Syphon Filter: The Omega Strain

"This game is awesome. Who needs Gabe as a main character?"

Story-7/10

The story is pretty straight-forward. Someone has released a new strain of Syphon Filter into Carthage, Michigan. This is where the story begins. You play as a rookie agent of the I.P.C.A., and are under the orders of Gabe Logan to find out who's responsible for it.

Throughout the game, you'll travel around the globe to places such as Belarus, Yemen, Zurich, Montenegro, and the Ukraine. So there are a large variety of locales you'll be visiting.

Graphics-7/10

The graphics are perfectly fine for this game. Don't listen to others who say the PS1 can do it better. Many levels are dark, but this is a good thing. You need to be stealthy on most of them. And you also get a light or night vision goggles that you can turn on and off. Now, they aren't top notch, so don't expect them to compete with many of today's games. It was made two years ago.

Gameplay-9/10

This would have gotten a perfect 10 if not for the fact that to get everything, you must play online as well. I'll get to this later.

The game handles wonderfully. Think of Tomb Raider style controls if you will. Missions vary in difficulty from taking water samples, to going through a mission with only one sniper round meant for your target. An interesting rewards system has been implemented that I find to be very cool.

As you play through the games, you can earn ratings/medals/commendations. These come with patches for your character's outfit, as well as a weapon you can use in missions from that point on.

There are a variety of ratings to unlock such as Sniping, Demolitions, Non-Lethal, Knife, and Team Efficiency. Each of these ratings has four levels. Intermediate, Advanced, Expert, and finally Elite. The better the rating, the better the weapon you get.

There are also special rating which are earned by completing specific objectives like no deaths in every mission, or beating every mission in record time.

Nearly everything can be gotten offline. The last 5% is why I rated this section a 9. It really bugs me to realise I can't complete the game 100% without it.

Sound-8/10

Everything makes noise pretty much. The enemies, weapons, allies, and music help set you into the game. Weapons sound really well, and the helpful hints that can be played as much as you need are really enjoyed.

Replayability-10/10

This game will have you playing it multiple times. There is so much to unlock, it won't be possible to do it in one playthrough. I really like this aspect of the game, because there are so many weapons to test out. I still haven't used all of the ones I've unlocked.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 08/03/06