GoldenEye 007 for Nintendo 64 has been a sore subject for PlayStation owners. It's painful knowing that this superlative Bond spy-action-thriller exists only on N64.
Finally, the console envy can end. 989 Studios' Syphon Filter hijacks the strongest aspects of the emerging stealth/action genre and comes up as one of my favorite PlayStation games ever.
Covert-ops games have never been more fully realized or keenly executed. The story line, long the bane of videogames, is even engaging. A group of international baddies has acquired Syphon Filter, a particularly nasty virus that can be tweaked to target a person, city, or ethnic group. Gabe Logan, a star operative, and sidekick Lian Xing are called in to kick some terrorist ass.
As Gabe, I became immersed in Syphon Filter. The third-person camera perspective is dead-on and facilitates easy onscreen movements. Anyone who has thrown a game controller across the room while playing Tomb Raider will be grateful. Music crests and falls with the action, and the audio is hyperrealistic (my neighbors are convinced I have a shooting range). Rich textures put the graphics well above average.
The levels are where Syphon Filter becomes supremely satisfying. The main objective is outlined at the beginning of each mission. As your op progresses, Lian Xing will radio in with additional objectives; I felt a rare sense of realism and urgency as I had to adapt to changing conditions and goals on the fly. At each checkpoint, I'd save the game with deep relief. With no variable difficulty setting and enemy AI that increases at an alarming rate, Syphon Filter is not for the faint of heart.
Syphon Filter: $49.99. 989 Studios: www.989studios.com.
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