EA indicates Syndicate's release date: Feb. 21, 2012

by Ludwig Kietzmann on Sep 28th 2011 9:10AM

EA has announced an early 2012 release date for Syndicate, an action-oriented reboot of Bullfrog's sci-fi classic. It's set to arrive on February 21 in North America, and February 24 in Europe. Barring any delays, that makes for two Q1 shooters that have divorced themselves from tactical, isometric origins.

Developed by Chronicles of Riddick studio Starbreeze, the new Syndicate thrusts you into the year 2069 as a "prototype agent" for Eurocom, a large corporation with a nice armory. Starbreeze also says it will include a separate, four-player co-op mode. Can four organized individuals be classified as a syndicate?

Syndicate (PC/360/PS3)

Source: Gamasutra

Tags: ea, fps, microsoft, pc, playstation, project-redlime, ps3, release-date, starbreeze, syndicate, xbox

Reader Comments (40)

Cover looks like an indie film...screens look "enh" though.

I realize there hasn't been any ripping off, but I can't help that this looks similar to Deus Ex: Human Evolution, the same way that Deus Ex had similar stealth gameplay mechanics of Chronicles of Riddick games.

@Shoopy

Deus Ex: HR did not take anything from the Riddick games, it's the other way around. Deus Ex came out in 2000, Deus Ex 2 came out in 2003.

@Courtney Um, except Deus Ex 1&2 were nothing like Riddick, and HR is. Do you remember having Cover in the first Deus Ex? Or takedowns? I also don't remember there being any kind of RPG focus in the Riddick games. So yeah, I can see the influence in HR, but it's not a bad thing. All games copy from one another.

@MW49350
Funny story, Butcher Bay didn't have a cover system either. Sooooo, your point?

And on a sidenote, HR has one of the best implemented cover systems to date. Not only in how it works, but the fact cover always feels natural. Unlike Gears and ME2, which is just random chest high walls everywhere for NO REASON.

@Shoopy

If you mean aesthetically, then I'm right there with you. I looked at that screen shot and thought, "Sweet! Heading back to Hengsha!"

Not particularly interested in this either way, but the visuals are quite similar.

In the year 2069, John Cho is still a star. I couldn't live in a world where Harold and Kumar sequels run rampant forever.

@blessrok What about Star Trek? He could play Sulu for a few more years right?

The perspective in the second screenshot makes it look like a half-dozen hoverbikes piloted by leprechauns are attacking the player in a normal-sized hallway.

@That One Guy

That's NEVER a good sign...

Looks like it will be $20 by April of 2012

@That One Guy

Fast? Hasn't this been in development for a while now?

Geisha projected on a future building alert!

@Dick Socrates That's how you know it's the future!

@Dick Socrates

Well, Ridley Scott is supposedly going to make a Blade Runner prequel after his Alien prequel thing (Prometheus), so at this point, they might as well just mash together Blade Runner, Neuromancer, Syndicate, and Deus Ex into one giant cyberpunk buffet.

@baby sea tuna

Apparently good at keeping secrets = fast production.

Also I hope this is something more like Deus ex and less like Halo/ CoD

02/21/2012 or

2012/02/21 or

21/02/2012

@Ballistic H
Or "What am I doing with my life? Why do the numbers haunt me so?"

Everything about this reminds me of Human Revolution. It's even got some military/government facility in the middle of the ocean there.

I'm willing to give it a chance. I just hope Starbreeze has been given enough time and resources to make it worthwhile.

I, for one, can't wait. Starbreeze are among the best at what they do, and I doubt this will disappoint.

Two things I hope about this:

a) It doesn't suck.

b) It includes the Persuadertron.

Syndicate Wars passed me by, but the original on Amiga was classic.

It's not the exact same thing as the thing I played back in the early 90's, so I automatically hate it.

/Old Gamers who need to let go.

All gamers. Age has nothing to do with it. People seem to abhor change in game franchises, even when the results are fantastic. Sure, it sucks that the 'sequel' isn't like the predecessor, but a good game is a good game.

Just look at how much hate Deus Ex: Invisible War gets, despite only launching three years later - so it's far from a reboot! It's an AMAZING game, and just because it deviated from the original's design it's torn to shreds by fans. See also: Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts!

But hey, most people by now have given up complaining about Chrono Cross being different and accepting it for the amazing game that it is, so there's hope.

@Epoque

and yet everyone hates CoD because it barely changes at all.

damned if you do, damned if you don't

All my money. Please. Here.

@AntiVillian It really annoys me when people put Halo and COD in the same boat together, seeing as they are almost entirely different from one another aside from being FPS games. You might as well call lump Deus Ex in there too, since that game is about as similar to COD as Halo is. Halo is slow, methodical, Sci-fI oriented, allows the use of vehicles in a major way, and doesn't have perks or sprinting or ironsights (although Reach does have sprinting in some form). I see absolutely no similarities whatsoever.

@AntiVillian

Except they're not even good at keeping secrets. We've been hearing about this for three years.

http://www.joystiq.com/2008/10/19/rumor-ea-has-starbreeze-working-on-new-syndicate/

@Colin

Choice comment from the above: "This would make my 2009."

