AMIGA POWER 1993
(Syndicate for Amiga cover, german release)

Strategy. A nightmare future. Excessive gunfire.
It is all here in...

synd_game_title_transparent

"I had great fun reducing the train to a flaming ruin"

Game: Syndicate
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Authors: Peter Molyneux, Sean Cooper, Philip Jones, Mike Diskett, Mark Webley, Guy Simmons, Chris Hill, Paul McLaughlin, Alex Trowers, Russel Shaw (or Bullfrog, in other words)
Price: £34.99
Release: Out now



Review by Tim Tucker for Amiga Power, Issue 28, August 1993, p.p.28-31


Usually we skip over the plot line of a game because it is tedious and, frankly, irrelevant. But let us break with the tradition this time, because the background to Syndicate is absolutely fascinating.

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It is the future. World government is in the hands of three hugely powerful multinational corporations, one in America, another in Europe and the third in the Far East. The European corporation develops a device known as the CHIP, which is inserted in the neck and stimulates the brain, offering the user an enhanced perception of the world far better than any drug. It also offers the corporation the chance to manipulate the public through auto-suggestion, and it soon becomes apparent that control of the CHIP means control of the people.

This scramble for monopoly over CHIP technology leads to war between the corporations, which in turn leaves them open to infiltration. This is where the Syndicates come in – crime syndicates who have been pirating CHIP technology and bribing and murdering their way into the upper echelons of the multinationals. Soon, the Syndicates have taken control of the corporations and the world is locked in bitter power struggles over territories. And the Syndicates exert their influence via teams of custom-built cyborgs, armed to the teeth with state-of-the-art weaponry.

Wow. Now if that does not make you want to start playing this game, then you may as well stop reading this right now and skip straight to Yo! Joe! or something. As it happens, this plot has its roots in a well defined genre – ‘cyberpunk’. Now, despite the fact that Neuromancer (William Gibson’s seminal novel which first brought the cyberpunk vision of the future to the public) was first published almost 10 years ago, there is still a significant number of people willing to witter on about the movement as some kind of ‘new wave’. In fact, cyberpunk is very much an ‘80s ‘thing’, and it sresurgence actually a sign of an impending ‘80s revivial. The seventies will soon be outré, and Abba will be replaced in the nation’s hearts by Neuromancers and New Romantics. Mark my words.

On the other hand, the cyberpunk vision (a world were technology is available to everyone, where serious crime is committed on computer networks, which form ‘virtual realities’, and where big business multinationals have increasing power and influence in the world) is looking more accurate every day. In the AP office, it is frighteningly close – using software known as ‘Broadcast’ and ‘Electronic Mail’, we regularly ‘Jack-in’ to the CyberMatrix, spinning through the Virtual Data stream to experience the Neon Lattices of Logic burning across the TV-blue skies. And asking our friends what they are doing for lunch. Yes.

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GLOBAL AMBITIONS
Yeah, right - Syndicate. it is a strategy game in which you are an up-and-coming executive looking to extend the influence of your Syndicate, and ultimately dominate the world. You set up your own organisation, with your own logo and trendy name – mine is a gothy (in fact, very cyberpunky) girl, and I have called it The Raven. It is excellent.

You cahart your progress through the game using the world map, which shows the world divided up into territories, with each territory coloured to indicate which Syndicate holds power there. Paint the whole map your colour and you are the supreme ruler of the world. To gain control of a territory you have to accomplish a mission, and mission objectives vary from kidnapping scientists and pressuring them to work for your Syndicate to simply walking through the territory mowing down opposition agents. After you have been given the mission briefing, it is time to tool up.

This is where you enter the strategy part of the game. You are given a team of cyborgs, from which you can choose a maximum of four to tackle a mission. You buy the weapions and equipment that each cyborg needs for the task in hand – at the start you only get a choice of pistols and shotguns, but by allocating funds into research and development you acquire the technology for really destructive hardware like machine guns, lasers and high-powered flamethrowers. These won’t be available until later missions, but by putting more into research you can speed up the development process significantly.

You can also use your budget to upgrade the modifications of the cyborgs themselves. By giving them higher version legs, arms and chests, for example, you can improve their mobility, defence against attack and carrying abilities. Keep putting money into modifications and you can build up a supremely powerful team of professional killers.

(Hmm. I would just like to interrupt this review for a second. Although Syndicate is excellent, I can appreciate that reading about it is not as fun as actually playing it. I am fully prepared to admit that it is slightly tedious in fact. I would like to inspire your confidence at this point by pointing out the best bit of the entire game is yet to be described, in what I hope will be some of the finest prose concerning computer games yet to be committed to paper. In the meantime, here is a joke: Q: What is green and lets you do things? A: Permit the Frog. Right, on with the review).

