I remember being very hyped for this game in some of my video game mags. Syphon Filter did not disappoint. It's visuals may be dated and it's controls may take some getting used to but playing it now I remember why I liked it so much back in the day. I admit it's probably mainly nostalgia but I had a rollercoaster of emotions playing it again.

One: That tazer is still so satisfying and it's a pretty unquiet hand to hand weapon. Wait did I say hand to hand? Cause that shit can shoot out a mile away and burn guys to a crisp. Awesome.

Two: Enemies either have storm trooper aim or 360 no scope you. No middle ground.

Three: The stealth sections are better than I thought they would be and the snow base level is great trying not to raise an alarm. If this came out this year their would definitely be a trophy for not causing an alarm on that stage.

Four: Holy Shit that caves stage at the end it the most frustratingly cheap shit ever. I don't remember it being that bad, but I was gonna throw my controller at the TV at one point. It's completely dark and all you have is a sniper with night vision and navigating this cave and switching to the flashlight to see is impossible without getting shot at as they instantly see you. You can't fight with the light on but you can't see with the gun. What the hell.

Platinum Trophy #155

I always disliked this game when I was younger. But it's an odd bit of PS history now, and on PS5, so I figured why not -- I'll beat the fucker.

Man, it's tough. Thank goodness for the rewind feature on the PS5 emulator. It's also aged much worse than MGS and just about every other sacred cow on PS1.

With that said, I enjoyed what it tried to do. Which is while I'll be suffering through the sequel shortly.

Despite the many issues it contained, I found Syphon filter to be one of the more endearing games I’ve played in the last twenty or so years.


I have to get the obvious out of the way here, Syphon filter is one of the ugliest games on the PlayStation (and the 5th generation). Textures constantly warp and break, effects like fire are super low res and overly pixelated, level geometry 90% of the time only consists of nothing but basic rectangles and squares, and character models are ugly as sin, with face textures that look like they were lifted from roblox (I roared laughing when I saw Gabe’s face the first time). The models have an ugly, blocky shape to them, and due to the game being covered in a gross looking grain filter, it can be near impossible to tell what kind of fire arms they have until they start shooting at you. The games prerendered cut scenes don’t fair any better, being extremely compressed and pixelated, and covered in the same grain. With the same low quality character models.

Thankfully, the game fares far better in terms of animations, location variety, and frame rate.

Enemies have exaggerated animations to clearly convey to the player how to react and where to aim. Which is even more impressive when you learn everything is mocapped. The mocap in cut scenes is genuinely competent, and doesn’t suffer from the mocap many 7th gen-contemporary games still suffer from where characters never stop moving just to show of the tech and having it end up becoming distracting. Characters in cut scenes animate with enough realism to impress, in spite of the low fidelity.

While the game is ugly as sin as I have mentioned, and will continue to mention, the location variety will always keep you interested. Syphon Filter never has a location overstay it’s welcome. You’ll be stopping a terrorist assault on Washington DC, infiltrating a museum undercover, stealthing around a frozen Kazakhstan base, sneaking through a Gothic Ukrainian labyrinth etc. It really immerses you into Gabe’s career as a globe trotting secret agent.

The game maintains an almost constant, stable, 30 fps. The only significant drops being if you constantly list Gabe back and forth while running (which you have to go out of your way to do), or doing a U-turn when you need to drop down ledges, which is never a major issue as that always occurs during downtime when you need to sneak around or navigate at high elevations.

Syphon Filters story isn’t anything special. While the premise is solid, the Syphon filter virus is rarely used across the entirety of the story, we are given no indication as to how deadly the virus is due to Rhoemers men only manufacturing and testing it. And while you do see some infected around the midway point of the game, they show no dangerous or alarming symptoms aside from marginal fatigue.

Gabe and Liang aren’t particularly interesting either. The only real defining trait they both have is that they are good at their jobs. For better or worse, you won’t see either develop over the games run. It doesn’t help that the games first cut scene establishes Liang as just as capable as Gabe, yet she’s side lined to being Gabe’s info giver for the entirety of the game. Why this was done is bizarre, as she could have had her own tool kit and missions to help provide more variety to the gameplay.

