Syphon Filter: The Omega Strain

"Syphon Filter: Another Rehash of The Same Game"

The Syphon Filter series debuted in 1999, as another game by the name of Metal Gear Solid was bringing the concept of ‘tactical espionage' into the gaming public's eye. Offering gamers a chance to sneak through their objectives, winning with stealth rather than just brute force, it helped spawn a genre that is one of today's most popular. Having already been suited with two mediocre sequels on its original home, the PlayStation, the series has now finally arrived on Sony's new monster, the PlayStation 2. As a fan of the series since its inception, I greatly anticipated this release, and was hoping for a sequel that improved on the staleness that the game showed in its previous installment. Unfortunately, after playing TOS, I came away disappointed, as it shows little improvement over Syphon Filter 3, and features many of the same flaws that held that game back. These are my impressions:

Visuals:

The game's interface has been redesigned from the simplistic one of the earlier games, but it retains their easy-to-navigate nature. The menus are all well designed. The in-game pause screen is now known as a ‘PDA,' and through it all relevant information is easily accessible.

Between levels are cutscenes that advance the game's storyline. While they are not tremendously visually striking, they are very functional, and they feature a good enough amount of polish that you won't think too much about them.

In-game, the graphics are a mixed bag. Your character (and most non-player characters) animate smoothly, moving from one action to another seamlessly. Despite this, you may come to wonder if scoliosis is a side effect of prolonged exposure to the Syphon Filter virus, due to your character's constant hunched appearance. Your character also will occasionally seem to be moving around on ice skates when changing direction, which will occur often as new enemies spawn around you. The levels look good for the most part, though they are mostly very dark, due to the time frame in which they take place.

The camera, which in the PlayStation Syphon Filter games was mostly serviceable, remains the same for TOS. Your character will become transparent when backed into a wall, so you will always be able to see in front of yourself. Unfortunately, the tendency to jerk around when changing targets, which was the biggest problem with the originals, is also still in effect. This can cause you momentary disorientation, which may leave you dead in a firefight.

TOS's visuals ultimately live up to expectations. They display an appropriate level of improvement over the PlayStation games in the series, although some of the leftover flaws show through rather glaringly.

Score: 7/10

Sound:

The sound effects are much better in TOS than in the previous games. The ancient weapon sounds have now been redone to great effect, and now the weapons you are using sound as you would expect them to. Explosions and other sounds also are done well, and help to keep you connected to the game world.

As has been the case for the last two sequels in this franchise, almost none of the voice actors who did work in the previous game return to reprise their roles. Despite the constant turnover, though, the voice acting has always remained very good, and this is the case for most of TOS. The majority of the characters come off as convincing enough in their roles, and overall the acting is enough to keep you into the story. Unfortunately, the game has a habit of blaring repetitive, annoying radio chatter to your character during missions, which definitely makes you want to relieve a few of the NPCs of their command forcibly.

Syphon Filter on PlayStation had a lot of generic rock/techno, and TOS keeps this history intact with its own interpretation of some of the themes from the past games. The music keeps an appropriate tempo during play, and while none of it may catch your ear as particularly memorable, it plays its role well.

TOS features a seemingly higher budget for sound than its forerunners, as it completely replaces the sounds that had stayed with the series for the previous three entries, and the new sounds are good enough to not turn anyone off.

Score: 8/10

Gameplay:

Those who have played the PlayStation Syphon Filters should feel comfortable with the controls right off the bat, while those new to the series should easily acclimate as well. The left stick controls your character's movements, although not in their normal method of use. Your agent moves more akin to the characters in survival horror games, with up and down moving your character, and left and right rotating you. This takes a bit of getting used to at first, but the going is made easier by the L2 and R2 buttons, which have your character strafe in the corresponding direction. When you've got the hang of movement, square fires your weapon, triangle interacts with environmental items, circle causes your character to roll to escape danger, and X has your character crouch (which allows you to either hide or sneak noiselessly). L1 is used to aim in first-person view, while R1 auto-locks onto a nearby enemy. The D-pad activates your map, flashlight, nightvision goggles, and toggles voice chat when playing online. Select toggles through your weapons and equipment, and can be used in conjunction with R2 and L2 to cycle through your entire arsenal. Start brings up your ‘PDA,' which is the pause screen.

