Syphon Filter Retrospective

It’s safe to say anyone who considers themselves a ‘gamer’ has a game that made them a fan. We all have that first game we played, then we all have that first game we loved - sometimes we stumble upon both at the same time. When I was a child, I was given a PlayStation for Christmas. It came with one game, Crash Bandicoot, and no SCART lead. Now Crash is a fantastic game, one of my all-time favourites, but running it in black and white was a chore. My parents were kind enough to add a second game to my collection, Bust-a-Move. Not the most ideal game to play on a black and white screen. Then a wondrous day came. It was a Thursday and my mother greeted me at the school gate with this comically long wire. It was a SCART lead. It was also about seven meters long, but that’s something we can overlook. That wasn’t the only thing she had though. She pulled out a game, a game with the most ‘90s case I’d ever seen, called Syphon Filter.

It’s probably ironic that the first game I ever played in colour begins in an environment that is dominated by grey and white. It had an intensity about it, though. When you’ve only played platformers and puzzle games, that level of action can be overwhelming. Crash Bandicoot was fantastic in terms of level design but was simple as a concept. A comfortable learning curve but nothing a child couldn’t handle. Going from Crash to a game with constant action, explosions and more mature themes can be unsettling. Looking back, it probably wasn’t the right game for a young kid, but that’s the downside of having no age ratings on the box.

So I put Syphon Filter down. It was tossed aside and back came Crash and a now playable Bust-a-Move. It wasn’t until a couple of years later when I’d confidently branched out my gaming tastes that I would return to the world of Syphon Filter. In less than 48 hours, I’d completed it. It was an absolute blast and completely flipped my gaming tastes on their head.

I revisit Syphon Filter every couple of years now, as an homage to a game that completely altered the path of what I play. As I sat down for my bi-annual playthrough, it was difficult to remove the rose-tinted glasses. It would be for anyone who had been so heavily influenced by something. On the surface, the game appears quite easy. The term easy is being used very loosely considering I’ve played Syphon Filter to completion half a dozen times. At its core, the challenge is lessened because of the game's auto-aim. A setup not too dissimilar from the original Tomb Raider in fact. The game does allow for a switch between third and first-person aiming, but it’s not really used for much outside cover shooting.

Moving around, the game feels fluid. It’s clearly designed for an analogue controller and you really get more out of the game if you have one. With such free-flowing controls, the game allows a lot more freedom to how you initiate combat. The control of the protagonist is accurate enough that you’re allowed to play aggressively. You can dodge the barrage of bullets the AI sends your way. Alternatively, there is no shame in taking the reserved approach and rolling from cover to cover slowly picking off your enemies.

The plot follows your standard ‘90s videogame plot. There’s a corrupt pharmaceutical company, they’ve made some kind of virus. Now they’re terrorising the Third World with this deadly disease. It’s the Metal Gear Solid / Resident Evil crossover you never realised you wanted. The story was a bit daft, as were most game stories at the time. Visually, it does the job. For its age, I think the character models are well designed and have some of the best animations seen on the PlayStation. How smooth everyone moves really amplifies the fluidity of the gameplay. The environments can be hit and miss. They’re adequate enough but lack the flair a lot of other big games produced at the time. The comically large skirting boards in the opening level will never not be hilarious either. The gameplay is so action-packed that you’re never really afforded time to take in the world around you.

It’s hard to revisit Syphon Filter and take off the rose-tinted glasses when writing about it. It’s a game I absolutely adore. By blending bits and pieces from the games around it, Syphon Filter manages to create something unique. You can see the Tomb Raider influences, the Metal Gear Solid influences. There’s even a subtle nod to some of the more atmospheric games out there. To the eye, the game lacks the dazzling visuals that some of its contemporaries had. The lack of visual flair probably helped the game age as well as it did. With so much action going on, you don’t really take in much of the game's scenery. In terms of pure gameplay, for me, it’s one of the best games the PlayStation has to offer. It might not be as epic as the Final Fantasy games, nor does it have the chilling setting of a game like Resident Evil, but best gameplay? You’ll struggle to find many games better on the PlayStation.