Overall 9.1 Graphics 8 Sound 8 Addictive 6 Story 6 Depth 7.5 Difficulty 8
6
007: The Metal Gear Who Loved... Something, maybe? siksiksikki
Syphon Filter is a third-person shooter game that released on the Playstation 1 console early in 1999. According to it's specific wikia page, since every title for everything has it's own wiki now, tells me the story revolves around Gabriel Logan as he investigates a terrorist faction that is behind a series of biological attacks across the globe before the opening of the game which comes to a boiling point as they strike out at Washington, D.C. which sets the stage for the first level of the game.
I've played many Playstation games in my day, but non have been able to lose my attention quite as quickly as Syphon Filter, which is why after playing through about half of the game I still wasn't able to follow the story very well and had to resort to wikia surfing which I can't stand doing if I can help it. Let's get into who, what, where, when, and most importantly- why?
GRAPHICS - 7 Surprisingly enough, graphics are actually one of the strong points in this action shooter- depending on where you're looking. The in-game models and level design holds up relatively well as it gives players a rather sizable world-space to explore for such a linear game. The levels are well crafted and as a whole is able to achieve and maintain a somewhat interesting atmosphere that doesn't break very often.
Character wise, we of course have your standard polygonal affair which is of course natural for Playstation titles. The characters are unique, and have a nice look to them that fits well into the aforementioned "somewhat interesting atmosphere". Despite this uniqueness, however, the whole thing feels relatively generic and had me thinking quite often throughout my playthrough of a weird love-child between Metal Gear Solid and James Bond.
The FMV's are severely lacking compared to the in-game graphics as well as FMV's from other games from the time period like Final Fantasy or Resident Evil 3. Generally in a well made pre-rendered cutscene you're not supposed to have the ability to point to a background element (since the story is achingly boring to the point that you're likely paying more attention to anything but the plot) such as a window and clearly say "oh that's just a VERY poorly compressed jpeg that's plastered on the wall like a poster". Looking closer at the character models shows that the faces are poorly drawn and animated faces on a very flat surface with the only break being a triangle for the nose.
SOUND - 6 Sound isn't necessarily a hard thing to get wrong in video games. It doesn't take a colossal effort to take some stock sound effects- gun shots, explosions, some ambient noises- and trick them out to sound rather believable. Sure, Syphon Filter has it's fair share of these effects and they are in fact done up well enough to pass the bar, but the soundtrack doesn't have a single song that I would be able to point out and recognize years later. The background music tends to be flushed out by the action, and quite frankly is easy to simply ignore while you're shooting your way through a level.
The voice acting seems to be all over the place. We have our main character with two first names, Gabriel Logan, who has an okay voice actor which was the main thing that made me think of Metal Gear Solid due to how close he sounded (to my ears at least) David Hayter's gravelly voice used for the main character Solid Snake. The secondary character, Lian Xing, has a decent enough voice as well despite being highly unmemorable. The rest of the cast is absolutely RIDDLED with God awful accents that seem heavily over acted and had me wanting to find a way to just disable the voices overall.
ADDICTIVENESS - 4 A lot of things that would tie in to the low score on the scale of addictiveness and replayability will also be points on the Depth scale down below. There isn't anything random about the levels, so everything tends to be cut-and-dry. Memorizing enemy layout is easy, and depending on the players ability to dodge makes the levels laughable.
There is, however, one shining light of hope for the addictiveness in this game and gave me many MINUTES, that's right entire periods of 60 seconds each, of joy: The Taser. The taser, which you get right from the beginning does almost exactly what you'd expect. It shocks people- shocking, I know. However, hold the taser on to an enemy long enough and they'll burst into flames AND YOU CAN STILL HOLD IT. This is, sadly however, the only thing I was really able to take away from my experience with the game.
STORY - 5 Every single minute of "story" in this game feels like it was taken directly from the script of a failed B spy film from the late 70's or early 80's. A criminal syndicate is trying to set off viral bombs and you're tasked in hunting them down after they've reached American soil and are attempting to take out the nation's capitol. Later on some pharmaceutical company is implemented a la Umbrella Corporation, and there's something about a missile somewhere? I had honestly checked out by the cutscene that explains your characters motivations just prior to the first level.
It isn't all bad though, admittedly. While the overarching plot is yawn-worthy and great if you're trying to do something to make you tired before your curfew- the events that take place in the levels can actually be rather exciting. The second level comprises mainly of the D.C. subway system where Gabe has to disarm a handful of boring plot devices (viral bombs) before they explode. Gabe arrives too late, no matter what, to the final one and it goes off and the best FMV I seen in the game is displayed where subway trains are derailed and everything descends into chaos.
