Thursday 21-Feb-2008 10:24 AM One of EA's "most acclaimed classic franchises" is coming back, but what can it be? Dare we mouth the words 'Syndicate' or 'System Shock'?
EA has struck a deal with Chronicles of Riddick developer, Starbreeze Studios, to bring back a classic EA franchise. The internal code name is Project RedLime and it's in the works for PS3, 360 and PC.
All that pretty much confirms the game as being an action title of some description.
Johan Kristiansson, CEO of Starbreeze, said, "We're already deep in development on Project RedLime and the team at EA is giving us the time we need to perfect our vision. We're excited to bring a new perspective and gameplay innovation to this beloved fiction."
After sitting on the sideline and watching the success 2K had with BioShock, is it really out of the question that we could be seeing the first mention of a new System Shock game? Syndicate is another classic we're still holding a torch for.
Syndicate wars on the PS1 was ace, 4 player action was amazing, they should get that on the PSN store as it was a brilliant game! Hopefully a next gen vision of that game would be the dogs!
I only played the PC demo of Syndicate Wars but I really liked it. I loved the original on the SNES although it was plagued by bugs.
But is Syndicate one of their "most acclaimed franchises"? So, let's look at EA's old stuff. The Strike series was alright, but did they get acclaim? Ultima maybe? Dungeon Keeper? Populous? Wing Commander? Delta Force? Magic Carpet? There's just too many to even speculate.
Starbreeze haven't done much, but the style they work means it's likely to be fairly dark in tone.
Syndicate wars on the PS1 was ace, 4 player action was amazing, they should get that on the PSN store as it was a brilliant game! Hopefully a next gen vision of that game would be the dogs!
I think my money could be on Ultima. It's been nearly 10 years since Ultima IX came out (an anniversary maybe?) and it'd be a decent way for EA to cash in on the sandbox free-roaming RPG market, a la Oblivion.
They have sci-fi covered with Bioware's Mass Effect, Ultima would cover fantasy as well. And it could have a dark feel.
Syndicate would work better for me, but we'll see.
Syndicate wars on the PS1 was ace, 4 player action was amazing, they should get that on the PSN store as it was a brilliant game! Hopefully a next gen vision of that game would be the dogs!
I had read somewhere that a new Wing Commander was on the way, maybe this is it. I'd love a new Syndicate though, but sometimes it is better to leave old games as fond memories.
I had read somewhere that a new Wing Commander was on the way, maybe this is it. I'd love a new Syndicate though, but sometimes it is better to leave old games as fond memories.
Wing Commander would be awesome! I loved that game, as long as they don't mess it up.
I loved turning on team mates and then being at their funeral after
i'll cross my fingers for EA to realise they're a joke and shut up shop, leaving developing instead to people with talent
Thats a bit narrow minded. As developers - yes - they are rubbish. But as publishers they are very good. There was an article about them in PCG which basically said they are one of the only publishers to give developers the freedom they need.
There was an article about them in PCG which basically said they are one of the only publishers to give developers the freedom they need.
I'm not convinced that's always the case, since they' have been known to push a game's release despite it not being ready. And their Customer Service record is still appalling.
However, it does look as if they're starting to get their act together. I only wish they'd stop absorbing smaller companies and just continue publishing for them.
I doubt it's going to be a revival of the Desert/Jungle/Urban/Soviet/Nuclear (is that all of them?) Strike games. They'd ruin it by insisting on altering the isometric viewpoint (something I thought added a lot to the game, apart from when you were trying to land the damn chopper) or somesuch.
Plus, the Strike games were notorious for being jingo-istic, anti-PC, and happy to poke fun at things like terrorism (hate that word with its huge catch-all). It wouldn't be the same if EA sucked all the humour out of the game, and I'm not sure they'd either be allowed to or even want to include that same sort of humour in the game. (yay censorship and Political Correctness) ¬_¬.
Wing Commander, now that could be ace. It is possible, as they've kept the series on the back burner with s**tty GBA games, and wasn't there a recent Wing Commander game released on XBLA? I'm sure I remember something vague about it not so long since.
My money would be on another System Shock game, as they've seen how well Bioshock sold, and the overall view from reading on here and in the PCGamer and PCZone mags is that it would've been even better if it had been closer to how the System Shock games played. Ea will most likely go where the money is, and try to revive the SS series (not the German combat elite troops the Schutzstaffel).
At the end of Dungeon Keeper II, the little devils breach the underground and see sunlight for the first time. It was an awesome idea to bring the franchise further: bring it above ground.
I hope someone somewhere at EA still remembers that.
Dungeon Keeper was so lovingly hateful , We can but hope...
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Sorry couldn't resist
