29. Syndicate

(Various Home, Bullfrog Productions, 1993)
-- Guest writer: Swabbleflange --
I was once in a syndicate. For a couple of years I was involved in a fiercely competitive scheme, gambling on overwhelming odds for the promise of great personal gain. My dreams of fortune have so far failed to materialize, but I still play the lottery in hope.

Bullfrog however, did hit the jackpot with this 1993 release, coming at a time when the studio was well on its way to the pantheon of videogame development. Having established themselves as a creative force to be reckoned with in the shape of their Populous series, the Guildford team turned their attention to a decidedly more sinister concept. Cyberpunk was still a fertile framework to hang a game on, and throwing the corruption of big business and government into the mix served up a vicious treat for fans of strategic action.

As the founder of an ethically dubious corporation, the player has to literally take over the world territory by territory. Moral bankruptcy being a distant second to its financial brethren, this is achieved by sending genetically and cybernetically-enhanced agents into the field to assassinate, kidnap, terrorise and otherwise eliminate all resistance and opposition. As each territory is captured and controlled it can be taxed to provide funds to further the R&D on the team. Weapons, gadgets, enhanced body parts and performance enhancing drugs are all on the menu for the lucky agents. Overly brutal taxation results in the territory revolting, which basically just means that the player has to redo the mission to capture it.

Playing out in an isometric viewpoint, all this technology is put to great use as the squad makes its way to each objective. Though the missions are mostly concerned with killing specific targets, there is a lot of freedom in the approach. Storming in guns blazing can be as viable as a sniper shot from a distant bridge, and there's a lot of fun to be had in simply causing mayhem and destruction in the cities (something that earned the game a little controversial press - flamethrowers and civilians can be a potent mix). The squad can be split up or moved as a unit, and performance tweaked on the fly - though a careful balance should be maintained to prevent burnout.

I always consider the 16-bit computer era to truly be the golden age of innovation in game concepts. Early enough in the industry's life to provide plenty of unexplored avenues and technologically advanced enough realise the ideas found there. Syndicate is just another example of the hard-to-categorise games that were rife in the UK/European software scene through the 8 and 16-bit years. Though it later received ports to various formats the Amiga version is to me the definitive one, and even if it's a little rough around the edges these days there's no denying it was a true original.

I haven't seriously revisited Syndicate since it first came out, but I conquered the world with the help of my loyal agents Ripley, Hicks, Vasquez and Bishop*, and loved every moment of it. The setting, blend of real-time action and strategy, (literal) team-building and a wicked sense of humour ensured it a solid place in my affections and a perfectly remembered gaming moment.

(*What do you want from me?)


-- Swabbleflange's views toward various games are dependent on random factors ranging from the weather to what colour smoking jacket he is wearing. Further fantastic musings can be found at: http://swabbleflange.blogspot.com/ --