Rhoemer himself also isn’t a very compelling antagonist, his attacks never escalate past small skirmishes or occupations, and he is constantly thwarted by Gabe, never gaining one victory over him. His motivation for wanting to use the virus is never explained either, he comically tells Gabe “I won’t tell you” in the final mission when asked this, and his death comes incredibly easy, which I guess suits him given how unremarkable he is.

The game does feature some other prominent secondary characters, but they’re just as bland and underwritten as the rest. Mara had potential as a rival to Gabe, but all she really does is escape and play both sides to her own benefit (we never see what that benefit is nor are we given a hint). Markinson is nothing more than Gabe’s boss until he isn’t anymore and betrays Gabe to get his hands on the virus, but he’s killed by Rhoemer before he can explain why (in the same cut scene where Rhomer refuses to explain why HE wants the virus).

The story is not a reason you would be compelled to play this, or replay it. The bullet points for a story are there, but its execution is bare minimum.

It’s impossible to talk about Syphon filter’s gameplay without comparing it to it’s biggest source of inspiration, Goldeneye. During the games troubled and lengthy dev cycle, Goldeneye was extensively played in order to get an idea of strong level structure and pacing. For what it’s worth, Syphon filter translates these mechanics quite well for the majority of the game, with the truly bad missions abandoning the template of excellence from Rare’s classic.

Unlike Goldeneye, Syphon Filter doesn’t stack mission objectives with each level of difficulty, this does not mean the game is easy though, far from it. Syphon Filter is one of the most difficult games on the playstation and memorization of enemy placements and awareness of mission parameters are integral to progressing.

Just as in Goldeneye, failing certain parameters fails the entire mission and requires a restart, but doesn’t instantly boot the player back to the last checkpoint, so you can can still get a feel for the level layout if you wish before restarting, which is a nice form of balance. Completing each objective gives you a checkpoint, and the larger the levels, the more frequent the checkpoints, so progression never feels like it’s stalling even with the extremely high difficulty. And with the level structure designed around memorizing everything, subsequent attempts become easier.

Movement in Syphon filter takes around 5 minutes to get used to, but feels great once it settles in. The game uses tank controls, but Gabe’s movement is surprisingly swift. Making slight adjustments is easy as all you need to do is roll your thumb around the D-pad and gabe will list just enough to the direction you want to go, if that isn’t enough for you, holding L2 or R2 let’s you instantly strafe, adding to the overall fluidity.

Needing Gabe to drop down onto a ledge can be a bit of a pain however. As you need to be facing away from the ledge and walking backwards, and pressing down of the D-pad for to long will make Gabe automatically do an 180 and force you to try again, this is more and more frequent as the game goes on, and becomes annoying quick.


The shooting never tries to be more complex than it needs to be, simply locking on snaps the reticule to the nearest enemy. Gabe will always hit his target unless there is an object in the way, enemies go down quickly to compensate for the high amount of damage they can do to you, And strafing and dodging with circle makes running and gunning fun to do with how fluid Gabe’s movement is.

The way Syphon filter approaches enemy attacks is quite interesting. While engaged in combat, a danger meter will gradually fill, during this time, all attacks towards Gabe will miss, and when it does fill and flash, you are guaranteed to get hit. This is where the extremely high difficulty of the game lies. Enemies hit hard when the danger meter fills, and can kill Gabe in less than a second. Constant movement and repositioning is needed to survive, as that can make the danger meter drain and give the player a fighting chance. I was incredibly impressed with the danger meter, as in many stealth games, a blown cover or mandatory combat sections can be incredibly dull or frustrating, but this clear, but not condescending safety net makes firefights engaging and is a great balancing tool for the powerful enemies.

Another mechanic taken from Goldeneye (and Virtua cop by extension) is the zoomed in first person aiming, though it’s implementation is quite clunky and stiff. If you are needing to use stealth, the aiming is fine, and the game displays the word “head shot” when the reticule contacts the enemy hitbox to not make the player waste any ammo, but having to use it in required combat scenarios is a different story.

