Synnergist Review

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Synnergist

Review by LakerzJuly 2003

Now here’s an adventure game that one doesn’t hear much about, partly because of its Europe-only release. Synnergist was the first release by then-newcomer Vicarious Visions. I wasn’t sure what to expect when I popped open the CD tray and went through the installation process. However, if there’s one thing I do enjoy, it’s games about a mystery. The back of the box sets up the game well:

2010 AD: New Arhus; a city tormented by every crime imaginable; murders, muggings, drug dealing and prostitution. Tim Machin, a reporter both underpaid and overworked, finds himself on the trail of a sinister force that appears to be connected to the crime and killing. Unable to ignore the evil events surrounding him, Tim finds himself drawn further and further into a potentially fatal web of secrets that threatens the future of the city. What is the significance of the disturbing visions that plague Machin’s mind? What effect will they have on his sanity and what role will they play in protecting the future of New Arhus … ?

Okay, I’m hooked. Let’s get this party started and unravel these mysteries! Only one little problem to deal with before playing, however. This game can be a challenge to install and get running properly, and that may be putting it a bit lightly. Synnergist needs DOS in order to run, although the manual makes mention of a special method to run it in Windows 95. Given the problems one can experience just running it from DOS, I didn’t feel the need to further tempt the fates. Fully 75% of the manual is dedicated to installation and technical help. Now, in my eyes, this is both a good thing and a bad thing: A good thing because it’s nice to see a company do all it can to get the user running the game, and a bad thing because it gave this DOS newbie the willies just thinking about getting Synnergist running. Eventually, however, I was successful, using an older computer running DOS 6.2 and Win95.  Just for kicks, I tried to install Synnergist on a Win98 machine but had little success. I suspect it might be possible, but it just wasn’t happening for me. Now that I’ve harped on the difficulties of installing this game, I also should note that the game was very stable once running. It only crashed to the DOS prompt once during the entire game. Not too shabby.

Once the intro sequence was finally rolling, I was pretty excited.  After the opening movie, you find Tim Machin getting chewed out by his boss at the New Arhus Chronicle, Mr. Hallmags, for not getting his stories in on time. He makes it very clear that we must complete two stories posthaste: an interview with the great humanitarian Victor Ambrose and a restaurant review of the Skyline, a swanky new upper-class eatery. With over a dozen locations to visit and cause trouble in, there is a lot to see and do. In pursuing these stories, the player soon finds out that all is not well in New Arhus. There is a killer on the loose who is leaving severely mangled bodies and baffled police in his wake. Perhaps Tim has even bigger stories than restaurant reviews to pursue after all! I’m not about to give away any of the plot twists that occur, but I will say this game had my attention from beginning to end. Be prepared for a roller coaster ride.

The interface for Synnergist is very clean. Put the cursor over an item and click the left mouse button to read and hear a description. Yep, I said “hear.” Every line of text displayed on the screen, whether it’s a description or dialogue, is spoken.  The sole exception is with Tim. His only voiced dialogue occurs in some of the interlude scenes. Either the text or the voice can be disabled should the player have a preference. I was happy with both activated.

In order to interact with an item or to talk to someone, all it takes is a right-click. This takes a little getting used to, but after a few hours of exploring the city of New Arhus, it becomes second nature. Push the cursor to the top of the screen, and the inventory window drops down, displaying all of the items found thus far as well as access to the save/load/quit screen. I was impressed with how many saved games Synnergist allows. The manual boasts up to 512 saves! Quite a refreshing change from all the games that inexplicably force you to manage with only a few measly save spots.

Traveling from one location to another is very easy thanks to the subway system in New Arhus. Clicking the subway icon in the inventory window whisks you off to the overview map with all discovered locations visible. Click on where you want to go, and you’re there in a blink.  Every once in a while, there will be an interlude in the subway where Tim mulls over some of the evidence he’s come across. I liked these scenes as it made current developments a bit clearer for me.

