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By Contributing Writer Jimmy Payne Rating: Average I was never a big fan of the first Syphon Filter, and I couldn't understand why it got so much praise from so many people. I was a little bit more impressed by Syphon Filter 2, but still not enough to recommend it as a purchase. Syphon Filter 2 is a unique kind of game in that you can't say, "It's just like (insert game title here)." The look of the game is similar to Tomb Raider, while the action is much closer to Metal Gear Solid. The resulting hybrid is pretty much a "run and shoot" kind of game, which isn't very appealing because this gameplay formula gets old very quickly. There aren't many puzzles, and the ones that are in the game often require you to rush through them instead of thinking carefully. Syphon Filter 2 has slightly better control than the original game, but there's still plenty of room for improvement. Aiming is now much easier, to the point that it's a flaw rather than a welcome feature. Executing head shots is easier than ever before, allowing you to mow down tons of enemies by shooting them in the head one at a time. Also, it's still annoying to turn and have to wait for the camera to catch up with you, and this will cost you a life more than once. Syphon Filter 2's graphics are almost as outdated as Tomb Raider's. None of the character models are very detailed, and that includes the main character. In addition to the lack of detail, the characters also have plenty of jagged edges. The backgrounds are very plain, particularly the skies. Needless to say, it takes you out of the game experience when you try to look up at the sky and see almost nothing at all. The sound is a mixed bag. While the gun noises and voice acting are actually fairly well done, the music needs a lot of work. Most of the music tracks seem to repeat themselves after only a few seconds. I wish there were at least a few tracks in the game that weren't so repetitive. There is a two-player mode in Syphon Filter 2, but the developers should have had the sense to remove it. Just picture a deathmatch version of Tomb Raider and you can almost smell the horror. The bad camera angles of the single-player mode are made even more annoying by the split screen. Likewise, the unbalanced head shots of the single-player mode ruin the balance of the multi-player mode even more. More than anything else, it is Syphon Filter 2's high difficulty level that makes it such a frustrating game. The game starts out too easy, with lots of save points on every level. However, once you get into the later missions, the game gets insanely hard. Multiple enemies often fire at you simultaneously, and they rarely miss. It also seems that there are less save points as the game goes on. Syphon Filter 2 could have been a very good game, but it seems like it was too rushed for the developers to properly balance it. Rather than skillfully balancing the game to make it harder as it goes on, the developers simply decreased the number of save points and increased the accuracy of the enemies. I don't know about you, but that's not my idea of good game design. Send your thoughts on this review to jimmy@mastergamer.com
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