Just "nostalgia" doesn't cover it. Syndicate has many qualities that make it perfectly playable today, although some might find it simplistic for being non-3D isometric and low-res. The graphics are low-res as I said, very small characters, but pretty sharp. The color palette is somewhat limited (the cities and structures are always in shades of gray, green or some pale brown), but perhaps that was supposed to add to atmosphere, a grim vision of future (or it was just limited). Explosions do look nice though, cutscenes too (but there aren't many). You can research technologies so you have access to better weapons and your agents can be augmented (to shoot faster, better aim, resist longer). That managerial aspect of the game is simple, but not too bad, nor too complicated. The mission gameplay is simple too. You move your agents around, shoot people, shoot other agents (which is cool, they're well equiped like your own agents), shoot police officers, get other people to follow you, drive cars. It's all very simple (you shoot once or twice and they stop moving, cars only move to one direction), but it works. If you ask me, works better than its sequel Syndicate wars. Gameplay has problems too. Sometimes it's hard to navigate through the isometric cities. It's easy to get lost behind walls and inside buildings. Annoying. I think the sound, although obviously repetitive, is great. Most people might disagree because most people hate game music anyway. Music is atmospheric, shooting sounds are average, voices are ok (repetitive but well done for a DOS game). There's only two speeches I can recall now: a voice says "selected" in a robotic voice when you select something, and when a police officer sees you with guns blazing he tells you to holster your weapon. Nowadays I suppose the main qualities of the game are both the consistency of gameplay and the challenge. You know what to expect of the game, and the escalating challenge makes it better while you get better and better weapons. It's exciting to shoot agents dead with a minigun, because they have miniguns of their own and you have to be quick about it. People who don't mind this being a non-3D game (i.e.: people who like good DOS games in general) are sure to like this classic, because that's what it is. It's solid fun.
