New Syndicate game

Fnz

These trailers aren't getting me fired-up for the game. Have to remind myself that coop makes everything better.

This recent one makes a point of mentioning how special the sniper rifle is ("banned in all territories", don't you know?) before showing footage of some very run-of-the-mill sniping. Why should anyone care about this rifle, again?

Trailer spends a lot of time in slow-motion (stasis field adaptation?). Assuming that's in-game, I wonder how it plays out - in single player and coop. Player triggered or auto-triggered at certain events?

Grumpypants

Wont know until it comes out but has some point that got my attention, built on the starbreeze engine which is quite good (as seen in Riddick). The co-op is a totally different story set a few months after the single player game and handle up to 4 players so that's good. the environment is meant to be pretty interactive as you can change how its perceived to the enemy so the AI needs to react and learn.

Quick little Interview i did with one of the developers if anyone wants to read it.

http://www.bone-idle.ie/index.php/syndicate-reboot-to-have-stand-alone-co-op-story-interview-with-starbreeze/

gizmo

Grumpypants wrote: »

Wont know until it comes out but has some point that got my attention, built on the starbreeze engine which is quite good (as seen in Riddick). The co-op is a totally different story set a few months after the single player game and handle up to 4 players so that's good. the environment is meant to be pretty interactive as you can change how its perceived to the enemy so the AI needs to react and learn.

Quick little Interview i did with one of the developers if anyone wants to read it.

http://www.bone-idle.ie/index.php/syndicate-reboot-to-have-stand-alone-co-op-story-interview-with-starbreeze/

What engine is it built on?

That is our own Starbreeze engine, obviously it has been through a few changes and is constantly updated but it’s basically our own engine that we have spent many years building so that’s why it feels so good and the gameplay is so natural.

What I find worrying about that is that they're dumping it after Syndicate in favour of UE3.

Sarky

That looked really, really dull.

super_furry

The online co-op demo is really, REALLY good. Went from a 'no way' to a pre order. It's great, they've done wonders capturing the feel of the Amiga game and there's a real tactical edge to it.

Krieg

The game is out 24th.

Anybody plan on getting it?

Looks good, but im going to wait for some reviews

Helix

ill have a review up tomorrow

chin_grin

Helix wrote: »

ill have a review up tomorrow

Nice one. Your Darkness II review was a good read. Although I have a bone to pick with your MGS HD one. (Just cos I'm a fanboy......:pac:).

Enjoying the demo all right (360). I like the onus on hacking as opposed to the run of the mill "run and gun" of most current fps's. I'm a sucker for cyberpunk too so I'm pretty much the target audience.

Helix

i thought the mgs one was fair to be honest :P

people mightnt have liked the final score, but i dont think the actual words can be argued with

Grumpypants

Reviews are starting to appear this morning seems a pretty solid 7.5 to 8.5 out of ten from most places. With Co-op trumping the single player mode.

hooradiation

Grumpypants wrote: »

Reviews are starting to appear this morning seems a pretty solid 7.5 to 8.5 out of ten from most places. With Co-op trumping the single player mode.

Good enough for me. fucking bought.

Retr0gamer

Read a few of the reviews, seems as uninspired as I imagined. I've not much time for most 9/10 FPS games so got absolutely no time for this one. Pity.

gizmo

This is pretty much what I expected unfortunately....

If Starbreeze had snubbed convention and made a strategic co-op shooter with a global reach, it could have been amazing. As it is, it's the sort of almost-there effort that entertains for now but will likely be forgotten by Christmas. Pick it up for the highly enjoyable co-op, but just don't expect it to outlast its FPS rivals.

Taken from the EG review here.

Maximilian

No surprise to me either. I'll be giving it a miss.