The first "boss" character, while frustrating, is an interesting twist as Gabe chases her down a two-way train tunnel while huge hunks of speeding metal are going back and forth along the tracks- one small step and you're gone, which adds an extra layer of creativity which was honestly a breath of fresh air.
DEPTH - 6 With 20 levels, a load of weapons, and the difficulty is the next talking point the game actually has a surprising amount of depth to it. The stages can be relatively lengthy for a new player to the title who is still learning where each bad guy is, and where all the weapons and items are located through out each scenario. However, the difficulty is what really makes this game feel longer than it is, but we'll talk more about that-
Difficulty - 8 -now. Depth got a relatively low score BECAUSE of the difficulty in the game, which is sporadic. Upon loading into the first level an enemy ran up to me while I was figuring out the controls and I was able to test every single button (shooting him once in the process) and not once did any of his shots hit me. The Stormtrooper-level accuracy isn't always consistant, however, as during the second level while ducking and dodging over subway tracks it seemed like every single enemy decided to remember all at once that they are professional mercenaries and/or soldiers and stepped up their aiming skills to MLG Call of Duty 360 no-scope levels and landed headshots damn near every single time.
Likewise the creative bossfight I mentioned earlier also seems to change every other time I experienced it. I died maybe 4 times the first time I played through it- chasing some lady with a terrible accent and attempting to shoot her while dodging subway cars speeding forward and backwards. On one life, I shot her maybe 2 or 3 times before her and her cronies shot me down. The next 2 lives were taken by misplaced combat roles that landed me in on-coming traffic, and the fourth time seemed to have been a lucky headshot as I went from full health to 0 immediately (with no trains in sight, mind you). On my fifth and successful try, I had been chasing her EXACTLY as I did before but every single round from my assault rifle apparently found their mark and she was gone in SECONDS and ended up feeling rather anti-climactic.
OVERALL While the game is terrible generic in my mind, and filled with absolutely mind numbing plot devices, I'd personally say that the game is maybe worth picking up at least once- even if it's just to tase a bad guy until they want to return in the next game boasting black armor, a red sword, and a serious case of asthma.
Graphics 7 Sound 6 Addictive 4 Story 5 Depth 6 Difficulty 8
Review Rating: 5/5
Submitted: 05-23-15
Review Replies: 5
8.6
Syphon Filter Nostalgic Game mysticmann
Syphon Filter is a game of Espionage / Action in third person, released by 989 Studios for the PlayStation in 1999.
Despite having released games like Running Wild, Cool Boarders 3 and Twisted Metal 3, the 989 Studios was not widely known in the consumer market. It was through the release of Syphon Filter the company can compete with other name companies such as Konami, Capcom and Squaresoft (currently SquareEnix).
This game was one of the biggest hits of 1999 in the case of gameplay and innovation.
That same year, another great game in the same genre: Metal Gear Solid was released. Its launch was a major milestone in generation of Playstation because it represented an impeccable technical quality in the case of a spy game. In this context Syphon Filter was the only game that could go toe to toe with this powerful franchise.
While Metal Gear Solid focuses on espionage in the true sense of the word, Syphon Filter mix espionage with various gameplay genres to become something innovative.
Along the Metal Gear Solid and Tenchu: Stealth Assassins, Syphon Filter is the best that existed in the case of action games and spy for the Playstation.
The stealth aspect of Syphon Filter is great. The game comes to challenge any connoisseur of action and crossfire. The hybrid gameplay of the game is the responsible for maintaining a frenetic atmosphere and require multiple skills of the player.
Mixed the gameplay has this hybrid-graphics and median soundtrack and a decent plot thrillers.
As with other games of the genre, Syphon Filter requires some basic skill of the player. Players who do not have experience with action games will find it very difficult to adapt, giving up on little playing time.
Syphon Filter is another great classic Playstation and because of the huge success, two other sequences of the same reception were released a few years later for the Playstation.
Charts
The graphical analysis of Syphon Filter is not the best. Carelessness in the work of resolution of the characters and scenery is the main defect that can be pointed in the game. This low resolution is responsible for giving the game a blurred and often serrated look.
The graphics are middling, both by the characters and the scenarios you can notice a visual and square. Some computerized scenes (CGs), also in median standards, narrate the events of the game.
Despite the limitations imposed by the console, the game could have a better visual advantage.
Even with these median standards, the graphic quality or just not bother the player at all.
The gameplay of the game is responsible for arresting much of the player focus.
