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[pringles]

Wow, people are hating on this game because of

1. marketing-talk

and

2. it being different from a game so old that anyone who played it when it was released should have a wife, kids, gray hair and way too little time on their hands to bitch about games on internet message boards

?

Starbreeze makes great games. Riddick and The Darkness may have been FPS games but they were hardly mindless shooters. They had a lot of RPG elements as well. Why would this suddenly be Call Of Duty: Syndicate Edition?

I'm hyped, screenshots and premise look great.

 

[Neuromancer]

This new Syndicate, and Xcom for that matter, don't make any sense. The public awareness for these older series is nonexistent so the developers and publishers may as well be starting a brand new IP.

I don't agree with this, I think both those series are fairly well known even by people who may not have played those games, by name if nothing else. Unfortunately there's really no scientific way we can settle this dispute but I have to imagine either way companies like EA and 2K have done their homework (marketing research) that indicates to them that this is a good idea.

My problem with the XCOM game isn't that it's an FPS based on X-Com; my problem with the XCOM game is it looks like a shitty FPS. I'll reserve judgement on this game until I see more, I think cautious optimism is in order here.

 

[markot]

I don't agree with this, I think both those series are fairly well known even by people who may not have played those games, by name if nothing else. Unfortunately there's really no scientific way we can settle this dispute but I have to imagine either way companies like EA and 2K have done their homework.

I doubt it very much. How many cod dudebros know a thing about either?

 

[Neuromancer]

I doubt it very much. How many cod dudebros know a thing about either?

CoD dudebros don't necessarily make up EA's entire demographic for every game. Otherwise their other hits like Mass Effect would never sell, or even get made.

 

[Freshmaker]

I don't agree with this, I think both those series are fairly well known even by people who may not have played those games, by name if nothing else. Unfortunately there's really no scientific way we can settle this dispute but I have to imagine either way companies like EA and 2K have done their homework (marketing research) that indicates to them that this is a good idea.

Hopefully the predictably poor sales will be a good metric for future endeavors.

 

[Neuromancer]

Hopefully the predictably poor sales will be a good metric for future endeavors.

Isn't it a little early to predict poor sales for this game? We literally know almost nothing about it.

 

[Joseph Merrick]

the old syndicate games don't really have that important or good mechanics to begin with. it's just squad shooting and upgrading. and gadgets. not really much strategic or tactical depth. I don't really have a clear picture of what this new syndicate game is like yet though, but it can't possibly compare to the ufo defense to xcom situation. don't think so. that game has so much more going on in the original, and the new one is just brothers in arms with aliens. is this new syndicate even going to be pure linear levels? thought it was going to be 'open world' thing?

 

[markot]

CoD dudebros don't necessarily make up EA's entire demographic for every game. Otherwise their other hits like Mass Effect would never sell, or even get made.

All their other games get dudebro'd up, looks at dragon age 2, and the shooter that mass effect has turned into.

There may be more to the market, but the industry seems to see us all as dude bros, thats why we get fed the fps dude bro gruel.

Thats why these games become fps games, the only reason they use the name is because the industry is devoid of originality, its easier to 'pitch' a game with a name, but not that many people know about syndicate, or xcom. It just looks good in marketting, on the power point, the sales of the series in the past, gets them erect just thinking of it.

 

[Neuromancer]

the old syndicate games don't really have that important or good mechanics to begin with. it's just squad shooting and upgrading. and gadgets. not really much strategic or tactical depth. I don't really have a clear picture of what this new syndicate game is like yet though, but it can't possibly compare to the ufo defense to xcom situation. don't think so. that game has so much more going on in the original, and the new one is just brothers in arms with aliens. is this new syndicate even going to be pure linear levels? thought it was going to be 'open world' thing?

Star breeze's games (well Riddick and The Darkness) are usually centered around hubs where you get missions and things from people. I imagine that's what this will end up being, which I think would be very cool.

 

[Freshmaker]

Isn't it a little early to predict poor sales for this game? We literally know almost nothing about it.

Figuratively speaking, I don't see what makes this game or XCOM stand out more than say, Brink.

