I really liked Starbreeze's Syndicate, but apparently the game suffered from executive meddling.

[Ambient_Malice]

I noticed this over on Reddit.

https://www.reddit.com/r/GameDeals/comments/3tow5l/amazon_syndicate_2012_fps_reboot_origin_or/cx8b5wf

Allegedly, the game was in development for four years, and EA continually micromanaged the thing. Somewhere along the line, someone at EA decided that Starbreeze's radiosity-based lighting system wasn't "future" enough, and they ordered Starbreeze to make everything blue. That's the reason, allegedly, Syndicate has that rather overbearing blue tint and shiny bloom going on. It was EA's mandate.

Now I really like Syndicate. It's a darn good FPS game that arguably laid the groundwork for FPS games like Wolfenstein: TNO and Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, but it's a shame knowing that EA decided to screw around with Starbreeze instead of letting them do their job properly.

And of course, to add insult to injury, Starbreeze ended up a hollow shell with most of its talent leaving to work on Doom 4 and Battlefield and Mad Max and Wolfenstein.

 

[Zhukov]

*shrug*

"And nothing of value was lost" I believe is the phrase.

The game was a sluggish, overly linear shooter with a crappy story. I like linear games, but a glorified corridor is taking it too far. I don't recall the blue tint, but it was the least of the game's problems.

Not even going to go into the whole using-a-classic-IP-to-make-a-generic-game-in-a-different-genre-that-old-fans-won't-like-and-new-customers-won't-care-about business. I put it in the same box as that XCOM Declassified turd.

The executives probably started getting handsy because they smelled a stinker on the way.

I do remember people saying that the co-op multiplayer turned out alright. Never tried it myself.

 

[Ambient_Malice]

*shrug*

"And nothing of value was lost" I believe is the phrase.

The game was a sluggish, overly linear shooter with a crappy story.

It plays like a better version of Wolfenstein: The New Order, for better or worse. (To be less kind, Wolfenstein is a tired rehash.) Story was decent, though.

 

[Elijin]

I never even started the single player, but I had a lot of fun with the co-op missions. Fun weapons, interesting rpg elements, neat powers.

 

[Gethsemani_v1legacy]

It plays like a better version of Wolfenstein: The New Order, for better or worse. (To be less kind, Wolfenstein is a tired rehash.) Story was decent, though.

No, it doesn't. Wolfenstein: The New Order is lauded as the marriage between modern and traditional FPS-conventions and for re-invigorating the genre for a reason. Syndicate did some cool stuff, like its breaching and weapon upgrades, but was at its' core a contemporary cover shooter with a two weapon system where the really cool stuff was always limited to the times when the designers wanted them to be used.

Syndicate was a mediocre game, it did some good stuff but it was pretty uneven and the base mechanics were not good enough to stand out. Wolfenstein: TNO on the other hand provides incredibly solid core mechanics and allows the player to approach combat in the way they like, whether it is sneaking, cover based tactical, run and gun or any mix of the three. TNO might not have had the desire to push the boundaries like Syndicate did, but in sticking to established conventions it also managed to blend several styles of shooters into one game and make all of those styles enjoyable.

I am totally with Zhukov on this one. I don't believe Syndicate would have been a much better game if "not for EA", because the major flaws of its' execution came not from "blue tint" or "more cinematic experience" or whatever, it came from the simple fact that Syndicate didn't provide a good enough core experience.

 

[Zhukov]

It plays like a better version of Wolfenstein: The New Order, for better or worse. (To be less kind, Wolfenstein is a tired rehash.) Story was decent, though.

Wut?

It plays nothing like W:TNO. At all. The similarities end with them both being shooters.

I didn't like TNO all that much, so I'm not saying this in its defense. The comparison is just weird. TNO had some old-school sensibilities while Nu-Syndicate was just another shooter in that icky period of about 2008-2012 when generic shooters were everywhere.

As for the story, it was EVIL CORPORATIONS and HEROIC RESISTANCE and... that's about all they came up with.

 

[Ambient_Malice]

I didn't like TNO all that much, so I'm not saying this in its defense. The comparison is just weird. TNO had some old-school sensibilities while Nu-Syndicate was just another shooter in that icky period of about 2008-2012 when generic shooters were everywhere.

How is Syndicate not old school? It had boss battles in an era when FPS boss battles were extremely unpopular. In fact, I recall that being a bit of a marketing point -- that Syndicate was trying to be "old school". Wolfenstein is hardly any less generic. Just look at all the FPS games with the same "sneaking around in vents = gameplay depth" gimmick.

As for the story, it was EVIL CORPORATIONS and HEROIC RESISTANCE and... that's about all they came up with.

Did you actually finish the game? The resistance were lying to you. How did you not know that? (Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare blatantly recycled Syndicate's storyline and aesthetics, but it played the betrayal twist completely straight, with no "Oh, by the way, the 'good' guys used a rather massive lie to motivate you" twist like Syndicate had.

It plays nothing like W:TNO. At all. The similarities end with them both being shooters.

They had identical melee, extremely similar gunplay, sound design, AI, and very similar level design concepts, and they were literally made by the same people.

 

[Ambient_Malice]

DP