You might think third-person shooter action stealth games are both hard to succinctly describe and dominated by the likes of Metal Gear Solid and Splinter Cell, but there are entire series of games in this vein that players could enjoy just as much. Well, in theory. One of those series is Syphon Filter, of which I know so little about despite there being six games over the span of just 8 years.
As a fan of MGS, you might have thought I'd be somewhat aware of its competition, or at least somewhat similar games, but with regards to Syphon Filter and it's sixth and final entry, Logan's Shadow, that just isn't the case.
I was shocked to learn that this game was the sixth entry in the series, and shocked once more when it was initially a PlayStation Portable title, only getting a PlayStation 2 port three years later. To complete the shocking trilogy, it plays rather well. Let's find out how.
Fun Times
A short and simple CGI video sets up the scene aboard the U.S.S. Mt. Saint Helens, currently under the control of Somali pirates. From what I gather, Logan's Shadow is a direct sequel to previous title Dark Mirror, also on the PSP, so hopefully, you can at least jump right into this game without knowing who is who.
Ok, so maybe we do need to know who is who. You are Gabe Logan, a super-secret special ops bloke of such and such no doubt off the record branch of some organization or something. Yada yada, insert political espionage speak here.
Teresa works with us and Cordell here is employing us, I guess, for this mission of rescuing a ship from bad guys. These rather good looking cutscenes may not have introduced everyone to new players, but they do a pretty good job of giving me the gist of things - trust nobody, and no matter what you look like, put on a well 'ard voice and you'll be good to go.
What I do know is that I skipped the last three tutorial missions in the hopes of being able to wing it when the time came, and that time is now. How does a third-person shooter hold up on the PSP when it's not Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops?
Smartly, perhaps, it starts with an explosive set-piece to not only show off how well the PSP can do this sort of thing but also strips a whole chunk of the controls out so that you feel comfortable before the game actually gets going.
You see, from up here in our helicopter, aiming and shooting is easing. One analogue nub to aim, one right shoulder button to shoot, watch out for your gun getting too hot, and that's that. You've been whisked around the ship, have already stopped missiles from ruining anyone's day, have dealt with several pirates... You're warmed up for the real game.
Your nub moves Gabe around, and the face buttons are used as a pseudo-stick to move your camera around. You'd think it'd be rather annoying to do so, but for the most part, it actually isn't. It's a little slow and cumbersome and doesn't make you look cool when you're faffing around instead of shooting, but when the pace is slower because you're in cover waiting for the right moment to pop out and shoot, it's not too bad to line up a shot with the face buttons.
I might actually say that Logan's Shadow so far controls better than Portable Ops does. It certainly feels more approachable. Perhaps because of the camera, maybe the difficulty level or the AI, but so far, assaulting this ship as a one-man army has been a delight.
In a couple of places, your pilot Alima is called in to clear your path with a crane arm swinging from the bottom of the helicopter, and a couple of quick-time prompts are required to get the job done. I can't really see why it's necessary. What's the fail state? This is the only way for me to go, it's not like this ship is an open world. This junk will get moved one way or another.
It does, because I can push face buttons when asked, it's just a little strange, is all.
Making our way around the ship some more, dispatching pirates left and right, we're allowed to get comfortable with the controls. You don't have to stick to cover in a fight, for example, and can run and gun your way through the level, picking up weapons and ammo from downed enemies or crates dotted around the place.
We're led to an air vent that needs opening, which launches us into an in-game cutscene. See if you can spot the difference between it and the opening stuff.
I did my best to follow along with the plot, but with so much of it hidden behind the mystery of what's actually going on, we obviously can't get clued into everything. This special operations soldier wasn't supposed to be here, I gather, and now his whole team has been wiped out, with him soon to follow.
Why were they here? How was a spec ops unit brushed aside by Somali pirates? How have there been six Syphon Filter games without me even knowing about them? I guess we'll have to play on.
Frustrations
The second part of this episode started with some stealth. It lasted about a second before my first swipe at this guy from behind caused him to radio into every other enemy on the ship to alert them of my presence.
There are silent takedowns, and even grabbing enemies for use as human shields, and they're not too difficult to pull off - again, I might argue it's easier than in Portable Ops - but all hopes for this next section being quiet were pretty much gone there and then.
It looks a little silly, though, when your highly trained special forces agent is running around an enemy, waiting for his reload animation to finish. It looks a little silly when you're lining up your shots like a claw machine trying to grab a prize. But this mostly looks and sometimes feel awkward in relation to a third-person shooter that is allowed to use a second analogue stick. For a PSP title, Logan's Shadow is damn good.
The number of times I wasn't angled with cover properly or was classed as still running meant a lot of standing around waiting for something to happen, which again looked stupid, but was still about as well as anything I've seen the PSP do.
Throughout my time with Logan's Shadow, I had this strange mix of somewhat janky controls but great gameplay.
Further Fun Times
Alima gets killed by some pirates armed with rockets, and Gabe gruffs his way through the grief by saying she'd want us to see the mission through. He also decides that the idea of Somali pirates being able to use those rockets to shoot down a passenger jet is justification for diving off the ship and sinking some of their own, so we do.
Through the fiddly controls, which now include swimming and diving underwater (really wish I went through the tutorial for that, but luckily we're not tasked with navigating depth charges or anything here), we find our way back to the Mt. Saint Helens, and a gaping hole in her hull where the pirates got in in the first place. And there are more of them to deal with inside...
Even with a mini-map and night vision goggles, I was somewhat disorientated at this part, not knowing where to go in the darkness. After a minute running around like an idiot, I did finally spot a prompt to lift a shutter open and saw some more targets in the distance for me to pick off.
Sadly, I was a little too eager to deal with one. A little too loud, and was instantly swarmed upon by everyone once more, this time to my death.
Ah well. The ship wasn't saved, but lots of checkpoints and episodes chunked up into parts means a second attempt should be reasonably easy to get to next time.
Final Word
I've no idea what's in store for me in Logan's Shadow. I don't know how it relates to Dark Mirror or the four other Syphon Filter games before that, but I do know that I have been pleasantly surprised by what I've played here.
It's amazing that I'm still being surprised by old hardware today. I knew the PSP was capable of some great things, but there were always limits. It couldn't do everything, and the lack of a second analogue nub hurt in so many instances, but Logan's Shadow somehow makes it work, and work relatively well.
Yes, it's a bit of a slog to play sometimes, and will require a little bit of mental rewiring to get the hang of manipulating a camera with the face buttons, but once you do, and once you realize that even though the controls can be a little wonky, they're actually pretty good, you'll have a great time with this game, whether you're aware of the universe it is in or not.
I'm not sure the characters have sold me on Syphon Filter as a whole, though. It does feel like a straight to video cash in from someone hoping to be as good as Splinter Cell and not managing to do so, but still, this game has at least made me aware of Dark Mirror now, also out for the PSP as the lead platform. Maybe it is time to see what Syphon Filter is all about?
I don't know how much you'll get from the plot, but what the gameplay has achieved has got me interested for sure, and apparently, that's actually what many people play games for. Weird. Give Logan's Shadow a shot - preferably on PSP, even knowing there's a PS2 port.
Fun Facts
Back in the day, you could even enjoy the gameplay in a multiplayer environment complete with modes new to the series, including one where both teams are trying to arm and set off nuclear weapons. A tad extreme, no?
Syphon Filter: Logan's Shadow, developed by SCE Bend Studio, first released in 2007.
Version played: PlayStation Portable, 2007, via emulation.