The controls work well enough when you have the hang of them, but again there are some major hang-ups that remain from the game's PlayStation ancestors. The majority of confrontations in TOS are firefights (a significant alteration from the PlayStation versions, which were possible to play through staying mostly stealthy). It is very difficult to switch to a specific weapon in the middle of a pitched battle without pausing the game and equipping it from the menu, as the select button cycling is not easy to pull off while defending yourself from attack. You'll often find yourself rolling around, trying to find cover so that you can pull out the correct weapon for a situation. Once you have that weapon, targeting becomes a problem when you use the R1 lock-on. As mentioned earlier, the camera will sometimes swing about wildly when moving from one enemy to another, causing you to lose your bearings and wander into the path of enemy fire. Occasionally, you will also auto-target an illogical choice for enemy, forcing you to hit the button repeatedly before you can finally attack the most paramount threat. Of course, it takes several bullets to dispatch even the most basic enemy, so you will want to stay away from direct contact and just take potshots in first-person, aiming for the head (which scores an instant kill).

There will be many objectives, some obvious and some hidden, in each mission. You'll defuse bombs, save innocent people, retrieve data, and all sorts of other menial tasks. The levels are large, and can take some time to complete on your first time through. By the second time through, though, you'll be able to blast your way through much quicker, since you'll know exactly where everything is.

Boss fights occur after most levels, although they're nothing more than a particular enemy that you must do a certain thing to stop. They don't mean much, other than that you've taken out yet another terrorist baddie.

TOS features much of the same gameplay as its relatives in the PlayStation. While this means that it is almost instantly accessible to many gamers, it also means that many of its old flaws are still present. For a game that has come out more than 2 1/2 years after its previous installment, and on a more advanced system, this is extremely disappointing.

Score: 6/10

Story:

The story picks up soon after the third installment of the game. Unlike in Syphon Filter 2 & 3, it's not entirely necessary to have played the previous games to understand the story, as the highlights are put together in the instruction manual. Returning fans of the series will still get more of the story than other players, though, as there is no way to cover everything in a timeline in a manual.

The story starts out remarkably similar to that of the first game, with Gabe Logan and company searching for answers on why a mysterious virus has infected the populations of several areas of the world. The developers have broken from series tradition in TOS, having you play as a new recruit in the Agency, which Logan has now assumed command of. You will progress through the game and encounter the usual assortment of twists and turns, ultimately trying to find out who is responsible for all the death this virus has wrought.

Another new wrinkle the game has added is the ability to earn commendations, medals, and rankings for your character. You start out at the bottom of the Agency totem pole, and through your actions in the game, you can increase in rank, as well as earn rewards for different behaviors. The more you play, the more items you unlock; you can earn items to personalize your agent, such as clothes, hairstyles, and patches for your uniform, and you can also unlock weapons to bring with you when you loadout for a new mission. While this personalization is a nice touch, it shouldn't keep you interested enough to go about unlocking everything. Some of the weapons you earn early on are good enough to last you through the entire game, so there really isn't much motivation to go for the best gear, and the clothing and other personal items you can earn are more a novelty than a useful diversion. Overall, the customization you can earn for your agent is a nice little distraction, but it won't be enough to keep you playing when you've finished the storyline.

The story in TOS should serve as enough motivation for you to complete the game, though it will be harder to understand without a background in the history of the series.

Score: 8/10

Features/Modes:

TOS can be played alone offline, or online with three other players cooperatively. The game plays mostly the same either way, although playing with other people allows you to achieve objectives much quicker. You will also be able to access a few extra areas online by having a teammate boost you up onto a high ledge or otherwise difficult-to-reach area. For the most part, the game is lag-free, although you will run into an occasional glitch that will have part of the game stop functioning for no reason.

Other than the online mode, there are no extra modes at all in TOS. There isn't even a higher difficulty level for advanced players. The only possible reason to continue playing after you've beaten the game is to unlock more goodies, but as mentioned before, this is really only an attractive option for more hardcore players.

Score: 3/10

Total Score:

Syphon Filter: The Omega Strain comes to PlayStation 2 after several years of waiting on the part of series fans. Those fans are the most likely to be pleased with the result, as the game still feels largely unchanged from its previous form, despite the long interval between releases.

If you're curious about this game, a rental would most likely be best. Without much reason to play it after you've beaten it, you probably will be glad you didn't shell out $50 for it.

Score: 6/10 (not an average)

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Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 10/04/04