Fun, original and very cool, if flawed (Syndicate Wars (PS))

Member Name: Burning_Darkness

Product:	Syndicate Wars (PS)
Date:	12/08/09 (16 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: imaginative visuals, immersive gaming environment, great fun

Disadvantages: Graphics look a little dated, gamaplay gets repetitive

The sequel to the now rather ancient 'Syndicate' game for the PC, Syndicate Wars puts you in command of a high-tech futuristic corporation, allowing you to control a squad of four heavily cybernetically enhanced, trenchcoat-wearing 'agents' on various missions throughout numerous living, breathing, Bladerunner-style, dystopian cityscapes.

The aim of the missions varies from assassinating rival company executives, gangleaders and politicians, stealing secret intelligence or weapons prototypes and bombing commercial/residential/governmental buildings, and is a simple case of clicking on the person/structure you wish to attack, at which point your agents will pull guns out of their trenchcoats and start blasting away. The game has a really cool Robocop/Terminator/Judge Dredd feel to it, with the weapons at your disposal including uzis, shotguns, miniguns, rocket-launchers and laser weapons, with lots of pitched battles between you and large numbers of street punks, gangsters, police and government soldiers taking place on the rainy, sleazy streets under the glare of dark and looming skyscrapers. There are plenty of innocent civilians wandering about the maps, and these can be gunned down at random or made good use of via the Persuadertron, a handy little device that brainwashes them into rallying to your cause, making them wander around your characters acting as human shields and collect weapons from the bodies of your fallen enemies before blasting away at your foes.

The graphics look a little dated now but still have lots of charm, mixing 3d structures and vehicles with 2d character sprites, but overall the game is still visually appealing despite its pixellated appearance. The 3d environment is fully rotatable, which comes in very handy as your cyborgs navigate the maps' urban sprawl, and the levels have numerous working transport systems, allowing you to hijack futuristic trains and hovercars when you need to make a quick getaway. Everything can be blown up too, with buildings coming crashing down satisfyingly when explosives are planted at their base. In between each mission there is a resource-management section, in which you can develop new weapons and cybernetic enhancements for your agents, manage your funds and choose which missions to embark upon.

Like most of Bullforg's releases Syndicate Wars is conceptually brilliant but slightly flawed on the gameplay front, with the missions sometimes becoming repetitive and the gameplay overly simplistic. There is enough in the way of gore, pyrotechnics, explosions and huge urban gunfights to retain interest for a good while though, and Syndicate Wars remains great for the occasional atmospheric, futuristic blastfest.

Summary: Great for a quick blast