Syndicate series rebooted as FPS by Starbreeze Studios and EA - Games

[QUOTE]The forever-rumored reboot of EA's [I][URL="http://kotaku.com/syndicate"]Syndicate[/URL][/I] franchise, originally created by the defunct Bullfrog Productions in 1993, is real. First gameplay details and a handful of screen shots have just leaked from Electronic Arts' Origin store, giving us our first glimpse at developer Starbreeze's new game.While the original [I]Syndicate[/I] was a real-time tactical game played from an isometric view, the new [I]Syndicate[/I] is—unsurprisingly—a "visceral first-person shooter experience," according to the game's description. Set in the year 2069, [I]Syndicate[/I] is set in a world "no longer governed by politicians," but "divided up into regions controlled by megacorporations known as Syndicates." "These Syndicates have revolutionized how the consumer interacts with the digital world," reads the game description. "No longer does the consumer require a device to access the world's data and control their technology, they can do this at the blink of an eye via neural chip implant." Business has become war in [I]Syndicate[/I], with "bio-engineered and chip-augmented enforcers" at the front line. Players will assume the role of Miles Kilo, an Agent of the Syndicate Eurocorp. EA and Starbreeze tout "chip enhanced gameplay" that lets players slow time, see through walls and "interface directly with the Dataverse." It all sounds a bit like another recent sci-fi video game revival, [I]Deus Ex: Human Revolution[/I]—which may not be such a bad thing. Read the game's full (and still unconfirmed description below. Syndicate is the re-imagination of a cult classic franchise from 1993 - a unique action shooter set in a not too distant future, where Business is War.2069 – No longer governed by politicians, the developed world is divided up into regions controlled by megacorporations known as Syndicates. These Syndicates have revolutionized how the consumer interacts with the digital world. No longer does the consumer require a device to access the world¡¦s data and control their technology, they can do this at the blink of an eye via neural chip implant. Civilians flocked to be ¡§chip¡¦d¡¨ and enjoy all that their selected Syndicate has to offer; housing, medical, banking, insurance, education, entertainment and jobs. One complete package. One complete lifestyle. In return, the Syndicates gained unprecedented insights, and control, over the individual and their behaviour. With little governmental oversight, business has become war. The Syndicates will stop at nothing for ultimate market dominance. At the front line of this war are the Agents, the Syndicate¡¦s bio-engineered and chip-augmented enforcers. They can breach anything in the wired world including their enemies, their weapons and the environment that surrounds them, making them the most efficient and deadly technological weapons in the world. Take on the role of Miles Kilo, Eurocorp¡¦s latest prototype agent, and embark on a brutal action adventure of corruption and revenge. • Chip Enhanced Gameplay: Slow down time, see through walls, and breach your enemy and everything digital in the world with Dart vision – A neural DART6 chip implant that allows you to interface directly with the Dataverse. • 4-Player Online Co-op: Assemble your Syndicate for global domination. A 4-player, online co-op experience like no other, with chip enhanced gameplay and 9 missions re-imagined from the original Syndicate. • Visceral FPS Experience: Utilize an upgradable arsenal of futuristic weapons, armor and gear to annihilate your enemies and harvest their chip technology for personal advancement and sinister corporate greed. • Sci-Fi Fiction: Immerse yourself in the world of Syndicate 2069, with a world-class sci-fi story experience, written by bestselling author Richard Morgan. That's the same Richard Morgan responsible for the story of another EA-published game, Crytek's [I]Crysis 2[/I], and hardboiled cyberpunk novel [I]Altered Carbon[/I]. EA has not made its [I]Syndicate[/I] plans official just yet—we're checking in with them to see if they'd like to confirm—but it appears that will change soon, as the game is suspected to be revealed in the coming weeks via Sweden's Game Reactor magazine, likely alongside other print publications.[/QUOTE] [URL]http://kotaku.com/5839046/the-syndicate-reboot-is-real-first-details-leak-out-of-ea[/URL] [url]http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=444322[/url] [img]http://i.imgur.com/vyqxY.jpg[/img] [img]http://i.imgur.com/RieGn.jpg[/img] [img]http://i.imgur.com/uaS6e.jpg[/img] [img]http://i.imgur.com/j13jD.jpg[/img] [img]http://i.imgur.com/w0YhB.jpg[/img] Cue psychotic shitstorm from fans in 3, 2, 1...