The health system in the game revolves around finding flak jackets, and while you can find some of them in ammo crates scattered around the level, the majority will be acquired by killing enemies wearing them, the only way to kill said enemies is to head shot them in first person mode, the vast majority of your deaths will happen because of these encounters, as the incredibly stiff aiming in first person mode means that the danger meter will always fill by the time your head shot lines up, and late game when damn near every enemy squad has at least one of these flak jacket wearing soldiers, it can lead to several instances of great annoyance when the text “flak jacket” flashes on screen and you need to reset yourself to try and kill them quickly. Thankfully, flak jackets restore half of your health bar each time, making this poorly implemented mechanic a bit more bearable. This comes in clutch as your health is not refilled after each mission, but I would have appreciated if it was at least refilled after a mission, as having to deal with that is plain cheap design.

Syphon filter suffers from very poor boss fights, the first two bosses have way to much health and take way to much time to wear down. There is nothing tense about these fights either, as avoiding their attacks is incredibly easy with all of the cover the game provides, the first boss is the worst offender, as you need to keep using the awful first person aiming to hit his fuel tanks, and it takes well over a dozen hits to finally blow him up.

The final fight against Rhoemer is straight up pathetic, as all you need to do is climb up a ledge, and throw a gas grenade, if you have none on hand, there’s a box full of them on the ledge with you, add to the fact that he can’t hit you when on said ledge, and it makes it all the more hilarious.

While Syphon filters level design is mostly good. It also suffers from some outright terrible missions.

While the game gives a wrong impression at first with mission 1 being more open ended, you’ll still be taught the fundamentals of shooting, climbing, room memorization. How to deal with flak jacket soldiers, scanning the environment for text prompts to complete objectives, and when checkpoints are given. There’s even a funny nod to Goldeneye’s Dam mission, where you have to use the first person aim to shoot off a lock to progress, while the open endedness ending here is a bit dissappointing, a high amount the rest of the games missions are tightly focused and push you forward just enough while not being hand holdy.

Syphon filter is at its best when you must use stealth to progress. Mission 8 is the prime example of this, as the player has to take out searchlights, and use their silenced pistol and night vision rifles to take out enemies silently, or they risk failing the mission.


It would have greatly benefited the game to have 4 or 5 more of these missions, as while the shooting galleries are fine in bursts, the game relies heavily on them late game to pad out the length. With the last 4 missions being reduced to narrow, under designed hallways peppered to hell and back with Flak jacket squads.

The game doesn’t feature a heavy use of gadgets, which is a shame because the two you do use are feel fresh and interesting, using an infrared scanner to find viral cadavers in crates was a fun way to test the players observation skills, and the Taser was a nice safety net in case you run out of ammo, but given how many enemies you encounter, who always drop their weapons, you’ll never run out anyway, making the latter redundant.

For the majority of the game, you’ll be simply going through mostly tight linear levels with heavy amounts of shooting galleries, broken up by finding consoles/bombs/other objects. Occasionally you’ll need to kill a scientist to get a key card, and in later missions this becomes tedious as they will often be paired up in twos, and stealth shotting one of them will always alert the other to your presence, and it’s a guarantee he’ll be wearing a flak jacket. Which adds to how dull the end game becomes.

When the game takes you to Ukraine for a few missions, it does have you using the lock on mechanic to figure out which stained glass window you can break through to find your way around. I was impressed at this unconventional use of lock on, and it was unfortunate that the game never attempted this kind of quirkyness after this.

Syphon filter’s gameplay isn’t anything amazing, or great, but it is competent and solid in its foundations. While the end game being poor is a let down, it’s not due to any mechanical faults, rather it was most likely due to having to get the game out at a final deadline given how troubled the development was.

