The Wonder Years 2.07.08: Week 42 - Syndicate

Posted by Owain J. Brimfield on 02.07.2008

Organized crime, in a videogame? Whatever will the critics think!

Welcome to the column where all gamers of a certain age come to wallow in 16-bit nostalgia. I'm your host, Owain J. Brimfield, and I'll be discussing some of the hidden gems and instant classics of gaming's golden era. Some of these games may crop up on the Wii's Virtual Console at some point, some may be consigned to the annals of history. Either way, they're worth tracking down if you missed them first time round, or replaying if you were lucky enough to catch them. Let's take a trip to:

SYNDICATE

(Bullfrog, Genesis & Super NES, 1993)

To answer the rhetorical question posed in the column's teaser, turns out they quite liked it after all. Not so much of a shock in today's world, but given that Syndicate was released at a time when Mortal Kombat was still being damned by all and sundry as the source of the world's troubles, a game based on the premise of running a criminal organization didn't exactly threaten to go down like a new Mario title. Perhaps surprisingly, although it certainly received some disapproving looks, the game pretty much slipped under the radar of those who would have gaming strung up by its bootstraps for crimes against humanity. It didn't halt the critical success of the title, either. Developed by Bullfrog (the development studio everyone's favorite hyperbolist Peter Molyneux called home), Syndicate received a warm reaction from the gaming community on release and went on to spawn a sequel or two. Ironically, Bullfrog would go on to produce Theme Park some months later, one of the least offensive games ever released. As with the majority of Bullfrog's games, Syndicate was published by EA which gave the title a bit more heft in the market than it might otherwise have been capable of, given its subject matter.

Yes, the game sees you taking control of a shady corporation in a cyberpunk future (hey, much like Shadowrun, which we looked at a few weeks ago), commanding a squad of cyborg agents in real-time across an isometric landscape, carrying out missions involving tasks as benign as converting scientists to your company's cause, to executing swathes of rival agents in a quest for corporate dominion. A quick glance at the list of weaponry available reveals the game's true intent, holding everything from pistols and machine guns to flamethrowers and the superbly (and very unsubtly) named "Persuadatron", which you could use to... well, I'm sure you can guess, it's not exactly got a hidden meaning. Yep, it's pretty much a cyberpunk mafia sim. No bad thing, by any means, but you can see why the game's ethos might not have struck a chord with the parents of aspiring gamers. What's that, little Billy? You want to be a corporate hitman when you grow up? Good for you, son!

It's all carried out in a spirit of black humor though, and you can't help but giggle when the game requests you murder a large bunch of civilians because they've "caught the plague", or when you hop in a car that follows an entirely pre-determined route and still manages to run over pedestrians, before you hop out and torch the driver alive (how the hell this game got past Nintendo at the time I'll never know). The graphics themselves are a bit more cartoony than you might expect with some surprisingly colorful sprites inhabiting an otherwise suitably dank and dystopic gameworld, and the violence never hits home as much as it does in the aforementioned MK. Not that that's a bad thing necessarily, of course, but let's face it, us gamers do like our senseless murder. It's still surprisingly immersive, though, and with fifty missions to complete (ostensibly in locales as disparate as the US, China and Kazakhstan, but you wouldn't really know it by the scenery), it'll take a while for you to achieve true syndication. Is that phrase too corny?

The game does have a few flaws that aren't dependent on the quality of the 16-bit ports though (at least not in the same way as Doom for the SNES was flawed) - the music, for one thing, is horrendously repetitive, with a grand total of (if memory serves) three different tunes serving as the backing to your corporate slaughter. There's also a peculiarity whereby you can't actually see the insides of buildings either - should your death squad need to head indoors, you'll have to navigate through the corridors using the tiny map at the bottom end of the screen. This is, quite frankly, a ridiculous gameplay decision that could easily have been resolved by having the action switch to another screen, but it's something you'll have to live with - apparently, death only resides in the outside world. It's arguable as well that the title gets repetitive, much in the same vein as (much as I hate to keep using the comparison) Shadowrun, without a huge variety of missions.

Of course, you have to weigh this criticism against the fact that you're controlling a squad of cyborgs on a quest to cause as much devastation as possible. Yeah, I think you know how to do the math.

Although the PC version is still reasonably available, the Genesis and SNES cartridges themselves tend to be a little harder to come by. It's still relatively easy to pick up a copy of the original game though - and even if you're too lazy to do that, there are a number of open source projects dedicated to recreating the game on the PC platform (I'll leave those to Google to locate for you). Syndicate was a bold and original title released at a time when gamers were beginning to crave something more than family-friendly fare, and it's carved itself a solid reputation as a franchise thanks in no small part to the success of the original game. That, and the fact that there really can't be a gamer alive today who hasn't at some point dreamt of controlling a cyborg assassination squad and using them to wipe out a gang of enemies in a hail of Uzi fire. It's simple pleasures like these, ultimately, that make Syndicate such a rewarding game. And reward you it will - too few games these days end with the player having assumed complete domination over the planet. A man can dream.

