Syndicate - Your memories

[Cherno]

Apologies in advance if there's already a thread about Syndicate, I didn't want to necro

Anyway, Syndicate. I loved this game on the Amiga, here's some thing I can remember from playing it back when I was a kid:

Finding out that the last guard in mission 1 has an Uzi you can pick up to for research. Very important!

The sound a shotgun made.. BOUMMM! Pretty scary because those thigns had enough firepower to kill your men with one or two shots.

Using miniguns the right way... A friend of mine oncce came over to play and he just fired the minigun in short bursts. I then grabbed the mouse and said "This is how you do it!" and held down the mouse button for a few seconds, resulting in that cool sound mechanic squeaking sound effect... And many dead enemy agents!

Standing behind a corner or in a doorway with all four agents, and using the flamethrower to quickly dispatch enemy agents that came running around.

Never figuring out what the pass card was for, back then we thought it could open some of the doors (it's really supposed to make policebots ignore you)

One mission also had the sprite for a scanner of passcard lying on the floor outside somewhere, but it couldn't be interacted with.

Standing near a wall and firing along it with auto-fire weapons, taking out all windows It's little details like this that made the game great.

The shrill beeping sound when enemy agents were killed and their bombs activated... Time to get out of here!

The sound of the persuadertron... "CHOOO"

That one Australian mission "Rescue Wolff" (or similar), where you had to break into a heavily fortified compound full of soldiers to rescue an informant. One of the most interesting missions, great design.

Destroying the trains was very funny because the wagons blew up one by one in a chain reaction.

The infamous last mission "Atlantis" (I think it was called different in English) on the ocean platform, Every agent needed shields, one minigun and as many lasers as he or she could carry! Then it was all a matter of finding a good position with decent field of fire, putting on all combat drugs, and waiting for the hordes of enemies to arrive. I also remember there being a watchtower with policebots that were armed with gauss launchers.

Much later, I was intrigued when I saw screenshots of the PC version that had better graphics, especially the different vehicles were missing in the Amiga version, there were only one standard car model but the PC version also had cool police cars and ambulances and my favourite, the APC.

Related links:

http://syndicate.lubie.org/

http://richdavison.co.uk/syndicate-wars-map-editing/

[s2325]

As kid I thought it was something like first Postal but years later I discovered game was more complex. I remember that I kept this game only to watch intro.

[Cherno]

Ah yes, the intro, very cool. Especialy since it took place in "Neu Hessen", Hessen being one of the German states

Oh, I was also suprised to see how bloody the PC version was (or maybe even the Amiga version outside Germany), with all those civilians lying dead in large pools of blood. This game was all about collateral damage!

Aaand the funny traffic lights that were just some spheres with lights floating above intersections. Ingenious! My brother once told me our neighbour thought they were shooting lasers at him

[Predseda]

I have a solution book for Syndicate, which also includes "American revolt" datadisk guide. Written for both PC and Amiga version, but I had to laugh reading the solution of one AR level. There is written something like: "This level is really hard. Use airstrike. Amiga version doesnt include airstrike, so use any othe method."

[john1979]

My brother and I tried to play through it before Christmas but we got stuck on Far East. Spent a lot of time trying to get through that one but gave up.

[DDNI]

I didn't know American Revolt even got released on Amiga!

[TCD]

Yep: http://hol.abime.net/2251

[DDNI]

cool. Amigamemo states it only came as a magazine order, unboxed?

[demolition]

For some reason I don't think I ever tried that game. And I even got it on original floppies, which I got together with a broken A600 I bought a little while back. Maybe I should give it a try some day.

[TCD]

Originally Posted by DDNI

cool. Amigamemo states it only came as a magazine order, unboxed?

Seems like it is: http://amr.abime.net/review_2689
So in Amiga Format 60 page 70 (which isn't on AMR) you can find out how it was shipped

Edit: Seems like there was a boxed product later, but that has to be confirmed in some way yet.

[Tiago]

Great game. Yes i also remember last level name as "Atlantis".
Never played American Revolt, but i remember to read that was much difficult then the original game.

[Lord Aga]

Heh, I started playing Syndicate a couple of weeks ago. It is just as great as I remembered it Those futuristic "smart" cars seem to be the worst enemy of all

[amiga_Forever]

my memories was simple.. -

not being able to finish the game (... and i still think about it today)

[lilalurl]

Originally Posted by Cherno

The infamous last mission "Atlantis" (I think it was called different in English) on the ocean platform, Every agent needed shields, one minigun and as many lasers as he or she could carry! Then it was all a matter of finding a good position with decent field of fire, putting on all combat drugs, and waiting for the hordes of enemies to arrive. I also remember there being a watchtower with policebots that were armed with gauss launchers.

Some alternatives tactics for this mission were discussed if anyone else is interested:
http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?p=641130#post641130


Not much to add to what has already been said. Lovely sound effects: it is always enjoyable to have a continuous music made of minigun fires/persuadertron/flamed people screaming


A very innovative game and very well-done in every department. The only complaint I have is path-finding. Nothing horrible for that period but at times when there was a lot of action if was a bit of a bother when your agent made a detour for nothing.

[gimbal]

I could never finish the game, I got stuck because my target was unreachable. I tried and tried for nearly 2 hours before giving up.

I really liked the game, but especially the latter levels became a bit of a repeat.

a) make sure loaded with insane weaponry
b) enter level
c1) run for cover
c2) wait in a secluded spot for the inevitable
d) start shooting as large wave of agents starts to get near
e) stop shooting when they're gone
f) walk a little
g) rinse and repeat

With the odd exception when a level requires you to do something really alternative. I loved the carnage as a kid, but if I play it today I get bored because the lack of variation. Still it has some puzzle element to it, because you can't just Rambo through the game. You have to be clever about what route you take to minimize exposure to the waves and waves of baddies.

I actually prefered the Amiga version over the SVGA PC version, even when the PC version loaded way faster and moved smoother. The PC version simply made me sick after a while (I had that problem with SVGA modes in 60hz at that time, later model monitors made the problem go away).

[Galahad/FLT]

I loved going mental with the gauss gun, slowed the whole game down when you let rip!

[Cherno]

Originally Posted by lilalurl

Not much to add to what has already been said. Lovely sound effects: it is always enjoyable to have a continuous music made of minigun fires/persuadertron/flamed people screaming

Yes, looking back at it the game was really pretty violent, with civilians getting killed left and right and of course the burning people.

Currently I'm stuck in western Australia where you have to steal the Gauss Gun but I can't reach it for some reason, I see no way how to get there.

Too bad no level editor exists, but I found some 3D renderings a fan made.

http://syndicate.lubie.org/synd/gall...renderings.php

Looks really good, if anyone ever tries something like this count me in, I can model in 3DS Max

[gimbal]

that is actually -really- awesome work. it maintains the original drawn look, except for the cars which I think are just stock models

[Cherno]

Notice the LEGO minifig in the pictures

Interestingly, these were textures with the actual game textures. I'd love to play with this. The author however has moved on since

[Oldskool Bitz]

Great game on all systems, including the different 16-bit console versions. Shame the CD32 version didn't turn out to be the game fans hoped for. I wasn't an Amiga-fan back then, but I would've been very disappointed after all these promises Bullfrog made...