Syndicate
Steve McGill attempts to take over the world with the spinning disc version of this classic, adrenalin-pumping cyber strategy game...
Publisher: Mindscape
Versions: CD32
Review by Steve McGill for "Amiga Format", Issue 73, July 1995, p.633
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FLOPPY SYNDICATE
This month also sees the re-release of Syndicate on floppy systems (as mentioned left). Owners of SX-1’s would be better served purchasing this at the extremely affordable price of £14.99. Other than the CD32 controller option, there is no difference between either game. Take note. |
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"Buy Syndicate on budget instead. It will cost you half the price." |
Everyone in the world knows about Syndicate, the violent ‘futuristic’ backdrop for internecine corporate wars fought over a global battleground between sinister cyborg agents of said corporations. If you unashamedly invest in artistic licence, it is easy to relate to the ethos, but not implementation, of the CD32 conversion of Syndicate.
Future Publishing has been insorbed into the body of MEGA GLOBAL CORPORATION Pearson, and is currently providing muscle in Pearson’s struggle to establish a worldwide multi-media empire, with a corporate logo in every country in the world. As an agent of this mega global multimedia corporate empire, my mission brief was simple. Find out why the CD32 version of Syndicate, with its integrated Akiko Planar to Chunky chip, does not make use of the hi-res graphics of the PC version – a technically feasible and not overly difficult task.
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SYNDICATE
Publisher
Price
Versions
Release date
Sound 7 out of 10
Addiction 8 out of 10
Playability 8 out of 10
Overall verdict
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The first port of call was Bullfrog – a well known company which,
while profitable in itself, has a strong brand image exploitable over
several media rather than exclusively on computer games.
Unsurprisingly, it has been snapped up by Electronic Arts,
another corporation with global aspirations.
I spoke to Mike Diskett, head of conversions at Bullfrog. According to
Mike, the 2Mb limitation of the CD32 means that if they had wanted to
include the PC graphics, much of the game code and detail of Syndicate
would have had to be lost. Fair enough, but when pushed further,
Mike admitted that the conversion had been farmed to an outside firm.
One phonecall to Mindscape later, and I was speaking to Clive Fort, an ex-Commodore employee. He took the offensive and grilled me on the new control system using the CD32 controller that had been added to the game. I had to admit that, while commendable in itself, it was much clumsier than using a mouse – one nice touch tough is a targeting system known as Acquire and Fire which automatically targets the nearest quarry to your cyborgs. "Fair comment," said Clive, "We are proud of the system".
Rock steady
Steadfastly and tenaciously, I stuck to the task in hand. Clive said
that to convert the PC graphics to the CD32 would: "Be like trying to
fill a pint pot from a quart jug, plus some". When interrogated further
Clive finally broke down and admitted that it was more a commercial
consideration based on the time needed for conversion.
So there it is, Syndicate could quite legitimately be considered ‘shovelware’. But if you are a CD32 only owner, it is still a brilliant game well worth buying – despite some annoying mechanics such as the lack of a view inside buildings, or fiddly vehicle control.
If you own an Amiga too, buy Syndicate on budget instead. It will cost you less than half the price of the CD32 version, and it is exactly the same to look and to play.
Amiga Format, Issue 73, July 1995, p.63