The 3DO Experience - Episode 74: Syndicate: Bullfrog's Dystopian Tactical Adventure!

[00:00:00] Have you experienced the awesome power of the Panasonic Real 3DO System? Obviously. Presenting 3DO, the most advanced home gaming system in the universe. It's time to put away your toys. 3DO from Panasonic, Gold Star and Creative Labs. Anuril Pais and 3DO. The 3DO.

[00:00:36] Hello everybody and welcome back to the 3DO Experience, the 3DO Retrospective Podcast where we talk about all things 3DO, the company and everything in between. I'm Bill and this is Threk. How you doing Threk? I'm doing alright Bill, how you doing? I'm doing pretty good. It's only Tuesday and it feels like a Wednesday, Friday, I don't know, this week's been long. It's only day 2. Another week, another Bill struggling week.

[00:01:06] That's just... One of these days he'll stop struggling and he'll be okay. One of these days the world will just kind of be like, good again, and I'll be like, yay, I can actually enjoy life. I get you, I get you. So... Yeah, yeah, it was a... I've been through an interesting week since this, you know? Yeah. Getting fired and hired within like a 3 hour period. That was cool. That's awesome. Yeah.

[00:01:33] And so, yeah, so now I'm kind of in like this weird limbo where I'm between jobs because they didn't want me to start till like early February. But I said, is there any way you can get me in earlier since I'm kind of not doing anything right now? And they got back to me and they said they can get me in the week of the 27th of January, which is a week ahead. It's probably the best I could get and that's, you know what, I'll take it.

[00:01:57] So, I'll just laze around and just be a nuisance and game and snack too much and whatever. It's stay up too late watching YouTube, you know? It's like I just got out of high school again. Yeah. Oh man. Yeah, I've been, I've been really busy. Like I've been trying to, uh... I've been really focusing on like my health this year. Like I've been like trying to do more cardio and crunches and stuff and getting, uh... I'm trying to just get back into shape.

[00:02:28] But, um, that first week of doing crunches, oh my God, I couldn't like bend over for like a week. How many crunches did you do? I did a couple sets like in between. Um, I did my biking, I do a set, I did my run, I did a set. Well, how long, how many was your set? Like I did like 30. Okay. Well, I'll say like, don't go too hard because then your body will fucking hate you and then you won't be able to do it.

[00:02:54] Yeah, the first, the first, uh, the first day was pretty rough and then it took me like a couple days before I was finally, but my body was like, okay, you can do this again. That's why you should have done like half that. Yeah, I should have. But like, I was like, oh, I remember I used to do it like this, so I should be able to do it now. And I was like... My body was like, you just turned 30, you idiot. Yeah. I mean, I shouldn't be the one giving workout advice because I'm not in shape, but I am a shape.

[00:03:23] But I'm not going to tell you what that shape is. Um, but you know, uh, hopefully once say I get this new job and everything kind of settles in and I kind of get settled into this new schedule, I'll probably start trying to fit an exercise routine in there. You know, being now that my jobs are going to involve me sitting at a desk for most of the day, I should probably start looking at it more properly. You know, maybe getting one of those small little portable treadmills that I can like not.

[00:03:49] Yeah, like a treadmill that I can have like in here while I'm like doing other things or whatever. I don't know. It's it's I'm just floating things around. So, but anyways, I get you. So before we so before we get into the topic this week, we've had some news. We've had some some gaming news in the last week starting to pick up again. Some light stuff, but some light stuff, but some not light stuff like today. A me thing.

[00:04:18] PGA tour 2K25 has been announced to come out in February. Cool, right? I didn't play 2K24. I heard kind of mixed things about it, but I have 2K21. So maybe this will be the time I play 2K24. I'll find it for like a dollar and play it. We'll see. Something I saw that was really cool was awesome games done quick. They did crazy taxi. That's cool.

[00:04:42] And the guy who but to avoid a copyright strike because of the music, they got a fucking live band to play while the dude was doing the crazy taxi stuff. They do all four different songs that they just do. No, they were doing all of the songs and they were synced up when he would like pause and restart or like go to menus or whatever. Oh, that's cool. Yeah. They synced it up to basically it's they're playing the game audio.

[00:05:09] Yeah, because everybody remembers all I want because I mean all I want is basically the unofficial theme of them. Oh, yeah. They do. They do all the songs. Yeah, because like my favorite like my two favorite songs from like that are like them and us and 10 to 2010 the the two bad religion songs that everyone forgets are in there because everyone just wants to talk about the offspring. Yeah, yeah, but it's a really cool video.

[00:05:32] I recommend you all watch it like they are like on points, you know, I'm not a huge fan of the vocals, but but they all did a fantastic job and syncing it to it and the and the the guy playing crazy taxi was also really good. It was just something I happen to see and I'm like that's fucking cool. So I just want to shop that out. So good job guys. I'm watching a few like like back when I was watching like stuff like professional like speed runners and stuff.

[00:05:58] I was watching some crazy taxi to speed runs like that game is nuts if you can like master like the crazy jump and shit. Yeah, yeah, that's cool. I've never really been a speed run guy. Occasionally, I'll watch him just out of like there's not one YouTuber who does like documentaries about like a history of summoning. So running I like those those are the ones I tend to watch but outside of that. I don't really like watching speed runs.

[00:06:23] I don't know why it's just like I just think it's kind of boring after a while like it's interesting to see how they break the game, but I like that. Yeah, like the tech behind it's more interesting than the actual runs themselves. Exactly, but you know, I'd rather just play a game to play again. That's just me. Another thing I saw apparently today. Sega has filed a new trademark for an old IP and because they're doing this whole wanting to bring back a bunch of IPs.

