Syphon Filter 3

Syphon Filter 3 follows a different road than most games of the genre. In SF3, you are guided through videos of Congressional Hearings on the Syphon Filter Virus, in which Gabe and Lian recount some of their past missions, you then play through those missions (and you decide who is telling the truth and who is being deceitful about those missions and their purposes). The story line continues this way through the game building towards a surprise ending (NO, I am not going to give it away!).

Gameplay consists of several missions of Theft, Extraction's, Demolition, and Assassination. You will be armed with some state of the art weapons, and developing a quick aim is crucial to your success. There are plenty of opportunities to both sneak around the enemy, and to charge in with guns blazing.  You will be intermittently interrupted by radio messages from other agents to offer you updates on your mission. This can be a little distracting at times but usually the intelligence reports are composed of much needed information.

I did find the controls, especially the aiming, to be a little twitchy. Character movement was acceptable, but would loved to have seen a walk feature, heck, you can't run everywhere! The crouch and roll worked very nice but the side shifts take a little getting used to. The video sequences are pretty good quality and tie the story together quite well. The gameplay graphics left a little to be desired, they are OK, but not the best that the PSX platform has to offer.

If you should fail your mission, don't despair, they will give you another chance, and another, and another, till you do get it right. The only way to end the never ending replay feature is to save your missions to a memory card when prompted, then you only have to replay from the last checkpoint and not the whole game.

You may want to play the whole game through in the single player mode, or opt for a splitscreen deathmatch with one of your Buddies. Another option is to play a Minigame, which will give one of several single missions to play out, which is great if you don't have all day to play.

SF3 is not an entirely new game, I would consider it to be an extension, or add on to the previous release. Those that have played the previous game will be able to dive right in and pick up the action. Those who are new to the game should probably start with the original Syphon Filter or they may feel a little lost in the story line.

Gameplay: 7.5
Gameplay consists of several missions of Theft, extraction, Demolition, and Assassination, all which are linked by flashback videos. You are limited to a third party view in gameplay. You must complete your mission to move on to the next one, if you fail you may end up stuck in the endless replay loop. NOTE: Save your game at the prompts to reduce the amount of replay.

The controls were a bit twitchy, especially the aiming, practice and a quick aim will help you a lot. There are several nice moves you can perform such as the crouch sneak or the front roll, you will find plenty of use for both.

Character development is a tad weak in this game, you need to have played the original to really be up to speed on the story line. As stated earlier, this is more of an extension or add on than a stand alone game.

Graphics: 7.5
There are several nice features to this game, however the graphics are not one of them. They are pretty average as far as PSX graphics go, the PSX platform is capable of much more. I felt the graphics were a bit blocky and lacked a depth of detail that the game really needed. The tie in flash back videos are very nice and do a great job of pulling everything together.

Sound: 7
Here again the game falls short of being something really special. Yes, there are sounds and they are adequate for the game, but SO much more could have been done. The music portions fit the game well and the radio messages with your mission updates do keep you informed, and that all keeps the game going. The sound provided is clear and of good quality, but in a game like this I was listening for, well, something more.

Difficulty: 8
This game will provide you with plenty of difficult tasks, and plenty of opportunities to perfect your moves. Practice will make it easier to accomplish those moves the missions that follow. I would rate the game as rather difficult for those who have never played, but far less difficult for those who are fans of the original.
Mastering you stealth movement and your aiming will be your greatest challenges.

Concept: 8
While this may be an extension or add on to an existing title, the way they have presented the game is unique. I loved the Congressional Hearings videos that tie everything together with flashbacks to the missions you get to play, very original. Add that together with the ending and it would make a great movie!  It already makes a pretty good game!

Multiplayer: 8
Another great feature of this game is the splitscreen Deathmatch. I like the idea of inviting one of your buddies over so you can take turns blasting away at each other. It was very reminiscent of the matches we used to play in Armored Core! Of course stealth and a good aim are always a plus when you are looking to take out a friend!

Overall: 8
While this game didn't have any real drawbacks, I did feel it could have been better in a couple of areas, graphics, and sound. However, I did enjoy the game, and loved the way it was presented. If you are a fan of the original, then I would recommend it. If you are going to pick this title up as a first time play, I might suggest you also locate a copy of the original, just to get you up to speed with the story line and gameplay before you jump right in.
"OvalDog" gives this spy thriller a "Thumbs Up"