The most long-awaited sequel since Populous 2 is well under development and we can bring you a sneak
preview of the storyline. Let the scriptwriters behind Syndicate Wars bring you up to speed In 231 NC, only
a decade after the Eurocorp Syndicate became the most powerful organisation on the face of the Earth, a tapeworm virus was released by forces unknown into the emergent Worldnet system. Global financial markets and security nets were caught completely off their guard by this auto-mutating string of code,
nicknamed Harbinger.
By the time Eurocorp hackers picked up the trail, the damage was done. The worlds information systems tore
themselves apart, preceding a global collapse like none other. The ensuing chaos and darkness lasted for fifty years.
This period is now referred to as First Downtime. Worldwide, it is conservatively estimated that some 350x10^6 lives were lost as a consequence Excerpt from the Chapter 1 of the First Book of the Church of !, 341 NC.
This is the story of the Syndicate Wars. Syndicate and the subsequent American Revolt chronicled the first attempt to gain global domination by a conglomerate, Eurocorp, a significant factor in the earth's primary holocaust, the First Downtime. The global mega-corporations which once housed, fed and protected their workforces, are rising once more to ultimately take control of this earth. Eurocorp is once more leading the chase for worldwide control. For
almost a century, the Global Initiative Arm (GIA) of Eurocorp has persuaded over eighty percent of the population towards its destiny, controlling the growth of civilisation, manufacturing opinions, and even beginning small wars to give its employees something interesting to talk about during their lunch breaks. Using a small brainwashing device known as the CHIP, Eurocorp agents could easily control the populace using a fiendish device known as the Persuadertron.
The GIA has been the think-tank responsible for the
global security of Eurocorp, yet despite its highly trained
Crisis Contingency Action Teams, there have been a
number of significant developments that undermines
Eurocorps once-strong grip over its people. First, the
unaccountably diminishing effectiveness of the
Persuadertron and CHIP technologies. Recent reports
have shown a distinct rise in the incidence of
Persuadertron use authorised by regional controllers,
accompanied by a rise in breaches of disciplinary codes
by Eurocorp employees. Indeed, in some cities, ghettos
have developed where the inhabitants seem immune to
its effect. In many areas, Eurocorp has lost control of more than fifty percent of the population. Also worrying is the rise of an underground religion, known simply as the Church of !, which is spreading like wildfire across the globe. The Church of ! is growing in areas where Eurocorps control is weakest, preaching salvation through technology; technology which it believes
should be under its control. The Church has proven impossible to infiltrate, and although so far it has not called for a direct uprising against Eurocorp, it has become openly hostile to the greater resources of Eurocorp, and has claimed responsibility for a number of uprisings and terrorist attacks.
The strain of these developments on Eurocorps CHIP-reliant policy has been very damaging to the Syndicate. Some cartels are taking the competition idea very seriously, and a number of divisions are trying to break free. Eurocorp is being torn apart, and its technology is being undermined by unknown forces. A power vacuum is developing, plunging the world deeper into chaos. For the right leader, the world is entering a period of great promise.
The game puts you in control of tough, easily manipulated Cyborgs. These are the foot-soldiers in your war against other corporations, and in the full game you can use your profits on R&D to fit them out with better components and better guns.
In the demo, you're given four Cyborgs in the Cryovatm and a few items of gear to look at in the equipment screen, although if you enter straight into the mission, the Cyborgs are kited out automatically. The mail secrtion gives yoiu a briefing detailing how you mst pursuade the professor to come back and work for Euro Corps, and kill the roving New Epoch Cult members. When you get into the game proper they're easy to spot; they're the ones in high boots and long hair. The map overview shows you your various targets, along with the drop site of your Cyborgs. Accept the mission, click on Tokyo on the world map, accept it again, then you're on your way.
The demo starts with a short sequence showing the New Epoch Cult members raising hell and generally shooting up the police. To skip over it feel free to press the space bar and skip to your agents waiting in line.
1. Only number one is flashing blue at the top, so any commands only move him. To group the agents, either press \ or click on the bar on the left hand side. If one bar is lit, then agents one and two move and fire together; and agents three and four can be linked the same way. Light all the bars to move all the agents together. Unlink them by right clicking on the bar.
2. You're seconds away from a kill, so draw the agents' guns by clicking on the weapon icon to light them blue. If your agents have got more than one weapon, the drawn weapon can be chosen by holding the left button down and then pointing to the chosen weapon to get it.
3. Look at the scanner in the corner. Your agents are red dots, while the nearest enemy is shown as a green cross. If you scroll over to see her, you'll probably find that she's hidden by a building, so use Del and Page Down to spin the view around until you can see her. Point the mouse near her and click the left mouse button to tell your guys to move, and they stroll over.
4. Keep the cursor on the cultist and it'll be a target. When it turns red, you're in range, so fire using the right mouse button. She is gone and forgotten in seconds, but before moving on, see how the cursor over her turns into a gabber, and how an Uzi is displayed at the bottom right corner Left click on it, and any agent with a free slot can pick it up.
5. Look at the scanner again and you see red circles spreading out from your targets. Track them down and kill them, but always check the bodies . As well as better weapons, you should also find a bomb, which can be placed on the ground, but can also be accidentally or deliberately activated by shooting it. Beware though, the explosion 's huge and can easily take out an entire building, plus all your agents.
6. If you need to get somewhere fast, you can chemically enhance your agents by extending the blue bar next to their number. This makes them temporarily faster, but slows them down later on, so reduce the blue, or put it the other way into the red to enable them to recover from the drugs. To get anywhere faster, get in any parked vehicle, but avoid enemy agents, or your driving will end in flames. And tears.
