Syndicate Remake Revealed as a Shooter - UPDATED

[Dr. wonderful]

The NEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERD RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGE


It's so delicious!

 

[teh_gunslinger]

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.

But I can tell that they are completely missing the point. In Syndicate you were a guy in a blimp, basically. You controlled your remote cyborg brainwashed drones to kill, maim, kidnap or blow up people with no regards to morality or right and wrong.

I very much doubt that this new game will have you playing as the leader of a ruthless cooperation. I very much doubt that it will let you gun down civilians en masse for no better reason than that you can.

As soon as you play as a named agent you lose that. You are now working for the Man. In the original game you WERE the man.

 

[ExileNZ]

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.

It's funny you should say that, in another post I said pretty much the same thing - that I'm holding my opinion in reserve until I see a review or two. If they flesh out the world decently instead of just turning it into a Deus Ex clone, it could still be pretty awesome. That said, knowing modern FPSs it's far more likely to be an underdog/rebel story than what we've come to expect from Syndicate. Ten-to-one that by the end of the game you're not working for Eurocorp any more...

In regards to RTS controls, even on a PC they're usually layered to some extent (CTRL 1 to make group 1 etc).

And I will say one thing, now that I think about it - looking back, one thing I would've killed for when I played Syndicate Wars was a Syndicate FPS. What they really need though, to make the multiplayer work, is not just 4-player coop, but a 5th player who can see the whole city (obviously, like in previous Syndicates you'll need city-sized levels) and give orders and tactical advice. And of course, drop the odd Satellite Rain on your enemies ;D

(EDIT: One final word of warning: they describe it as a "visceral FPS experience". That's IGN-speak. No good can come of that. Let's just say I'm VERY cautiously excited)

 

[lancar]

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.

I'll have a "NO Syndicate", please.

I suppose this is what happens when those in control stop caring about games, and only care about the bottom line.

I understand that the game-making business on the AAA level is ruled by cash flow, but the IP-rape that has been going on lately has got to stop. Sooner or later we're going to run out of classics to homogenize & remake into mainstream blandness, but by then we can kiss our chances goodbye of the publishers to release the IPs to a developer that actually cares about the feelings the original invoked. They'll be binned and forgotten, or remade into the new whatever-is-the-most-mainstream genre at the time by corporate slave company #531.

Most likely there ARE good devs out there who would like nothing more than make a worthy successor to Syndicate, but since the publisher hold all the cards, they can't. The best they can do is to make a "spiritual successor", without any good financial or marketing backing, and hope & pray that people will still not be jaded enough to not care at that point.


Thank god for the recent indie surge, or i'd have very few games to play these days.

 

[jericu]

God Dammit. Why do they keep doing this? No one who liked the old games will want to buy this, because it's completely different from the original games they loved, and no one new to the series will have any extra incentive to buy it because they have no preconceived notions about the series. Between this and XCOM, this could have been part of a big boom in new Sci-Fi IPs for the video game industry, but for some reason they seem to think they'll get more money connecting it to a series which the games only have a passing resemblance to. I'm not even a fan of Syndicate, and this still pisses me off.

 

[Quiotu]

Lot of butthurt here.

Fallout 3 did such horrible things to that franchise, right?

In fact, this is the perfect time for EA to test the waters like this. A cyberpunk game reboot just came out (DX:HR), and the genre is going to have some attention. Also, this couldn't possibly be a Deus Ex clone if they do it right. In fact, I see it being the polar opposite of Deus Ex if they keep it faithful. A FPS with NO moral choices, NO cover, heavy gun and armor, hacking on the fly, perhaps some squad/mob based tactics... I can see this really working.

You know why so many games back in the old PC days were top down? Because most PCs couldn't handle first person perspective yet, and the shooter was relatively new. Ask the original designers what they'd do today, and they might say make a FPS with upgrades. You don't know... it's a different time now. Starcraft 2 is the most recent RTS game, and everyone else has pretty much run away from them. Same with top-down RPGs save for Dragon Age, and you know... whenever Diablo 3 decides to be done.

You wanna relive your past, go download the fist two Syndicate games. If my ass can find them, anyone can. You can yell 'get off my lawn' all you want, but you're not gonna get a direct sequel 16 years later. Are you stupid? Human Revolution was criticized for a long time, but it turned out alright; not perfect, but worthy of the name Deus Ex. You all can keep living in your plastic bubble, but I'll at least give it a shot.

 

[Frankster]

K looks like fps game #53322322335 coming out *yawn*.

Wait...what? This is a Syndicate game? Wtf?

What is up with publishers digging up old series with particular strategy oriented game mechanics and getting rid of said mechanics completely to make yet another shooter?

Coming next to a store near you!
Masters of Orion 4:Squad based shooter where you play a power armored soldier of the the human race fighting against the onslaught of the antarans.
4x strategy games deemed unprofitable when asked to explain the genre switch.

"Either this or no masters of orion games at all" said the company CEO.

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

Caption that to the image of the xcom game and you got yourself a demotivator.

 

[MadeinHell]

*cough* I probably shouldn't be doing that and that might get me a warn but I really feel the need to show my feelings about this game turning into a shooter... erm...
*cough*
Ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu

 

[ciancon]

"a unique action shooter set in a not too distant future"

Best joke of the day!