The graphics in Synnergist are pleasing for the most part.  For a game published in 1996, I wasn’t expecting graphical splendor like most modern games provide, and true to form, the low-res, 256-color palette showed its warts in spots. Still, Synnergist compares favorably with its peers of the time. The graphics are a mixture of third-person 2D, with a dash of first-person perspective mixed in. All of the characters are live actors, which was a nice surprise to me. With every dialogue, a small window pops up in the upper left, showing the person you are conversing with. The digitized actors are definitely pixelated, but I marked it down as just a drawback of the technology at the time—there’s only so much you can get out of a low resolution. Truthfully, the storyline was interesting enough to me that the graphics played second fiddle, which is always a sign of a well-made game. FMV cutscenes are sprinkled liberally throughout the game, providing a nice change of pace.

As far as the music is concerned, I thought it blended nicely with the scenes. It didn’t make me want to hum along with it, but I don’t think there are many sounds that come from a Sound Blaster 16 that would have that effect on me. My only complaint, really, is the fact that it was a bit soft volumewise. To get the sounds to my liking, I had to go into the options menu and max out the music while turning down the sound effects. There also is an audio effect in one particular song that sounded like it didn’t really belong.  The first time I heard it, I thought the serial killer was out to get me!

The voice acting for Synnergist is up and down, with most of the performances being satisfactory though a bit cheesy. With over 70 actors and five hours of digital sound and speech, there is a lot to hear. Some of the characters are quite funny, too! You communicate with the game characters through the good old dialogue tree. There is no trick to getting through the dialogues—just keep clicking through every choice, and sooner or later you’ll hear everything a character has to say. I’m not necessarily knocking this system, but it does get a little boring after a while.

The story pacing and puzzle difficulty are just about right. None of the puzzles are unfair, but a few veer toward the tricky side, especially near the end. It is possible to die in this game due to a foolhardy move, so making good use of the 512 save spots is recommended. One good thing: I didn’t come across any dead ends in Synnergist. Hurrah for that!

The back of the box claims over 50 hours of gameplay. I wasn’t keeping track, but I’d guestimate that I was playing for a little over 30 hours before reaching the end. There are multiple endings depending on certain actions taken during the course of gameplay.  I’m not a big fan of multiple endings, but I know others are. I’ve discovered two different endings, but there may very well be more.

I’ve also gotten wind of possible secret location(s) within the game that explains the plot more thoroughly, and why the game is named Synnergist!  No, I haven’t found them. No, I don’t know for sure if they exist or not. It’s an intriguing thought, though, and I wouldn’t mind learning more about the title choice as I still don’t have a clue! So if anyone has uncovered one of these secrets, please drop me a line to let me know.

My overall impression of Synnergist is very positive. Here is a game that has an interesting plot with many twists and turns, nice graphics, unobtrusive sound and music, easy interface, and a good number of varied locations to explore. Synnergist has a similar mood and style to Noctropolis, with a little Gabriel Knight–type understated tension thrown in. It ended up being more macabre than I was expecting, which is a good thing in my book. I’m a sucker for any game that’s sinister and foreboding without being too over the top. It’s a shame that Vicarious Visions didn’t follow up Synnergist with any other adventure games.  It’s a testament to them, though, that the company is still around, unlike a lot of other adventure game developers. Here’s hoping that they decide to do another adventure game in the same vein as Synnergist down the road. Maybe next time it will get the attention it deserves. The End

The Verdict

The Lowdown

Developer: Vicarious Visions Publisher: 21st Century Entertainment Ltd.  Release Date: 1996

Available for: DOS Windows

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System Requirements

486 66 MHz or better 4 MB RAM (530 KB free conventional memory required) VGA (VESA local bus video card recommended) 4X CD-ROM drive MSCDEX version 2.22 or above 4 MB free hard disk space DOS 6.0 or above EMM386 memory management only Mouse and keyboard

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14 Responses to Fear Factor

  • Fear Factor | Tap-Repeatedly.com | Reality Topics Blog

    […] nobody@flickr.com (graftedno1) wrote a very interesting post today.   Here’s a quick excerpt:My greatest fear is to be trapped alone in a confined space with a blind human, in total darkness. They have a heightened sense of smell and hearing, and. […]

  • Matt "Steerpike" Sakey

    Lewis, you made me think of the scariest moments I’ve experienced in gaming, and we’re very similar people.