Right, because we so desperately needed more FPSes on the market. Thanks, EA!

[QUOTE=postmanX3;32226969]Right, because we so desperately needed more FPSes on the market. Thanks, EA![/QUOTE] They're a company. It sells.

I mean, fuck, to be completely honest I've never even heard of this series before, but what could they possibly accomplish by reviving it as an FPS? You just piss off fans and alienate people that don't know the series at all. And that's disregarding the fact that it's another FPS in a market that is probably around 70% FPSes by this point.

[QUOTE=postmanX3;32226989]I mean, fuck, to be completely honest I've never even heard of this series before, but what could they possibly accomplish by reviving it as an FPS? You just piss off fans and alienate people that don't know the series at all. And that's disregarding the fact that it's another FPS in a market that is probably around 70% FPSes by this point.[/QUOTE] I get what you're saying, but that just isn't going to happen because you're basically asking for companies to stop making things that are popular

FPS sells. When FPSes stop selling they'll spam the market with another genre. That's business.

Mixed feelings about this. They're turning it into an FPS but Starbreeze can make a pretty fucking awesome FPS. Will keep a close eye on this one.

[QUOTE=Furioso;32227012]I get what you're saying, but that just isn't going to happen because you're basically asking for companies to stop making things that are popular[/QUOTE] I guess, but could they at least have the decency to make some original IPs rather than going grave digging?

Look a cyber punk sci-fi fps

I don't like where this is going. I hope to god they do not make this linear and force the player to be a good guy, because there was no "good guys" in Syndicate. [sp]Even the Church of the New Epoch, even though they seemed to be good guys by releasing the Harbringer virus to bring down the UTOPIA chip network to free the people (in Syndicate Wars), they end up trying to blow up the world, which in the last couple of missions if you were playing as the Church of the New Epoch, you turn against The Nine who are the leader group of the Church of the New Epoch and stop them from blowing up the world and apparently leaving the UTOPIA network in ruins (this ending isn't canon AFAIK), which if you was playing as the Syndicate, you do the same, except approaching the last couple of missions from a different angle, stopping the Church of the New Epoch from blowing up the world and keeping the Eurocorp Syndicate in power, which I assume the UTOPIA network is restored fully as in some areas certain UTOPIA was taken down by Harbringer.[/sp]

[QUOTE=Soapcell;32227034]Mixed feelings about this. They're turning it into an FPS but Starbreeze can make a pretty fucking awesome FPS. Will keep a close eye on this one.[/QUOTE] The problem is that Starbreeze is practically dead. The teams that worked on The Darkness and Riddick have either been fired or quit and they're in serious financial trouble.

[quote]• [b]Sci-Fi Fiction[/b]: Immerse yourself in the world of Syndicate 2069, with a world-class sci-fi story experience, written by bestselling author Richard Morgan. That's the same Richard Morgan responsible for the story of another EA-published game, Crytek's Crysis 2, and hardboiled cyberpunk novel Altered Carbon. EA has not made its Syndicate plans official just yet—we're checking in with them to see if they'd like to confirm—but it appears that will change soon, as the game is suspected to be revealed in the coming weeks via Sweden's Game Reactor magazine, likely alongside other print publications.[/quote] Science Fiction Fiction, yup.

People moaned about Fallout 3 when they heard it would be an FPS RPG and that was an amazing game, so I'm going to wait before I pass judgement.

The screenshots are fancy and all, but this is not what I expected for the revival of Syndicate. Eh. If Starbreeze manage to pull this off like they did Riddick, and they keep Syndicate Wars' voiceovers for weapons, I'll be happy. [B]UZI. MINIGUN.[/B]

To be honest I've only heard of Syndicate through minor references and discussions, but... Deus Ex much?

[QUOTE=Aerkhan;32237097]To be honest I've only heard of Syndicate through minor references and discussions, but... Deus Ex much?[/QUOTE] They're nothing alike.

[QUOTE=Banned?;32237478]They're nothing alike.[/QUOTE] Forgive me, but the screenshots gave me Deus Ex feel.

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdJxuzWasbs[/media] Remember playing it on the ps1, i'm getting a totally different vibe from this project though doesn't look dark and gritty. Even though that's an old dos game, i can tell it's supossed to be kinda steam punkish the art style for the reboot looks generic as fuck like everything else on the market today. plus we get a brown haired guy with stubble main character, yawn. That's how it is today, pick a license and shit on it.