Syndicate trivia

• Peter Molyneux has speculated that an online version of Syndicate may one day see the light of day. Mind you, this is the same guy who told us Fable would change our lives, so take that with a pinch of salt.
  
• The Genesis version was ported to the PSP a couple of years back by EA. Unsurprisingly perhaps, it didn't live up to the acclaim of the original game.
  
• The game was, according to MobyGames at least, once going to be titled BOB. Eh?
  
• Syndicate is an honorable mention in my official all-time Top 100 games.

Reactions and interactions

Last week's look at F-Zero proved to be quite popular, obviously some good old-fashioned nostalgia for that game:

Posted by: Travis

"I almost forgot just how great F-Zero was for the SNES, in fact it's one of the few cartridges I still keep around and in good condition (the other being Kirby Superstars... God how I love that game...)"

That's a remarkable dichotomy, but good to see that there are still gamers keeping the ol' cartridges in action. You know, now that I think about it I haven't covered a Kirby game yet...

Posted by: G-Walla

"Sorry, you can make jabs at Mario Kart's expense all you want, but it was a much more entertaining game than F-Zero. And that's not taking anything away from F-Zero, because it's a fantastic game. Oh, and you are definately right about chicks being suprisingly good at fighting games... at least until you con them into playing No Mercy and then just reverse everything because you're an asshole. Or, maybe that's just me."

Ah, I kid Mario Kart - in fact, I do enjoy it more than F-Zero, and it takes the spot in my all time top 100 that F-Zero always wanted - but I'm not sure it was as influential to the racing genre. I never subjected my girlfriend to the delights of No Mercy... I was too busy kicking her butt at SF2 Turbo...

Hmm, couldn't keep a straight face there. I always had to pick E. Honda and fight cheaply. My friend Dee is also remarkably good at Soul Calibur for a teeny tiny girl. I guess they can just channel their aggression better than the male members of the species.

Posted by: PJ

"This was my first VC Title. I didn't regret it at all. It's one of my favorites! Get it now! I highly Recommend it."

Couldn't have put it better myself. Listen to the man!

Posted by: danielatari

"LoL! My gf makes me watch Sex and City too whenever it's on. LoL, I frickin' HATE that show as well! It's just so .... PAINFUL!! LoL, I dunno. But yeah, F-Zero, it still gets plays from me, love it! Pico is fun to use. Wasnt there a glitch or something where you can run thru the wall and fly across to the other side of the track? I remember doing something like that back in the day."

I feel your pain, dude. Us men need to stick together and fight the evil of SATC, especially now there are movies on the way. There's a shortcut in F-Zero's Red Canyon II that involves a hidden jump, which lets you bounce on to the giant blue arrow and cut out a bit of track, not sure if that's what you mean but it is a bit weird. I hate Pico, though.


The Videosphere

Let's take a look at this week's video highlight. Ever wonder why video gaming gets such short thrift in the world of television? I certainly have, especially since seeing some trash about the "world series of gaming" or some such shit late one night on an obscure TV channel. To see how gaming should really be covered on the box, take a look at the following clip from 90s British videogame show Bad Influence, in which an assortment of Northern English kids review such classics as Madden '93 and Dracula: The Undead (on the Lynx!). Classic stuff.




General indulgences

Every week in this section I'll endeavor to provide you, the faithful readers, with a fascinating insight into the various forms of entertainment currently dominating my spare time.

This week, I have been mostly enjoying:

Still Resi 4 that's dominating my gaming time, about 14 hours in and it feels like I'm nearing the end, having just dispatched one of the ugliest bosses in gaming history. Bloody good game though, especially that minecart ride bit.

Hypothetical by Threshold, a band that proves British progressive metal is just as relevant as its American and European counterparts with some rockin' riffs and a decent variety of lyrical themes.

Scrubs season six, which I finally got round to watching since buying the DVD set. Us region two-ers do seem to get screwed on the extras. Anyway, it's good, but it's no season two.

and selling stuff on eBay. "QVESTION - WILL U DISPATCH TO RUSSIA FEDERATION...!" said one potential customer. I got a little scared by that one. And they didn't even but the thing after all!


And finally…

As always, reader feedback and suggestions are welcome, I respond to everything so just drop me a line or leave a comment. You can also check out my science fiction column "The Flux Capacitor" over at 411 Movies. Next week in "The Wonder Years" - is that the sound of the thunder? Until then - keep it real, keep it retro.