Syndicate Remake Revealed as a Shooter - UPDATED

[Giftmacher]

It's a bit of a damning indictment of the gaming industry; it's become so conservative it won't even remake *successful* franchises in the original format. It seems like everything needs to be an FPS these days lest some stuffed suit wails about the bottom line; it's sad and short sighted. Seriously, is it really good business to blend into the crowd by serving up what everyone else is?

Bad enough the aforementioned (proper) x-com won't be happening, I'm sure this is why we don't have another X-wing vs TIE fighter in the works and who knows what else. Tedious industry trends, how long is it going to take before someone notices we're pretty much at FPS-saturation point? >:

-Gift.

 

[warmonkey]

The screenshots are great, too bad about the internet rage though.

are they? are they really?

lens flare? check
grey and brown color scheme? check
bloom, bloom everywhere? check
fog, mist, dust clouds partially obscuring things? check
"realistic" motion blur? check

I have a hard time calling these screenshots good, let alone great. They're generic, and full of every single obnoxious thing that you can find in every single other generic modern FPS title. All we need is blood spatter over the "camera" which is supposed to be your eyes. Because that's gritty and realistic. People get splattered with blood on their eyeballs in patterns like you would find on a camera lens all the time! Yeah!

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

Shooters - because most people are too dumb to play anything else.

 

[Vankraken]

Syndicate and Syndicate Wars both came out on consoles: the former on the 3DO and the latter on the Playstation.

So no, being a strategy game doesn't require a PC.
Plus, you know, Halo Wars (1 million sales in 2 weeks). Just sayin'.

Also, it's more than a little presumptuous to assume that the majority of Escapists are console gamers. By all means, look it up in the numerous forum polls, but I'm not going to do it for you - it's your claim, it's your fucking job.

Finally, FPSs are relatively new ground on Consoles - they never really worked until Halo.
Yes, I've played Golden Eye and Turok on the N64, the controls were shit and unwieldly.

Yes syndicate came out on some consoles but the controls are shitty without a mouse and I would never use Halo Wars as an example of how RTS can work on a console. People bought it because it has Halo in the name, not because it was a marvel of RTS innovation, polish, or story telling.

In addition your example of how Golden Eye and Turok had shitty controls are exactly the problems with RTS. Game pads have shitty cursor precision and RTS needs precise controls (the things that made FPS work on consoles like aim assist aren't compatible with RTS). Also without a keyboard your controls become limited to the 11 or so buttons on a controller and your typical RTS needs a wider array of command inputs so you have to create layered key bindings which are always a ***** to use.

Anyways onto the topic of syndicate being FPS........ WTF! Seriously gaming industry please stop with the fail.....

In actuality I will hold my opinion in reserve as I do not think making syndicate FPS would be terrible idea. Yes it is a strategy game but it is also about action and if done right it might be ok. 4 player co-op feels like a good thing and if there is more depth than "aim gun, fire, repeat, profit" then it might work. Then again they will eventually show the game off and it will be a MW or Halo clone and I'll be forced to rage flip my desk.

At least the Jagged Alliance remake is still a tactical strategy game and the Tropico 3/4 have stayed true to the original's formula. Incoming Lemmings action/adventure remake just saying.

 

[Rack]

I don't get it, is the FPS really so big that gunning for whoever isn't so sick to bloody death of them after playing the Gears, Halo, CoD, Battlefield, Resistance and Killzone release for that year against the 500-odd competitors is going to mean more sales than being the only fish in the action-squad based strategy pond?

 

[Sebenko]

"No Syndicate," thanks.

Agreed.

I don't see a single trenchcoat in those screens, either.

This can, in no uncertain terms, fuck off.

 

[JoshuaMadoc]

I can bet you that most of the people who are bitching about how they changed it into an FPS probably haven't even PLAYED the originals.

I won't be playing this cause it sounds way too much like Deus Ex: HR

Oh, don't you even bloody start. I happen to have spent some nights at a sleepover back in the late 90s playing Syndicate Wars on the PSX.

 

[Kyrian007]

As long as they are at it, I'm sure they're in the mood for:

Masters of Orion the FPS
Populous the FPS
Total Annihilation the FPS
First Person Dragon's Lair Re-Boot

As long as they are brown enough.

You forgot Ultima the FPS. >.<

Naa, they already did that. It was called Ultima Underground. It sucked.

 

[Denamic]

First x-com, now this?
Why? Why do they do this to us?
Is it just to spite us?

 

[Andronicus]

Who wants to bet that it'll have multiplayer too? Because everybody knows that a first person shooter is worthless unless it has a tacked on multiplayer option (this fun fact brought to you by Design-By-Committee Publishers Inc.)