[00:06:51] This could be something they do something with and it's an IP that I like I've talked about it before echo the dolphin. So I don't know what this means for echo. Are they making a new echo game? Are they you know, just reviving the eye or just re trademarking it for like this like Sega streaming collection thing or whatever so they can put the old games out again. Who knows who really knows. I know the original creator of echo.

[00:07:21] So he tried to yeah, he tried to kickstart a sort of spiritual successor to echo. And it didn't come out like he didn't get the money that he needed. I'm trying to remember what the name of it was, but it was like big blue or something. I think you're right. I think it was yeah big blue, but it didn't get the the kickstarting that needed. But he said they were still going to work on the game or something. Yeah, it was big blue.

[00:07:50] Last time we heard of it was in 2019. He said he still believed in the story in the mechanics, but he just he said, but it really can't be a spiritual successor to echo. It has to be echo. One thing I can say is in the future people are playing this game. I never give up. So potentially this big blue thing that he was started could be say a new echo game that we're getting in which would be interesting. Ed might be one of the most interesting guys in gaming like just some of the weird shit that he's created over the years.

[00:08:19] Like I mean, he did echo a Calibri one of the most underrated 32x games like basically that's a great game. The 32x game to get it was pretty good. True. And then like later on like he did a couple PS one platformers like he did tiny tank. I think one of the most underrated. Oh, he did Mr. Bones. He did. He was involved with it anyways. Yeah.

[00:08:45] And he also made a very bizarre platformer called more chicken, which I still get a kind of kick out of picking up every now and then. That is a weird ass cover. Very 2000 cover. It's not a great game, but it is very it's it's fascinating to play it. Yeah. So and yeah, I think it goes a fascinating series. I've always found it. I don't know. There's some about it that kind of draws me in.

[00:09:08] If you go to the Superpod blogs, if you scroll through, you will see I wrote a review for the Dreamcast echo the dolphin game defender of the future. So, yeah, and I should potentially I should probably write reviews about the rest of the games in the series. There's like four left. Yeah, there's the original Tides of Time Jr. And then the weird Sega Pico Jr., which I tried to get.

[00:09:36] I got it running and I had no idea what the fuck I was doing, but I don't know how the Sega Pico controller like emulates. You know, it's that weird like leapfrog ass thing. I don't know. But yeah, but we won't get too deep in that. Let's see. Yeah, Xbox is doing their developer direct for the year on January the 23rd. So I will I will be watching it.

[00:10:07] Apparently, they're going to be talking about Doom the Dark Ages, South of Midnight, Expedition 33 and a mystery game that's according to Windows Central is that it's a new entry in a legacy, a legendary Japanese IP, which has decades of history and should make a lot of fans happy. That's all we have.

[00:10:34] So we well, we know Square is going to be doing more with Final Fantasy on the Xbox like most likely 16 will probably show up this year. Seven remake eventually, you know, I mean, I've heard reports of seven remake and 16 coming to switch even switch to so it wouldn't surprise me, but which to I could see that game would the switch would probably implode if it tried. If they tried to run that on switch, but yeah, yeah, you're probably right on that. So yeah.

[00:11:02] So yeah, legendary Japanese IP decades of history. The first thing I thought which would be I feel like it's two pie in the sky because it would be like really fucking huge and it was persona six. That would be I feel like that's almost too big for this. I mean, the thing with that is like legendary Japanese IP.

[00:11:30] I just for some reason like persona when I hear that I don't think persona it might be because persona is realistically not that old. Like I mean, it's been around since the 90s 96 but even then the person I mean that's older that dude we're 30 and we're a couple years older than that. True. I know it's just like it's when I think legendary I'm thinking like 80s like the bygone era.

[00:11:54] Yeah, even even then like persona technically the persona we all know today didn't really debut until like oh seven. Yeah, it was just like the first thing I thought of because it's like oh legendary IP Atlas has a good relationship with Sega right now and Microsoft by that token. And my guess is persona six will have a green color theme because it's like the next main one. So they've done blue yellow and red.

[00:12:20] So green green seems the next yeah, but green seems like the next big one. And you know green Xbox right but it's probably too pie in the sky because it's like they don't need Microsoft to do that. They could just drop they could just drop the persona six reveal trailer on YouTube and it would blow up. Probably it's just one of those things where like the majority of the players of that probably aren't on Xbox which would be a really weird choice. Not that I think would be a bad choice.

[00:12:49] It's one of those odd choice. It would be an odd choice. I think if they want persona to be like a multi-plat franchise from now on dropping it here would be a good way of being like yes, it is multi-plat. It is coming here and everywhere else. I mean hell Microsoft had the metaphor like advertising. True thing and I know quite a few people bought it on Xbox thinking it was like a like only on Xbox which is not true.

[00:13:18] So yeah, who knows I could be pie in the sky that it could be something completely different. I'm not even thinking about because I'm not sure what else it would be because we've already gotten a new mana game. We're not getting a new Final Fantasy game anytime soon. Dragon Quest 1 and 2 are coming out this year sometime and I don't think they would use this for Dragon Quest. Dragon Quest 12. I don't think so.

[00:13:40] Watch it be some like random JRPG that hasn't got an entry in forever that like they'll announce and everyone will be like what like like just like breath of fire out of nowhere or something. I mean that would be fucking cool. Or Suikoden. I would love Suikoden. The Suikoden 1 and 2 remasters are coming out. So it's and it's like when they're already have remasters coming out. I don't think they would want to announce a new game like in tandem with that because I think it would potentially collide.

[00:14:10] I don't know. So yeah, we'll have to wait and see on that. I'm interested though. Yeah, it'll be curious to see what it is. Yeah, for sure. Like some people are suggesting it could be like a new fantasy star or which would be amazing or like a new game in the shining series. I mean if it's shining force 4 I will die, but I'm not expecting that so because it won't be Camelot. So like I mean it depends on who's making it.

[00:14:39] I think somebody else could make a good shining game. Oh, but it just depends on who. Yeah, I mean also the fact that the shining series they haven't done a tactical game. I don't even remember the I think the last tactical one they did was some Japan only DS game that never came out over here. Yeah, though. I did specify it's it's not an RPG. It's just a new entry in a legendary Japanese IP. Oh, it's gonna be like oil or something. It's gonna be something.

[00:15:08] I mean, I'd be fine with the point. I mean, it could be like say Devil May Cry 6. Which I feel is I mean if Capcom is doing all this new stuff now I'm fairly confident there's a new Devil May Cry in the works and probably has been for a while. They want to really break the Internet Mega Man Legends 3. It's actually happening. X9. Oh, I'd love an X9. Yeah, I don't. I don't think they'll do X9 though. I think they sailed on that one. Probably. So I mean, who knows?

[00:15:38] I'll watch it and I'll report back. So because I think the developer directs are actually like pretty solid like they did the one they did last year. I liked again, like I'm excited for the three games that they're going to be showing like Doom the Dark Ages South of Midnight and Expedition 33 all look really cool. Honestly, all the companies have been doing pretty good lately. Like even Sony's last one was pretty good. Yeah, I mean, I think Xbox has a I think Xbox has a good year ahead of them like the games that are supposedly coming out this year. It's like, yeah, I think it's gonna be pretty good.

[00:16:08] Hmm. I am plus like they have the momentum of Indiana Jones so they can ride that because people did like Indy overall, so they could ride that to keep going. I mean, there's the whole like they're gonna start putting more games on PS5 and Siri and I'm like switch to and all that. But I think that report came out a couple days ago. And I mean, it's not surprising, you know, and I mean, if they do, they do whatever right. They're just gonna make a shit ton of money.

[00:16:33] But it's but but as I've said before and I'll say it again, I don't think it's them getting out of the hardware business because they don't really need to know I don't. I don't. I don't get the whole like people are like they're gonna go third party. I'm like, no, they're not like, yeah, if they don't really make a huge profit from the Xbox, they still make something and it's worth having the same. System.

[00:16:55] Yeah, yeah, because it's like if like all the sales from their games like yes, like say yeah, they're make they're selling more copies of games on other systems for sure. But like think about all the game pass subs they have, you know, to play those games and like the people who are in the ecosystem buying games and like actually buying their hardware like yeah, it's not a super high number, but it's like that's revenue. They probably don't want to get rid of entirely because I think it would kind of defeat the purpose.

[00:17:24] So not like people always say like they're gonna go say I'm like no company has been in the shitter as bad as Sega was. Yeah, I mean think about it Microsoft 10 years ago was in a far worse spot than it is now and even then they weren't close to where Sega was. Oh, yeah, like that's the thing Microsoft they always have money. They'll be fine, you know, like they'll be fine and they see gaming as something that's viable to their to their future and part of the entire corporate structure.

[00:17:52] So I don't think them getting rid of the Xbox like the hardware is gonna hurt like they'll probably make less of them. Sure, they probably won't make as many of them and treat it more as like a premium product. Sure, but you know, I don't see them like I think if Sega could have kept to making dream casts for another couple years they would have.

[00:18:14] It's just they didn't have the money. They shouldn't have the money for it, but Microsoft has money for it when Sega was offering to give them away and no one wanted them. That's that was pretty much the writing on the wall. Yeah, like I think the only way Xbox will truly get rid of hardware is if they can get like game pass and like cloud gaming on literally everything and it runs like perfect.

[00:18:35] I think that's the only way they'll be like, okay, we don't need the box anymore because you can just like plug like a fire stick into your TV and it has like all your Xbox stuff there and it's like cloud streaming and it performs just as good as it wouldn't like natively. I think that's the only way they would they or any other company like or even Sony would get out of the hardware business because it's like, oh, we could just sell people a cheap little stick and keep everything in our servers and it would and it runs just as well and nobody cares.

[00:19:03] That was a theory I had for a long time. The big problem with the theory is the fact that Nintendo is the big outlier because Nintendo will never comply with any of these theories. Yeah, but I always had this odd theory of like at some point we'll hit like a convergence where like Microsoft and Sony will end up just kind of working together making one standard unit and then they kind of everything comes from one side.

[00:19:26] Well, everything comes together on one system that everyone has the problem is Nintendo would never go for that because Nintendo is like stubborn as fuck about everything. Yeah, so you know, it's it's nothing that crazy and plus Sony Microsoft seem to be wanting to do a switch type of handheld each, you know, because like the portal for the PlayStation like what I've heard most people complain about that with is if it was just if it just ran games natively people would like it, but it doesn't run them natively.

[00:19:56] Yeah, it was an interesting idea just not well executed. Yeah, it was as it was a bad Wii U tablet and I can't believe I just said that. Yeah, so I imagine they'll probably do something like that. They probably won't use the Vita terminology or even the PlayStation Portable terminology. They'll probably give it like a new name and I'll be curious to what a Microsoft handheld would be. You know, but again, that's probably years away. Yeah, Nintendo.

[00:20:27] So well, we did get a new NSO drop the music drop. We did. I already know it. Do you know it? Yeah, good. Good soundtrack. I'm still like I hate the way they're fucking handling this, but hey, I guess it is Wind Waker, by the way. And is the fact that I can now like listen to the Great Sea, which is probably my favorite piece of Zelda music ever. Great. I want that Wind Waker port so bad.

[00:20:55] I just want to play Wind Waker on my switch again so bad. But anyways, the big thing, because this is coming out like the 14th or the 15th of January. So probably very soon we will see if this report was true or not. And that is people are claiming that Nintendo is going to officially unveil the Switch 2 on the 16th of January. They're putting a date on it.

[00:21:19] Like I think it was one insider said it and then there's been others like corroborating the report saying that like, yes, like this is the day they're going to be doing it. So the way we'll know is on the 15th, Nintendo will probably tweet like, hey, tune in tomorrow where we discuss the future of Nintendo Switch hardware or whatever the fuck. Right. Like that'll be the thing. They'll give us a 24 hour notice maybe. And then and then we'll see.

[00:21:48] You know, I mean, we'll see if it's true. It feels like it's lining up like it feels like now like you're in that kind of dead zone in January where not a lot is happening. So Nintendo could be like, hey, we're past the holiday season. We're in the quarter. We're at, you know, we're almost at the end of our like fiscal quarter or whatever. Like everything's kind of lining up to just make a big splash. So let's just fucking do it.

[00:22:14] You know, and all the leaks that have been coming out like dozens and dozens of these things have like like, oh, cases. And this is what the joy cons and like people making like 3D prints. And like it's kind of insane what's going on. It feels like all of these leaks are leading up to Nintendo just finally officially unveiling the damn thing so we can see what it is for real. Yeah. See which of these are real, which of these are not.

[00:22:39] I'm sure a lot of us have seen the various leaks, you know, like all this different stuff that they're doing. So we'll see. We'll see. And if they do officially unveil it, we will most likely be doing a Superpod live stream or rediscuss it. So stay tuned for that. Maybe we'll get that in a day or two. So the biggest like thing speculation there, like there was a bunch of like different things being thrown around. I think the most interesting was people predicting the price. I'm still a firm believer.

[00:23:08] I'm thinking $399. Yeah. $399 seems right. Because I think that's a good price to come in because the Switch one being $299 was a really good price. It was the same price as I think the Wii U Pro model, right? Yeah, I think so. So it was already a familiar price point, but it was an attractive price. And, you know, they had Breath of the Wild.

[00:23:33] And they were trying to get consumer confidence back, basically. Because the Wii U really hurt that. Like, it's crazy to think 10 years ago people were like, oh, Nintendo is going to go third party. They're done. Crazy to think. Completely ignoring the fact that the 3DS was doing fine. Yeah, but let's be fair. That era was not a good era for them. No, it wasn't. It really wasn't. It was the first. It was like for a set of years they were losing money, which is something they never do.

[00:24:04] Yeah. And then they released a whole bunch of little toys. And then they made a lot of money with those. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. They found ways of making money. So, but it's crazy to think how things can change in such like a short period of time. Because now like Nintendo has us eating out of the palm of their hand. And we're all just like waiting for them to officially unveil this so that all of the content creators, including us, can get views talking about this new damn thing.

[00:24:33] So, it'll be interesting. Because my guess is the trailer is going to be much like the Switch 1. It'll be a cinematic reveal. Or like a nice well-made thing that's like, oh, look at this cute thing that you can take everywhere or whatever. It might show off like the power of it. You know, seeing like Tears of the Kingdom or something running better on it than the Switch 1. They might show some footage of like Metroid Prime 4 running on the thing. Or a couple third-party games.

[00:25:01] Maybe like the new Assassin's Creed game Onyx. I think that's reported to come to Switch 2. You know, all this like little things. And then in February when we get our standard Nintendo Direct, they'll probably show off like, oh, here's the launch lineup. Like, here are the games that are coming. Because my guess is they probably, since they waited a year for the games to be ready, my guess is they will probably have multiple games ready to go. Like, there'll be the 3D Mario game.

[00:25:28] They'll probably have some bullshit casual family thing. And maybe some smaller titles, you know. But they'll have some stuff there. So, you know, we'll see. We'll see. But it's interesting that's like, you know, it's about that time again. Yeah. It's crazy when you think that the Switch was 2017. It's been a while since. Oh, yeah. Yeah. We all were in very different places in 2017. So. Yeah.

[00:25:57] I was watching my NASCAR driver win the championship. It was an interesting time. Yeah. I was starting to go back to school and, you know, switching jobs to try to get that fit in there. It was a whole thing. Yeah. I was going to be night, like night graveyard shift then. I was a very different person then. But, yeah, we'll see if this is legit or not. It just feels like everything's kind of lining up to finally talk about this damn thing. So.

[00:26:28] But, yeah. It'll be good to see. And I believe that's all. Yeah. Me too. And I think that's about all the news. At least all the news I could see. Yeah. I didn't really see anything else major. Mostly just typical gaming stuff. There's a trailer for an Until Dawn movie. Cool. Does anybody care? I don't know. Maybe somebody does. Until Dawn fans. You know, they're probably mad because they're probably like, it's not right.

[00:26:57] I mean, they probably just would have preferred like a new game in the series or something like that. Yeah. I don't know. I don't know. It's just, I don't know. Like trying to turn every game into a movie these days. It just, it feels like that's Hollywood's like fad thing right now because like they're struggling, but they see how much money the gaming industry is making. And they're like, oh, we should make game movies. And quite a few of them are doing very well.

[00:27:25] But yeah, it's because they look at like Sonic or like the Mario movie and they're like, holy shit. And so then they try to make like their own thing and it just bombs and they're like, I don't get it. They want Sonic 3, but they get Borderlands. Yeah. Yep. Pretty rough. Pretty rough. Speaking of pretty rough, today we're talking about Syndicate. We sure are. Yeah. That's a cool ass cover. I like it.

[00:27:53] It gives me total recall vibes. Yeah, it kind of does. It's got that. It's got that look to it. Like it's very of its time. It looks like a paperback cover for like the Neuromancer. You know, like, like that era of like, like cyberpunk. And yeah, because I mean, this was kind of like, well, this game came out in 93.

[00:28:20] Because the whole cyberpunk thing started in the 80s. And by the early 90s, I think it was like starting to fall out of favor because it was coming becoming mainstream when it was before that a very like underground type of like almost like this weird like anarchist type of thing. Then you see like, you know, like Total Recall. And I think like Billy Idol had like he like jumped. He had an album called I think it was cyberpunk. And it was like a whole thing. You can watch Todd in the Shadows.

[00:28:49] The video on it. It is fucking fascinating to see. And yeah, Syndicate feels like it's kind of in that vein of like, you know, trying to catch itself to this whole cyberpunk kind of phenomenon. But it pretty much died maybe a year or so after this and kind of went back to being that kind of underground thing until Cyberpunk 277 came out and sort of. Yeah, I don't think it revitalized the cyberpunk genre. I think it just made people more aware of it.

[00:29:19] You know, it's like, oh, yeah, that was a thing, you know, especially when I think they got the guy who wrote the Neuromancer to help out with cyberpunk. William Gibson. I believe he helped out with it. Like this game reminds me of like the fifth element for some reason. I don't know why. Yeah, I see that. I do see fifth element. Yeah. It reminds me of that. I also got a lot of Shadowrun vibes when I was playing this. Oh, very much Shadowrun. But I think Shadowrun's a better game than this. Well, Shadowrun's.

[00:29:49] So fun fact, the story for this game, I was reading into it because this game doesn't explain its story at all. It is exclusively in the manual, which when I bought this, I was like, oh, good. And then I opened it up and it was no manual. So, yeah, I bought the version of it that's on GOG for like six bucks and it has like a manual you can download and read through. And I glanced at it, but it was just kind of your normal like, oh, like corporations are taking over everything and you need to stop them.

[00:30:17] Basically, the back of the box has a pretty good excerpt. It's literally mission briefing. Sources indicate that a rival syndicate has developed a dangerous new computer program and our research boys want it. In the year 2096, the world is divided into regions controlled by a handful of massive corporations struggling for dominance. Prepare yourselves for the ultimate corporate takeover. Described by Computer Game Review as the best cyberpunk anything I've seen, read or played.

[00:30:45] Syndicate slams you into a dark future where industrial firepower ruins. I don't know about that. Correction, by the way, Cyberpunk 2077. William Gibson was not involved with it. Instead, it was Mr. Mike Pondsmith, who was the guy who wrote the original cyberpunk tabletop RPG. So he was the one who helped. So I just want to correct myself. Yeah. But anyways, yeah, this game. Yeah. Very cyberpunk.

[00:31:14] You know, it almost made me want to pop in CD Projekt Red cyberpunk and mess around in that because I have the DLC now, but I didn't do that. This one definitely led into like the more dystopian aspect of cyberpunk stories like. Oh, yeah. Cyber side. Blade Runner. Yeah. Very, very Blade Runner. Very like the world is shit kind of vibe going on. But I think that's kind of the cyberpunk aesthetic is that there's not a lot of hope. You know what I mean? Because I mean, there's a lot of like.

[00:31:43] Fiction about like, say, the future and like the future is just fucked and we're all fucked, basically. Like really, Star Trek is the only one that's like, oh, things could actually improve and get better. Yeah. But most of them are just like, nah, everything sucks. Like I got a lot of also going into my inner anime fan. I got a lot of Akira vibes from this as well. I could see that. I could see. Especially like the motorcycle scenes and just like the whole like the city like post nuclear fucking decimation like kind of vibe.

[00:32:13] Yeah. Yeah. And even I mean, I haven't really played these games, but it gave me a little bit of a vibe of like, say, I wouldn't be surprised if the original Fallout had a bit of influence from this game. Fallout 1, I had a lot of aside from Fallout 1 being more of an RPG and not a tactical game. I got a lot of Fallout vibes, original Fallout vibes from this game. Yeah, yeah.

[00:32:36] Because I mean, this is definitely made in the era where the like overhead PC RPG was kind of like getting its sort of I mean, this is like in the middle of like Ultima and Wizardry. Like they were starting to fall out, but they still had their popularity. And it was like right before like Elder Scrolls and Baldur's Gate and Fallout started like bringing the computer Western RPG back up. So this kind of sits in that weird lull. I mean, I wish this game kind of played more like that. Yeah, this is more.

[00:33:06] I didn't play a huge amount of this game because it's more of like a tactical strategy thing. Yeah. And I my my dumb dumb doo doo brain just was like staring at these menus and trying to figure out how this game played and didn't do very well. And just kind of I want to say I raged quit, but I kind of went no. Yeah. Yeah. Like this is one. This is a really one of those games where you kind of like.

[00:33:35] You're kind of like at the mercy of what the computer feels like doing at a given time, because like I swear to God, I would like try to set my because you have to like basically like kind of like set your soldiers in different spots on the map and then like kind of just let it happen. And like I swear to God, like every time like they just get fucking wrecked. I'd be like, OK, yeah, again, it has.

[00:33:57] I mean, this came out years later, but it reminded me a little bit of say like Rainbow Six where like when you're playing some of the Rainbow Six games, it's just like, OK, you set your guys up. Like say like you will breach that door. You got to breach the story. This guy come with me, you know, and it has that foe kind of tactical thing. But that's like more of like an intrusion shooter type of a thing where you can sort of it's easier to be involved in it because if it goes south, you still have control of your player and you can make it work. Yeah, this game's kind of brutal.

[00:34:25] So, yeah, it's very much a product of that early era of PC tactical games where like they weren't easy and you really had to. You had to be one of those people that just like played these like religiously to the point where you were just a master of it, because like jumping into this, I had no freaking idea what I was doing. Yeah, this was the era where PC gaming really did not have a casual audience. This game at all, like casual gamers were playing the NES.

[00:34:53] They were not like booting up their PC, even if they had one to play something like this. Like this is like pre Windows 95. So like computer, I think I think this game even came out before Doom. So this is like, you know, this is like pre PC gaming becoming starting to become a mainstream thing. So I'm pretty sure Doom was like the first PC game to sort of like break out and become like a sort of a mainstream big deal in that regard.

[00:35:22] And this was this came out the same year. But, you know, Syndicate wasn't going to attach itself to that. It's a very different game. No, Syndicate was a game that I guarantee you like that. My theory with Syndicate was it was one of those games that the people that bought it and played it loved it. But like people who weren't into that, like probably just looked at it and went, yeah.

[00:35:41] Yeah, like I'm not great with like tactical strategy games kind of like in general, you know, I just I get overwhelmed because there's so many like menus and all these different things you have to worry about. It's just it's like my brain is not really wired for these types of games. I mean, I can play them here and there. Like I've put some time in the civilization. I do like the Age of Empire series. As you all know, I love the Roller Coaster Tycoon games.

[00:36:08] Those aren't really strategy games, but, you know, they just remind me of that. I mean, hell, even Star Wars Empire War, I think is a pretty good real time strategy game. But those are just like exceptions. Oh, yeah. Me, really. Like when I was playing this, like because I love tactical games like Fire Emblem is one of my favorite franchises of all time. I love Arc the Lad, Shining Force. Playing this made me realize I love tactics when I have time to think. Yeah. I love turn based tactics. I real time.

[00:36:38] Not for me. Yeah. Like I love Shining Force. I mean, hell, the Advance Wars games are like really good turn based tactical type of games, you know, games that feel like RPGs, but they're not. Advance Wars for people who like Fire Emblem, but don't want that pesky story. Yeah, basically. I don't need waifus. I just need tanks. Yeah. And yeah, yeah. This game definitely represents a specific era of gaming that just quite frankly isn't for me.

[00:37:08] But I can see like it's a well-made game. It runs really well. Like it has a really nice visual aesthetic to it. I don't like the audio design at all. I will say I love it. It's awful. Yeah. The it's weird. I do will say I love that goddamn song that plays during every map, though. But the fucking baseline that just goes like it's funny, but I got sick of it. Well, yeah, because it's the old it's like Sonic Unleashed syndrome. It's like it's cool. The first time. Yeah.

[00:37:38] Where it's like that's just Sonic Unleashed audience. I beat it not that long ago. So it's fresh on the brain. And it's like it's a good song, but it's like I don't want to hear it the entire time. It's like when you play original Final Fantasy and you realize there's one battle theme in the entire game for every everything, including the final boss. That's a better battle theme. I like that. I mean, it's a great battle theme. But in the original game, it's literally every encounter. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:38:06] Well, at least I'm playing like the pixel remaster of FF1. Those have. And that like. Well, and they like redid the soundtracks like they're like pure symphonic soundtracks and they're fucking gorgeous. Oh, my God. Oh, yeah. So good. And I think Uematsu was involved in those, I think. Or at least like like they say like, hey, are these like? Yeah. Basically like, hey, are these OK? And he was probably like, oh, yeah, they're fucking great. But yeah, because original NES is a fucking like nightmare.

[00:38:34] If you're playing original NES Final Fantasy is a nightmare. If you're playing that. Nothing fucking works. The game's broken as fuck. Yeah. Yeah. And yeah, this game, as we mentioned before, it was done by Bullfrog and Bullfrog. And I mean, we talked about it before and they're known for like, you know, the Populous series and even games like say, I think it's called Power Monger, which is probably like a similar thing to this. So they were well in like the PC like strategy thing. The Populous is what's that more like?

[00:39:03] Like it's like a populace is a God is a God game. It's it's kind of like. It's like a SimCity, but it's more like you create like a civilization sort of thing. Yeah, I've never played a populace, but I feel like I'd probably have some fun with it because I have it a little. It's a little different. It's a good game. It's very dated, though. Like SimCity is much more fun to play. Even today, this one populace shows its age. Yeah.

[00:39:30] Like like like SimCity on, say, the Super Nintendo, like has aged very well. Yeah. Like because Bullfrog games are always everyone knows Peter Molyneux. They have a very Peter Molyneux vibe to them. I wanted this joke saying if we could just blame Molyneux, but he actually wasn't super involved in syndicate. He was just a producer. Yeah. See, I didn't get a Molyneux vibe from this one because it's not that weird or trying anything that weird.

[00:39:59] It's just trying to be like sort of the best version of a sort of a thing that was going on at the time, if that makes any sense. I was still I was still very sure to put his smug ass face, though, in the thumbnail. So I mean, I mean, hey, it's perfect, right? He has the greatest like smug, like he knows his shit doesn't stink kind of like face to him. Yeah, for sure. For sure.

[00:40:28] But, you know, people I probably I mean, hell, people seem to like this, like the like it reviewed really well at the time. Yeah. Like this is a game where it's like everything about it, like even on the 3DO version, like I was expecting it to be rough as hell on the 3DO, but it's actually it plays fine because you do most of your shit in menus before you even get to the actual gameplay. So it's not like you really have to like deal with the cursor too much. Yeah, for sure. To me, it's a game that it's like it's perfectly well made. It functions fine.

[00:40:56] Like it's very like I don't have a problem with it. It's just not a me game. Mm hmm. Yeah, exactly. And I and I agree. Like, it's not a game that's really for me either. Yeah. Yeah. Which is why it's like it's hard to rank it because like it's not like it's not bad. It's just when it's like playing like I'm trying to think of like a good example.

[00:41:22] It'd be like me playing trying to think of a game I don't like. There's a game you don't like. Yeah, I'll have to think on that for a minute. But it would be like if I was trying to play. I don't know. Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories. I don't like. Yeah, like a card game. Yeah. Or Slay the Spire. Like Slay the Spire. I know is a good game, but I guarantee you if I played it, I wouldn't like it.

[00:41:52] Mm hmm. Mario Mario Wonder. Like great game. I know it did nothing for me. Yeah. Yeah. It's like I liked Inscription and I liked Bellatro, but those are kind of different. You know, so. Yeah, I don't know, man. I don't know. Like I respect it. It's another game. It's kind of like. Alone in the Dark, where I respect it for what it is, but and I can recommend I can say this is a much better game than that.

[00:42:22] Yeah. Alone in the Dark is important, but it has it has aged like milk. Yeah, like I can see the quality in this game and it'd be curious to like do you play like a more modernized version of it, but I don't think that'll ever really happen. It's actually really interesting, too. This is one of those games that was on fucking everything like it's on the Amiga, the Amiga CD 32, PC, Mac, Genesis, NES, FM Towns, Jaguar, Jaguar, Sega CD, 3DO, and the most

[00:42:52] important console of all time, the Acorn Archimedes. I love I love that. It's the best named console of all time. I had to click it. I'm like, what the fuck is that? I'm like, oh, it's some weird PC. It's a European ass thing. So there was expansion packs for the game. There was Syndicate American Revolt. Yep. Which is actually where this cover comes from. Yep. Yeah. The Dr. Manhattan guy on the front.

[00:43:21] And there was a sequel called Syndicate Wars, which came out a couple years later. Yeah. And looking at Syndicate Wars, I'm not sure how different it is, but it looks closer to like an XCOM. Yeah. It looks more refined. Yeah. Because what I've played of XCOM, I like. But that's much more like combat based, you know, just kind of like, you know, you're

[00:43:49] doing, you know, like the tactical combat turn based kind of stuff, which I think was more fun. That game is unforgiving, but they're fun. And then interestingly enough, I didn't I knew this game existed, but I didn't realize they were connected until I just read about it. Now, the 2012 Syndicate for PS3 and 360 is actually a reboot of this series.

[00:44:13] Yeah, it's it's basically gets caught in that generic first person shooter era of the 360 and PS3, like Shadowrun. Do you remember the reboot of Shadowrun? Similar to this. Syndicate. I think the Syndicate reboot is better than that. But like, yeah, it's the same kind of idea. Like, it's like, let's take this very well regarded, like tactical RPG PC thing and be like, let's just make it a generic FPS like every everybody's doing right now.

[00:44:45] Basically, I think the most interesting thing about Syndicate isn't so much that but who developed it. Oh, Starbreeze. Yeah, good old Starbreeze who are known for games like like the Chronicles of Riddick games, the darkness, Brothers, a Tale of Two Sons, and more recently Payday and Payday two or Payday two and Payday three. Sorry. And I believe that most of the team from Starbreeze that made the darkness later went on to form

[00:45:14] machine games. Yep. Well, and also like the Riddick games as well. Yeah, I went on to machine games who did the Wolfenstein, the more recent Wolfenstein games and Indiana Jones. And funnily enough with Indie, when I was playing it and people were comparing it to Chronicles of Riddick, I was like, that's interesting. And I went and I checked the credits for both games and cross-referenced in Moby games.

[00:45:39] And there is a lot of crossover from, say, the first Chronicles of Riddick game, Escape from Butcher Bay and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. Like a lot of the same guys worked on both games. So I think the Riddick comparison was a fair one to make. Now, machine games is like one of my favorite devs of like this modern era. Yeah, I like I really need to sit down and play the Wolfenstein games like the modern ones because they always really good. I always say they made Wolfenstein cool again.

[00:46:09] And I'm all for that. Yeah, yeah. Wolfenstein has a really interesting history because they've rebooted that series a couple times. Yeah, because there was that results. There was that really cool one on it was like mid 2000s on PC. The one like Return to Castle Wolfenstein. Yeah, it got pulled. Yeah, that's a cool game. It's on Xbox and PlayStation 2. Yeah, I play different versions and I like it. Interesting. Yeah. And then there was that like the Raven software one, which is.

[00:46:38] Yeah, we it's good, but it's weird because it Raven makes great stuff. But that game is so weird. Yeah, I remember playing the the demo when that came out because I was like, oh, yeah, Wolfenstein, because around that time, I think Wolfenstein 3D was on the Xbox Live Arcade. And I was able to buy it and actually play it on there. And then they're like, oh, we're making like a brand new Wolfenstein. And I got the demo and I'm like, yeah, this is weird because it's like based on like having

[00:47:06] supernatural powers and all this stuff, which isn't really a Wolfenstein thing. Like it has weird shit in it, but not like this type of weird shit like it like it's closer to like a heretic or a hexan, you know, than a Wolfenstein, you know, but I mean, makes sense with Raven making it. So, you know. Because Raven made that and they also made Quake 4 at the time. Yes. Yes, they did. So I miss Raven. They were good. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:47:34] In fucking Activision Purgatory. They make, they make, uh, what's the free to play called? Warzone. Warzone's what they do now. At least they still, at least they still exist. Neversoft just got absorbed. And Vicarious Fissions. Yeah. They're like a blizzard thing now. A shame. A real shame. I mean, it'd be nice if like Microsoft was like, hey, Raven, go do whatever you want. But I don't think that's going to happen.

[00:48:02] Make another whatever you do. Because I can see. Make another Soldier of Fortune. Why? We have Call of Duty. I know. Though Soldier of Fortune. That's a cool game. I like it. Yeah. It's, it's interesting because like the, I think the 3DO version is like also one of those cases where like, it doesn't really do much different from the PC version. So it's kind of like, if you want to play this game, there's really no reason to play

[00:48:31] it on 3DO unless you're really like you're me and you find this. It's like minty fresh copy just sitting at a retro store. Yeah. Yeah. And I'm trying to save some money. So I wasn't going to hunt down a 3DO copy. I just, I grabbed a syndicate plus, which comes with American revolt on GOG for like six bucks. And it's like, that's not bad for that. So that's better than good old games. It's better than the 30. I paid for this. So yeah, exactly. So yeah. Our, our, our, must play. Okay. Stay away. What are you thinking?

[00:49:01] I'm going to say, I'm going, I'm not going to say must play because this is definitely not a game for everybody. I'm going to say this is an okay. If this is, if, if you like real-time strategy games, I feel like this is a game that you would enjoy at least from like a historical standpoint, because it is despite me not being really into it.

[00:49:29] It was not a bad game. Like it was fully functional. Like it didn't like, there wasn't any points where like I was frustrated. Like I figured everything out. I just sucked at it. Cause it's, it's not. Yeah, exactly. Like, yeah, if you're into this type of stuff, it's absolutely a must play. Cause I think, you know, if you like real-time tactics, slow, like a lot of menus and like equipping people and like, you know, basically, basically playing like a video game version

[00:49:57] of like a tabletop RPG, you know, like then you'll probably fucking love it. It's really cool. But for me, I just didn't care for it. It's just, it's not my type of game. It's not what I want to sink hours into as far as like a video game is concerned. Usually it's just more, usually like I, I don't like games that have slow pace, like this kind of slow pacing, but requires like almost like fast reflexes to react to stuff.

[00:50:27] Yeah. It's kind of, it feels like it's trying to be like a slow pace, like a civilization or SimCity, but it wants you to have fast reflexes, like say like a doom or something. It doesn't help too that we had just played this after cannon fodder. Yeah. And I liked cannon fodder was like, it was fucking fast paced and it was like really fun to play, you know, and this to me was not very fun to play. So I can't in good conscience recommend this one.

[00:50:52] But if you, but if anything we said has you wanting to check it out by all means do. Yeah. Like it's definitely not a stay away. It's, it's, it is, I won't say it must play because I personally wouldn't recommend it. But if you relate to these games, I'd say it's an okay. Definitely pick it up. If you've been intrigued by what you've said, essentially. I agree. Um, so yeah, syndicate, that is another one off the list.

[00:51:19] And I think this is actually the last bullfrog game on the system. So yeah, no populace. So I can't actually see if I like it or not. Yeah. Which is weird. You think populace would have come on this thing. It feels like a match made in heaven. Yeah. I don't know. 3d was such a weird error for what games did come out on it. Yeah. For real. That being said though, next week, what do we play? Hmm. I had an idea. What's your idea?

[00:51:49] So next week is the 75th episode of the show. It's a milestone, but it's not like a milestone milestone. Mm-hmm. I was thinking we finally start by playing an army men game. Do you want to do the first army men game? We could do the first. My only thing was like, we just played a tactical strategy game. Do we want to do another one right after? Or do we want to do like one of the more? There's a whole, we could do, like, we don't have to do them in order. We can do.

[00:52:18] You want to do Sarge's War? Yeah, we can do Sarge's War. We can laugh at that game. Let's do Sarge's War. Let's play something super modern for 3DO. For 3DO. To be fair, it's a game I've been wanting to sit down and play all the way through for a very long time. So this will finally, and since I have the free time, I will beat this one. Nice. Don't worry, guys.

[00:52:46] You'll get my full detailed opinions next week. I actually look forward to this one. Yeah. Yeah, we'll do, because like I was thinking, like, we should definitely play the army men games. I was like, we don't have to do them in order. We can do them however. That's fine. So we'll do the Sarge's Heroes series in reverse. Well, yeah, because we have some plans with the Sarge's Heroes games proper. So stay tuned for that. All right. So we'll do Sarge's War next week. That'll be interesting. I look forward to it.

[00:53:16] We're going to be covering a 3DO game that 3DO technically was involved with, but their name is not anywhere on it. So that'll be interesting. All right. But anyways, guys, once again, thank you for joining us on the 3DO experience. So you can find the 3DO experience on all the major podcasting platforms, particularly Apple Podcasts and Spotify. And be sure to check us out over on the SuperPod Network. That is superpodnetwork.com. Awesome site. Tons of different shows, videos, blogs.

[00:53:45] We've been doing a lot of random blogs lately. We kind of just blog. Actually, we're doing the Q&As. The Q&As are coming up. Those have been really fun. Oh, yeah. Did you do yours yet? Mine is in. I got Alex to do one. I don't know if Matt's done one. I should reach out to him and see if he has. I have done one. So it's just a matter of when Aaron decides to release them. I think currently the one that's out is for a friend of the show, Danielle. Yeah. Hers was really nice. I liked some of her responses.

[00:54:15] Oh, yeah. It's nice to see her gaming history. That being said, though, be sure to check out all the awesome shows over on the network, including SuperPod Saga, Super Ghost Radio, Retro Rehab, Tommy's Video Game Ride Along, A Novel Console, Bar Silence Find Time, Yellow Trolls Gaming Podcast, Remember 64, Gaming Together, Friday Night Gamecast, Gaming and Collecting, Radio Experience, Geek Addicts, The Retro Wildlands, Press B to Cancel, The Pre-Odor Bonus, and The Retro Mo Video Game Reviews. And with that, everybody, we will see you all later.

[00:54:45] Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Bye-bye.