Syndicate
| Developer: Bullfrog | Graphics: |
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| Publisher: Electronic Arts | Sound: |
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| Year: 1993 | Difficulty: |
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| Genre: Strategy | Lastability: |
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| Number of players: 1 | Rating: |
9/10 | |
In a futuristic world reminiscent of Blade Runner, various mafia organisations are battling for power. You work for one of them. At the helm of a group of four “agents”, unleashed in a bustling city, you can control them individually or as a squad. You carry out various missions on behalf of your “syndicate” to cement its dominance over the world (assassination, kidnapping, sabotage … you know the drill).
Moreover, numerous weapons and upgrades are made available to your killers as you rack up credits (military-grade drugs, cybernetic prosthetics, minigun, flamethrower…). Feel free to test your new toys in the streets, on unsuspecting pedestrians. It’s violent and amoral, and we love it!
This is one of the earliest real time strategy games, highly innovative for its time, but it required a powerful setup (on both Amiga and PC). The interface is clear, and the controls are intuitive. However, significant slowdowns start to occur towards the end of the campaign. It’s better to play the original PC-DOS version, which is smoother and graphically superior.
Note that it’s not possible to rotate the camera or view the inside of buildings. The isometric 3D representation creates blind spots that you’ll have to work around.
An expansion was released in 1993 for PC: Syndicate: American Revolt Mission, adding 21 particularly difficult missions (the Syndicate Plus version combines the original game and the expansion). The expansion was then released for Amiga the following year, exclusively by the British magazine Amiga Format.
A 3D sequel was released in 1996, Syndicate Wars (PC/Mac, PlayStation). It was later remade in 2015 as Satellite Reign.
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