    Bioshock had two moments – the dentist and the flooded room filled with mannequins.

    Thief had Return to the Cathedral, which was terrifying to me. Thief 3 had Shalebridge Cradle, which is so scary it ought to be fined.

    System Shock 2 kept me on the edge of my seat, but it was more lonely panic than true fear.

    Korsakovia was so scary that I uninstalled it.

    And STALKER. Oh, god, the haunted labs in STALKER. The latter two games don’t have scares like that. Few games do.

    It’s especially rare for a game to have more than mere “moments” – for a game to be scary from beginning to end, that’s a triumph.

    Wonderful article. As if Gregg’s review wasn’t enough to convince me that Penumbra is not something I have the courage to play!

  • DPenn

    I’m with you Lewis … I’m a bit of a puss. I just have a hard time wrapping my head around the idea of dread as entertainment.

    Still, I’m drawn to dark stories when they have something interesting to say, whether it’s a game like Thief or a film like, say, Gaspar Noe’s Irreversible. So I’ll push through, sometimes peering through my fingers.

    The trouble with games, though, is that if you look through your fingers, you’re probably just going to have to play through the scenario again. :~)

  • Mike "Scout" Gust

    I wanted to play this game. I downloaded the demo but the controls were just too wonky for me to get my head around. I liked the atmospheric vibe a lot. I think I’m a bit desensitized from an overdose of horror movies in my youth so I don’t so much get the dread thing from these games as a nice creepy vibration. If only the controls were better…

  • Lewis B

    @ Mike, what’s wrong with the controls bud? As someone who despises poor control schemes, Penumbra’s is just like any other FPS, except to examine things you right click on them.  To use things you left click.  I’m not sure that can be considered difficult 🙂

  • Gregg B

    @Steerpike: Yeah my greatest shit-scared moments were with those games too. A few spoilers below people, so beware.

    Bioshock – Haha, I remember the dentist. I didn’t really find the game that scary overall but the bit where you go into the wine cellar and notice a mannequin facing the wall and after upgrading your weapon it’s stood directly behind you motionless and quiet just for a moment before attacking you. I shat a brick. I also missed that bit originally until Lew told me about it.

    System Shock 2 – same as you really, more unremitting tension all the way through rather than specific terrifying moments. Oh actually, theres a bit where you call a lift and it breaks then you realise a service droid is coming to fix it… I do remember having sleep issues after my first encounter with the cyborg ninjas though.

    Thief: The Dark Project – The Sword and Return to the Cathedral and Down in the Bonehoard and well, loads of them. The Sword made me break out into goosebumps though because there was a bit where you could hear this creepy giggling which seemed like it was following me about then it suddenly changed to this horrible throaty noise. What made matters worse was that the EAX (bless you Creative) made my foot steps sound like somebody else was there with me. That level was incredible, a bit too incredible as it seems I missed great chunks of it because I was so eager to leave.

    Thief II: The Metal Age – Trail of Blood where you end up in that opening with those damn tree beasts. God the first time I saw one of those hurtling towards me I actually died shortly afterward. Do you remember that Mechanist child walking around on one of the levels? That was a little creepy.

    Then there’s Penumbra: Overture – quite a few bits but I’m not mentioning them here.

    Oh and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. – The brain scorcher lab just because it was so damn quiet. My imagination seriously got the better of me there. Those stuffed animals and heads I’d seen in various buildings led me to believe that those creatures were lurking somewhere in the Zone, specifically that lab.

    @Mike: My control setup was perfect after some tweaking (as well as the simple weapon swing fix). If you ever fancy giving it another go, give me a shout and I’ll let you know my setup.

  • Lewis B

    I’m not sure why guys, but one of my starting paragraphs had gone missing, even though I copied it straight from the original source, and It was fine earlier. 

    Incase you missed it due to some technical issue you might want to re-read just after “Well no she wouldn’t in truth, but in Penumbra: Overture you don’t want to move anyway.” at the very start for those who’ve already read the article. Apologies 🙂

  • Mike "Scout" Gust

    Lewis, it was the weapon swing. It had this terrible, unresponsive feel to it, like trying to hit through molasses. I couldn’t stand using it. I tried the .ini fix as mentioned in the review but it didn’t seem to help. Of course this was the demo…but that shouldn’t have made any difference. I might try the second game instead as I guess they did away with the weapons thing.