The scenarios are full of details in order to leave the game with the highest possible realism tone. This wealth of detail is remarkable and through the player can interact with the scenario with greater freedom.
The camera follows the player from behind and impossible to control there according to the will of the player.
The lighting is excellent Syphon Filter. Fully planned for planned type scenario. The play of color in the right place results in great effects luminotécnicos effects account for a quality lighting during the game.
The graphics effects generated by the gameplay should be highlighted: Shots, explosions and bleeding are some of the effects that leave the internal action of the super realistic game, giving more credibility to Syphon Filter.
Sounds
In Syphon Filter OST stands out from most games of the same genre. The soundtrack is spectacular in the case of a simple Playstation action game. The feeling that the songs of this game is to go to be in a great thriller. Simply amazing.
The main songs have unique characteristics that represent masterfully the time the player is.
In missions where the player must infiltrate the songs installations take on a calm tone, on the other hand they get frantic features when the player is exposed to imminent danger.
Check the end of this analysis on the soundtrack of Syphon Filter.
The voice acting of the characters is also excellent. The interpretation of voices is spectacular, and can identify many different accents that represent and highlight the personality of each character involved.
The sound effects also follow the same standard of quality. Explosions and gunfire are worth mentioning. It is possible to calculate the distance of an explosion through the sound emitted by the same.
Each armament game also emits a distinctive sound. Thus, for example, identify each weapon that the enemy is using the simple sound from the shooting.
Another highlight is the sound from the character of the step according to the floor where he is. Walking through concrete floors, wood or metal means emit different sounds for each type of floor.
Care for the part of the sound effects in Syphon Filter is visible and formed the basis for many games of the same genre released later.
Synopsis
Gabriel Logan and Lian Xing are agents of an anti-terrorism American unit named The Agency. Both are highly trained agents to high-risk missions, including stealth missions and exposed.
In a risky operation of Rhoemer narcotics in Costa Rica, Ellis, an agent of this anti-terrorism unit, it is sent to infiltrate this operation. But before he could succeed was assassinated by the KGB ex-agent (Committee for State Security) Mara Aramov.
Rhoemer knowing that his operation was in danger, decides to burn the platações and hide the evidence of his involvement with the creation of Syphon Filter, a virus able to cause a third world war.
On receipt of an attacking threat in Washington DC, Gabe and Lian receive the mission to acquire more information about Rhoemer, Mara and unknown viruses before.
Gameplay
Surely the gameplay is the strongest point and innovative Syphon Filter. This gameplay is games feature in third-person action merged with platform elements.
The mechanics of the game was completely new to the release date and was the basis for games like Splinter Cell, released years later.
All the controls work perfectly, and with a little practice, can run smoothly.
Basically the game is divided into missions that have certain goals and parameters to be met. These missions are responsible for challenge and the complete enjoyment of the player.
Totally innovative and nothing repeptitivas, these missions blend different styles of gameplay as the Stealth, Third Person Shooter, Strategy and Platform.
It can be said that the predominant style in Syphon Filter is action, and all this hodgepodge gave the game a rich experience like no other game of the season was done.
Besides the variety of playable styles the player will also presence, a variety of scenarios where you pass the game's events. Kazakhstan, the United States and Ukraine are some of the places where the player will venture. Meters, exhibition center, warehouses, banks and secret bases make up part of this vast ambiance.
As is traditional in games of action the character can run, ride down, shoot, aim, moving platforms, hide obstacles among others.
Gabe Logan will feature various movements and commands to protect yourself or surprise your enemies.
In Syphon Filtrer enemies are numerous and the player must always be well positioned to initiate or avoid a possible combat. For this the player has two basic systems: Attack and avoidance.
The targeting system has automatic adjustment is manual. With automatic adjustment the player must press the button. Then, the green cursor that represents the possible target, will automatically direct to the enemy. This automatic system is ineffective when the enemy is at a long distance from character. But using the Taser gun, which has a long-range attack, this system becomes the best to defeat the enemies one by one. Have to use the manual system the player must press the button and direct the cursor to where you want to shoot. This manual system can be used to aim and fire the head of the enemy defeating them in one shot (Headshots).
To aim at an opponent Target bar, symbolized in the upper left corner of the green, began to fill. This bar measures the accuracy of the shots and how they will reach the opponent. The longer the bar, the greater the damage and accuracy of the shots. This bar prevents the overuse of auto aim for estanto on the move or away from the enemy, the accuracy of the shots is minimal.
Such a device makes the most realistic combat, unlike most action games where the aiming is almost always infallible.
