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Syndicate FPS reboot announced for early 2012
by Alice O'Connor, Sep 12, 2011 6:00am PDTWe've known for yonks that a new Syndicate was being made at Starbreeze under the codename Project RedLime. Today, publisher Electronic Arts has made it official. Named simply Syndicate, it's rebooting Bullfrog's classic cyberpunk top-down tactics game into a first-person shooter for PC and consoles.
An FPS is a far cry from the squad-based top-down tactical original Syndicate, but it was probably to be expected given the modern-day market and Starbreeze's recent games. The Swedish studio's last two titles were unconventional FPSs The Darkness and The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena.
As well as aping the dystopian cyberpunk setting, which sees megacorporations warring in 2069 to control America, the new Syndicate is said to recreate many classic weapons and environments. The four-player co-op mode will also contain missions "from" Bullfrog's original. Fingers crossed for a new version of the positively beastly Atlantic Accelerator mission.
Rather than controlling indistinct drones, players will step into the black leather boots of Eurocorp prototype cyborg agent Miles Kilo to "embark on an epic action adventure full of corruption and revenge." And, doubtless, shooting faces.
As a cyborg, Miles will have a few handy tricks up his sleeve, or inside his head, as the case is. An implanted 'DART 6' bio-chip enables bullet time shenanigans and lets Miles "breach the digital world" with "a variety of upgradable hacking mechanics" to tackle enemies. One can only hope that one of these will be the iconic Persuadatron from the originals, which turns foes to friends.
"Our goal with Syndicate is to provide a challenging action shooter for today's gamers as well as fans of the original," EA Partners excecutive producer Jeff Gamon said in the announcement. "I'm sure they will enjoy and recognize the legacy that made it such a classic."
The original Syndicate was released by Peter Molyneux's legendary Bullfrog Productions in 1993, followed by an expansion pack, American Revolt. 1996 sequel Syndicate Wars took the action into gloomy 3D, complete with delightfully destructable buildings, but the series was sadly shelved after that.
The new Syndicate is headed to PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 "in early 2012."
Comments
Starbreeze's Syndicate reboot has finally been announced by EA. Unlike Bullfrog's top-down, squad-based tactical original, it's an FPS. Expect it on PC, Xbox 360 and PS3 in "early 2012."
Starbreeze's Syndicate reboot has finally been announced by EA. Unlike Bullfrog's top-down, squad-based tactical original, it's an FPS. Expect it on PC, Xbox 360 and PS3 in "early 2012." : Shacknews
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When you select a series for a reboot you do it because you are banking on brand recognition. In this case a good majority of the people will likely have never heard or played the game so the branding will in essence new to them. They could have easily wrote a new Steampunk story that would have better fit as a FPS game and still sold millions calling it something else.
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