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Syphon Filter: Logan's Shadow Preview
Written by Terry Hall on Monday, September 24, 2007
Does Syphon Filter: Logan's Shadow live up to high expectations already set by last year's Dark Mirror?
Throughout the years, I've played my fair share of Syphon Filter, but the franchise never really captured my heart. After hearing positive impressions regarding Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror, I just had to give it a chance. Sure enough, the game is a ton of fun.
The story, written by Greg Rucka (famous for novels and comic books like Batman and Queen & Country), appears to rather interesting, if a bit cliche. The story finds Gabe Logan fighting terrorist in the Middle East and India. Logan must also deal with losing one of his long times friends, Lian Xing, who turned out to be a double agent. The rest I won't spoil - it unfolds as Logan uses a wide variety of weapons to (of course) save the world.
If you played the UMD demo of Syphon Filter: Logan's Shadow, you only played the very first part of episode 1. You start out in a helicopter shooting down missile launchers and enemies. After the enemies were destroyed, you were deployed to the ground and instantly thrown into the heat of battle. Being able to aim properly was very crucial to surviving battles. Those who were skilled at Dark Mirror should have no issues with this initial Trial By Fire segment.
Everything seemed the same until a QTE (Quick Time Event) was encountered. QTEs, have been used in console games like God of War, Heavenly Sword, and Shenmue. During a QTE, you press the corresponding button as it appears on the screen. The QTEs come across were press a button several times to open a vent, press different buttons to attach a hook on an object, and so on. In Dark Mirror, you only pressed the d-pad up to perform every action.
Later on in Episode One, Logan finds himself in the ocean. You swim to a boat, take out the enemies, and plant some explosives. And make a daring escape, of course. Although interesting, the experience got a bit repetitive, as more explosives had to be placed on more boats. And then more boats.
The second episode mostly took place underwater. The swim controls were very simple and worked well. Pressing the d-pad down would make you dive in water. To move Gabe around, you have to aim with the face buttons then use the analog nub to move Gabe in that direction. Playing underwater can be difficult to see, so you may find yourself using the EDSU, NV (night vision), and IR (infra-red) goggles extensively. The EDSU goggles were used to locate treasure, control valves, and other things. The EDSU goggles would make the background red, but important items would show up as bright yellow. The IR goggles were used to locate enemies giving them a rainbow color while the rest of the background was a blue color. Finding enemies became very easy with the IR goggles. With the NV goggles, they made the sea brighter, so you can find locations underwater. All the goggles were very useful during an objective where you have to shoot explosives at the right time to hit a submarine, and then go up to the submarine de-activating three devices one at a time.
The third episode initially took place in a small old town called Azerbaijan. You have to deactivate mines, swim through town, destroy a tank and of course take down many, many enemies.
The first three episodes I played through featured superb objective variation. Objectives ranged from escort missions, locating key targets, and shooting all manner of opposition. Along with completing objectives, diligent gamers can also search for hidden evidence files. Each stage has three, and they can be devilishly hidden. To find them all, you may need to use the EDSU goggles.
As well as the main story mode, mission mode also makes a return in Logan's Shadow, and is a good way to unlock extra goodies. Every part of an episod, has a certain number of stealth kills, knife kills, dart kills, environmental kills, head shots, etc. that can be done. The mission mode seems perfect for pick shorter pick up and play gameplay.
Those who have played Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror will have zero problems learning the controls. For those who haven't, every single button on the PSP itself will be used. Pressing the d-pad to the left will access the different types of goggles. Pressing the d-pad to the right accesses all Gabe's weapons and gear. Pressing down on the d-pad makes Gabe crouch. The d-pad up usually performs a contextual action, to make Gabe climb, use the activate devices, etc. The analog nub moves Gabe around while the face buttons control the camera and aim in a particular direction. The sensitivity of the face buttons may need adjusting since they appear a little tight initially. The R button uses weapons while the L button can zoom in on enemies.
The graphics in Syphon Filter: Logan's Shadow was stunning, no doubt due to the game running as 333MHz.. In some areas some pixelation is visible, but still, Logan's Shadow better looking than most all PSP games. All was forgiven with the gorgeous CG cinemas between the episodes, to boot.
The music in Logan's Shadow is also extremely impressive. Dark Mirror's soundtrack was good, but Logan's Shadow seems to surpass it. Every theme suits the setting perfectly. Along with the great music, the voice-acting was top notch. None of the voices heard seemed out of place or forced.
Overall, Syphon Filter: Logan's Shadow is shaping up to be a terrific action game on PSP. Sony Bend seems to have delivered an excellent single player campaign that's interesting, lengthy, and varied. Also, its expansive multiplayer options (more on these later) may make this the definitive action game on PSP. Anyone who liked Syphon Filter Dark Mirror or digs action oriented games in general should keep Logan's Shadow on their radar.