The fact they're banking on old IP's to try to gain the titles leverage is not a good sign. Didn't work for Shadowrun. Not sure why it's supposed to work now.

 

[FStop7]

I hope the game is good but that is not at all what I was hoping for from a new Syndicate title.

 

[markot]

Star breeze's games (well Riddick and The Darkness) are usually centered around hubs where you get missions and things from people. I imagine that's what this will end up being, which I think would be very cool.

It wont be a syndicate game though.

Again, this and xcom are pure exercises in marketing. Old ip that sold well + fps = No brainer for those brainless wonders.

 

[AndyMoogle]

First of all, we've known for years that Syndicate is coming back as a FPS. And it's not going to be a corridor shooter either. We've heard cyberpunk GTA being thrown around.

Second of all, this makes much more sense than X-Com being a FPS. If this is an open world game in first person, it's not THAT far from the first two games. As long as the mission structure is similar, I don't think it's that big of a deal.

They need to be able to make a game that suits consoles too. An isometric tactical shooter from EA isn't going to fly in 2011. They want a new AAA game that can sell millions of copies.

 

[HP_Wuvcraft]

the shooter that mass effect has turned into.

I hate to break it to you, but it was always going to go down that direction.

 

[Zeliard]

Isn't it a little early to predict poor sales for this game? We literally know almost nothing about it.

We know that it's gone through one hell of a development. One might go so far as to call it development hell.

Since Syndicate's inception, however, the game has gone through a rocky development process, with issues ranging from staff disagreements over the overall direction to problems with the technology. But the biggest difficulty -- and the one alluded to at the beginning of this feature -- has been that much of the staff has left along the way.

Insiders point out that the MachineGames founders also departed over frustrations working with EA Partners. "Another one of the big reasons the MachineGames guys left was because they could not work with EAP," says a source. "And that's kind of interesting, because the main principle with EAP [is that they are set up to leave developers alone]. They're working with Epic on Bulletstorm, and Valve... Obviously Epic and Valve can do their own thing and EA doesn't say much. And that's how it should be. If they step in, which they have done now on Syndicate, where they send producers over there to embed them with the dev team, that's a really bad sign... Starbreeze did something very, very wrong for a very long time with Syndicate."

 

[Neuromancer]

It wont be a syndicate game though.

Again, this and xcom are pure exercises in marketing. Old ip that sold well + fps = No brainer for those brainless wonders.

Well I think it's safe to assume we would never have gotten a true Syndicate game in terms of mechanics, I think that ship has sailed, no matter how interested in it people like you or I would be in it.

But we can hope for this being a good FPS on it's own merits.

 

[Neuromancer]

We know that it's gone through one hell of a development. One might go so far as to call it development hell.

Yeah OK that doesn't sound good at all. =(

Some games escape their development hell stories and succeed in the end (look at Red Dead Dedemption) although I know those cases seem rare.

 

[Freshmaker]

But we can hope for this being a good FPS on it's own merits.

How many do we need?

 

[devilhunterx]

First X-COM, now THIS?!! Blasphemy!

 

[Joseph Merrick]

Star breeze's games (well Riddick and The Darkness) are usually centered around hubs where you get missions and things from people. I imagine that's what this will end up being, which I think would be very cool.

are you telling me (ME!!!!!!!!) what starbreeze games are like?! fuck you, buddy! hehe

 

[NullPointer]

2. The viability of isometric or overhead squad based real time strategy games has to be in question, by these same companies.

And this is where I think the mistake is made, and thus the anger. Its presumed that the original genre just couldn't work in today's market. I'd like to know why that is.

I could imagine a company being ultra conservative and risk averse looking at the data and going "hey, we don't see any top selling isometric squad based games so we better not even try it". I could almost follow that logic, although I'd say that maybe nobody has made a decent one yet. But to follow that up with "well, lots of the best selling games are FPS so this'll automatically work out better for us" is where I'd have to get off the boat entirely.

Unless you throw untold gobs of money at your shooter to splash gaming magazine covers with the craziest screens and release videos that push the edges of the graphical envelope your shooter is going to be devoured by the competition. Now if its doing something truly unique it has a chance to fill a niche that the big shooters aren't, but that approach takes something these companies seem to be missing - faith in their IP, faith in the original following of that IP, and most importantly, balls.

