The game has lone-wolf hero Logan save the world from terrorists and their bombs, missiles and what-not. It runs through many types of levels: in some you need to use stealth and not get noticed, some are just full of completing objectives, and some are just run-and-kill-everything. The difficulty of the objectives is sometimes extreme, but most of the time it’s just right and enjoyable. The clips shown before the levels are very well done and enjoyable, and make the storyline a pleasure to watch develop. The enemies die very realistically, in the way they collapse and move to try and kill you, and the number of weapons is unbelievable, from your standard pistol to a grenade launcher to about 15 different machine guns and many more. The failing point that bothered me is the way Logan moves and how it is sometimes difficult to maneuver him. But the game is enjoyable to play, and it doesn’t give you the same level over and over again.
That maneuvering is the real failing point of Syphon Filter. It’s hard to move Logan through many levels, and you can’t tell what he’s stuck on when he stops moving. His legs move very unrealistically and aren’t smooth at all. Many times when you use the auto-aim feature with your guns, it shoots past the enemies rather than at them, which gets very annoying. Overall the controls could use some definite work, but they aren’t the worst out there.
The graphics in this game are average at best; you can usually tell what items are, but they don’t look as good as they could. The best part is the way people get killed: you can shoot enemies while they’re on the ground and draw blood, you can set people on fire and watch them stagger around screaming, and when you land a head shot they collapse very realistically. Overall the graphics are decent, but spectacular when it comes to the gunplay.
The sound in this game is as good as I’ve heard in a while. The enemy sounds are very well done and come in right on time, the guns sound very realistic, and with surround sound they can make your house shake. The voices are all done perfectly and are never late coming in. Overall the sound is just great, and I couldn’t find anything wrong with it.
Syphon Filter is a very enjoyable game that really gets you into the story and makes you want to keep playing it. It is not perfect, but it’s still very fun.
