Syphon Filter

The Good
There is an abundance of action and a fair share of puzzles wherever you go, with a nice arsenal of modern weapons, especially the air taser which makes the game perhaps a tad too easy. The auto-aim is particularly helpful against common enemies, but becomes pretty useless in the later levels with flak-armoured foes. Precision aiming is utilised well in the game, especially when you need to use it to find a boss' weakness. It's also good that you can aim and shoot while climbing rails.

The flavour text for the weapons and briefing are nice touches. The controls are tight and just right, so you can move and shoot without finding yourself being massacred. Even pauses to accept incoming transmission do not ruin the flow of the game. Music is well balanced and captures the mood of danger, stealth and urgency very well.

The Bad
The camera and player movement can be a little choppy sometimes, but not to an unbearable extent. The map isn't too useful with such a small scale and it's tricky to know where to go to complete the next objective without exploration, saved only by the short-ranged radar screen. Although there is adequate armour, there are no health pickups in case you get injured, which reduces survival rate, but it's not too bad. Overall there's nothing very wrong with the game.

The Bottom Line
Eidetic knew what they were doing in the game's development. It comes as a surprise that the game almost never came out, but what they learned from the making of Bubsy 3D made this game possible. It's nice to see some modern sci-fi. It's kind of a shame that the game didn't make its way to a PC platform, only re-releases on newer PlayStation platforms, but no proper HD remake. Next to Tomb Raider, this has to be one of the best third-person shooters before Ratchet & Clank made their entrance. This is a classic you simply cannot afford to forget.