Syphon Filter 2 was designed by
Eideticin 2000 for the
Playstation, and released by
Sony Computer Entertainment America. It has been released twice, the first time for normal release, and then again in Sony's greatest hits line.
Syphon Filter games are all in a series. The first game, Syphon Filter, finds the virus. The second game, Syphon Filter 2, is to save Lian Xing from the Syphon Filter virus, and to get the information about the virus. The third game, Syphon Filter 3, was to destroy the secret nameless agency. Each game will directly follow the game previous, and leads to the game follow with little time missing, if any. Though you don' need to play the first one to understand and enjoy the second game, it is somewhat helpful to play them in order.
I'd like to start the discussion of the game with the story. Unfortunately this game is some what lacking when compared to Metal Gear Solid. There is not many plot twists and most of them are obvious. There are a few that are very well scripted, and the story runs well, but it is not up to the par of Metal Gear Solid. There is not many action games that have such a good story, and this one is above average so it is worth checking out. There is also a lot of mini cinemas in the middle of the game. Overall I found the story is decent but nothing to brag about.
The graphics in the game aren't special but they are decent if you enjoyed older games it is a bit of nostalgia with great control schemes. If you are looking for the graphics of Metal Gear Solid you are not finding them here. The game has noticeable graphical problems. Over all, if you can forgive the graphics the rest of the game is decent.
The voices in the game are decent except for Gabriel Logan. Gabe's voice is by far the poorest voicing in the game, he tends to sound like Casey Kasem. It is semi-noticeable at times. Other then Gabriel, the sounds in the game are decent. As you walk down the street or valley in the game you will hear a shot and you know your supposed to dodge, roll or so on. Also if you aren't looking at the people talking, you won't hear the conversation as well as normal which gives it a nice touch.
The music in the game fits the mood at most points. There is nothing to out of the ordinary except there is a nice scene where you go to a dance club and you can hear the dance music for most of the level, it is kinda nice change from the mood music.
The game plays a bit like Metal Gear Solid. It requires more stealth in a lot of places, but you are allowed to stun or kill some people in stealth missions. There is also some large battle missions where you have to fight your way out of to progress farther.
The gameplay of the game have some changes from Metal Gear Solid. The game does check for head shots and are a must. At some points a head shot will make the game easier, though not simple, and at other times it is all you have time for. The gameplay has a wide range, a few times you will be in a massive battle where moving to a safe point is critical then taking out the people before they hit you. At other times the battles are more about sneaking and then neutralizing enemies. Both forms of gameplay are nicely interlaced, and it is about 60 percent battle, 40 percent sneaking.
In addition to the normal game there is a multi-player version where two players fight it out. It is similar to the single player game but is just a fire fight between two players. Overall these battles wind up being who can get the head shot first.
In addition to the normal gameplay, there is a hidden secret on each stage, each secret will open up a new level or character for multi-player.
The game is somewhat short. It does take a long time to beat because of a few hard levels. There is however a hard mode that can be accessed by entering this code on the new game option:
Box+Circle +L1+R2+Up+Cross
which does give more playability, but overall it could have used a little more. It does take up two disks and have a lot of great scenes.
A short spoiler-free list of characters who play major roles in the game are:
Overall this game gets high marks for a fun and interesting presentation. There are some exciting action scenes. It does lose marks for low graphics performance, and somewhat low replay value.