EA Announces Revival of Syndicate

There will be people reading this news post who weren’t born when the original Syndicate was released by Bullfrog and EA in 1993.

Wow.

Presumably in an effort to make the rest of us feel young again, EA has recruited the considerable talents of Starbreeze Studios to reinvent Syndicate for the current console generation. Starbreeze is a new development team built from the talented folks behind Chronicles of Riddick and The Darkness.

So what of the original game’s isometric action and subtle tactics will they have retained and what aspects of the game will be so different that Starbreeze has to break out their persuasertrons to convince us that this is even a Syndicate game at all?

Well, the gallery at the bottom of the page shows that 2012 Syndicate certainly looks a little different to 1993 Syndicate, both in graphical quality and camera angle. Gone is the isometric viewpoint, replaced by a first person perspective. Brilliantly though, this new viewpoint has been joined by some jaw-dropping visuals which show that, if nothing else, Starbreeze is making sure that this newest incarnation of the Syndicate franchise is one of the best looking games yet seen on consoles.

In the works for a couple of years, this new Syndicate is set in 2069 and, according to the press release “takes players into a dark, Machiavellian world run without government oversight with many syndicates – Eurocorp, Cayman Global, and Aspari – who are vying for total dominance of their local market place”. Starbreeze have hinted at what they call “chip breach gameplay” where “players can slow down time and breach the digital world around them to take down their foes using a variety of upgradable hacking mechanics”. It all sounds interesting but time will tell how unique these new features actually  are.

Fans of the original shouldn’t be too disappointed at the obvious changes. Jeff Gamon, EA Partners Executive Producer, says that players “will enjoy and recognize the legacy that made it such a classic”. Classic weapons and environments will make a reappearance as well as a deep four player co-op mode that features missions from the original game.

Syndicate will be available in early 2012 for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and the PC.

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