ADG Episode 213 - Syndicate
279It's like a strategy game, only not...
Today on Ancient DOS Games Gemini's taking a look at Syndicate, an isometric third-person shooter developed by Bullfrog Productions and published through Electronic Arts in 1993.
The curious thing about this game is it started life as a multiplayer game, but became single player only late in development, then had multiplayer added back in once it got an expansion. This multiplayer-centric aspect to the gameplay can definitely be felt in how the game controls, along with some of its weird quirks. But, despite its minor issues and difficulty, it remains a fun game, even to this day!
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Additional Information and Corrections:
* Well, that absence was short lived as the game's already back on GOG! As before, here's a link for those who want to grab the game from there: https://www.gog.com/game/syndicate/?pp=91dfde1d6e005e422f64a59776234f1f4c80b5e4
* Yes, I know the game stats only read "1 Player". It's TECHNICALLY correct as I didn't cover any of the expansion content and you need to have the expansion content to get multiplayer. The GOG release by default has the expansion content, but you still have to enable it on startup for multiplayer to become available.
* One weird quirk I didn't comment on yet really should've is how the buildings don't disappear when you go inside so you can see inside them. Going inside buildings basically makes you blind and you only have your radar and cursor highlights to figure out what's going on. While I don't agree with the decision to make the game work this way, this was INTENTIONAL, the reasoning being that because you're controlling the agents directly as a third party from a floating ship, but because you can't see through their eyes, you can't tell where they are if they're not visible from the sky, meaning they're not visible in buildings. :P
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