Syndicate Was a "Lost Battle From the Get-Go"
- Thread starter The Wooster
- Start date
To be fair to the game, the multiplayer was actually pretty good. It was unforgiving and forced you to co-operate or fail, had a reasonable amount of depth and way more customisation options (for your characters/weapons) than most other shooters. Tycho from Penny Arcade explained it best when he said it walks and talks like a shooter, but has a lot common with end-game MMORPG style raids. MMO style tactics like tanking, kiting, main healing, add-wrangling etc were all necessary for success.
Honestly, if the MP had been more refined and packed more content, it might have excused the thoroughly mediocre single-player campaign.
Honestly, if the MP had been more refined and packed more content, it might have excused the thoroughly mediocre single-player campaign.
EA didn't say this, but since when has that stopped the hate train? Or do we get to retroactively talk about all the stuff Microsoft said when Peter Molyneaux opened his mouth?nikki191 said:
Yeah, remember how completely changing Fallout 3 from the previous games caused that one to fail catastrophically?
Oh, wait...
Well, maybe that was because Fallout 3 didn't suck.
Oh, wait...
Well, maybe that was because Fallout 3 didn't suck.
Yeah, when every game was a hard-as-balls mascot platformer and a side...scroller... nevermind.Evil Smurf said:
Bethesda and EA are two very different beasts it would seem.Otaku World Order said:
Honestly... It seems like they were given a franchise over a decade old. Told to make it into a shooter. And then realized that no matter what they did with it. It would piss someone off. And they decided not to give a fuck, and just knock it out. Which, hurray for them.
Then we as the consumers returned the favor and didn't give a fuck.
I'll probably pick this one out of the 10 dollar bargain bin in a bit. Brink was pretty alright for ten bucks. Maybe this one will be too.
I was a huge fan of the original Syndicate, I was confused at the news of it being an FPS but I gave it a chance none the less.
You took a game that had an interesting idea and setting and made a bland boring FPS out of it.
Quite frankly you used Syndicates name as a cash in tool.
Honestly I'd be lying if I wasn't glad to see it really didn't do well.
You took a game that had an interesting idea and setting and made a bland boring FPS out of it.
Quite frankly you used Syndicates name as a cash in tool.
Honestly I'd be lying if I wasn't glad to see it really didn't do well.
"If we didn't do an exact copy of the game, they'd hate us. If we did do an exact copy, they'd say we didn't innovate"
Thats bullshit on several levels.
There is the middle ground, where DX:HR lives.
There's the non-exact copy, where Fallout 3 lives. You can even argue Bioshock as a non-exact copy of System Shock.
And as for the Exact Copy route?
Thats where Star Craft II and Diablo III live.
They are raking it in.
The key difference is that the developers working on it actually gave a flying feather about the game they were making.
Thats bullshit on several levels.
There is the middle ground, where DX:HR lives.
There's the non-exact copy, where Fallout 3 lives. You can even argue Bioshock as a non-exact copy of System Shock.
And as for the Exact Copy route?
Thats where Star Craft II and Diablo III live.
They are raking it in.
The key difference is that the developers working on it actually gave a flying feather about the game they were making.
And Fallout 3 still kept the feeling of the originals. Syndicate (2012) didn't remind me or make me think Syndicate (1994) or Syndicate Wars (1996).Otaku World Order said:
In all fairness, I knew the game was going to bomb. I just don't get how the money hungry EA people didn't figure this out. In summary:
No advertising
The brand was dormant
No one wanted another generic shooter
Prey 2 will fall under this flaw as well, which is a shame.
In terms of world design and game mechanics the Syndicate reboot was passable to good. What really let it down however was the sub-par writing, bland characterisation and the way the campaign ends without really wrapping anything up...it wasn't even a cliff-hangar, it just stopped.
If they had fixed the writing and narrative then it would have been much better. Although I did enjoy it for what it was, but that just simply wasn't enough. Not for a franchise as iconic as Syndicate.
If they had fixed the writing and narrative then it would have been much better. Although I did enjoy it for what it was, but that just simply wasn't enough. Not for a franchise as iconic as Syndicate.
"Well I tell ya Mike. I calculated the odds of this succeeding vs. the odds that I ways doing something incredibly stupid, and, I went ahead and did it anyway." -Crow T. Robot
I'm a little sorry that a possibly-halfway-decent game didn't get a fair shake because of what how it tried to brand itself, but on the other hand, it wasn't terribly difficult to forecast that said branding was garnering what amounted to a negative fanbase.
Also, any attempt to translate an early nineties game into 2012 tech would have had to feature some innovation; the problem is that they didn't really try to do that at all.
And I can't pretend there isn't the tiniest bit of amusement at the idea that Bullfrog's ghost is biting EA in the ass.
I'm a little sorry that a possibly-halfway-decent game didn't get a fair shake because of what how it tried to brand itself, but on the other hand, it wasn't terribly difficult to forecast that said branding was garnering what amounted to a negative fanbase.
Also, any attempt to translate an early nineties game into 2012 tech would have had to feature some innovation; the problem is that they didn't really try to do that at all.
And I can't pretend there isn't the tiniest bit of amusement at the idea that Bullfrog's ghost is biting EA in the ass.
I feel pretty strongly about the situation with this game.
Like Grey Carter I just never understood why they had to use the Syndicate name for this game. They could have just called it something else and no one would have been the wiser.
Sure, I actually know why they used the name: brand recognition and the hope of drawing us old-school players with the name, because launching a new IP is considered risky (stupid) and releasing FPS' is considered 'safe', but those reasons are frankly shit because this game never deserved the Syndicate name.
Second point - strongly disagree.
I think they could have made a stunning Syndicate which kept close to the original and it's mechanics. Games like Diabolo and Torchlight show you that the isometric view and being able to shoot in it, is quite possible and can be successful. I also thought the original showed that it worked well.
Personally I would add a moveable/rotating camera though.
There's loads you could do to update and tweak to make the original game successful and relevant in this generation, whilst still keeping the originals feel and "soul". You don't need to go an completely re-invent the wheel.
All you need is a little bit of imagination and drive.
This all ties in with most devs and publishers just not being sincere and looking for the blame everywhere except with themselves. Sure what he said might have affected the game in a way, but initially and at the core it was their decisions which left the game lacking.
Like Grey Carter I just never understood why they had to use the Syndicate name for this game. They could have just called it something else and no one would have been the wiser.
Sure, I actually know why they used the name: brand recognition and the hope of drawing us old-school players with the name, because launching a new IP is considered risky (stupid) and releasing FPS' is considered 'safe', but those reasons are frankly shit because this game never deserved the Syndicate name.
First point, agreed.BrotherRool said:
Second point - strongly disagree.
I think they could have made a stunning Syndicate which kept close to the original and it's mechanics. Games like Diabolo and Torchlight show you that the isometric view and being able to shoot in it, is quite possible and can be successful. I also thought the original showed that it worked well.
Personally I would add a moveable/rotating camera though.
There's loads you could do to update and tweak to make the original game successful and relevant in this generation, whilst still keeping the originals feel and "soul". You don't need to go an completely re-invent the wheel.
All you need is a little bit of imagination and drive.
I agree.TsunamiWombat said:
This all ties in with most devs and publishers just not being sincere and looking for the blame everywhere except with themselves. Sure what he said might have affected the game in a way, but initially and at the core it was their decisions which left the game lacking.
