14 DAY TRIAL // Electronic Arts is rumored to be on the verge of announcing a new entry in the classic Syndicate series, if reports from anonymous sources are to be believed. The last Syndicate game was launched way back in 1996.
It was in February that a rather cryptic announcement from Starbreeze and Electronic Arts made the rounds. It only revealed that a “classic franchise” would be revived by the developer, with plans to release on the Xbox 360, the PlayStation 3 and the PC. At that time, both Starbreeze and Electronic Arts refused to offer more information and now Computer and Videogames is reporting that sources in the companies are saying that Syndicate is the franchise which will be brought back to life.
Bullfrog, one of the early developers which were gobbled up and dismantled by Electronic Arts, launched the first Syndicate title in 1993. In the game, the player was put in charge of a major corporation, or syndicate, which exists in a near future cyberpunk world where violence and surveillance are common. Your corporation is in direct competition with others and the player has to lead cyborgs through tactical battles in which agents of other entities are murdered in order to achieve victory. Syndicate Wars was the sequel launched in 1996 and managed to recapture the essence of the original game.
A new title in the series could blend tactical combat with small squads and a lot of micromanagement, plus a strategic layer where you have to manage resources and control your agents. The world of the series is very interesting and Electronic Arts should take care to preserve that.
Bringing an old game back to life is a risk and an opportunity at the same time. There is always the risk of a backlash from players of the old games and there's also the possibility that some gamers cannot connect to the newly released title because they just don't know the game world.