Genesis

Syndicate

It's still an interesting game and there's an attitude behind the whole thing that makes it relatively painless, but while it's challenging, it's challenging mostly because it's not easy to control and the 3/4 view perspective makes it tough to see what's going on. Not bad, just not great.

It seems that every possible combination of the buttons and pad is a different command, so the quirkiness of the control scheme can take some getting used to. The other problem is that a password system is used to save your progress; if you don't complete your research before getting the password, it's not saved. Despite these issues, Syndicate is absorbing title that strategy fans should not miss. It's not a game, it's a career!

Syndicate stands as another "could have been" in the Sega Genesis library. Depressing, considering how much care went into other Bullfrog productions that made the jump like Populous. Its matter-of-fact graphics, dead pulse music and difficulty spikes make an otherwise good game uninviting. But if you let yourself sink into its light but pervasive strategy layer, forgive the controls and bask in the warmth of the amoral mayhem you can cause, and appreciate the replayability found in the missions and in customizing your corp goons, there's a lot of game here.

Some games just don't translate well from computers to game system and that's the case with Syndicate. The interface is too cumbersome and the gameplay is missing the graphic and sonic touches that made the PC version so much evil fun. Action/strategy fans should still check it out, though.

It's not really fair to do a side-by-side comparison of Syndicate with it's computer predecessor. Yet the translation could have been a bit more comfy, give the gameplay potential of the Genesis system. Sadly, Syndicate didn't push all the right buttons.