 

[Lord_Jaroh]

What would be nice is to see gamers actually have a backbone now and not buy the game. But we all know it is going to sell like hotcakes because people can't actually have a bit of willpower and stick to their guns.

For my two cents, I never played the original game(s). I would have been interested to play a new turn based strategy game or even real time strategy, on console or PC. I have Zero interest in almost any FPS games, so really, they made my decision for me, from being "mildly interested in something and would have given it a chance" to "Nope, not gonna buy it."

 

[winter2]

We need to coin a term for this kind of thing... "We just got X-commed!"

Or maybe a little twist with "We just got X-conned!".

Discuss.

 

[Sir Shockwave]

For all the Syndicate fans unable to express their horror in a single civilized post:

http://nooooooooooooooo.com/

We feel for you, we really do.

 

[kane.malakos]

All this and there's still no fucking SYSTEM SHOCK 3.

That's probably for the best, really. *sigh*

For the best, they wouldn't make a sequel, they'll reboot it and make it cover based, iron sighted regenerating health fps with another gimmick tacked on, probably a SHODAN dating sim.
They'll make it multiplayer centric, so the isolated atmosphere is gone, and your character will be a wisecracking bald space marine voiced by Nathan Fillion or Ron Perlman, who cracks wise more often than Douk Nouk'm.

Because that's what sells.

Actually, they'd make Bioshock. And Bioshock 2. And Bioshock Infinite.

 

[Mumorpuger]

You know what, I'm REALLY just looking forwards to hearing their "there are enemy Agents near!!!!" music.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=iatSWM6q7rc#t=373s

Listening to the calm but tense mision music only to have it replaced by that tune was enough to get my little (then) 8 year old heart racing.

 

[Sir Shockwave]

Actually, reading the article properly...yeah, they've basically saw Deus Ex:Human Revolution, liked it, and then proceeded to rip it off in every way imaginable, discarding what worked for the original game.

I posted my reaction above.

 

[Atmos Duality]

This whole reboot cycle has become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
The stupids of the gaming world piss and moan about how there's so many shooters, then they buy the latest version of their favorite annual shooter franchise...and then they go online and act surprised when some other publisher reboots another franchise as a shooter.

"Push-button, take pellet. Whine about how there's only pellets. Push-button...etc"

I wonder if this new Syndicate is going to feature some gravely-voiced 30-something year old white male with inexplicable healing powers staring down the reflex or iron sight of a gun?
Perhaps as he fights his way from cutscene to cutscene in his overly long hallway of a map?

First they raped XCOM (again), and now the industry is looking at Syndicate with those same hungry eyes:
"Syndicate, you've got a purty mouth. There aint no such thang as tactical squad games anymore. Theys dead. So bout you drop them shorts and let us treat you right."

And how convenient that this comes on the heels of a small revival of the Cyberpunk genre (Deus Ex: HR, and EYE: DC). This stinks of marketing-driven exploitation, just like how the entire shooter genre has for the last 6 years.

 

[individual11]

Actually, they'd make Bioshock. And Bioshock 2. And Bioshock Infinite.

EA owns the System Shock IP. Warren Spector and Irrational Games under 2K made Bioshock - the 'spiritual' successor.

Which is a good point, if EA were so keen to cash in on the Deus Ex cyberpunk ticket, why in the hell did they decide to go with Syndicate? System Shock has always been a first person RPG, fully cyberpunk, with one of the most recognisable and memorable antagonists in gaming history - even Valve ripped her off.

Oh, wait, Dead Space. Can't have too many survival horrors in space. Generic FPSs, on the other hand...

 

[No_Remainders]

I perfectly understand people being upset about this one because of the genre change.... but the majority of escapists here are console gamers. Why don't you guys understand that Consoles WON'T have over-the-top squad based strategy games. It's just NOT going to happen. Just get the fuck over it.

Alternatively if this was a PC exclusive: (which no big developer will make nowaydays anyway) A)it would undersell like dogshit. B)The majority of people here will whine about not being able to play it! It's a lose-lose situation.

Hence it's either THIS Syndicate or NO Syndicate. Choose.

EYE was closer to Syndicate than this is shaping up to be. EYE also is miles better than this is shaping up to be.

Because you can TOTALLY tell how good a game is by like, literally NO information apart from "It's an FPS based off an old IP", right?

Wrong.

I hate people who take one look at something and say "This will, without a doubt, be shit", it's a terrible way of looking at things. I'm willing to bet it'll be at least a decent game, and who knows? It might ACTUALLY be good.