Sport builders have been nonetheless determining 3D controls when Syphon Filter launched in 1999. Bend Studio, then referred to as Eidetic, have been bruised by the crucial reception to 1996’s PS1 platformer Bubsy 3D – and needed to create one thing actually groundbreaking. In the end, each Steel Gear Strong and GoldenEye 007 deployed through the super-spy title’s protracted three-year improvement cycle, lessening a few of its sheen – however this stays a considerably distinctive stealth motion title right this moment, even when its rudimentary gameplay feels unbelievably dated when noticed via a contemporary lens.
Regardless of being fiddly, nevertheless, you’ll be able to see the origins of cinematic third-person shooters like Uncharted right here. You play as Gabe Logan, a character vacuum on an unattainable mission. Flanked by his trusty affiliate Lian Xing, this globe-trotting escapade takes you from the imply streets of Washington DC to a cathedral in Ukraine – an elaborate entrance for a shady underground base, in fact – the place you’ll be double-crossed with regularity by folks with villainous names, like Phagan and Rhoemer.
With the World Well being Organisation carefully concerned, and a lethal virus within the incorrect fingers, Syphon Filter’s story hits in another way within the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic. However author John Garvin – who’d go on to pen Days Gone – had his airport fiction hat on for this story, which completely encapsulates the late 90s interval the place Pierce Brosnan performed James Bond. Whereas there aren’t too many devices right here, you do get a Taser that units enemies on hearth, which by no means actually will get previous.
One mission even sees you infiltrate a museum, and the environmental selection is spectacular for a PS1 period motion recreation. One minute you’ll be silently selecting off guards in an Historic Greece exhibit, and the following capturing via home windows subsequent to the moonlander – it’s all brilliantly melodramatic, and is underlined by a soundtrack that has shades of Who Desires to be a Millionaire. The marketing campaign does run out of concepts – and, presumably, funds – in the direction of the latter phases of its story, leading to a slew of dismal catacombs, however the aforementioned gothic cathedral is an actual graphical spotlight, full with gargoyles and stained glass home windows.
Sadly, the management scheme can’t fairly carry Bend Studio’s ambition. Logan’s iconic over animated run cycle is tied to up on the d-pad – or, certainly, the left analogue stick in case you’re fortunate sufficient to have a DualShock – and you’ll lean him left and proper by barely pushing to both facet. Flattening prompts him to slowly amble backwards, whereas left and proper twist him on the spot. It’s not fairly tank controls, nevertheless it’s unresponsive and awkward – an actual refresher course on how Tomb Raider and its ilk used to play.
You’ll be able to strafe by urgent L2 and R2, and that is the place Syphon Filter’s film influences actually shine. By holding R1 to focus on lock, you’ll be able to successfully run-and-gun – and you’ll even roll like Tom Cruise by hitting the circle button. Fascinatingly, injury is represented by a ‘Hazard’ metre which fills up as enemies hearth at you. Let this maximise and also you’ll start to take chip injury to your armour and, latterly, your well being till you’re lifeless. Carry out dodge strikes like strafing and rolls, nevertheless, and also you’ll get a brief reprieve.
Regardless of being awkward, the primary few ranges are manageable when you wrap your head across the controls. The sport actually falls aside when it introduces enemies in Flak Jackets, a technique to improve the problem, that are successfully bullet sponges. So as to kill these it’s good to intention for the top utilizing a stop-and-pop first-person perspective that requires you to manually management a cursor. Whereas that is tremendous in stealth conditions, it’s infuriating throughout motion sequences, because it prevents you from utilizing the defensive strategies mentioned above, and means you’re inevitably going to take injury whereas desperately dragging an unwieldy inexperienced reticule throughout the display screen.
One other difficulty with the sport is that it’s far too obtuse for its personal good at instances. A number of the ranges lack course, rendering them a maze of samey trying polygonal décor, and it may be tough to determine the place to go and what to do. Whereas we admire the open-ended nature of the maps, it’s extremely straightforward to miss a single change or pc terminal, which is mixed into the background and required to proceed.
However Syphon Filter does deserve credit score for pioneering a gameplay fashion that didn’t actually exist on the time. Whereas, as talked about, Steel Gear Strong and GoldenEye 007 in the end launched whereas it was in improvement, Bend Studio’s effort is finest thought of as a precursor to one thing like Uncharted. There’s a great mixture of stealth and all-out motion throughout its six or so hour working time, in addition to a handful of headline set-piece moments – together with one through which Logan climbs atop a large missile which is seconds away from launching.
Conclusion
Syphon Filter’s unwieldy controls make it tough to play right this moment, however Bend Studio helped pioneer the third-person shooter style with this memorable 1999 outing. A globe-trotting marketing campaign with giant open-ended ranges make a lot of Gabe Logan’s missions memorable, and whereas the story errs on the facet of airport fiction with its ludicrous double-crosses and ham-fisted voice appearing, there nonetheless aren’t many video games that make you are feeling like James Bond fairly like this one does.
