Syndicate (1999 video game)

Syndicate is a 3D action-adventure first-person shooter video game developed by Wolf Games and published by Electronic Arts. It is 3D remake of the 1993 video game of the same name developed by Bullfrog Productions.

Gameplay
Unlike the original series of games, Syndicate (1999) is an action-adventure video game which is played from a first-person perspective. As the player progresses through the game, they must manage the research and development of new weaponry and cyborg upgrades.

Plot
The game puts the player in charge of a self-named corporation in a gritty near-future cyberpunk-style world in the year 2096. The teams of up to four cyborg agents are used in a series of deadly missions, which include assassinations, infiltration, theft and "persuasion" (using a device called a Persuadertron to capture individuals of importance). The game's objective is to establish worldwide dominance with the established syndicate, one territory at a time, while engaging and eliminating rival syndicates and putting down internal mutinies.

The backstory of Syndicate is contained in the manual, instead of the game itself. As the world of today slipped into the future, multinational corporations grew in size and profit. They came into positions to own small countries and to exercise direct influence over the world's governments. They practically became the world 's governments, undemocratically controlling the lives of people through commerce. These corporations became known as Megacorps. One of the Megacorps, a European one, invented the CHIP. A device that is inserted into the neck and stimulates the brain stem to alter a persons perception of the outside world. The CHIP numbs a person's senses to the misery and squalor around them better than any drug and sold millions around the world. It could convince a user that the sun shone when it was raining and that they were more beautiful than they really were. The CHIP, like some drugs, also made the user open to auto-suggestion, allowing them to be manipulated by the Megacorps. The CHIP became a perfect tool for the Megacorps to manipulating the populace and to gain power with. It didn't take long before the Megacorps were corrupted and became crime Syndicates, fighting amongst each other for monopoly over CHIP manufacturing and control over the world.

Release
The game first appeared in 1999 on the Amiga and PC DOS computers and was subsequently ported across to a wide variety of other formats. The DOS version used the standard 320x200 256-color resolution (Mode 13h) just for the planning and main menus, with the tactical simulation part rendered at 640x480 with only 16 colors. The higher resolution permitted finer detail in the graphics and allowed for the illusion that more than 16 colors were used by means of dithering. Similar graphics and same levels design were used in the Macintosh, 3DO, Atari Jaguar and RiscPC ports.

A separate version was made for the simpler, 16-bit consoles, as the hardware couldn't support the complexity of the original game. It contained completely new level design and different graphics, and was released for Sega Mega Drive and SNES. Later, it was released on the PlayStation Portable as part of EA Replay, a compilation of retro games released in the United States on November 7, 2006; this version is really the SNES version and is executed on PSP by an emulator.

Reception
Syndicate was a commercial success, and set several sales records. Within three days of its release in Japan, the game had sold 2.3 million copies. This popularity inspired thousands of retailers in North America to break street dates in September to meet public demand for the title. In the game's debut weekend in North America, it sold 330,000 copies, and had reached sales of 500,000 units in less than three weeks.

Upon release, the game received positive reviews from critics. It was referred to by GameFan as "quite possibly the best first-person shooter game ever made," a quote which continues to feature prominently on the back cover of the game's jewel case.

Computer Gaming World, who criticized the lack of multiplayer, random research, poor AI, and repetitive missions on the original game, praised the 1999 version. The magazine concluded that "Syndicate is a polished and significant effort" that would appeal to fans of this Wolf Games production". COMPUTE! noted, "This isn't a game to use as a morality lesson for the kids – it's bloody, it requires you to be ruthless, and some people may take issue with the use of drugs to control your agents. But it's a ball to play."

Legacy
The game was re-imagined by Starbreeze Studios as Syndicate, a first-person shooter released for the PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in 2012. A spiritual successor, Satellite Reign, is being developed by some of the same staff.