"Why change the world when you can change your mind?"

Syndicate was introduced in 1993 by Electronic Arts and developed by Bullfrog who is well known for making excellent games such as Dungeon Keeper, Theme Park and Populous to name a few. This game like all other Bullfrog creations is awesome to say the least. It's an Action/Strategy game that puts you at the helm of an evil corporate executive who wants to take over the world. Interested? If not you damn well should be!

Story: 8/10
This is not you typical save the world theme here, no no we will have none of that.
The setting is the not to distant future where massive conglomerates have amassed enough money though CHIP sales that they rival countries in terms of power and influence. The CHIP was a technological revolution which is inserted in the neck and stimulates the brain stem to alter your every perception of the outside world. This gives a whole new meaning to the phrase 'changing your mind'. While this device gave hope to the millions of people living in misery, it also gave the MegaCorps the perfect tool for manipulating the populace.
You are a young executive looking to make your mark. You control your agents using CHIP technology and try to take over the world. You will murder, mutilate and cause much mayhem while laughing maniacally before accomplishing your ultimate goal which is creating a monument to non-existence.

Graphics: 8/10
The graphics are nothing spectacular but they are better than average and do the job just fine. The environments and characters are nicely detailed. The damp and dark apocalyptic futuristic setting is captured pretty decently.

Music/Sound: 6/10
The sounds are cool at first, but you'll quickly realize there are only two different tunes rockin on while you play. One default and one danger tune. They're good but it gets pretty repetitive.

Gameplay: 10/10
The gist of the gameplay is basically doing missions like assassinating someone to make money. The money you make will go to modifying your agents with weaponry upgrades and injecting them with drugs to enhance various attributes ranging from strength to adrenaline. You can also replace limbs and organs to create your own personal bionic commando.
Eventually you'll be tough enough to start taking over regions, raising taxes and be well on your way to world domination.
The only downfall to the gameplay is the inability to control all of your terror squad at once. You can only control one agent at a time and your other three agents become non moving targets for rival corporations to pick apart. This well, sucks but doesn't detract to much from the overall experience which is exceptional.
All in all it's extremely fun to play but it does require a bit of strategy or it will most definitely get rather difficult.

Replay Value: 8/10
This game is pretty darn long for it's genre. There's 50+ mission's that can take up to an hour each. If you ever get bored with the missions, just running around shooting civilians on their way to work, torching various things with a flamer or running over cops with a car is always fun too. =)
Nine years later, i still find this game to be a blast. Never. Gets. Old.

Overall: 8/10
Bling Bling, this game is like 2 bucks at Gamestop if you can find it. It's totally worth that...c'mon now. The PC version is much better though(as usual with ports) so i would attempt to find that version first if you have an adequate pc. This is a great port though and i highly suggest picking it up if you run across one.

Kefka would make a good spokesperson for this game so i'm going to leave you with a quote from him.

Terra: ''Life will go on! There will always be people, and dreams!''
Kefka: ''No! I will hunt them down. I will destroy them all! Destroy! Destroy! Destroy!''

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 03/30/03, Updated 03/30/03