just very recently remembered my obsession with the game syndicate wars (from the stone age of 1996).
aside from very possibly the coolest intro ever, the game also featured massive tie in's the the fantastic movie 'ghost in the shell' as well as the 2000ad comics. it basically revolved around you controlling 4 cyborgs fulfilling various missions accross various dystopian cities, which are populated with zombie like civilians all equipped with chips in the back of their necks to immerse them in a rosey coloured version of the world. You played as either a representative of a group of mega corperations struggling to maintain control of the nightmarish scenario, or as a fanatical group of cultists struggling to take over the world.
A labour of love, the whole game is packed to the rafters with fun details. For the church of the new epoch (the fanatics) for instance each mission is presented as a pilgrimage or religious task and featured a quote from the [book of cataclysm]. The whole game was also very un-american, tongue in cheek, fun and didn't take itself seriously at all.
It also predates grand theft auto in it's all out ludicrous in-city violence - which back in the heyday of games they could quite easily get away and with boast about : bullfrog (the developer) actually sold copies of the game with the epitaph "Totally amoral, ultra-violent and more fun than sex" scrawled accross the box.
this is probobly one of the funnest, wittiest and coolest products human culture has ever produced - absolutely serious.
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