Musically the game is on par with the gameplay, solid but nothing special. Aside from the now Iconic menu theme, none of the tracks stand out that well, that being said, the melodies are catchy and the synths and drums do an ok job at setting a tense atmosphere. The seamless switch from stealth to combat ost is genuinely very well done, and while 99% of the songs will not stand out, there isn’t a bad one to be found.

Syphon filter’s troubled development certainly brings it down quite a bit, but in spite of that, it does have a mostly competent gameplay loop and solid fundamentals that make it worth a look for six to seven hours. There are flashes of brilliance such as the Ukraine and Kazakstan sections, and it at the very least understands what made its source of inspiration work and makes an honest effort to try and mostly replicate it. It’s awful visuals and bare bones plot won’t stick with you, but the decent level design, serviceable run and gun shooting, tight controls, and perfectly fine ost make it worth checking out.

6/10.

Third person shooters weren’t very frequent on PS1 and when they did come by they were usually pretty bad. Syphon Filter proved that you can make this genre work on the PS1. The game is still really fun today and was way ahead of its time. A well-done camera, great lock-on system, a decent story with memorable characters, a kick-ass arsenal of guns, and genius level design. Who would have thought a third person shooter would be this good in the late 90’s? Eidetic and 989 Studios did.

You play as super spy Gabriel Logan who is a CIA agent trying to stop a dangerous terrorist named Eric Rhoemer. A Syphon Filter virus that targets specific DNA demographics has been created by a man named Phagan and it is up to you to shut down their operations and stop them from spreading the virus. You start out in New York with the streets being shot up by Rhoemer’s thugs. There are objectives in each level to complete, but it is way beyond throw this switch, pull this lever or shoot this amount of bad guys. You usually have to kill a certain amount of scientists, administer vaccines to victims, disarm bombs, turn off power grids. The objectives vary, but what is fun is figuring out how to get there.

Syphon Filter has some of the most memorable levels I can remember. This is a game you play several times and remember where every enemy is, every crate location, and even how to kill each enemy. The levels vary with stealth sections, climbing, and timed areas. The game features a smart lock-on system because there is no camera control. It is surprisingly smart and follows you wherever you go. Enemies wearing flak jackets can only be taken out with headshots or very powerful weapons. This requires aiming in first person mode and taking them out. This flak jacket element is a staple of the series and will go on to be in every game. It is actually an element all on its own and not just body armor for you or the enemy. You can die very easily and if you don’t stop and aim for headshots you will waste ammo and/or die very quickly.

There are a couple of boss fights thrown in such as a helicopter midway and Rhoemer himself at the end. I found all gameplay elements to be evenly tossed up so you are never bored. The stealth elements need a bit of work and are probably the worst thing about the game, but it is very minor. Crouching and sneaking around works fine, but enemies tend to see you at unknown distances. Maybe a line of sight cone on the radar would help this. You also have to get in headshots otherwise they won’t die right away and alert other guards.

Weapon selection is also a bit flimsy because you have to hold down select and use L2 and R2 (strafe buttons) to select the weapon. I would have preferred a radial menu instead. Some levels can be a bit hard to navigate are too dark to see. Thankfully you get a flashlight you can equip because some levels are nearly pitch black. I found myself lost a few times because even though the level design is fantastic, some levels can look the same with confusing hallways and misplaced crates and boxes.

I actually learned about weapons as a kid from this game. Real world weapons are in here and some that I have never seen in any other game before. The weapons are almost a character all on their own because they feel so good to shoot in the game. The K3G4 will cut through flak jackets easily and is probably the only weapon that will do this. The G18 is a super fast sub-machine pistol, while the silenced 9mm is a staple of the series. The shotgun, combat shotgun, PK-102, BIZ-2, Nightvision Rifle, .45, HK5, and a few more are all excellent weapons. It was also the distinct sounds the developers used that make these guns so memorable. The game has a great sniper scope that was unseen in games back then. There are grenades and gas grenades which are great for taking out a group of enemies stealthily. There are a lot of great weapons in the game and they are very memorable, unlike most shooters.

