Syndicate [Model SHVC-AFYJ-JPN]

シンジケート © 1995 Electronic Arts Victor.
(Syndicate)

Syndicate is a cyberpunk-themed isometric action/adventure game by Bulfrog. In a distant and sinister future, the world is controlled by large politically driven corporations called syndicates. The player takes control of a marketing director employed by such corporation to conduct various kind of dirty missions - assassinate members of a rival corporation, blow up strategic locations, persuade political figures or to simply eliminate competing agents. Interestingly, the gameplay gets the player to do all of this dirty business through four remote controlled cyborg agents (from a stock of eight), all programmed to strictly follow orders, thanks to chips directly embedded in their brains. The goal of the game is to extend the corporation's territory and to rule more provinces and cities in order to increase the corporation's fortune. Between missions, the corporation can spend its hard earned money in research and create new weapons and equipment, or modify and upgrade existing ones. The game features two main sections - in the first ones, called the "HeadQuarters", the player selects and edits his agents, sets taxes and researches new materials. The second phase, the "Mission", is where the meat of the game truly lies. On a top-down isometric playfield, agents can be controlled one at the time (or all at once), and elements of the scenery can be used to fulfill the missions. An arrow points at the current objective and this is where the cyborgs must head to. A password system allows the player to save his progress.