I wonder if Firaxis' X-com remake proves a success will EA maybe think about making a proper Syndicate game?

pixelburp

I have to wonder all the same: while I don't begrudge any company's desire to make a profit - and ultimately this will drive them to make the conservative choice 9 times out of 10 - surely there must have been someone in authority with enough foresight to realise that as a bland, identikit & utterly cookie-cutter FPS this game was doomed to mediocrity in both critical reception and (potentially at this stage) sales.

And even as a cash-grab on the back of some nostalgia this was going to backfire, by alienating the Syndicate fans when it ignored the genre & legacy. I just don't understand the business acumen of the gaming industry sometimes; not claiming to be the next Donald Trump or anything, it's just I can understand the decisions more easily in other media such as film or TV.

But then again it'll probably shift enough units for the beancounters to consider it a success so hey, what do I know...

Retr0gamer

I think it was a bad move making this an uninspired linear FPS on the coat tails of the thematically similar Deus Ex which offered so much depth and had been looking great for well over a year before release with some great previews, ignoring the muppets from Giantbomb.

Sarky

Those reviews sound... disappointing. Good thing I didn't get my hopes up. Shame, there's so much that could have been done with the setting...

LH Pathe

didn't even play the demo, booted it up n saw the first few screens if a shoddy FPS build and felt safe in the assumption that I'd hate it anyhow. it's an insult to the original and should wear its name outright. Like so many reinterpretations, which happen oh so often these days

Josey Wales

I popped this in the PS3 last night. I just picked a game at random from my backlog to try and complete. I've been doing well since December in clearing some games - Sleeping Dogs, The Darkness II and Max Payne 3.

So far I'm not too impressed. I do like the hacking mechanic and while the graphics aren't too impressive I do like some of the filters they are using. Makes it look interesting at least. I am finding that I am dying in some very cheap ways, when enemies suddenly appear behind me for instance. I'd like an option to drop the difficulty down to easy during my playthough. I started on normal but now I'm thinking I'd rather play easy and just see the story.

I listened to the Giantbomb game of the year deliberations over the Christmas period and Jeff Gerstmann managed to bully this game onto their end of year top 10. I honestly believe if he wasn't the main guy on that site it wouldn't have had a sniff at the top 10.

Josey Wales

I finished Syndicate this morning and man was it a real chore to get through. At first I thought it was pretty enjoyable but as I went further it just became a real drag to keep going. I could have quit but I hate to leave a game unfinished, especially one that is relatively short. The powers (suicide, persuade & backfire) are all fun to use but there is a long section midway through the game when they are not available for story reasons. It is here that the game really feels long.

Then towards the end of the game you get the impression that the developer is really padding out the length by just sending wave after wave of enemies at you in the same location. And most annoyingly some of the enemies are just huge bullet sponges. Then there is the cheap deaths that the game serves time and again. My personal favourite was after taking down one of the tougher bosses, he was kneeling, defeated on the ground. I go over expecting a story sequence to kick in but the boss just explodes taking me with him. Reset back to checkpoint and have to do the boss fight again.

Then there is the infuriating final boss. The bosses attack patterns don't change during the fight and it is very predictable. But, he is also carrying a mini-gun and can launch a handful of grenades at a time for instant death dealing. And whoever thought the idea of having your cover disappear every few sections is a real *****. I stuck with it and finally finished it but it didn't even give me a sense of satisfaction or closure for having done so. The story, what little there is, is so badly relayed to the player that I have no idea what the plot was after the first chapter. So the 'big' revelations at the end fall totally flat.

In short I agree with most people who've said the game is ****.

Fnz

Josey Wales wrote: »

In short I agree with most people who've said the game is ****.

Seems you're judging it solely based on the single player. Did you try the co-op multiplayer? Is that any good?

Josey Wales

Fnz wrote: »

Seems you're judging it solely based on the single player. Did you try the co-op multiplayer? Is that any good?

That is a fair point. I only played the single player campaign. I have heard that the co-op campaign is quite good. I don't see myself going back to try it. And the game is nearly a year old now and it had dismal sales so not sure how easy it would be to find good co-op partners.