As for avoidance system it comes down to dodge left or right by pressing the buttons and Pressing the button the character can scroll the scene dodging shots.
The combination of these systems (Attack and Dodge) is necessary to ensure the survival of the player throughout the game.
To address the various enemies present in the game the player will feature a vast arsenal of weapons.
Several firearms and non-lethal damage will be available to the player to create combat and survival strategies. You can switch weapons at any time in the game to facilitate this strategy.
The non-lethal Taser weapon damage noteworthy for having an extended power range. With it is possible to defeat multiple enemies, one by one, with the desired distance. Simply
select the automatic sighting system and the crosshairs will already give the direction of characters present on site.
Each enemy to be defeated will leave the player ammunition gun he was using. In some cases, when the enemy is using a bulletproof vest (Flak Jacket), it will leave intact vest if the player defeats him with a headshot. Enemies using these vests are difficult to be slaughtered in the conventional way. The headshot is the best option to eliminate them.
To run a headshot simply
select the manual aim and direct the cursor to the opponent's head. Thus the word Headshot appears and at this very moment just shoot.
The vital energy system is something innovative for its time. Gabe Logan (Main Character), has a bulletproof vest represented by Armor bar in the upper left corner of the screen. As the player is exposed to gunfire, one bar called Danger begins to fill. If this bar is completely filled, the shots will start to penetrate the vest Gabe can get him to death. To make the Danger Bar decreases again just to hide or simply defeat the enemy.
To guide you through the game the player has access to a map made available in inventory and also offers access to a radar, located at the bottom left of the screen, which displays the location of the real-time enemies. Access to this radar is critical to not be surprised by enemies in the most uncomfortable situations.
Check out the missions of Syphon Filter below.
Washington DC
Georgia Street
Destroyed Subway
Main Line Subbay
Washington Park
Freedom Memorial
New York City
Expo Center Reception
Expo Center Dinorama
Rozovka, Kazakhstan
Rhoemer's Base
Base Bunker
Base Tower
Base Escape
Uzhhord, Ukraine
Rhoemer's Stronghold
Stronghold Lower Level
Stronghold Catacombs
Almaty, Kazakhstan
PHARCOM Warehouses
PHARCOM Elite Guards
Warehouse 76
Silo Access Tunnels
Tunnel Blackout
Missile Silo
During these missions the player will have many places to explore in search of support items.
To get ahead in the game the player must follow certain parameters and meet specific goals.
To fulfill some specific goals the player can Checkpoint. Checkpoint is the point at which the player will return if you lose a life. Not keeping the parameters established by the mission the player returns to Checkpoint previously activated.
During the game the player can access the inventory and information on the parameters and mission objectives, have access to the site map, and equipment information. It is also in the inventory that the player has access to the Options menu.
In some moments of the game Gabe receive aid from their radio partners, just push the button when you realize that the radio is sending the characteristic sound.
The savepoints system is worthy, finishing each mission the option to save progress is available.
Longevity and Entertainment
Since this is fun Syphon Filter pleases any action lover. Merging 3 styles basic gameplay (Action, Stealth and Third Person Shooter), the game places the player in an innovative fun every time.
Although explore strategic firefight as a priority, each new mission and introduces the player requires new concepts and different skills.
This variety of situations is the factor responsible for ensuring the challenge and unerring fun.
On the other hand, where the fun is guaranteed longevity leaves much to be desired.
There is nothing in the game that will arouse the attention of the player to play it again.
The absence of a possible extra content for Syphon Filter showed that 989 had 0 commitment in this regard.
The best thing to do is fully enjoy the game as if it were the first and only time we were playing.
Conclusion
Syphon Filter brought a variety of styles mixed into one game. This mixture raised the game in terms of technical excellence at a level not expected by the players of the time.
Although not anything groundbreaking, Syphon Filter reprensenta along with Metal Gear Solid, Tenchu: Stealth Assassins and others, what was better the life of the Playstation.
A must for players who enjoy a more intelligent action with emphasis on strategy.
Despite being a great game, the player should take all the essence that the game offers the first time you play. The lack of extra content makes the replay factor is practically nil.
Although the game presents some problems, the experience is nothing short of excellent.
Today Syphon Filter is remembered for having a great plot, worthy movie soundtrack and a great gameplay mechanics. Without a doubt Syphon Filter represented the work of a good production of 989 Studios and is now remembered as another classic Playstation.
Final Note: 8.6
Graphics 9 Sound 10 Addictive 8 Story 7 Depth 9 Difficulty 8
Review Rating: 1/5
Submitted: 12-04-15
Review Replies: 1
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