Satellite Reign (aka new Syndicate)

[buzzmong]

RPS Linkipoos.

Yeah. It's probably a Syndicate remake/update. Made by one of the original Bullfrog staff behind it. Crikey.

It's going to be a Kickstarter, but unless it's silly money, I don't think that's going to be an issue.

Although, the comments on RPS have also reminded me of Cartel, Paradox's announced remake.

[Dog Pants]

Interesting. They'd have to update Syndicate's gameplay I think to prevent it getting dull - these days we can't tolerate that much repetition. I think it could be done though.

[Dog Pants]

Looking pretty so far. The combat looks to be more tactical than the original, like a real-time XCOM, and that could really work. I was put off to an extent by the bit about having four agents who are different classes - I grew up on having an army of identical, faceless cyborgs with miniguns - but Firaxis managed to make it work with XCOM so these guys could manage it here too. Oh, one more thing, it seems to contain elements of the dev team for Syndicate Wars, which for me lost most of the charm of Syndicate. So I'll hold on before I Kick its Start, but colour me interested.

[Dog Pants]

This is struggling. £273,468 pledged of £350,000 goal with 7 days to go. I'm kind of surprised, I thought people would have been all over this. But on the other hand I just can't bring myself to back it either. A lot of what they're talking about deviates quite a lot from the original, and there's nothing but concept art and words to change anyone's mind about it. I still hope it gets funded, and maybe in hindsight I should have pledged a tenner while that tier was still available, but I'm just not prepared to risk £16 on something I might end up hating.

EDIT: This may have convinced me though. Look at the way they're moving to cover. Very nice.

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUFPSMq7xEM[/media]

[buzzmong]

I think it'll squeak over the line, I also think that the fact beta access is priced at £35 might be putting some people off considering (something I disagree with) lots of people think that they should pay less for alpha/beta access.

I think it's also very much one of the titles where people are going "I'll wait and see", which is what I've done, but I'll probably drop some money on it later, dunno if I'll go for £35 to access the beta or not though.

Probably won't as I'm very much more interested in the final game and I've now got a massive backlog of other games to go through first.

[buzzmong]

Yeah, reckon this'll pass the line easily now.

Dropped £35 on it in the end. Probably a little bit too much, but to be honest, I hardly ever by full price games anyway, so I can afford to pay the equivalent every now and again for something that really does seem interesting.

[Dog Pants]

The tech in this game is lovely. I hope the gameply matches up.

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mub2lKel9JE[/media]

[buzzmong]

Oh yeah, it's definitely Syndicate with extras:

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0i2AlzOHtuE[/media]

Flying cars!

[Dog Pants]

Thread resurrect!

I've only really glanced at this since it was released onto Steam (was it Early Access?). However today I thought I'd check it out since it's had a full release.

Firstly, it's not Syndicate. No rampaging around with miniguns mowing bad guys and innocent citizens alike. Maybe you can later, but it's not how the game's meant to be played. It's a bit more Commandos, with each of the four agents having different skills. This makes missions a lot more thoughtful and stealthy, which even though I'm not a huge fan of that kind of game I can see being a better game design. Mowing people down with miniguns doesn't hold peoples' attention like it in 1993. You can go in guns blazing, and I've resorted to that and cone out on top, but it doesn't really have that ultraviolence feeling that the original did.

What probably can't be argued it that it looks absolutely amazing. I'm not usually too bothered about graphics, but the detail that's gone into the dirty, rain-streaked neon world is incredible. The game is set in one big city, and there's no cutting and pasting. Already I'm becoming familiar with the various districts I cross while I'm out and about. The seedy part of Downtown with all the strip bars. The nearby market with its ramshackle stalls. The corporate enclaves scattered around them. People go about their business, drop-outs hang out in alleys and sleep in corners. You can zoom in and see the cigarette butts on the pavement. Also, there are a number of things I've seen that I'm sure are SLA references; either that or they have the same influence as SLA did. Obviously this is delightful to me.

The missions themselves are pretty freeform. You get given a section of the city and a bunch of missions, and left to it. Shoot your way in, sneak in, hack in. Do other stuff, like bribing guards or hijacking a police car. It feels like the stealth/hacking approach is the default, just like Deus Ex did, but I get the impression that's mainly because I'm not that familiar with other approaches yet.

So yeah, I'm pretty impressed. Feels like a good reimagining. Might not be my thing, ultimately, but I'm glad I Kickstarted it.