Zero Punctuation: Syndicate
- Thread starter Yahtzee Croshaw
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"Hacked the Gibson" fuckin awesome reference there, even if syndicate doesnt really use the hacking enough or competently enough to make it a memorable feature.
still, i bet not even 50% of your viewers will get it ^^
still, i bet not even 50% of your viewers will get it ^^
I freaking loved the original Syndicate. Controlling a squad of minigun-wielding cyborg assassins in a dystopian future? Awesome. The game required thought, tactics and planning. In several missions you couldn't just barge in guns blazing or else you'd fail.
And the original game also had the Persuadertron, possibly the most awesome bit of cyberpunk equipment ever. If they didn't include a Persuadertron in this game, then everybody at EA needs another swift kick in the nuts, next to the other swift kick they need for remaking Syndicate as an FPS.
And the original game also had the Persuadertron, possibly the most awesome bit of cyberpunk equipment ever. If they didn't include a Persuadertron in this game, then everybody at EA needs another swift kick in the nuts, next to the other swift kick they need for remaking Syndicate as an FPS.
The simple answer to your final question, Yahtzee my good man, is as follows: The games industry is made up, for the most part, of uncreative programmers who see the world as a series of equations. They can't be bothered to come up with their own original content, but they're all too happy to revisit their fondest childhood memories while shoe horning in todays latest clichés.
That aside, you said it had a good story, and I do love Cyberpunk to a slightly disturbing degree, so looks like I'll be giving this a spin at some point... That is if it's on PC.
That aside, you said it had a good story, and I do love Cyberpunk to a slightly disturbing degree, so looks like I'll be giving this a spin at some point... That is if it's on PC.
Yahtzee 2 Syndicate 1
Perhaps there's some milage in looking at old games, EA? Just a thought....
Perhaps there's some milage in looking at old games, EA? Just a thought....
Zachary Amaranth said:
If forced to listen to it enough and you will want to..
or have a homicidal schizophrenic episode that leads to suicidal tendancies.
Ringo Starr was actually a very good narrator and I love Thomas the tank engine... so yeah, take that.
I can't get upset too much because we are blessed to live in a world where Paradox Entertainment exists and are making Cartel, their own Syndicate spiritual successor. And X-COM is getting a true turn-based strategy remake as well. As far as '90s dead genres go, 2012 has been kind to this one.
Eh. That's my opinion on Syndicate, just...eh. It wasn't as good as I thought it would be, the SP is boring as hell, but I did enjoy playing MP until I started encountering douches with sniper rifles killing fucking everything. Instant fun-suckers. Haven't even finished SP yet, because I hate those cloaked guys.
I'm glad you touched on the bloom/lens flare.It was really irritating.
Thank you for this day's chuckles,I really needed a bit of happiness after the sadness Mass Effect 3's ending gave me.
Looking forward to seeing you rip on it in the weeks to come.
Thank you for this day's chuckles,I really needed a bit of happiness after the sadness Mass Effect 3's ending gave me.
Looking forward to seeing you rip on it in the weeks to come.
that explains those weird blackouts....I thought I was just a drunk!porpoise hork said:
Yeah, but he probably wouldn't have been on Shining Time Station if he wasn't the least liked member of a now-defunct band. Harrison and McCartney both moved on with their careers to a large part. Starr was an also-ran in his own band, and it never really got better.Proverbial Jon said:
Still, I enjoyed him as Mr Conductor, so there's that.
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This episode was alright but not great, it started off very strongly but about 2 to 3 minutes in kinda just lost it's narrative coherence and seemed to finish off listing random jokes about the game.
Honestly, I don't see why corporations with armed mercenary forces having at each other and commiting industrial espianoge is any different from what governments do all the time. Because a government is nothing but a business that just happens to have its hands in a large number of industries (monopolistically), and gets dressed up with a venear of "legitimacy" because some of their executives are chosen by people rather than by business hierarchy.
So in a dystopian future governments fall and corporations rise to take their place? What exactly has changed then? Only that a corporation can't extort money from people by way of "taxes", and patriotism doesn't blind people to a company's malarky. Other than that, you still have large economic bodies waging war and subterfuge against each other. Just that they've hired the agents, rather than simply drafting them (or having them enlist).
Which is not to say I think soldiers are wrong for wanting to defend their country from threats, just that I don't exactly trust the ones giving them orders and taking advantage of their faith in the state.
Wait, wasn't this supposed to be a rant about the Syndicate? Woops.
So in a dystopian future governments fall and corporations rise to take their place? What exactly has changed then? Only that a corporation can't extort money from people by way of "taxes", and patriotism doesn't blind people to a company's malarky. Other than that, you still have large economic bodies waging war and subterfuge against each other. Just that they've hired the agents, rather than simply drafting them (or having them enlist).
Which is not to say I think soldiers are wrong for wanting to defend their country from threats, just that I don't exactly trust the ones giving them orders and taking advantage of their faith in the state.
Wait, wasn't this supposed to be a rant about the Syndicate? Woops.
The metagame is rather similar, you pick up weapons, do research on them, equip and upgrade your teammates. The actual gameplay of Syndicate however is a multi-unit action game, not really a strategy game. In some ways its actually even more a puzzle game then an action game, as a lot of the difficulty doesn't resolve around being fast, but around figuring out the best way to get a job done. Or to put it yet another way, Syndicate is a lot like modern sandbox games like GTA, except you have four guys, an isometric perspective and you die a lot (at least in Syndicate Wars, Syndicate might have been a bit easier).Inkidu said:
The real crux with turning Syndicate into an FPS isn't that Syndicate was some depth slow strategy game, but that in Syndicate you don't play the agents, but the guy in the chair commanding them. Turning it into a FPS breaks that whole premise.
I can see EA turning the rest of Bullfrog's back catalogue into First/Third Person Shooters with mixed results. Magic Carpet would work well under modern tech, and a third person remake of Dungeon Keeper could be like Orcs Must Die! but with a bigger budget. Populous on the other hand just wouldn't work and Theme Park would end up being banned in at least Australia and Germany on taste and decency grounds.Antonio Torrente said:
Yeah, but he probably wouldn't have been on Shining Time Station if he wasn't the least liked member of a now-defunct band. Harrison and McCartney both moved on with their careers to a large part. Starr was an also-ran in his own band, and it never really got better.Proverbial Jon said:
Still, I enjoyed him as Mr Conductor, so there's that.[/quote]
Granted, Ringo was hardly the best of the Beatles and frankly he's one giant jerk nowadays, especially after he publicly shunned his own "fans". But I did enjoy his narration all the same, however short lived.
Being British myself I have not been exposed to any Shining Time Station and if I'm honest I didn't even realise Thomas had such a large presence in America as far back as the late 80s. I'm certainly curious, I might have to look that up, for nostalgia's sake if nothing else!