLE GAMING HAD GAMES THAT RAN AT A BETTER FRAMERATE AND WEREN'T AS SLOW PACED), I would say this game isn't that obtuse once you get to know the basics, but it is way too simple and slow for it's own good.

PC Gaming at this time was really grasping for straws, but the biggest offense of this game is that you can't look through roofs, sure other complaints could be that the music is very repetitive, or that the game just throws you in (now this could mostly be the result of games in the past relying more on manuals rather than intuitive design, ignore games that had intuitive design from this time also).

I'm sure this was a great stepping stone for the genre that is RTS games, but I would just rather skip to 1997 and play Starcraft 5 times, than come back to this, even if it has some very good and endearing pixel art, world building and pre rendered videos.

I played 5 missions before just giving up because I have the heavy impression of "Oh so this is all this game has to offer me huh?" I'd be surprised if future missions really had something going for it, because the core gameplay (and i will admit the direction action of pointing and shooting is cute) is way too dull.

I played Syndicate back in the 90s. I recently completed a playthrough and I really quite enjoyed it. However, the game is very easy if you simply use Group Mode, max IPA levels, and carry mini-guns (something the developers never intended, I strongly suspect). There's a handful of missions you might need to replay but it won't take long to figure out and beat each one. Every Syndicate veteran knows that the pathfinding AI is really bad, but I don't think it's too hard to get used to. The atmosphere, music, and visuals are pleasing to me and it's a fairly addictive game.

I'm really glad I replayed this one and I believe it deserves a spot on the pantheon of early-to-mid 1990s PC games.

NB: I wrote this review on 10-9-2018 but just noticed it was posted to the wrong version of Syndicate.

I have a hypothesis: Unless you played a game released over 10-15 years ago shortly after release (a few years later at most) you will probably not like it if you tried it now. I still love Half-Life and Deus Ex, but most other old games are unbearable.

Syndicate is 25 years old and even if you look past the graphics and the way it throws you into the deep end right away, the dreadful controls just make it unplayable now. It's like watching a VHS while you're used to BluRay; your standards have been raised too far past it.

Beat SNES version. Not quite understanding the research system, the first thing I researched was the laser (which was pointless). Then went for chest upgrades. I used pistols early on and collected enemy weapons to sell to fund research. Once I started finding enemies using uzi and minigun, I researched them. After maxing out chest mods and equipping 1 agent with level 3 chest, I researched all weapons. Then I upgraded everyone with level 3 of all mods. I gave 1 agent level 1 eyes early on but otherwise I never wasted my money on anything other than the best. It took some time to figure out the tax system. It does not work like in other games, where you have to find the sweet spot of optimal profit. Rather it seems that if you set the taxes too high, lowering them later will not prevent the territory from eventually rebelling. I played around with different settings and recapturing the early stages to settle on leaving the tax rates at the default 30%. That kept every place very happy and gave more than enough money to beat the game. Maybe you could get away with a little higher; 60% was enough to provoke rebellion but I did not bother to try 40 to 50.

I always used 4 agents and equipped them entirely with stuff looted from enemies, except for the last level where I bought energy shields for everyone, but did not use them. The long range (assault rifle) was the best weapon because of the range; often a single shot from all 4 agents would one shot anything. The minigun came next as a more close range run and gun weapon. It was especially useful indoors, where I often only sent 1 agent. The uzi was very similar, with a little better range for less damage. The other weapons were not really worth using; even the high end laser and gausse gun. While they could 1 shot enemies, they lacked ammo and were irrelevant with 4 guys. Most levels were easy, especially with the health regen on the maxed chest. Biggest problem I had was getting hit by cars, because that could be a 1 shot death. One of the worst stages was when I had to assassinate a guy in a stolen car without destroying the car. Miniguns destroyed the car too easily, so I ended up jacking the car and driving around wondering how to kill the guy in the car with my guys. Should have been easy if the game was more realistic; just snap his neck and throw him from the car. I ended up having to bail out and shoot the car with a few long range shots to make him bail out. Took quite a few save state tries to get that just right. The next troublesome levels were Mozambique and South Africa, because I had to rush around and kill the enemies before they killed the ones I had to save. I kept failing and the only way I could win was by using the chemicals system to increase the speed and accuracy of my agents. For most of the game I never bothered to use chemicals because it was a bit of a pain and the game was not difficult enough to need it. I followed mostly the default path from Europe to Alaska to South America before deciding I was not doing the stages in order of difficulty. So I went back to clear Asia, the Pacific, the Middle East and Africa before finishing with the Americas.

There were a lot of good aspects in this game, but other things that were poorly designed or could have been much better. The concept of the game was excellent; playing as bad guys going for world domination by any means necessary; you are the megacorp rather than the cyberpunks. The xcom like investment in your characters, who can permanently die, creates that same kind of risk vs reward and attachment. The base gameplay was very good also; being an isometric shooter with open levels that remind of later games like Deus Ex and Dishonored. But there is no stealth or level based mechanics, like cutting power, creating distractions, or hazards. Other than shooting, the only thing you can do is mind control enemies and civilians, which is cool. Except when you have to escort them with the abysmal pathfinding. Keeping the 4 agents together can be like herding cats when dealing with things like doorways, bridges, or anything else that restricts movement. Even worse when indoors because the ceilings and walls do not turn transparent; you have to navigate using the tiny minimap. Despite the levels being interesting, they end up playing more or less the same and the game drags on. The difficulty does not really ramp up much, and there are no bosses, final level or even an ending. There is also very little story or coherence to keep the player invested in winning. With some level design and mechanical improvements this could have been a masterpiece.

8.0/10