 

[Sabrestar]

Dear EA:

My original post intentions are being self-censored in order to avoid (rightfully) falling foul of content guidelines, so let me sum it up this way:

You have enough bloody FPS games already. There are other tools in the toolbox besides a hammer. Make. Something. Different.

Was this ever really concepted as a Syndicate game at all, or is this just like the Battleship movie, a bog-standard genre production that somebody decided to goose-up with a random old IP you had lying around in your portfolio?

Does it even occur to your marketing and PR teams to ask WHY so many gamers hate you? Even if this is a very good game you've alienated a good chunk of your potential market. That's what those of us in the real world call a Dumb Move.

Now please, drop the gun before you shoot any more holes in your own feet. You're running out of feet.

 

[Immortal_Engines]

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

Quite hypocritical from a Deus Ex fan hmm?

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

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

Quite hypocritical from a Deus Ex fan hmm?

Sure, if you fail to understand the context. The point is, developers are relying on making more FPS games because they're simple and most people like simple things. Look at CoD and Battlefield. FPS makes them more money. It doesn't mean that every shooter is stupid. Some of them are quite fun. But when you're remaking an RTS into a shooter, it's pretty obvious what the deal is, and what developers think about today's gamers.

And what makes you think I even use guns in Deus Ex (apart from boss battles in HR)?

Deus Ex is not a first person shooter. It's an action RPG. And even if Deus Ex was just an FPS, being a fan of such a game doesn't mean it's my favorite genre. My favorite genre is RPG.

 

[Atmos Duality]

Lot of butthurt here.

Fallout 3 did such horrible things to that franchise, right?

I despise Fallout 3. All my experience prove was that it was a buggy, over-hyped piece of shit. But I also didn't play the original Fallout titles so I can't make the comparison.

In fact, this is the perfect time for EA to test the waters like this. A cyberpunk game reboot just came out (DX:HR), and the genre is going to have some attention.

It's just typical "Tit-for-tat" fad milking, rather than making a game that has its own personality. Something does well, everyone rips it off and generally fails to accomplish anything in the process.

Also, this couldn't possibly be a Deus Ex clone if they do it right.

"It won't be a clone if they don't make it a clone."

No kidding!

You know why so many games back in the old PC days were top down? Because most PCs couldn't handle first person perspective yet, and the shooter was relatively new. Ask the original designers what they'd do today, and they might say make a FPS with upgrades. You don't know... it's a different time now. Starcraft 2 is the most recent RTS game, and everyone else has pretty much run away from them. Same with top-down RPGs save for Dragon Age, and you know... whenever Diablo 3 decides to be done.

The technical limitations of the time may have spawned a new genre, but that doesn't mean the genre needs to die because of better computer tech.
Simply put: You NEEDED a macroscale view to command a squad. This isn't changing with the times: it's changing the genre entirely.

Dawn of War 2 does this on new tech, so why can't Syndicate?

Oh right. EA wants to make it a shooter so that it becomes more marketable. Just like how XCOM "had" to become a shooter for the same reasons...

You wanna relive your past, go download the fist two Syndicate games. If my ass can find them, anyone can. You can yell 'get off my lawn' all you want, but you're not gonna get a direct sequel 16 years later. Are you stupid? Human Revolution was criticized for a long time, but it turned out alright; not perfect, but worthy of the name Deus Ex. You all can keep living in your plastic bubble, but I'll at least give it a shot.

If you just want to play new shooters, then it's apparently OK.
But if you want to play a new squad-based tactics game?
"Too fucking bad. You're living in the past. Grow up. You're stupid."

This is why I hate the current gaming industry. You get ostracized and mocked for not accepting the "Push-button, take pellet" model of marketing.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

And Richard K Morgan? Please don't stuff another shooter with dipstick support characters running their mouth into an earpiece that I cannot turn off. I know you probably written all this rad dialogue but this is a game, not a novel.

Richard Morgan's novels run more towards violence and handjobs than dense dialogue.

 

[theaceplaya]

I'm disappointed that this is a FPS as well, but let's be real, this is the generation of shooters. Think about it, how many platforming games did you play on the NES? How many RPGs on the SNES? It's a sign of the times. If they made another RTS Syndicate, it wouldn't sell.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

Ask the original designers what they'd do today, and they might say make a FPS with upgrades.

More likely the original designer would start barking mad shit about revolutionising gameplay with the Kinect and how to involve farting to engage with NPCs, because that's all Peter Molyneux seems to spout off about these days.

 

[El Luck]

Well that's a nope from me.

 

[Grospoliner]

I am sorely disappointed by this.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

Dawn of War 2 does this on new tech, so why can't Syndicate?

Yeah but why bother to make a real time squad tactical game and try to sell that in today's market when you can shit out another FPS? Strategic and tactical games just don't sell, which is why Relic, The Creative Assembly, Firaxis and the like are no longer in business... oh wait.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

Oh,boo hoo, whine whine whine, stop being such frigging crybabies, you sound just like those on NMA who said Fallout 3 would ruin the franchise and they were proven wrong.

To be fair, they said that about Fallout: Tactics and Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel, too.

...

They did have a point with FO:BOS