Syndicate FPS reboot announced for early 2012
Starbreeze's Syndicate reboot has finally been announced by EA. Unlike Bullfrog's top-down, squad-based tactical original, it's an FPS. Expect it on PC, Xbox 360 and PS3 in "early 2012."
We've known for yonks that a new Syndicate was being made at Starbreeze under the codename Project RedLime. Today, publisher Electronic Arts has made it official. Named simply Syndicate, it's rebooting Bullfrog's classic cyberpunk top-down tactics game into a first-person shooter for PC and consoles.
An FPS is a far cry from the squad-based top-down tactical original Syndicate, but it was probably to be expected given the modern-day market and Starbreeze's recent games. The Swedish studio's last two titles were unconventional FPSs The Darkness and The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena.
As well as aping the dystopian cyberpunk setting, which sees megacorporations warring in 2069 to control America, the new Syndicate is said to recreate many classic weapons and environments. The four-player co-op mode will also contain missions "from" Bullfrog's original. Fingers crossed for a new version of the positively beastly Atlantic Accelerator mission.
Rather than controlling indistinct drones, players will step into the black leather boots of Eurocorp prototype cyborg agent Miles Kilo to "embark on an epic action adventure full of corruption and revenge." And, doubtless, shooting faces.
As a cyborg, Miles will have a few handy tricks up his sleeve, or inside his head, as the case is. An implanted 'DART 6' bio-chip enables bullet time shenanigans and lets Miles "breach the digital world" with "a variety of upgradable hacking mechanics" to tackle enemies. One can only hope that one of these will be the iconic Persuadatron from the originals, which turns foes to friends.
"Our goal with Syndicate is to provide a challenging action shooter for today's gamers as well as fans of the original," EA Partners excecutive producer Jeff Gamon said in the announcement. "I'm sure they will enjoy and recognize the legacy that made it such a classic."
The original Syndicate was released by Peter Molyneux's legendary Bullfrog Productions in 1993, followed by an expansion pack, American Revolt. 1996 sequel Syndicate Wars took the action into gloomy 3D, complete with delightfully destructable buildings, but the series was sadly shelved after that.
The new Syndicate is headed to PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 "in early 2012."
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replyAlice O'Connor posted a new article, Syndicate FPS reboot announced for early 2012.
Starbreeze's Syndicate reboot has finally been announced by EA. Unlike Bullfrog's top-down, squad-based tactical original, it's an FPS. Expect it on PC, Xbox 360 and PS3 in "early 2012."-
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In other words, "fuck you, original fans of the game".
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it could work, look at how well x-com turned out as an fps
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I have not, obviously. And let me be clear about my current opinion of the game which is based soley on the latest trailer. I like the look. I like the artwork and the concept for the new, reimagined aliens. But what I saw from the gameplay; people soaking immense amounts of damage and the 'pick me up' revive mechanic after being hit by a monster energy beam, leaves me underwhelmed and a bit disappointed.
My opinion of tactical shooters may have softened a little (I didn't like FO3 but I really enjoyed New Vegas). So, while I'm still hoping this mix of Gears of War and Mass Effect works, it's moved from a game I had reservations about but was anticipating with some excitement to a game I may pick up when it goes on sale, if there's a lot of post release hype.
Really, I think they shouldn't have bothered calling it XCOM and risking the comparison between the two games.
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I for one refuse to group X-COM Interceptor with the other XCOM games.
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And Enforcer too for that matter.
Shitty shit games -
Not counting Enforcer, there are 4 games. Only one sequel is really like the first game, and it was a cheap quick cash in sequel. Apocalypse was...different and Interceptor was a space game. People say this new game ruins the franchise, but the franchise has one real, good game. It's similar for Deus Ex. I mean, prior to DXHR, half (1 game) of the series was bad. You can hardly ruin that.
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We go over this everytime. The snag is this: while this is following in the same world what a lot of people crave is the gameplay in that world. And why it's so disheartening is because it's the pattern of if it's successful then we'll never see another game in the old style again (because now there's a new successful formula) - but if it fails we'll never see another game in the series (until the next FPS reboot). Either way the series as we knew it is now dead dead instead of just waiting for the next one that may not happen.
So yeah, there's some lamenting because something people really wanted is now only going to live on in FPS form. And some of us aren't huge fans of FPSes (I like them, but more for multiplayer - or hybrids like Deus Ex - but I greatly prefer top down/isometric games).
(and all of this doesn't even mention the fact that what role does using the beloved series name even play? It's console only, it's an FPS, and it's pissed off a great deal of the people who revere that name - it's pointless)-
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Are you going to give it a shot when it comes out, though? That's all I want to know. The main reason I said what I did, is because every time we see a classic franchise rebooted, people only look at the "flaws" of the product, rather than giving it a *chance* to "disappoint" them. All I ask is people give new games in a franchise a fair shake, before shitting all over it. Considering this is a Starbreeze joint, I am more than willing to let them impress me. I just wish more people could do that.
