Syndicate

Atari Jaguar

from AEO Magazine, Volume 4, Issue 2

 |||   Syndicate
 |||   By: Darren Bates
/ | \  Internet: dooz@batesg.demon.co.uk
       ----------------------------------------------------------------

No, this game is not about the running of a women's lib syndicate, or
a lottery syndicate for that matter. What this is about is a syndicate
of violent maniacs, large guns, explosives and world domination.

It's your job to coordinate this syndicate in its quest to take over
the world and destroy opposing syndicates. Just take up to four well
hard androids, equip them with some major hardware, and perform
several strategic missions in an attempt to put the rival syndicates
out of commision.

Basically this is an excuse for some blatant violence and carnage
which we all know and love.

The game is viewed from an isometric perspective (up above and at a 45
degree angle). From here you can see a good portion of the city or
complex surrounding your androids. On the left of the screen is your
tactical display which shows the status of your androids, weapons
held, ammo and a map. All looks pretty much the same as the computer
versions, exept the map is slighly larger and easier to follow.

Now the fun starts. You start off with the bog standard droid (you
know, no brains, no armour, no hardware) and only a small pistol at
your disposal. From here you must build up funds by completing
missions and research into the fields of new weapons and droid
equipment. Oh, and by the way, you can steal weapons from unfortunate
enemies who stood in your way!

The missions themselves range from assasination, kidnapping, set-ups
and general carnage. It does get worryingly addictive, wandering
around the local shopping mall, shooting innocent bystanders or
flaming them and watching the burning bodies run around screaming.
Pretty disturbing stuff. However, the violence is not graphic as the
sprites are small and you cannot see detailed gore as in games such as
Mortal Kombat.

The Jag version is identical to its PC cousin, with smooth multi-
directional scrolling and excellent detailed scenery, far outclassing
other console versions. An added bonus for Jaguar owners is the new
Zoom function. This allows the view to be zoomed out so you can see
FOUR times as much of the city. Also you can zoom in and view the
action up close, although this mode is a little bit pixelly. Not even
the PC has this function, way to go Jag! There is some slowdown,
something I wish Ocean could avoid.

The joypad configuration uses just about every button. This can cause
some difficulty to begin with but will be overcome after a bit of
practice. This is a minor quibble that does not spoil this quality
game.

Overall, this is the best version of Syndicate yet. An original,
addictive and long lasting game from the creators of Populous, Theme
Park and Magic Carpet.


GRAPHICS    - 7.5
SOUND       - 8.0
PLAYABILITY - 9.0
OVERALL     - 9.0