Syphon Filter 3 (PS1) Review

 

In the year 2000, Syphon Filter 2 not only came out, but the PlayStation 2 as well. Since many companies started to make games for that console, Eidetic, now changing their name to Bend Studio, remained to make one more Syphon Filter game on the PlayStation, making it yet another PS1 trilogy along with Crash Bandicoot, Spyro, Tekken, and other franchises for that console. Was it worth making it on the PlayStation, or should the developers have jumped to PlayStation 2 instead? Let's find out as I review Syphon Filter 3.


Taking place immediately after Syphon Filter 2, Gabe Logan and other members of his team are being testified by Secretary of State, Vincent Hadden, who is accusing them for terrorism and treason. The story takes a different direction than its predecessors as it is mostly told through flashbacks, filling in some details like how other Agency members like Lian Xing and Lawrence Mujari came about as well as the origin of the Syphon Filter virus.

Syphon Filter 3 plays exactly like its predecessors, where it is an espionage-based, third-person shooter, so everything I said about the first two games remain here. Throughout the game, you play as Logan, as well as other ex-Agency members like Lian, Mujari, and Teresa as you go around completing mission objectives in each level while also shooting down enemies with the lock-on system. The weapons from the previous games make a return, especially the Air Taser, which is just as fun to use, shocking enemies until they burn to death.

There is still a bunch of mission variety such as locating things, rescuing hostages, and stealth. Actually, the biggest downgrade of this game is that there are little to no stealth sections. The first two games had stealth sections as a way to build up tension and to make sure the games aren't always about shooting bad guys on sight. Here, I only remember shooting down enemies throughout the single-player. There were levels that I thought might be stealth sections, but it turns out they're not and there are hardly any consequences.

The 2-player deathmatch makes a return and not much has changed, since you can still select a bunch of characters to play as and roam about the selected map to look for weapons in order to defeat your opponent a number of times to win.

Assassination gameplay.

One actual new addition to the series are the Mini-Games. There are five Mini-Games in total, all which can serve as practice before playing the single-player, but also add to the replay value. You can adjust the difficulty, which can be unlocked if you beat the default difficulty, choose a map and the character you can play as. The five Mini-Games are:

1. Thief: Your objective is to steal a briefcase and return to the starting position without being detected. This is my favorite type of Mini Game because this is more stealthy than the entire single player.
2. Elimination: Hunt down and kill all enemies. Not all of them will come to you, which encourages you to look for them in the entire map. It can be a little tedious, though, since some enemies pop up whenever they want to.
3. Demolition: Provide cover fire for a munitions expert while he defuses bombs, which you have to search the area for.
4. Assassin: Kill all targets before being detected. The weapon you use will depend on what difficulty setting you're on, so the lower the difficulty, the better the weapon.
5. Biathlon: Destroy all targets from specific firing positions within the allotted time. If you don't fire from the designated firing position, the mission is over.

The voice acting is all right, and the sound effects are pretty much the same, but still good. The music, apart from the main theme which was also in the first two games, is nothing special, but still great to listen to.

I never commented on the graphics and designs of the first two games, since they're just polygons with some very obvious pixels and stiff animations (it was the PS1 limitations, so it's forgivable), but there is a good amount of new locations that way you don't feel like you played the first two games.

I do have to praise the cutscenes; not the in-game cutscenes, but the pre-rendered cinematics, which are a major upgrade from its predecessors. They look like they should be on the PS2, yet this is on a PS1 game. Sure, they look dated now and the animations are not as smooth, but these are the best looking cinematics I've seen on the PS1... well, except the Oddworld games. Although I will admit, characters like Logan look weird in the cinematics.

Since the game plays exactly like its predecessors, the same problems still apply, like the backtracking when you missed a certain objective, stiff controls, terrible boss fights (even the last one, which was just a chase) and some lock-on issues (yeah, I forgot to mention that in the previous reviews), as well as this game's lack of stealth sections.

But other than those, I still think it's a good game. Yes, it plays exactly like its predecessors, added nothing new to the table (besides the Mini Games), and it felt more like it was made for a quick buck, but it's still fun to play regardless, though I do admit it's probably the weakest in the trilogy.

Should Bend Studio have made this game on the PS2 instead? The answer is maybe. If they did, perhaps they could have improved on the problems that the first two games had and also update the visuals and character models. Although other than that, what else could they have added if they made this game on the PS2? And that concludes my review on the Syphon Filter trilogy.

The Syphon Filter trilogy on the PS1 was an innovative series of third-person shooters that gave the mechanics of Metal Gear Solid a run for its money. Although many games would either emulate its gameplay or improve the genre in general, making the trilogy obsolete. Many fans even argue that the series is not as big anymore when it jumped to the PS2 and the new games overall were generic and not as groundbreaking as the old ones. While I haven't played the rest of the series, I can see where they're coming from.

However, just because the trilogy is dated, doesn't mean everyone shouldn't experience them. They are overall fun games to play once you get the hang of the mechanics and are three of the best games on the PS1. You can get them on the PlayStation Store under PS1 Classics. Check them out.

By the way, did you know THIS was originally going to be the cover for this game? You can read the whole story here.

 

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