And now starts what is probably the most violent and amoral slaughter-fest you have ever had the pleasure to be involved in. The action takes place on an isometric 3D play area rendered in amazing detail. Including Blader Runner-esque advertising billboards, monorail services, road vehicles and a whole city’s worth of citizens. The control system is nice and easy to get used to, simply requiring you to click where you want your team (or individual characters) to go, while using the right-mouse button to unleash hot leaden death. If you were sensible when tooling up you will have equipped one of your characters with a scanner, which provides information as to where your mission target is to be found, the presence of enemy agents, police and so forth.


"I had great fun reducing the train to a flaming ruin"


Upper UPPERS I never thought I would say this, but the sight of four highly equipped and dangerously violent cyborgs striding through the future cities of the world annihilating everything in their path engenders a strange euphoria. Actually controlling them towards your own ends is even better.
Also, a special mention for the recoil effects when shooting an enemy, the grossly overplayed violence and the terrifyingly accurate sound effects.
Downer DOWNERS Slow and jerky scrolling and, at times, difficult vehicle manipulation are the only things that tarnish the game, and they are nowhere near enough to dissuade you from buying. So forget this bit.

THE BOTTOM LINE
A fully-charged saga of cyber-induced power struggles, this game has got everything. Strategy AND a callous disregard for human life. It really is quite difficult to describe why, but I urge you to trust me (and Bullfrog, of course) and demand a copy of this game from your nearest software retailer immediately.
91
P E R C E N T

THE BOTTOM LINE

A1200 Substantially smoother, faster and better – which gets it a well-deserved 2 percent.

93
P E R C E N T

HITTING THE TOWN
Apart from your primary target (which may or may not be an assassination), it is a good idea to pick off as many enemy agents as you can. These look very similar to you – big overcoats to conceal the personal arsenal, and, weirdly, what look like red berets or something. Anyway, they are easy to spot, but you are often caught unawares when a group of them spring from nowhere and start to fire on your team. Oh, and do not worry about pedestrians that get in the way – just mow them to pieces, too, you won’t be penalised. No-one cares.

Your only other worry is the police. They are not permitted to open fire on you unless you pull out your weapons, so to avoid trouble, it is generally a good idea to put your weapons back in your overcoats when you have polished off some rival Syndicate trash. But then again, the police are easy to kill so why not use them for target practice and teach the inhabitants of the place that you are a force to be reckoned with? (Don’t try this at home, kids. – Ed).

This is one of the great plus points of the game – your options are always completely open. Every building can be entered (and indeed occasionally house enemy scum), you can shoot and destroy cars, drive any vehicle you come across, get in trains – it is totally interactive. I had great fun reducing the monorail train to a flaming ruin once it had ceased being of any use to me. The missions can take place over very large play areas too, which means there is loads to explore and discover.

If you successfully complete a mission you are returned to the map screen, where the newly acquired territory will be rendered in your colour. You can now set new tax rates for the territory to any figure you like – obviously the higher the rate, the larger your budget for later missions, but set it too high and you will find that the citizens become dissatisfied with your regime and rebel. This leaves the territory open to enemy infiltration, and requires you to return to the areas to mop ‘em up – which can be irritating, but also strangely cathartic, I find.

It is impossible to describe how much fun this all is. The blend of strategy and action is perfect, and the highly charged atmosphere is evident throughout, from the lovingly realised future metropolitan hell to the frighteningly realistic gun shot sound effects. I feel I should point out, however, that it is a highly amoral game – life is wasted with alarming frequency, and there are no good guys as such, just one set of ruthless criminals against another.

As always at AMIGA POWER, though, there are a couple of niggles. Technically, the scrolling is a little on the slow and jerky side on a standard Amiga. This is a slightly unfair criticism, because this amount of detail is bound to create some problems, but I feel it is only right to point it out. 1200 owners have nothing to worry about on this score. The only other thing is that controlling vehicles is slightly irritating. Some cities require you to enter and exit them by car, but, due to the one-way system, trying to get out often results in a ridiculous trip around the entire road network. Familiarity improves the situation.

Syndicate is top-grade entertainment of the highest order. Bullfrog already have an outstanding reputation in the Amiga software department, and there is no doubt at all in my mind that this can only raise their name to even dizzier heights.
An instant classic.
TIM TUCKER

Amiga Power, Issue 28, August 1993, p.p.28-31