2. Syndicate

A game that frequently makes the list of games that should get a reboot, Syndicate was huge back in its day and was an early project of Fable master mind Peter Molyneaux. During missions you controlled four cyborg agents in a futuristic cyberpunk setting and between missions you sank money into research and bought new weapons and equipment before choosing which corporate nation to crush next. The strategy based isometric viewpoint was similar to modern RTS games with you directing your four trench coated killers through the city (occasionally even using trains to travel around) to assassinate opponents, rescue agents, hypnotise people to join your evil organisation or just eliminate all the enemy agents in a city. There was no moral dilemma in the game, you played as a ruthless corporation out for world domination and that’s how you did business.

To gain more funds for your nefarious campaign you had to tax your conquered territories. Taxing them too high caused a revolt and you would then need to send your agents back in for more wet work. The action was intense and exciting and it’s the first time I can recall using a minigun in a computer game. Peter Molyneaux has actually talked about returning to the Syndicate series but no remake is officially planned at this stage.

It’s not hard to image an open world shooter controlled as an RTS being popular today. Part of Syndicate’s charm was the puppet master gameplay, controlling your team of terminators and then just kidnapping a local and turning them into a cyborg if one of your team was destroyed. There really hasn’t been another game like it since its release and we need plenty more games where you can just be plain old fashioned evil and ambitious.