Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror Demo - Hands On
Gabe Logan's Syphon Filter adventures began back in the party year of 1999 on the original Playstation. It spawned two more sequels on that system and one more on the PS2, which introduced online play. Now, almost two years later, Syphon Filter returns, but this time on the PSP. The Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror demo was shown a couple of weeks ago at CES and we here at Gamehelper managed to snag a copy. Joy! Rest assured, Gamehelper put it though its paces.
Our heroes Gabe Logan, Lian Xing, and Teresa Lipan are sent on a top-secret mission to stop a para-military group that calls itself The Red Section. It seems The Red Section has attacked a petroleum refinery along the Alaskan pipeline and kidnapped Malcom Freeman, the head of the place. Your job is to infiltrate the refinery and rescue Mr. Freeman.
Things smell fishy to Gabe Logan. Why would Washington send them instead of the military or special forces? Why is Mr. Freeman so important to Washington? Heck with that, though--Gabe's just gonna go in guns blazing and find the answers himself. Whatta guy!
The moment Gabe and Lian are dropped of at the landing zone they're ambushed. The Red Section knew they were coming and were waiting for them. Does this scare our heroes off? Nope. Cue my favorite Gabe quote from the demo, "Yeah, they were waiting but I guarantee they're not ready!" He's a tough one, that Gabe Logan!
Flame Broiled Red Jack
The demo included two playable levels. The first has you sneaking around picking off bad guys while you're trying to get to the top of a distillation column. It appears that the Red Section Squad Commander has closed the valve on the distillation column and it will blow if Gabe doesn't take him out and open the valve. Once you've completed those objectives you must then provide cover fire for Lian as she tries to make her way to the Microwave tower. Finally, in the last demo level, you must use your expert stealthing skills to make your way to the maintenance elevator and have a boss battle with the flame throwing Red Jack.
The control scheme is a little iffy but you get used to it over time. The PSP's baby analog stick is used to move/strafe around and the four action buttons are for aiming. Luckily most of the weapons let you use the L trigger button to auto-target enemies, which makes things much easier. Unfortunately Gabe's new super rifle, the MB-150, does not auto-target which makes sniping a bit of a pain. [ED- see correction below - you can auto-target the MB-150 in classic mode!]
 | Correction: NakedBob was playing a demo version of the game and didn't have access to the control scheme layouts during his testing. In our more recent play-sessions with the folks at Sony Bend, Vansau was able to verify that there are indeed multiple control schemes available to suit most any playstyle. Players can use the joystick to aim in Advanced Mode and furthermore, players can auto-target enemies with the MB-150 using Classic mode. |
Oooh, Ahhhh!
Dark Mirror is just filled with all kinds of pretty graphics! I swear the game looks just as good or better than its PS2 cousin. Right away they treat you to some cool explosions and weather (snow) effects. The bad guys, while using the exact same character models, make good use of the game's rag doll physics. Evildoers go flying when you blow something up next to them. Shoot 'em in the kneecap and they topple over like you, um, shot 'em in the kneecap. The biggest downside with the graphics is that because the game relies heavily on stealth and sniping, you'll be killing many enemies from afar. This makes them quite tiny and not much more than stick figures on the PSP screen. Up close everything looks great, though.
While the story and dialogue, like many action games and movies, can be a little cheesy at times, the voice acting is actually kind of good. I'm pretty convinced the same guy who does Batman's voice in The Animated Series and the Justice League cartoons does Gabe Logan's voice. Sure sounds the same to me. We'll have to wait until I get my hands on the game credits to make certain, though. The bad guys really need their mouths washed out with a bar of soap! Nothing but profanity comes from these hoodlums, it's F' this and that. The best part was when Lian was trying to make her way to the tower; they kept referring to her as "the bitch". I must have heard the word "bitch" about a million times during that five-minute session.
Conclusion
Overall, the early demo provided a good deal of fun and Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror is shaping up to be a decent action game for the PSP. The retail version will also include various multiplayer modes (including online), which we hope to test out soon. With a little love and elbow grease, Syphon Filter can be a sorely needed top-notch game for your Playstation Portable.
-NakedBob
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