Many compared this game to FTL. Well, there are similarities, but IMHO there's no comparison - B:H is way better and most important: more fun to play! In FTL almost nothing but pure luck decides whether you'll win gloriously or die pathetically. If you happen to stumble on the right merchants, selling right equipment and have enough scrap to buy it at that moment: great! If not: you're screwed. There's NO going back - because the wall of death ruthlesly pushes you ever forward. Worse yet: there is no indication which was the better direction to go in the first place. Not so in B:H. You fight at your own leisure, can always go back to any equipment-selling bases - as long as you don't leave the sector or let a base be destroyed. (Bases are only attacked when you're present in the same sector, so this isn't a problem.) Animations are simple, but nice. Every single bullet is accurately shown, thus you can really see how different weapons work. Some things still depend on luck (e.g. what equipment defeated enemies leave behind), but much, much less than in FTL, so this leaves much more room for actual tactics - even strategy. It is true that the key to win is unlocking new ships, which is done easiest by dying quickly on Hard (which I dislike). BUT it simply ISN'T TRUE that every unlocked ship is better! Far from it! In fact you get some of the best ships very soon. Esp. the small, cheap, fast, well armored carrier Guardian is great - esp. in early/mid-game. (First time I won on Hard, was with Avalon as the main ship, plus Guardian and Achiles as companions - without losing a single ship!) Heavy destroyers have their use as companions, but as main ship carriers are far supperior. Many ships have too weak hull or are too slow to use anyway. B:H isn't perfect, but then again, no game is... Yet it's quite addictive. Not boring at all. And I didn't find any important bugs or flaws - other than lack of story and that suicide missions reward too many XP vs. winning.
I really wanted to like this game, but... It isn't a platformer as some say, but a side-scrolling action, with a silly little story, that fits the game nevertheless. Pros: * Fresh, promising idea. * Music, which isn't just background but indeed a part of the game (every animated thingy produces its own sound/beat). * Smooth movements to the beat eases you into the groove. * Funny and cute environment - even the enemies. * Unlimited lives (this, alas is quite necessary, see Cons). * Nice to play when you have some minutes to spare. Cons: * Music soon gets repetitive (esp. if you aren't too much into funk/house/dance genres). * Very few hints what you should do next, so I often wandered around trying to find what I missed. * You have no control of the camera, which is at times quite buggy (pans or zooms-in way too much, hiding what you really need to see). * Paralax movement of the background is nice, but of the frontmost layer not so much - can block the view of your character. * Though the movements are generaly smooth and groovy, controls at times don't work well - esp. when time is limited. * Your character can get stuck on any tiny outcrop in the background, which often costs you a life. * Quite a few bugs that can block your further advancement (events don't fire or fire too soon). * Some checkpoints are placed so badly that they save your state just after an event misfired, so you'll have to reload the entire level (and lose half an hour or more). * There are long parts without checkpoints that require getting through in limited time - without any mistakes. So when you get stuck even for a second due to bad camera, controls or the environment, you'll die and have to rinse and repeat at nauseam. This can be very frustrating and is no fun at all. * If a bug+checkpoint occurs *after* you finished such hard part, you're screwed. So more cons than pros, and rather more frustrating than relaxing I'd say. Still overall, I give it three stars.
SR is a great game and I love it, but this is the page for the SR *Artbook* NOT the game as such, but all pictures in the gallery are screenshots from the game - not a single picture from the actual artbook?!? Where are the "inspirations and concepts" mentioned in the "About" text? Come on GoG, what kind of a cat in the sack is this? I really can't give more than one star for it...
I really prefered Syndicate Wars over original Syndicate. IMO, SW was THE best game out there for long years. There. I said it. Hate me if you have to. Now, finally, there is a worthy successor! Yay! Not as ground-breaking as the originals, but for a S/SW fan a very welcome new dose of the action. Uh ... maybe more stealth than sheer ACTION (see below)... From the moment you see the menus, you'll feel back at home (in SW :)). If not, tutorial will help you (IMO tutorial isn't half as annoying as some people say). The game screen is quite different though. Which is good in terms of graphics and zooming capability (though I spent 99% time fully zoomed out) and quite awful at not being able to rotate view all the way around. 3D environment is my main gripe: though it looks wonderful, it obscures your view too often. Enemy outlines *are* seen through walls, but that doesn't really make it up for the limited 90deg view turning. Besides, bugs in the map sometimes cause enemies (funny), your agents (not so funny) or people you rescued (disastrous) to get stuck. Gameplay is quite different than S/SW too. Each agent has hir own abilities, so they aren't interchangeable. And as enemies respawn, going in with guns blazing rarely makes sense - esp. as only your Soldier can tote a BIG gun without severe moving penalty. Using persuadotron to conscript half the city and use them as gun fodder, doesn't work either: you CAN hack a few enemies, but not hordes. So I found it best to hack an enemy just to scout, shoot out a few cameras and open the doors for me, then use my Infiltrator to sneak in, do whatever is required and get out. No saving during missions, but not much of a problem if you're careful - UNLESS the person you spent half an hour rescuing, gets stuck in a vent or falls from the map just before exit. =>:( But, as it was all made on a budget, I'm too grateful that they did it to rant about the bugs. All in all it's really fun to play. And that's what counts!
