JD
6082
Wasn’t System Shock caught in license limbo? Anyway, if it’s an EA title, I’m guessing it’s Syndicate because the Starbreeze shooter will get launched in February.
Razgon
6083
Thanks! I could have sworn I checked it a few days ago, and it said it was “on the way”!
Did you bite on this version then? I’m a bit wary on a dos version and how it looks!
Edit: wow - just got an idea… GOAG! Good Old Amiga Games! Emulator based so that they work by clicking on the icon in windows…
They didn’t say it was an EA game but your pick makes a lot more sense given that almost all Bullfrog games were there when they launched EA partnership I though Syndicate was already there but makes sense to old to it as a cross promotion.
Didn’t’ buy it, but they say that although the original DOS version was broken this is now fixed. I fully support your cause of bringing back Amiga games, is there a good open source emulator for Amiga they can use? because DOSBox enables most of there old DOS titles.
GoG stated from the beginning that one of their goals is to bring System Shock to them as they are huge fans of that series.
One can assume that they will have pushed for it for a long time and will continue to do this so maybe they “annoyed” the rights holders enough to find a solution and “shut” them up.
On the other hand “Syndicate” also makes sense because of the February release as you said. :)
I think i’ll bite on the Alien Breed 1+2 thing, i loved the amiga games enough to risk trying the PC version, i can always smooth the pixels in dosbox if need be. And i have a joystick to use - it could be just like old times!
Editer
6087
Sid Meier’s Alien Crossfire?
No? Damn.
Yeah, at this point, Syndicate makes the most sense, though I am loving some of the guesses on their Facebook page, such as:
sTheme Hospital
sAge of Empires 1 and 2
sWizardry
Sim Sim: The First Simulated Simulator
And so on.
This. The EA expansion pack situation at GoG still stinks.
And I’m not all that happy about the Team17 situation. There’s a difference between a “Good Old Game” and a “Hoary Old Chestnut”, and dragging in a publisher whose glory years were on the Amiga smacks of the latter. I suppose it’s just the arbitrary limit I have. Starflight is the oldest and creakiest GoG should go, and only because it’s such a classic. The Team17 games are newer, but not really anything appoaching classics.
Then again, I bitch about half of GoG’s content (shovelware) and laud the other half, so never mind.
I played Syndicate recently and it still holds up. This was on a CRT though, so the usual screen resolution issues apply. The only major flaw was the pathfinding.
JDSIDD
6093
Any idea how it will hold up for someone who has never played it? I’ve always felt bad for missing out on it. I looked at some video on youtube and it doesn’t look very good. I’m still tempted because I’ve heard some many great things about it over the years.
Marcin
6094
I would also be asking this of someone who got it and played it (or played it via some other means in 2011/2012). The screenshots are not hugely inspiring, but I am curious.
So you guys saw my post directly above where I said “it still holds up” and now you’re asking for more details about that. I’m sure that must be it, so I’m happy to oblige.
The basic strategic layer is satisfying on a simple level. It’s nice to buy upgrades and outfit the characters.
The tactical action is pretty fun. It was oddly enjoyable to shoot at enemies despite the basic animations. I can watch enemies bouncing back and forth from shotgun rounds for a long time. Unfortunately things go bad quickly if you’re not paying attention. I reloaded a lot of times.
The interface and pathfinding is a little troublesome. I had to scramble to manage the drugs at times, and it was a bitch to realize one of your units hadn’t made it to his destination, causing your party to get wiped out. The isometric view made it tough to kill or acquire certain units. You could see them on your minimap but sometimes it was hard to get your units to do the right thing.
The campaign itself is a pretty standard ramp-up. The big payoff for getting to the end is running around with nearly untouchable agents when they’re fully drugged up.
Other than the pathfinding, it still holds up against modern games, kind of like playing XCOM still does in some ways, though it’s not nearly as deep and timeless. Everyone should at least play a few hours to get the gist of it, blast a few things, use the persuadatron, and listen to the sweet digitized voices of the agents. Check the screen resolution if you’re on an LCD.
JDSIDD
6096
I did see that. We were thinking about how it is for someone completely new to jump into it now. For example, I love X-com but I wouldn’t tell someone new to try the original today. The UI is downright primitive and frustrating for all but the most dedicated players. I can still enjoy it because I remember it being great and I’m willing to put up with the interface to get to the greatness. A lot of old games were great in their time and still great to their fans but hard to get into if you’re not a long time fan. Hopefully that makes sense.
I think you pretty much covered what I would want to know for Syndicate. Thanks. Now I need to decide if I want to try it out.
I had never played it before. I think it was late 2008 but I think that’s close enough to now. The only difference is that CRT monitor.
That’s what you get from a Tim James perspective. I believe he started playing games in 2009 and is catching up on everything he missed before that. So you get the perspective of someone who is only now experiencing it all for the first time. Right Tim? :)
Yeah I took a break for most of the last decade, and I wanted to go back to some of the 90s classics I missed while I was playing other games back then.
Syndicate is one of the few retro games (early 90s or earlier) I’ve played so far that I still think is worth playing. It’s also topical from an historical perspective due to the new game.
I generally sympathize with not wanting to waste time and money on games, and there’s still a chance you might not be able to get past the graphics and such, but it’s close enough that I wouldn’t worry about it too much.
JDSIDD
6100
Ah, that changes things a bit. I assumed you’d been playing it since the beginning. Graphics aren’t a big problem for me. Syndicate actually doesn’t look too bad for its age. Badly outdated UI tends to be the most irritating thing about old games in my experience.
Interesting to note that this release does not include the American Revolt expansion. Rather strange and disappointing for a GOG release.
