Syndicate is an isometric real-time tactical game from Bullfrog Productions created for Sega Genesis in 1994.
Syndicate (Sega Genesis) gameplay
Gameplay of Syndicate involves ordering a one to four-person team of cyborg agents around cities displayed in a fixed-view isometric style, in pursuit of mission goals such as assassinating executives of a rival syndicate, rescuing captured allies, “persuading” civilians and scientists to join the player’s company or simply killing all enemy agents.
As the player progresses through the game, they must manage the research and development of new weaponry and cyborg upgrades. The player has only limited funds, requiring taxation of the conquered territories while ensuring that they are not so over-taxed that they revolt against the player. The player begins the game with simple pistols, progressing through increasingly destructive weaponry that includes Uzis, miniguns, flamethrowers, sniper rifles, time bombs, lasers and the enormously destructive Gauss gun. In addition, the player can use items such as medikits to heal his agents, scanners to locate pedestrians/vehicles and the “Persuadertron” to brainwash the player’s targets into blind obedience.
Between missions, taxes from conquered territories can be spent on researching new weapons and cybernetic upgrades for the agents. These are all the same as on the computer versions, with the exception of the flame thrower, which has been replaced with the less gruesome ‘chiller’. Indirect control of the agents with drugs influencing adrenaline, perception and intelligence also remains the same. The policemen and guards from the original are gone, their place being taken by robotic drones.
The game puts the player in charge of a self-named corporation in a gritty near-future cyberpunk-style world in the year 2096. The teams of up to four cyborg agents are used in a series of deadly missions, which include assassinations, infiltration, theft and “persuasion” (using a device called a Persuadertron to capture individuals of importance). The game’s objective is to establish world-wide dominance with the established syndicate, one territory at a time, while engaging and eliminating rival syndicates and putting down internal mutinies.
Play Syndicate online
You can play Syndicate online, in web browser. Play Syndicate online here.