    I’m see your first paragraph just fine. It’s the dialogue, right?

  • jdeuel

    I like the argument that weapons can remove fear, but even loaded to the teeth with ammo in AVP’99 the Marine missions were frightful because the enemy was anywhere at any time.

    As for Penumbra Overture, if the controls are anything like the original Penumbra they need to hack in some Wii-Remote 3d controls. I did not like using my mouse for 3d movements.

  • Gregg B

    @Mike: I’ve read that many people avoided conflict altogether in Overture which incidentally is something forced upon you in Black Plague. As somebody who has been renovating a house over the last 6 months with no DIY experience I can safely say that swinging a hammer is significantly easier in real life than it is in Overture without the fix. The fix balanced that for me.

    I’d highly recommend completing the first Penumbra because it’s one big build up to Black Plague which spoils the ending to Overture in the intro. And it’s a great ending too. Just so you know!

  • Lewis B

    @ Steerpike, those moments you mention are all my worst too!!  Do you remember the Robot labs in SS2? Absolutely terrifying, waiting for robots to burst out on you! 🙁 oh and have you ever player Condemned?

    @ Mike, The use of weapons in Penumbra is different to say HL2, where the player is physically holding the weapon, as in Penumbra it floats slightly infront of you.  However, if you change the control method to normal weapon swing, it’s no different!  Speak to Greggi and he’ll tell you what to do 🙂

    @ jdeuel, AVP the original and its sequal were scary however what type of fear do you think it is? I don’t think it’s anything more than sheer tension.  Having a Smart Gun makes you feel incredibly powerful.  I can honestly say in Penumbra the fear is sheer unrivalled terror, where you actually have to force yourself to play on.  It genuinly is that scary! 🙂

  • Jason Dobry

    It’s so true, an arsenal of weapons and ammo rapidly deflates any sense of horror or uneasiness in any game for reasons you already mentioned. Sakey, I thought Bioshock was more “lonely panic,” while I was pretty much always terrified in System Shock 2. I really, really, REALLY did not want to enter The Many’s nursery, and my weapons were so unreliable and ammo so scarce that I never felt safe.

    Silent Hill was terrifying for the same reasons. Ammo was rare and I frequently had to rely on my pipe for self-defense.  Even when I had ammo, the game mechanics prevented my character from being anything other than marginal with any firearm.

    Fear had one moment for me: I was climbing up a ladder, and as I reached the upper platform, my guy briefly looked down as he climbed off. As my perspective looked up again, that Ring-esque little girl was RIGHT THERE, reaching for me. I screamed and she was gone.

    What else…the original Aliens vs. Predator sent me into a locker room and I could only hear the facehuggers scurrying about somewhere within. I had to go in there. I advanced about three steps before the damn thing screamed and filled up my screen with its repulsive underside as it implanted me with its spawn. My roommate made fun of me for weeks for screaming like a girl child.

    Korsakovia–meh.  I was too annoyed and frustrated by the box rearrangement/jumping puzzles to be scared. I uninstalled it after an hour of play, I think. Maybe the scary parts were later, but I doubt it.

    As for Penumbra, I did play through about half of it before other games distracted me. I remember unease and creepiness, but no sweaty fear. I think I’m to blame here, or, more precisely, my daughter, who was still an infant at the time and generally allowed me only to play during the day for 45 minutes at a time. I was denied total immersion and the fear effect suffered. Maybe I should give it another go after I finish Call of Pripyat since she sleeps through the night now. With any luck, Penumbra will keep me from doing the same.

  • Gregg B

    I played the demo of F.E.A.R. but that ladder scare is the only bit I remember. Christ, that made me jump. I’m not too good with cat scares.

    Also I felt exactly the same about Korsakovia. It was creepy at first but then it began to irritate me far too much and it just soured the experience. I stopped playing as a result. Not to mention, when I realised I could bash those smoke-things with my crowbar they didn’t bother me nearly as much.

  • Online Up

    Great article. I look forward to reading more in the future.

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