Given all the ways that people can play games of all kinds, right now, this line of thinking just doesn't make any sense to me.

I just hope these FPS re-imaginings are good enough to change my take on things.

 

[AndyMoogle]

How many do we need?

Uh, as many as we can get? Should there be a limit to how many good games we need? It's not like we are drowning in open world FPS games either. There are zero good ones as of now, so I really don't see the problem.

 

[Freshmaker]

Uh, as many as we can get? Should there be a limit to how many good games we need? It's not like we are drowning in open world FPS games either. There are zero good ones as of now, so I really don't see the problem.

When a genre is hyper saturated, one does need to stop and ask companies just how many the market can actually support.

"Oh X is risky. FPS games are popular. We'll do that"
*game is instantly buried in the signal to noise ration of the genre*
"Huh. Guess the IP really is dead."

They learn nothing from these failures.

 

[HP_Wuvcraft]

"Oh X is risky. FPS games are popular. We'll do that"
*game is instantly buried in the signal to noise ration of the genre*
"Huh. Guess the IP really is dead."

They learn nothing from these failures.

Is reading other people's thoughts a new power for Cyclops?

 

[heavyness]

Yeah, its like that stupid Nintendo, I mean, as if this would sell well today!

Whats that? one of the highest selling games on DS and Wii?

Whats that? Successfully transitioned the series into 3d while incorporating all the elements of that past games?

Wow, you compared Syndicate to Mario... awesome. Next up, can you compare Duck Hunt with the Call of Duty franchise.

 

[markot]

Wow, you compared Syndicate to Mario... awesome. Next up, can you compare Duck Hunt with the Call of Duty franchise.

I compared the silly idea of 'this cant sell well today' with what they should do with games and series, not completely abandon them and steal the name.

Not many 8bit games would sell today, would Duck hunt? Would the original mario? Would Pac Man?

No. People expect more.

But instead of getting more with Syndicate, we get a half assed mess made by marketting teams and no inspiration at all.

The comparison was not between Mario and Syndicate, it was between 'how do to it' and 'how not to do it'. You suggested that Syndicate wouldnt sell based on the original made how long ago? No crap? No one wants the exact same game, we want a game based on that game, with those elements put into a new one. Not striped down and forced into yet another fps game.

 

[AndyMoogle]

When a genre is hyper saturated, one does need to stop and ask companies just how many the market can actually support.

"Oh X is risky. FPS games are popular. We'll do that"
*game is instantly buried in the signal to noise ration of the genre*
"Huh. Guess the IP really is dead."

They learn nothing from these failures.

If EA want to, they can make sure it doesn't get buried. And if the game is really good, it will most likely sell from word of mouth. I don't see how making it third person would make a difference anyway. Almost as many third person shooters out there as first person. And don't think that there are any other options for this game. It's either a FPS or TPS. EA won't make an isometric shooter nowadays.

Besides, once again, this is supposedly an open world FPS. There aren't really any other games like that. A cyberpunk GTA in first person could potentially be big. It could also be a complete failure. We'll see what happens.

 

[Joseph Merrick]

When a genre is hyper saturated, one does need to stop and ask companies just how many the market can actually support.

"Oh X is risky. FPS games are popular. We'll do that"
*game is instantly buried in the signal to noise ration of the genre*
"Huh. Guess the IP really is dead."

They learn nothing from these failures.

what are you talking about when you write fps? dead island? deus ex hr? prey 2? stalker?

 

[Freshmaker]

Is reading other people's thoughts a new power for Cyclops?

Spooky isn't it?

Well, not really. That's basically what the devs always say.

"If that game sells well, then we'll make a game the fans actually want."
Game bombs
"Oh well. Gamers don't like that IP anymore."

 

[Sloane]

Expected. I hope a Civilization FPS is next.

 

[Meier]

Starbreeze! *bow* *bow* I played the SHIT out of Syndicate back in the day so hearing that they're the ones developing this has me psyched.