While the game itself is amazing the graphics were pretty good at the time. Looking pretty realistic art wise, the game had some good lighting effects and a lot of detail everywhere. I also have many fond memories of this game as a kid. I actually accidentally rented Silent Hill because I forgot the name of this game. I got all the way to the Pharcom Warehouse levels and had to turn the game in. I rented this game many times over and played it to death as a kid. I purchased it a few times here and there and every time I play this it brings back fond memories. Syphon Filter is one of the greatest games ever made and every gamer should play this masterpiece.

Com clara inspiração nos filmes de ação dos anos 90 e 2000, Syphon Filter entrega uma experiência de ação constante, rápida e intensa, com partes de stealth aqui e acolá.

O jogo oferece uma ótima ambientação, com bons gráficos e um som bem construído, já que tiros e explosões são efeitos que ocorrem com certa frequência. A atuação de voz segue um roteiro repleto de frases de efeito, com uma execução boa para a época, vale dizer. Da parte da trilha sonora, essa envelheceu melhor, com composições que atendem à ambientação da trama, com temas mais do que adequados para momentos lentos, agitados e para os desenrolares do enredo, contribuindo positivamente com a narrativa. É uma boa trilha, mas tirando o tema principal, não achei particularmente memorável.

Dos gráficos, eles são bem feitos, com bons efeitos de explosão, e há alguns recursos que dão um toque a mais, como os vidros quebrando durante as trocas de tiros. Há uma grande variedade de cenários, passando por locais urbanos, bases militares, um castelo (sim, um castelo), museus, além de se passarem em diferentes partes do dia e em climas variados, como a missão noturna em uma base militar russa coberta de neve. Os modelos humanos são competentes, e com uma variedade coerente à do cenário, ou seja, vai ter boneco com traje de segurança e outros com uniforme militar com a devida camuflagem. A animação não é ruim, mas poderia ser melhor, pois todos os personagens quando correm parecem que empregam um esforço muito maior do que a velocidade com que de fato estão se movendo, problema agravado com o protagonista, pois o jogador o vê praticamente o tempo inteiro.

Em termos de jogabilidade, pode-se dizer que ela é satisfatória na maior parte do tempo. Era um momento em que ainda se estava aprendendo a desenvolver jogos funcionais em 3D, e era frequente encontrar controles extremamente travados, o que não é o caso aqui. Syphon Filter tem controles bem fluídos para o período, mas que não se saem tão bem quando é necessário circular por ambientes mais apertados. Não é uma jogabilidade perfeita, mas as concessões que pede frente à atualidade não são muitas, tampouco fortes (acho mais aceitável que controles tanque, por exemplo).

Das ideias bem executadas, há o caso do conceito de travar a mira em um alvo, visto a princípio em um jogo totalmente diferente que saiu pouco antes, no caso, Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Outra ideia inovadora foi a presença de um botão situacional (aqui o triângulo), que executa funções como escalar objetos, acionar dispositivos, abrir portas, etc.

Há também uma mira manual, acionada em L1 que funciona muito bem. Segurando do X para se manter agachado, e os gatilhos para se mover para os lados, é possível manter cobertura (em um protótipo da jogabilidade que seria refinada alguns anos depois) para mirar direto na cabeça dos inimigos, o que garante uma morte instantânea. Com o decorrer do jogo, dominar essa ferramenta se torna essencial, pois os adversários passam a usar um colete de balas que é uma verdadeira esponja de danos, fora que quanto menos se atinge esses coletes, mais inteiros eles ficam quando são dropados, o que é um recurso precioso, pois a curva de dificuldade cresce bem, e com certeza o jogador receberá danos.

O level design é das coisas mais interessantes do jogo, com objetivos variados e que mudam com o decorrer dos acontecimentos, e há fases que dão um maior grau de liberdade para o jogador escolher a maneira com a qual vai lidar com os desafios, e a ordem em que fará isso. No âmbito do design não tão bom assim, há as já citadas missões stealth, que achei frustrantes, pois em caso de ser visto, das duas uma: ou surge do NADA uma horda de inimigos digna de um Musou, ou a missão falha e tem de se começar tudo de novo (ou pelo menos do último checkpoint). Algo no mínimo bem punitivo para um erro que pode ser pequeno.

