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

Before I get to the meat of my review of this game, I have to fill in a little info about my video game playing history. I promise its all relevant to my review of Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror, so please bear with me. In May of 2007, I was thinking about a Wii, and I asked about them at a video game store that happened to have them in stock, but I realized that what I really wanted was a handheld video game system, one I could use in airports and on long international flights. Even though the employees at the game store seemed to really like the Nintendo DS, when I mentioned that what I most wanted was to play soccer and baseball video games, they told me Id be better off with a PSP. Additionally, I found the demo games for the DS to be targeted more at little kids. I felt like I was playing a Hello Kitty game or something. Also, the DS felt flimsy to me, and I was more comfortable with the feel of the PSP and the demo PSP games in the store. I bought the PSP with a soccer game, a baseball game, and on a whim, a shooter. That shooter was Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, which I enjoyed quite a bit, even when the story heavily taxed my willing suspension of disbelief. I wondered if there was a shooter game with all the good things about MGS:PO, but without the plot elements (and bosses) that reminded me of things I might see if I were to turn on the TV at 4 in the afternoon. I loved the intrigue, the missions, the spying and stealth, the different weapons and tools for different situations, and the way I was immersed in the game, but I didnt like the giant battle robots (no, I didnt know before that Metal Gear refers to giant battle bots) and other elements that felt like things out of TV shows for 9-11 year old boys. From the reviews on Amazon, it looked like Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror might be the answer to my prayers, so I put it on my wishlist. My father got it as one of my birthday presents, and it turned out to be everything I wanted in a shooter. First, a bit about my history with video games. When I was a kid, my family had a 4-in-1 game from Atari that included Pong. Later, we had an Atari 2600 (my record on Space Invaders was 43,830 and no, I dont know why I remember that more than 25 years later). After that, I played a couple of games (Tetris and The Ancient Art of War) on Macs, played some Super Mario Bros. on a friends Nintendo during my first year in college (and later, a baseball game on the same system), co-owned a Sega Saturn with a roommate, and played a couple of Playstation games with friends on one or two occasions each. Ive got a long history of at least casual interest in video games, but Im not what you would call a hard-core gamer. I therefore have virtually no experience with games that use two analog joysticks, so I didnt really know what I was missing. However, when a friend who is a pretty serious gamer (the same guy who owned the Nintendo on which I played some games in college) explained to me that normally in shooter games, one analog stick is used for movement and the other for changing the camera angle, I knew I really was missing something with the PSPs single stick and started to understand why gamers complain so much about the PSP only having one analog stick. The most annoying thing to me about MGS:PO was the way the camera would sometimes automatically shift to a really inconvenient angle, effectively blinding me and leading to my character being hurt or even killed just because I couldnt see important elements of the action. Why did I take that detour into my gaming history in a review of SF:DM? Well, even though Im sure the PSP was and is the right system for me, I now join the legions of gamers who wish Sony had just included a second analog stick on the PSP. But having said that, I must say that the programmers of Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror did an absolutely great job of setting up the games controls to minimize the effect of not having a second analog stick. It took me a little while to get used to the controls after having played some MGS:PO, but once I was off the steep part of the learning curve, I came to love the way the controls in SF:DM work. I believe that the programmers of SF:DM have found the absolute best way to maintain the feel of a shooter while living with the limitation of a single analog stick and minimizing the potentially annoying effects of bad camera angles. The game is a joy to play, and the controls, once I learned them, were natural enough that I just plain forgot about them while playing and was able to enjoy the story and the action. Story and action are two other areas in which SF:DM excels, at least from the point of view of this non-hardcore gamer. The story is interesting, like the best stories from the first couple of seasons of the TV show 24, with a little bit of 007 and maybe a 1980s Schwarzenegger flick thrown in. The game does a great job of immersing the player in the story and the action. I felt like I was actually living some kind of international intrigue/espionage/action thriller. I found myself looking forward to playing when I was doing other things, and thinking about the story, the missions, and sometimes some of the stickier challenges. I was completely intrigued by the plot, and trying to figure out, along with the characters in the game, what was happening. As I was playing, I felt as if I were really in the game, and instead of feeling just that my video game characters life being at risk (and restorable immediately afterward), I felt as if I myself were really in that risky situation. At many points, especially in some of the timed missions, I could feel my heart beating faster, and that feeling of fear in the pit of my stomach. That was a lot of fun, in much the same way that a roller coaster is. The action is well done, and has a great mix of different types of challenges. There are some challenges that require a little bit of reasoning and problem solving. Some require you to use the right tool or weapon from your arsenal. Some situations require stealth and care, while others require a guns blazing frontal assault. Unlike some games, where you learn by doing in normal play, including some extra-easy missions at the beginning designed to get you used to the controls and the weapons and tools at your disposal, SF:DM has some separate training missions to teach you the basics of the controls and movement and how to use your tools and weapons before you get into the story. The sniper rifle, with its scope, long range, and bullets and special rounds (single silent kill via electric shock, area silent kill via gas, and explosive), is really cool, and has its own dedicated training mission to teach you to use it. Having said all that, though, I should mention that the difficulty of the missions definitely increases as the game goes on. The game is so much fun that I went back to replay a lot of the missions after having succesfully completed the game in story mode. The game offers some bonuses if you complete missions without dying, or if you find all the hidden evidence in a given mission, or if you complete other tasks within the missions. Since I had not done all these things when going through the game the first time, I have been going back and replaying missions after having finished the story. When I first started to do that, I was struck by how easy the early missions seemed after some of the late ones, which got pretty hairy at times. Disclaimer: as I have stated, I am NOT a hard-core gamer, so as always, your mileage may vary. Some gamers may find the whole game easy, but I found it just right in terms of offering some entertaining challenges and not being TOO easy, but also not being impossible for somebody like me to finish. I found the graphics to be surprisingly detailed and just plain good, and not just for a handheld video game. The rag doll effect when a slain enemy slumps over an object or is thrown by an explosion and ends up draped over some object, is pretty impressive. The graphics were another thing that helped immerse me in the game and feel like I was living an action adventure instead of just playing a video game on a handheld system. SF:DM is easily the best game Ive seen for the PSP. I have already put its sequel (Syphon Filter: Logans Shadow) on my wishlist, and I look forward to playing it. Also, as I stated above, Im still replaying some of the missions, and Im hoping to get into some multiplayer stuff soon, once I feel my skillz are developed enough to be able to contribute or compete, depending on what kind of multiplayer missions I end up playing. This game gets my highest recommendation. I hope the makers of other shooters for the PSP will copy the control scheme from SF:DM, because I truly believe the programmers of SF:DM have found the best way to get around the limitations of a single analog stick in a shooter.

