War & Shoot 'Em Ups: General

[Yaster]

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-09-12-ea-and-starbreeze-announce-syndicate-fps

One of the worst kept secrets in recent years, Riddick Studio Starbreeze are working on an FPS reboot of classic EA series Syndicate.  Pencilled in for the alarmingly close "early 2012".

This is from the above Eurogamer article:

"

Syndicate, the "reinvention", is set in 2069, where governments have given way to mega corporations - syndicates - that sell neural implants enabling direct connection to world's Dataverse hub.

Customers flocked to buy the implants and associated benefits from the syndicates. In return, the syndicates gained unprecedented access to their customers' minds.

Three such syndicates vie, agressively, for the American market. You, Miles Kilo - a bio-engineered and chip-augmented enforcer - belong to one of them, Eurocorp.

Combat revolves around upgradeable weaponry, armour and gear, as well as the bio-chip DART 6 head implant. This allows you to look through walls, slow time and "breach your enemy and everything digital in the world with Dart vision", according to information dug up on NeoGAF.

When enemies are killed, you can "harvest" their chip technology for personal advancement and "sinister corporate greed".

Author Richard Morgan has written the story.

There will be a separate four-player co-op mode that features missions from the original Syndicate game of 1993.

"We are excited to finally reveal what we've been working on the past couple years," commented says Mikael Nermark, Starbreeze CEO. "It's been a great experience working with EA, and an amazing opportunity for us to use our expertise in the first-person shooter and action genres to bring back, and reignite, the signature action/espionage gameplay of Syndicate."

"Our goal with Syndicate is to provide a challenging action shooter for today's gamers as well as fans of the original," added Jeff Gamon, EA Partners Executive Producer.

"I'm sure they will enjoy and recognise the legacy that made it such a classic."

[Yaster]

And here are some screens

[Zen_Shot]

Turning a much loved and respected isometric strategy game into a modern first person shooter franchise is probably the most stupid idea since Atari made E.T. It's tantamount to Dice making a Battlefield platformer.

I can't really speak for anyone else but as a Syndicate fan this seems just plain stupid. The FPS genre is already as bloated as a 1977 Elvis Presley and yet another addition is simply not needed. I predict this will bomb almost instantly and deservedly so.

[InfiniteStates]

^ Exactly what I was going to write, except I wouldn't have come up with something as funny as "bloated Elvis". This is a shameless cash-in on a brand, and will go as well as any cheap move tie-in game.

Does the market really need another FPS? No. Does it need high-definition Syndicate with online support? Hell yes.

This has "fail" written all over it.

EDIT: I don't want to detract from your excellent post, but Dice's "Battlefield platformer" was actually really good [Mirror's Edge]. Probably not what you meant though

[Yaster]

You say that, but the latest PSM3 just came in with Syndicate on the cover:

"Fans of the 1993 original may be hesitant about Starbreeze taking a squad based, top-down strategy and converting it to a shooter (albeit one with four-player co-op), but it's soul is very much intact."

[InfiniteStates]

It could be great, and if Deus Ex hadn't just hit, I'd probably be more interested (they exist in very similar, i.e. Bladerunner-esque, worlds). As long as they get the feel right, the universe is a great set-up to base a squad based FPS in.

But we have an awful lot of FPS games available to us, while I can count on both hands the number of RTS type games. I can see why it was done from a publisher/business point of view, but as a gamer that loves RTS, FPS and the original Syndicate and Syndicate Wars - it sucks and reminds me of Starcraft: Ghost.

[fizzyfunk]

I was so thrilled to hear of a new Syndicate game that I missed the FPS part at the end. If a FPS reboot means the exclusion of open cities, the Persuadatron allowing you to form a huge human meat shield/ kidnapping scientists, researching and developing new equipment, blowing up banks to raise money for research/ equipment, inability to control 4 agents unless you're playing online co-op....

.. then it won't be a Syndicate game as far as i'm concerned. Deus Ex works because it has always been a stealthy FPS. Syndicate has a cult following because it was unique.

[InfiniteStates]

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fizzyfunk wrote:
Syndicate has a cult following because it was unique.

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Unfortunately "unique" gets stamped down into homogenised tripe these days

Who wants to bet it has perks?

[nilet]

interesting project.

[InfiniteStates]

Actually, I'm kind of warming to the idea of this game... I'm still miffed that it won't be in the style of the original, because that would be so, so sweet. Especially with Move support...

But putting that bitterness aside and treating this game on it's own merits, it is looking good on paper. The developer is the same that made The Darkness (which I loved) and Chronicles of Riddick (which by all accounts is pretty good).

Plus the announcement trailer looks pretty sweet:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewwtznVkSxA