If you remember the original Syndicate games, then I should imagine that purchasing Satellite Reign would be a no-brainer, but even for newcomers to the series such as myself, this is a highly recommended purchase.
The worst you can do when talking about Satellite Reign is to measure its value with the original Syndicate. That said, 5 Lives created an intriguing and strong RTS, with some unique features and some great homages to the original by Bullfrog.
I have put about 7 hours into the game, and have to say, it's a great game. Sometimes spiritual successors are a little pale in comparison to their original inspiration, but not this game.
It is a marked improvement over the original games and I am much appreciated that it was made. It brought back the same sort of enjoyment I had playing those games when they originally came out in the 90's, except it's augmented for the modern era. Great fun!
Mimo że brakowało mi następcy starego Syndicate, i dawno temu przestałem szukać, a tu niespodzianka, to on znalazł mnie. Godny następca. Nie jest to próba remake oryginału , i dobrze , moim zdaniem dzięki temu wyszło lepiej. Grę zainstalowałem na zasadzie "what next" bez czytania opisu czy recenzji, i nie rozumiem, jak mogłem ją tyle mieć a dopiero teraz zwrócić na nią uwagę :) Porównam to do czegoś jak by otworzyć prezent spod choinki zawieruszony około 10 lat temu i nie chodzi o kolejną parę skarpetek.
A great game and a true spiritual successor of Syndicate Wars, which makes you think how come aren’t there more titles like this one out there. With a lot of freedom of action and progression, it could be a bit repetitive on occasion, but you can always face situations in multiple ways.
This game is good, but i can't give more than 7 points because, the graphics and performance is too bad.
Music essence: Very good
Sounds quality; medium
Graphics quality: medium
Performance: slow (Single thread support)
Control: medium (Because camera can't rotate just a little bit)
A game praying on nostalgia to deliver a Syndicate like experience that turns out to be not a bad game - although with what i felt a lot of potential wasted somewhere between the lines.
First of - I remember somewhat the original Syndicate Wars - enough to feel nostalgic about it but not enough to draw a direct comparison between the two. Might be for the better or worse for a game review but this is how it is.
Satellite Reign is a real time squad based game set in a cyberpunk world of the future. The giant companies control the world and it's up to you and your squad to take the worst offender down. The story is simple and doesn't get much more complicated throughout the game. Most of the text is presented in writing and it's easier to just skim the text for important bits regarding the mission rather than trying to understand the story which seems a bit generic.
Mechanically this is a squad based real time strategy game. You control four members of your squad in a pretty standard set up - soldier/heavy, support/medic, hacker and infiltrator/sniper. Each of those come with a special set of skills you can upgrade with experience gained. Those are pretty cool and useful - some more than other - but generally you do feel like you're making a choice by selecting what to upgrade and it does impact the way you play later on.
Apart from the standard upgradeable skills you get to manage your squad load-out meaning guns, gear and implants. All of these feel pretty varied and provide an impact on the way you take on a mission. Some loud-outs are in fact better suited for certain missions than other - all depending on the mission type and facilities you're breaching, and your preffered game play. The amount of customisation here was pretty cool.
There is also a cloning layer - a place where you take people and by assigning them to your squad members you enhance their abilities - but I found it pretty much useless - didn't understand the concept to well and ignored it entirely. It felt wonky and combined with often dying and loosing the bonuses felt like just too much work for little gain.
Visually it's quite nice. The cyberbpunk atmosphere is there and looks really good. Although seems to be very power hungry. Sure, you can zoom in pretty close and it still lookes good but it's unplayable while zoomed in. So I was completly zoomed out the entire time. The camera for whatever artistic reason is constantly bobbing slightly left and right - didn't make me feel nauseous but I imagine it could make some people. Overall it felt like totally unnecessary thing with no way of turning it off. The graphic in general was looking good - very neon like - and fitting the setting.
The game has a bit strange paste to it. It's slow at first - you're always under equiped with low tier guns, and no money. The enemies are also a bit hard at first in comparison to your setup. This leads to tackling the first mission very stealthy - luckily the game allows for such approach and you still get experience from doing things without causing mayhem. It gets better over time and things start balancing out and stealth stops being the only viable option.
I'm glad I've stuck through the beginning part as the game picked up somewhere along mid-game and starts getting interesting. The mid and end game is far more interesting as you're much better equipped and have a lot more room for taking different approaches to each mission.
The thing this begs for is an active pause though. It would change the game significantly and i feel for the better. As things stand right now there is no other way than just move your squad as a whole. There is just to little time for any flanking or other clever maneuvering. The slow-down time ability is there for the hacker but it has almost no meaningful impact on the game play.
Overall in the end I found the game to be enjoyable despite a bit repetitive and not giving a lot of control of the action when things get spicy. I have a feeling that making small changes to the game play would make the game much more enjoyable than it is but as it stands it's still worth picking up and trying out yourself.
A syndicate remake/clone, ok here it is, finally.That was my thought until i played it some **** is it so bad?
Sound:Nothing **** an indiegame ok but at least a better music or weapon sounds would be nice.When i compare it to Shadowrun Satallite Reign loses when it comes to sound.I miss memorable music and more/better voiced dialogues.
Visuals:I dont think the visuals help the **** might fit the cyperpunk setting but everything is so bright that its hard to concentrade on the important **** you use the world scan for example the game throws far too much colours at you at the same time and you need the world scan often.
Another problem is the **** constantly moving around a little bit and you cant rotate the cam freely.That can be a problem in some situations.
All in all i dont like the artstyle **** much customization when it comes to your agents for example.Everything looks uninteresting to me compared to Shadowrun.
Gameplay:The gmeplay is the real partycrasher.I understand when youre indie you might neglect visuals or/and sound but the gameplay is an important point and here Satellite Reign struggles the most.
The AI is really inconsistent.Sometimes the AI spottes you behind cover, when i use the same cover after loading, it works(despite the same pathe of the security).That happened far too often to me and that is just one example.Another example is that the silent-kill sometimes not worked for **** does little to no damage but the guardsman called instantly reinforcements.Nice move!
I get the feeling weapons in the world of SR are pretty weak.I need several seconds to gun down a weak guardsman.3-5 shots with a sniper rifle to kill the weakest enemy in the game out of cover?I get it, its a game where you sneak around but this is dumb.
The pathfinding is broken too.Sometimes my agents order is "get into cover" and every agent is doing that.....except **** stands there and chills all **** spotted of course and the mission ends because everyone dies.This should never happend in this kind of game!NEVER EVER!!!
Is there a story in this game?I think not **** so little story and its so uninteresting presented to the player that it is amazing.That might be ok in the 90s but its nearly 2016!
I dont understand the XP **** for example is my hacker nearly 1 1/2 levels ahead of every other agent?What is the system behind XP distribution?Every agent got different XP and between my soldier and the hacker is a gap of 1 1/2 levels.I dont understand that.
Progression in the game is too slow and the things you can to are so limited that its boring.When i compare it to Shadowrun again its laughable what you can do.
Another big problem in the game is how saves **** cant save during missions in restricted zones.Combined with the bad AI/pathfinding this will become more than annoying.
Conclusion:With all the things said, i think a person that like syndicate might like SR **** me the game is too flawed, too many opportunitys wasted and the AI and pathfinding problems break the game **** not a bad game dont get me worng but i had NO fun while i tried it **** so boring with no storytelling it pains me.Cant give this game a pass, sorry.Without the AI pathfinding problems the game might be a decent remake and a **** those problems are there and i cant ignore those points.Final score is just a 4.
This game lacks an interesting story, and it lacks interesting gameplay. It is a pretty world but a dead world that resets all the time so you never feel like you have any impact. Spend your money elsewhere. I recommend a look at the Shacknews review for non-rosetinted glasses opinion.
SummaryA real-time, class-based strategy game through which you control a team of four agents, each with distinct and unique abilities, collectively battling for control of a simulated, living cyberpunk city.