 

[Joseph Merrick]

Expected. I hope a Civilization FPS is next.

can't wait to gib gandhi. that passive aggressive piece of shit

 

[Freshmaker]

can't wait to gib gandhi. that passive aggressive piece of shit

Viscerize the fuck out of Ghandi!

 

[Neuromancer]

what are you talking about when you write fps? dead island? deus ex hr? prey 2? stalker?

'FPS' is shorthand for Call of Duty style games to many people.

 

[ZoddGutts]

can't wait to gib gandhi. that passive aggressive piece of shit

Wasn't he also into young boys?

 

[Freshmaker]

'FPS' is shorthand for Call of Duty style games to many people.

To me it's shorthand for games I don't want to play. Terrible POV.

 

[Massa]

'FPS' is shorthand for Call of Duty style games to many people.

And, unfortunately, for many people Call of Duty is short for 'game for dumb dudebros, I'm too good for it'.

 

[loffer]

looks great!!!!

 

[subversus]

Looks exactly like what I wanted from the game. I hope Morgan won't fuck up this time and will bring writing on the level with his books which are damn good. I still can't understand how he could fuck up Crysis 2 so much. It's lke writing Lords of the Rings and then writing some fan fiction story for some dorky website. The gap was that wide.

 

[Mandoric]

Expected. I hope a Civilization FPS is next.

I've always suspected that in an alternate universe this exists, and spearmen taking down tanks are really just the guys who bought the DLC reflected across space-time.

 

[MMaRsu]

To me it's shorthand for games I don't want to play. Terrible POV.

So you didn't play Deus Ex?

I don't want a new game anno 2011 to only feature isometric viewpoint. Terrible POV.

Ontopic : Starbreeze woohooo!!!!!

Screens look amazing really.

 

[Mlatador]

Wow, people are hating on this game because of

1. marketing-talk

and

2. it being different from a game so old that anyone who played it when it was released should have a wife, kids, gray hair and way too little time on their hands to bitch about games on internet message boards

?

Starbreeze makes great games. Riddick and The Darkness may have been FPS games but they were hardly mindless shooters. They had a lot of RPG elements as well. Why would this suddenly be Call Of Duty: Syndicate Edition?

I'm hyped, screenshots and premise look great.

What are you talking??

It's not like there was only ONE Syndicate game. I played it (Syndicate Wars) on Ps1 and really loved it.

It's not THAT old.

 

[devilhunterx]

Wasn't he also into young boys?

Almost every night [citation needed]

 

[Psy-Phi]

Why did I click this thread assuming it wouldn't be an FPS . I really should know better after that Xcom news.

Excuse me while I go into a corner to cry. Here's hoping GOG gets the two old Syndicate games soon.

 

[Drazgul]

In the grim dark future of gaming... There is only FPS.

 

[ThatGuy]

Someone actually gave Richard Morgan the job of developing a videogame narrative after the "superb" work he did on Crysis 2?

He has some kind of 3 or 4 games agreement with EA according to a article I read some time back so we will probably see one or two more games with him as story writer down the line.

I have faith in Starbreeze so I will wait for Ingame Trailers to judge the game.

 

[Fjordson]

After playing Crysis 2, forgive me if I'm not clamoring to play something else written by Richard Morgan.

Totally man. I fucking loved Altered Carbon. Think it's a fantastic novel, but Crysis 2...ugh. Don't know what happened there.

 

[Freshmaker]

So you didn't play Deus Ex?

No.

I don't want a new game anno 2011 to only feature isometric viewpoint. Terrible POV.

If you were drowning in a sea of isometric games that were replacing all FPS games due to derplogic, then you might have some kind of stinging retort here.

Bastion has been fairly well received tho.

Ontopic : Starbreeze woohooo!!!!!

Why? They haven't been good for years.

 

[MMaRsu]

No.

If you were drowning in a sea of isometric games that were replacing all FPS games due to derplogic, then you might have some kind of stinging retort here.

Bastion has been fairly well received tho.

Why? They haven't been good for years.

And which title showcased that?

2004 – The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay
2007 – The Darkness
2009 – The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena
TBA – Untitled Syndicate game

All of these games were really damn good in my experience, but maybe you didn't play them because of the POV.

 

[EatChildren]

This better be cinematic and epic.