How many goddam times must I correct the authors about this? This is NOT THE SAME STARBREEZE. In company name, sure. But everyone that made Butcher Bay is no longer with the company and is now at Machine Games. And I do mean literally everyone. There's a really good article at 1up about the whole fiasco.

http://www.1up.com/features/starbreeze-secret-history

Basically this is being by a completely unproven team. It could go either way, but the mere fact it went FPS like X-com has me really dubious about it being anything but shit.

@Jennacide

Ack! A different team?! Hmm, I take back my comment. Thanks for letting us know.

I think they did a really good job with the Riddick games. I'm looking forward to checking this out.

@InfernoShade
Please refer to the comment below.

Chronicles of Riddick developer, really? Couldn't you make a reference a bit more recent, say... The Darkness?

Anyway, I never got too much into the classic games but I enjoy this setting, looking forward to it.

Their most recent game is Assault on Dark Athena, ya dolt.

@Epoque
I knew I could be talking out of my ass, but I decided to take the shot anyway... Too lazy to research.

Ok I'm officially confused. Didn't the same team do Escape from Butchers Bay and Dark Athena? So this is no the team that is working on Syndicate, correct?

If it's a new team, I'm a bit skeptical. But if it's the old team, I'm psyched. Make sense? :)

Now could somebody man up and remake flashback? (anybody remember this one kind of total recall like?)

@(Unverified)

Flashback remake = yesssssssss!!!!!!! I would buy that for 60 dollars (unless it were a PSN/XBLIVE arcade game, then it would probably be more like 20 bucks).

Also, more remakes we need:

Metroid / Super Metroid HD remake (keep it side-scrolling)

Contra / Super C / Contra III: The Alien Wars all redone in HD. Sell it as a bundle for maximum profits right off the bat.

Parasite Eve next gen PS3 and Xbox 360 reboot.

Something about everything I'm hearing about this game, despite my love for Syndicate, is making me say 'Man, this game is going to suuuuuuuuck'.

I don't know if it's presentation, feel, imagery, the blatant shove-you-into-an-individual-character FPS or what, but every fibre of my being (that's been game-playing since the days of the Atari 2600, then C64) is vibrating with the 'this is gonna be shit' vibe.

Syndicate

EA indicates Syndicate's release date: Feb. 21, 2012

Syndicate (PC/360/PS3)

Reader Comments (40)

Posted: Sep 28th 2011 9:22AM cliftonJONES said

Posted: Sep 28th 2011 9:23AM Shoopy said

Posted: Sep 28th 2011 9:43AM Courtney said

Posted: Sep 28th 2011 11:50AM MW49350 said

Posted: Sep 28th 2011 1:12PM Jennacide said

Posted: Sep 28th 2011 3:49PM Haizeus said

Posted: Sep 28th 2011 9:40AM blessrok said

Posted: Sep 28th 2011 11:13AM SThompson said

Posted: Sep 28th 2011 9:54AM freaparn said

Posted: Sep 28th 2011 9:55AM Gibbeynator said

Posted: Sep 28th 2011 10:03AM eat it said

Posted: Sep 28th 2011 10:10AM baby sea tuna said

Posted: Sep 28th 2011 10:10AM Dick Socrates said

Posted: Sep 28th 2011 11:42AM archipelagos said

Posted: Sep 28th 2011 4:27PM Charles Venarius has a swimming said

Posted: Sep 28th 2011 10:20AM AntiVillian said

Posted: Sep 28th 2011 10:31AM Ballistic H said

Posted: Sep 28th 2011 12:37PM Ebok007 said

Posted: Sep 28th 2011 10:40AM Heisenberg said

Posted: Sep 28th 2011 10:47AM Pure Black World Tendency said

Posted: Sep 28th 2011 10:55AM Epoque said

Posted: Sep 28th 2011 11:04AM JFoundation said

Posted: Sep 28th 2011 11:17AM PercyChuggs said

Posted: Sep 28th 2011 11:35AM Epoque said

Posted: Sep 28th 2011 2:16PM eat it said

Posted: Sep 28th 2011 11:26AM Once known as Shadsy said

Posted: Sep 28th 2011 11:48AM MW49350 said

Posted: Sep 28th 2011 12:51PM Colin said

Posted: Sep 28th 2011 12:52PM Colin said

Posted: Sep 28th 2011 1:02PM Jennacide said

Posted: Sep 28th 2011 1:33PM InfernoShade said

Posted: Sep 28th 2011 1:31PM InfernoShade said

Posted: Sep 28th 2011 1:46PM TheShaper said

Posted: Sep 28th 2011 1:45PM TheShaper said

Posted: Sep 28th 2011 2:09PM Epoque said

Posted: Sep 28th 2011 2:11PM TheShaper said

Posted: Sep 28th 2011 3:13PM InfernoShade said

Posted: Sep 28th 2011 3:17PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Sep 28th 2011 4:32PM Charles Venarius has a swimming said

Posted: Sep 29th 2011 8:27AM Atonnis said

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