Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror - Sony PSP (Jewel case)

This is my first FPS game on PSP and I must say that the implementation and the gameplay went beyond my expectations. Pro: +Reasonable controls, easy to get used to. +Varying degrees of difficulty. +Storyline. +Low cost! Con: +Way TOO short !!!

Great game, lots of fun!

This game is the best action packed shooter/ fighting game EVER If you want to have fun shooting guys and blowin them up and cuting their throats and electricuting them go fr it relllllly fun

I got this because somebody on Gamespot said that it defined the PSP platform. Well, its a pretty good game anyway, and probably the best shooter for the PSP. The good : It is pretty long and has beautiful cutscenes and fantastic sound. The levels get better as you play. Some of the first levels were really small and cheezy. Towards the end, there are some pretty neat things. The game physics are really nice (you can shoot someone in the knee with a 357 and they will fall on their face, then get up and limp, explosions cause rag doll effects etc). The sniper rifle is a lot of fun once you get it down. Its pretty fun to pick off the bad guys using it. The not so good : The bosses in this game are LAME! Regular guys in bulletproof suits of some kind except for one tank. When you throw a grenade (which you need for the last few bosses), the whole PSP grinds to a halt so you cant switch easily to a gun in time to shoot the boss when his suit is powered down. (I guess it is calculating the grenades effects and cant hear the buttons). A lot of levels are dark so its hard to see in normal lighting. There usually are no more than 2 or three enemies on the screen at once. Probably not enough horsepower for more. Good bosses would have made up for that. Even Sonic on the Genesis had enough horsepower for a challenging boss every level.

You can unlock all kinda weapons in mission mode. Secrets galore. More than one way to play a mission and more......

...well after beating Street Fighter Alpha 3 Max on my PSP numerous times I got tired of my PSP in general and stopped playing it for a while. One day I was at the store and saw this game, so I decided to pick it up, after all I decided it could not be as bad as the piece of crapp Rengoku or Dead To Rights for the PSP. Let me just say this: this game impressed the heck out of me. It has a great story, great controls (you can adjust them), and various difficulty settings. After having started playing it I could not stop so for a week I played it non-stop until I beat it. Another great thing is that as you beat the game and find secret evidence you unlock new weapons, which you can later use if you replay a mission. There are also a bunch of bonus missions which are fun. I hear the multiplayer is good too, but I couldnt tell you since Ive only played single player. This game will definetely make a worthy addition to your PSP library.

To sum the whole thing up - if you had only one game you could buy for your PSP, let it be this. Even if you dont like first person shooters, get it. Syphon Filter is the best first person shooter - action game out there for PSP, hands down. You get a single player mode story mode which runs like a charm. The graphics are astounding, taking the PSP to another level. The controls feel right - finally, developers have thought to take full use of all the pads and buttons in a reasonable way. You play as a super-secret, ex-delta force type, undercover agent. Your mission is to find and destroy Project Dark Mirror. You get a wide range of weapons, but if you are good, you can use a special mode (using a range of goggles) to find secret passages and ways of finishing a level. This means that you can sneak your way without causing much trouble. One of the wonderful things about this game is stealth and the ability to `snap-on to walls and boxes. You can peek over the side and take out enemies without stirring a mouse. Alternatively you can jump out and take on dozens of enemies. This leads to the only two points of the game that are a letdown. The AI is predictable, and sometime stupid. Its not uncommon to see enemies fall victim to their own mines or walk into your path as you destroy them with your EDT gun. Or you can use hand to hand combat, a knife, special darts, or normal guns. Using these things earns points for earning rewards and unlocking bonus levels. The other thing is - why isnt the game play longer? Seven acts with around five scenes per act make for too short a game. There is a multiplayer mode as well, for people who like that. (Ad-Hoc + Infrastructure) GRAPHICS: 9/10 (Best graphics and cut-scenes of all time) SOUND: 7/10 (The sound is really great - not complaining, since you cant have it all) CONTROLS: 10/10 (Flawless - you can crouch, look over corners, activate a scope, zoom, and snipe, all at once, without getting frustrated) DIFFICULTY: 5/10 (Moderately difficult - some guys are mounted on turrets! Difficulty falls tremendously since you can sneak around, using stealth to eliminate much of the opposition) LOAD TIMES: LOW (The load times are not bad at all - plus, you get briefed during the loading screen) OVERALL: 9/10 (Isnt a 10 where you see god or something? Just kidding - the game could easily be a ten if it was 50% longer)

I was worried when they started bringing shooters out on the PSP. Ive grown accustomed to the dual analog sticks on the PS2 and Xbox. And was worried how I would be able to pull off the move and shoot. After about a 30 minute learning period with Syphon Filter, I was already smashing the time records in training mode. Which was definitly another benefit to the game. There are four training missions you can choose to play to get accustomed to the game. They range from basic movement to a sniper mission. The controls will take some getting used to since you use the analog stick for movement and the x, circle, square and triangle buttons to look in different directions. But once you get used to them youll be running and gunning with the best of them. On easy mode the game took me approximatly 12 hrs to beat. However, I take my time trying to acheive every side mission. The average gamer will get a good 8-10 hrs out of the game. You also have the option to replay any level that you have already beat to attempt to get more steath, environmental, dart, or headshot kills. When such goals are acheived you can unlock alternate levels and weapons that you can used in the mission mode. I have about 22 hrs total in the game and I still have not unlocked everything. So there is some replayability in the game. Unlike Daxter for the PSP, I played it through and even though it was a great game I had no desire to pick it back up. Conclusion Syphon Filter is a great action shooter game. It combines the usual elements you expect and even some steath and spy maneuvers. In fact several levels are signifigantly easier if you take your time to use steath to eliminate your enemies. You can always go in guns blazing but that does not always work out. Again there is about a 30 minute learning curve. But it is fairly easy to get accustomed to the controls and go about your merry way stabbing and shooting. The only real complaint I have about the game is several times I performed a steath kill, it would not register on the player stats page and could not reach the goal for a level. Which was pretty annoying at time since I was so close to unlocking another weapon. Other than that its a great game.

Dark Mirror is flat out amazing. If you have a PSP and you dont have this you are missing out. Syphon Filter was my favorite game for the original Playstation and there are many who feel as strong about that game. Syphon Filter 2 and 3 came out later for that system and they were also both great games. Next came Syphon Filter The Omega Strain (for the Playstation 2) which had been originally designed as a multiplayer online game only. Towards the end of the development of the game it was decided to include the normal single player experience which was good but not as fun as the first 3 Syphon Filter games. I never really got into the online multiplayer features but I did try it a few times and that was where Omega Strain was at its best. The online servers for that game are no longer running. So now lets flash forward to more recent times. Dark Mirror continued the Syphon Filter franchise (on the Playstation Portable) and made it even better. The single player missions are excellent and the multiplayer features are also top notch. I havent played the next installment (Syphon Filter Logans Shadow - also for the PSP) but I own it. What I look forward to most is seeing Syphon Filter in high definition (on the PS3). My only complaint about this game was that there is some strong language which was not necessary for the experience. This is my opinion and it is an issue in many games today. Overall, I would pick this as my favorite PSP game and one of my favorites of all time.

This game is the kind of game that you will remember playing 10 years from now. This game is belongs in the videogame hall of fame. It was extremely well done and the developers, designers, etc deserves a great deal of praise. I play this on the train to work and it makes a boring trip pass by. This is my favorite PSP game. SOCOM is a great game, but Syphon Filter makes that game seem boring by comparison.