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

If you liked the original Syphon Filter on Playstation, you have to pick this title up. The gameplay is great, once you beat the game youll still want to come back for more picking up secrets you missed the first time. The story and plot twists are fantastic. You will find yourself glued to this game. Highly recommend adding this game to your PSP collection.

This is an outstanding PSP selection. The creators somehow made me feel like I was actually completing a James Bond mission on my train ride to work. I dont know how they made the weapon handling work so well on the PSP, but it does. GET THIS GAME! (I have no association with any of the people or companies involved with Syphon Filter Dark Mirror.)

Ive read reviews here that say its a first person shooter. Its not, it is a third person shooter I dont know where they got that idea. The cover system works very well. There are a nice array of weapons, although some of them are just the same gun with a different look. The darts are a nice feature too. Single player is surprisingly lengthy. Once you beat it youll want to go back and use the mission select to try and meet certain objectives such as killing a certain amount of guys using stealth, knife, head shots, dart, and environmental kills to unlock new weapons and equipment. however it can be very difficult. the controls work well for general aiming and shooting, HOWEVER once you need to zoom in to take out an enemy or make a precise head shot, controls are troublesome. And it does take a while to fully get used to the controls. overall, one of the best psp games ever. Hopefully the sequel will be tweaked to fix some of dark mirrors flaws. (yes there is going to be a sequel)

this game is great! i got it and couldnt stop playing. its like splinter cell but better. you can ghost people blood goes every where. you can play online and chat with friends its pretty cool

Syphon Filter - Dark Mirror made me fall in love with my PSP. Generally speaking, Im not a big fan of first/third person shooters.. that is unless the physics, controls, and gameplay are downright fun and then I give in. Syphon Filter ranks up there as one of the best games I have ever played. I know thats a tall statement.. but this is definitely one of the best PSP games on the market and the effort put into making this play so well on a portable unit is huge. Most easily said -- its fun. The control scheme lets you mimic dual-analog control by using buttons creatively while the menu and weapons interfaces are intuitive. This game hasnt left my PSP since I got it last week.. I think GTA is getting jealous.

If you own a PSP but not this game, buy this game. Especially at the price its being offered now. I am not good at dual-stick shooters, and this is a variation on the theme using the right X,O,[],^ buttons to look/aim. It took me a while to get used to this, but the tutorial missions and campaign mode ramp up the difficulty very well, throwing a little at a time. I died often during the boss battles of the first couple missions, but playing them again after completing the entire campaign, I can easily go through without dying on hard mode. Ive gotten used to the shooting, the gadgets, and some techniques for clearing a room. This is my first Syphon Filter game, so Gabe Logan is a new character to me, and once I got used to the gruff Im Batman voice, I found the voice acting pretty good, lots of FMV to tell the story. Some of the movies are a little long, but not punishingly so like MGS:PW. The campaign is around 30 missions, each taking me 7-20 minutes to complete, a very good pace to keep the action and the story moving. Now that Im done, Im replaying the missions trying to improve my Career Rating. When you progress through your rating, you unlock new weapons, which are nice, but I may not use them, I just like the act of trying the same mission using different weapons/techniques. For example, try the mission killing the enemies with only a knife, or by only using headshots, or using the environment. Replaying the missions this way is a blast (literally, sometimes) and Ill probably log twice as much time doing this as I did during the story. The audio is great, when playing with headphones, you can hear baddies coming in through the squeaky door, then walking around the corner. The soundtrack is appropriate with excellent action cues. Its too bad you hear the UMD spooling up before the song plays though, it spoils a bit of the suspense. All in all, I knew this game was highly-rated before I bought it, but wasnt sure if I could overcome the controls. I shouldnt be surprised that I liked it so much, but I am. Buy it now!

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 !!!

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.