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I think one of the reason why it was made into FPS is because it will also work on consoles. As you may already know, there are not a lot of console strategy games and for most, it didnt work so well on consoles.
I personally think they are making/rebooting every classic series that are not FPS into FPS genre so they can have it for console...
Maybe expect this in the future: Civilization 6: Eye of the Pharaoh (FP-style civ building game), FPS (First Person Settlers) - build your own building in first person, Jagged Alliance FPS (like all other generic fps out there), Heroes of Might and Magic FPS, and many more...
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That's why my fanfic romantic comedy set in the Star Wars universe should be considered canonical. It's set in the same universe with all the same backstory, only now there are wacky hijinks that prevent Han and Leia from getting together!
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It's Starbreeze, so I have reason to believe it will not be "trashy". And second of all, I'm mostly upset because no one seems to be willing to give it a fair shake, especially considering we know next to nothing about the game, other than that it's an FPS and that the story is set in the Syndicate universe. Also, thanks for calling me out by name, that just seems rather dickish to me. You don't usually do that, unless you have a proper beef.
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It is Syndicate. It is a different manner of presentation and gameplay mechanics, but it is Syndicate.
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Or maybe some people figure that not everything needs to be made into a fucking FPS game? Especially, when it has very little to do with the original other than name.
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Why bother making a Syndicate game if it has nothing to do with the franchise other than both of them taking place in the future?
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Because publishers have all of these useless old IPs lying around for genres that no one wants to play and no one knows how to develop anymore because they've acquired so many other publishers and studios, and they might as well repurpose some of the better IPs because the cost of designing and marketing for a brand new IP is probably 20% higher or something. Obviously you'll need to do all new designs and marketing for the NEXT GEN so it will cost almost as much, but some of the preliminary work is done, with name recognition being the most valuable piece of work.
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^^ this. The new Fallout games are not bad games, but they're still not "Fallout" for me like the original classics were. They reached down deep and pulled up enough good stuff to make them nice games, and I appreciate that.
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Could elaborate on things the original fallout did that the new ones don't? For me the new ones are more fallout than the original.
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haha, we'd be lucky at that. It'll be an FPS and on consoles only.
Magic Carpet? Kinect based FPS set in Iraq (you're a Marine who occasionally provides air support from your helicopter).
Populous - Polictical Intrigue FPS, but with a twist. Some God has given you powers.... to kick ass.
What else can we hump into the ground as an FPS?-
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Theme Hospital is a "gritty paranormal thriller" of an FPS. You wake up in a hospital forgetting who you are, but something is wrong with this place and you must get to the bottom of it. The twist You're a mental patient there
In Dungeon keeper you're going to hell to save your sister - what you uncover is a complex industry of torture led by a maniac genius only known as "The Dungeon Keeper". Dungeon Keeper will feature a Playstation Move based cover system unlike anything seen before (except that one game in the arcades).
Also EA WIll bring back the BullFrog name. Only it'll be subtitled with "The FPS company". Borderbund will share this subtitle.-
Bard's Tale - oh they already ruined that...
Leisure Suit Larry - oh that was ruined too...
How about Crusader? Actually that would work as an FPS.
Shadowrun - already ruined.
Fallout - worked out better than I thought, New Vegas really redeemed it.
Wasn't there supposed to be a Command and Conquer FPS at one time?
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I might play it then.
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If done right RTS or Strategy games can do very well. You only have to look at how well games like Starcraft and civilization series. On the console front you had Halo Wars enjoy some measure of success even though it was an average RTS.
When you select a series for a reboot you do it because you are banking on brand recognition. In this case a good majority of the people will likely have never heard or played the game so the branding will in essence new to them. They could have easily wrote a new Steampunk story that would have better fit as a FPS game and still sold millions calling it something else.
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I'm quite interested in this. A new cyberpunk FPS from Starbreeze. Yes, that sounds quite pleasant.
Of course I'd also like a new Syndicate Syndicate, but this is certainly also welcome.-
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Oh look! Another great old game turned into a shitty FPS! Thank god for the era of CoD and Halo.
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huh? indie games are doing fine for many devs. the blame really has to go towards unimaginative, piece of shit big publishers doing what they've always done.
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Yeah it's the games that are to blame and not the buyers.
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Yes, I appreciate the nod to an old classic that kicked ass back in its day.
No, I don't particularly appreciate the fact that every fucking classic game needs to be an FPS these days.
But yes, I realize why they do it; consoles. -
This would be hilarious if in one mission you have to walk to a room with a computer and play the old syndicate game as part of the game, like that's how you command units.
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