Já que mencionei altos e baixos, isso também se aplica para as lutas contra os chefes. Algumas são bem feitas, mas outras nem tanto, sobretudo a última, em que tive de assistir uma gameplay para se ter uma ideia do que fazer.

Pegando esse gancho dos chefes, é válido falar em como eles estão inseridos na trama da obra. É um enredo que envolve uma ameaça terrorista de um grupo autônomo, sem ligação (oficial, diga-se de passagem) com nenhum governo e é composto por terroristas de várias partes do mundo, o que faz com que eles sejam dublados com sotaques estereotipados. Algo do momento, ressalte-se.

Syphon Filter garante uma experiência legal, e com algumas concessões, alguém que o jogue hoje além de ter umas boas horinhas de entretenimento terá contato com um jogo que dialoga diretamente com o universo do cinema, em um período em que formas de linguagem e estética cinematográficas se tornavam mais presentes na indústria de games. A meu ver, o jogo tem qualidades o bastante para valer por si só, indo além do campo da curiosidade histórica por conta das ideias interessantes que executa.

This is the game from two eras: the era of spy movies and spy military adventures and things like that, as well as the era of limited 3d controls of weird or digital pads of the time.

In terms of presentation game kind of nails it: it indeed feels like movies "Speed", "True Lies", "Mission Impossible" and James Bond movies of the time. The presentation is a bit simplistic, world is more abstract. You can see the game's budget by seeing cutscenes made with in-game models. It is silly but I dare to say that I liked it more than MGS in that regard even.

In terms of gameplay, it is in the alley of first and third-person adventures and shooters on consoles of the time. The limits of the original digital pad forced alternative gameplay mechanics which I enjoyed for what they are. Don't expect it to be as simple as 3rd person FPS as Max Payne, but rather something in the spirit of Tomb Raider mixed with Golden Eye. I generally liked it for what it was, and how those mechanics were utilized. I used leaning and cover, learned to use aim, etc. Bosses and tactical situations force you to adapt to this game's gameplay mechanics.

Not a super hit, but very solid and enjoyable title from the original PlayStation. If you liked Medal of Honor 1 or Perfect Dakr on N64 - you may try this one.

Se comparado a um vinho, esse é aquele que é barato e a gente compra apenas pra ficar bêbado e não para degustar.

Não envelheceu tão bem e, se os controles e sistema de mapas fosse melhor, ele poderia quem sabe se candidatar a ter uma nota melhor.

A história com pegada terrorista e conspiratória faz sentido pela época no qual ele foi lançado, mas hoje em dia iria ser considerado clichê e de fato é, afinal de contas ...missão no Cazaquistão...

Além disso, o jogo tem boas coisas, como torrar o inimigo com o taser kkkkk uma boa variedade de armas e uma construção de cenários interessante.

Sem dúvidas um jogo que vale a pena ser jogado, mas que não é nenhuma obra de arte, longe disso.

Replayed this when it dropped on PS Plus with trophies and it was a bit of a disappointment.

It's quite a frustrating title. I'm questioning if I actually ever beat this as a child. I always had the feeling that I heavily preferred 2 and 3 and I'm more convinced of it than ever.

The way checkpoints don't reset alerts and keep your health dangerously low can potentially fuck up your entire mission. Enemies spawning behind you suddenly, guards spotting you seemingly arbitrarily and the hidden objectives that can potentially lead to backtracking through the entire level... There's so much frustrating stuff in here. The final boss is also an insult.

If I didn't play this with the rewind option of the emulator (I did not want to use it at first, but ended up resorting to it at the end) I might've dropped it.

I liked some of the level design though and the manual aiming being exactly at the height of enemies' heads is quite the good idea and incentivives not using the auto aim the whole time. I dunno, there is a good game under all of these issues, but it feels really rough.

Hope I'm not misremembering and 2 and 3 are actually better.