Syndicate - a name which will strike a chord with gamers of a certain vintage and lineage.
I first encountered this game round a friends house. Sitting on a shelf of big box PC games, it’s unique packaging immediately stood out.
With that bright green shell featuring futuristic artwork, it was like an artefact from tomorrow. Better yet was when I actually played the game it was an thrilling as the cover art suggested.
Through some amazing art direction it skilfully used a mere 16 colours to create sprawling dystopian landscapes filled with pedestrians and traffic.
It’s hard to describe how exciting it was in 1993 to have such an interactive simulation on a PC to play with.
But how does it hold up in 2022, almost 30 years later?
I played through a good slice of the game, using all the best practise approaches I’d picked up over the years. Pretty much all the missions were instantly recognisable, etched into my mind from all the time I’d spent with the game in my youth.
It’s very easy to play through the game with a squad of V3 enhanced syndicate wielding miniguns. As soon as the in-game music ramps because a threat is near, clicking both left & right buttons together will instantly put your agents into an automated state of extreme self defence.
Once the threat has been eliminated, you can then resume your usual mission objectives.
To get the most out of Syndicate I think you need to essentially get into a state of roleplay with the game and try to revisit using this approach.
You need to pay for the additional mission briefing information and then use that to frame the mission in your mind. You also need to try and use the environment and tools the game provides to also enhance this roleplay, such as using a bridge with a sniper weapon for an assassination mission.
As a kid, I imagine this type of approach to playing the game came much more naturally to me. This is when Syndicate is at it’s best.
Like many retro games the passage of time and march of technical innovation makes it easier to play modern more immersive games.
In 1996 a sequel in the form of Syndicate Wars came out, which I wasn’t able to play at the time due to not having a powerful enough computer.
When I’ve attempted to play this game in the years since it hasn’t captured my attention enough to play more than a single mission sadly.
The futuristic main menu interface still feels fresh and crisp to this game, embodying the technical improvements made since the original.
However the actual gameplay is confusing with a new 3D world complicating the experience rather than liberating it. Perhaps I should try again and dig a little deeper to find the game here.
