Gone But Not Forgotten Video Game Developers/Publishers Lost 2000-2017 - Bullfrog Productions Part 2 - The Syndicate Era

Gone But Not Forgotten Video Game Developers/Publishers Lost 2000-2017

The year of 1993 saw one of Bullfrog’s biggest and well known series make its debut, Syndicate a real time tactics shooter released for the 3DO, Acorn Archimedes, Atari Jaguar, Amiga, Amiga CD32, Mac OS, NEC PC-9801, Sega CD, Sega Genesis and SNES.

In Syndicate the player takes charge of a self named corporation set in a cyberpunk style world set in the year 2096 it is up to the player to control a team of four Cyborg agents who are tasked to either  assassinating executives of a rival syndicate, rescuing captured allies, "persuading" civilians and scientists to join the player's company or simply killing all enemy agents. 

 Syndicate release in 1993 while receiving criticisms the praise received far outshone it. 

Money earned during the course of the game is put towards research and development of new weapons and implants for your team of cyborgs, in the early game the players squad of cyborgs has only the basic weapons but as you progress the player will unlock more and more powerful armaments such as sniper rifles, flamethrowers, lasers and a highly destructive Gauss gun. in order to earn this money the player must tax conquered areas, being careful not to over tax them and cause a revolt.

The backstory for Syndicate is not found in game but rather in the games manual and is actually fairly accurate as to what is currently happening in the world with Corporations become more and more powerful and influential in the Syndicate timeline these corporations found themselves in control of small countries and began to have direct influence over the worlds govenments.

Development of a technology called the CHIP a device that is implanted into a persons neck and stimulates the persons brain stem  into thinking the world is a much better place than it is, the CHIP this however was just a front for the corporations real goals.

The chip allowed them to influence and manipulate the implanted person as a result their power grew, but as the saying goes ultimate power corrupts and these corporations turned into nothing more than crime syndicates fighting each other over CHIP manufacturing and control over the population and world.

Critically the game received plenty of criticism Computer Gaming World criticized the lack of multiplayer, random research, poor AI, and repetitive missions GamePro described the Genesis version as a "clumsy translation", remarking that targeting and manoeuvring are much more difficult with gamepad button combinations, and that the graphics aren't clear enough for the player to make out essential details.

The game did however have plenty of fans with Next Generation saying the Jaguar version of the game is as close to the original PC release as possible they also released a positive review for the 3DO version of the game as well, while Computer Games Magazine awarded the game a maximum score and had this to say. If you consider yourself a hardcore gamer, and have been disappointed with one aspect or another of most of the software released lately, look no further; you've found your match here. To put it simply, Syndicate Wars is one damn fine game.

The following year saw Syndicate receive an expansion called Syndicate: American Revolt, this expansion is set after the events of Syndicate, set in North and South America where the citizens are revolting against the control of Eurocorp with the player playing as a Eurocorp executive, the players aim in this expansion put down the revolution.

Like the base game the expansion had critics certainly more than positive reviews, with Computer Gaming World saying the games increased difficulty only amplifies the issues Syndicate has with there review stating the following  turning niggling foibles into serious impediments to gameplay", citing dangerous hidden enemies and slow graphics and gameplay. The magazine recommended the expansion only to "Hard-core Syndicate nuts.

The critics complaints however did not stop Syndicate getting a sequel, two years later in 1996 we saw Syndicate Wars before that however there were two major events that happened at Bullfrog. The first saw lead artist Gary Carr leave the company over a creative dispute with Peter Molyneux over the companies 1994 release Theme Park.

Gary Carr left in 1994 due to creative differences with Molyneux but would return soon after in 1995

With Molyneux wanting bright and more gaily colour scheme in order to appeal to the Japanese market however Carr believed this would not work as a result Carr left for The Bitmap Brothers but in 1995 he would make a quick return to the company.

Also in 1995 another major event occurred and one that would shape the future of the company and its eventual downfall just six years later, you know where this is going, yes the septic ulcer that is EA purchased the studio in 1995 after interest in the company from several larger companies Molyneux opted for the at the time the non evil EA.

EA would acquire Bullfrog in 1995

Anyway back to the Syndicate series in 1996 the sequel to 1993s Syndicate was released named Syndicate Wars which follows up on the events of the original and expansion, set 95 years after the original the players corporation Eurocorp is at the peak of their powers using economic and military power as well as CHIP mind control.

This control is threatened however by a virus called Harbinger which has infected the global communication system and damaging the mind control CHIP leaving people vulnerable to co-option. These  newly liberated people, what are named "unguided citizens", choose to fight he corporations that have pretty much enslaved them The Unguided appear in early missions as random antagonists but over time begin to form a well oiled militia.

The main antagonists however are a religious cult named the Church of the New Epoch which is led by a group calling themselves The Nine, the church’s aim is to undermine the corporate overlords and install their own form of control over the population, Harbinger was the first stage of their plan. The game allows the player to play on either side of the conflict either as Eurocorp from the first game or the newly established Church of the New Epoch

Critically it was a similar story to the previous Syndicate a good number of highly positive reviews with a fairly even split with those far more critical of the game and like the previous game the DOS version is far superior to other versions in this case the Playstation release.

Up to 2008 the game would only release on DOS and Playstation in 2008 the game would receive a PSP release and five years later would be available on PC, Mac and PS3, the game however was scheduled to have Sega Saturn release, with the game rumoured to be at an advanced stage of development with only the full motion video segments missing, the Saturn release was officially canned in 1997.

Between the release of the original Syndicate and Syndicate Wars, Bullfrog were a very active studio in just a three year period they would release another six titles, the most memorable for me and a title of which I still own and recently played again, this is of course Theme Park, the first in the series and a game that would spawn two other Theme tiles in Hospital and Aquarium as well as two sequels to Theme Park.

 Theme Park was the first of the Theme games and would go on to see two sequal and two spin off's.

Bullfrog release a varied mix of games during this period from the first person shooter series Magic Carpet which also saw a sequel in this period, to the vehicular combat game Hi-Octane, action racing game Tube and a bit of real time strategy in Genewars.

For some the release of Hi-Octane and Genewars were the first signs of what was to come for Bullfrog, while the latter did have fans the majority of reviews for the game saw average or below average review scores, the last thing a developer wants after being taken over by a much larger corporation.

Written by

P J Gibbon