I see the creators are at least trying to stick to the series, especially with 're-imagined levels from the original game' for co-op, but I honestly think EA's going to shoehorn Starbreeze into making it a rival game against Human Revolution. And the 'features' they're advertising don't sound like anything special anymore.

Only if we could <persuade> them.

*Takes out Persuadertron* EA, here I come! Seriously first XCOM and now Syndicate, WTF is up with this constant butchering of great strategy games into FPSes? Maybe It's fodder for the "non-stratigizers" aka "people that can't afford to think"

[QUOTE=RikohZX;32239880]I see the creators are at least trying to stick to the series, especially with 're-imagined levels from the original game' for co-op, but I honestly think EA's going to shoehorn Starbreeze into making it a rival game against Human Revolution. And the 'features' they're advertising don't sound like anything special anymore.[/QUOTE] Since when was this supposed to rival DXHR? Enough comparisons already. They've put massive resources into this but they've not got the objective of trying to rival DXHR. By the time this comes out it won't matter if it is or not. [QUOTE=Hans-Gunther 3.;32240157]*Takes out Persuadertron* EA, here I come! Seriously first XCOM and now Syndicate, WTF is up with this constant butchering of great strategy games into FPSes? Maybe It's fodder for the "non-stratigizers" aka "people that can't afford to think"[/QUOTE] FPS games are selling, RTS games aren't. The publishers won't take the chance of handling a RTS title and the developers know this. Industry is crude just as any other business is and we just have to deal with it.

Could we atleast take a stand against bad art design and generic gameplay mechanics? I'm honestly fucking tired of this, games are not the only media getting hurt by this bullshit movies take any chance they have to make it as generic as possible It's a general decline in intelligence and creativity our brains are dying from within with all this bland design. You can keep on taking it like a bitch, but i'm still going to complain like a bitch. I'd rather be proud and play my gems, then swallow up all the mainstream crap You're the consumer for fucks sake, take a stand. You'll be surprised how little games some of the fuckers who buy modern warfare have.

Hey I'm fine with playing all the games that are doing something different and innovative too but I'm not going to complain every time something generic pops up unless it really really does something dumb. Its not worth the time and its nigh impossible to raise awareness or get your view across unless you're a journalist (I'm talking specifically with game industry).

If i can change the views of atleast some people, i'll be happy I just want to share being a connoisseur, instead of a flavorless kid on the block playing blandness in a can and liking it. Gameplay is pretty tight in titles today, but everything that has to do with story and art design has been swallowed up by idiots. The games of today are for people with alot of teen angst, liking the "HARDCORE" demographic.

Oh and I know just how bad some of the MW demographic is in relation to how few games they actually have. Its mind boggling to think that these people make up such a large percentage of MW's sales.

[QUOTE=postmanX3;32226989]I mean, fuck, to be completely honest I've never even heard of this series before, but what could they possibly accomplish by reviving it as an FPS? You just piss off fans and alienate people that don't know the series at all. And that's disregarding the fact that it's another FPS in a market that is probably around 70% FPSes by this point.[/QUOTE]If they didn't make it an FPS you wouldn't have heard about it. That is an accomplishment.

[QUOTE=Atlascore;32227279]Can someone please tell me what Syndicate is (was?)?[/QUOTE] totally bad-ass forerunner to today's tactical shooters. you controlled 4 lads and went around cities doing missions to control a city. it was way more popular in the UK i think than it was in america.

[QUOTE=carcarcargo;32234434]People moaned about Fallout 3 when they heard it would be an FPS RPG and that was an amazing game, so I'm going to wait before I pass judgement.[/QUOTE] I think people moaned about the story elements/character development being total shit which was pretty much the central feeling of the past games. It wasn't faithful, good fun gameplay or not. It's like reading 2 good books then you become a fan, years later get the twillight saga handed to you. People gave it amusingly high rankings, it deserves lower. They could have made something else that was post-apocalyptic it didn't even need the fallout license. If you make something it has to underline what made the franchise what it is correct? Genre doesn't matter, but story does. Your defending the new bethesda, these days they know how to ruin good story telling.

I don't know anything about this game, so please don't dumb me, but to me, when i first saw those screens i saw another deus ex 3 kind of game.