NOT EVERYONE LIVES FOREVER
Well, I finally review something new. The Syphon Filter
games are one of the best franchises to grace the Playstation console,
and now the fourth installment goes to the PS2. The games are not known
for their evolution through titles, and although this installment undergoes
the most change, this is still pretty much the same game. This is not
a bad thing, although some will undoubtedly will be turned off by this.
Personally, I don't mind it; if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
One thing I love about the games is that they all follow each other. It feels like watching a season of 24 (a very LONG season), and the similarity between titles aids this. I highly suggest that you play the games in order, but this one is a bit more newbie-friendly than 2 and 3. Otherwise, you will be in the dark about many things.
But let's take a quick look at the predecessors, after all, they are pretty much the same game. Beware, spoilers.
Syphon Filter:
The series begins with agents Gabriel Logan and Lian Xing tracking a German terrorist named Erich Rhoemer, who is in possession of a biological weapon named Syphon Filter. The SF virus is capable of being engineered to target victims of a certain race or nationality while others remain unaffected.
The story begins with Washington DC being held hostage with several bombs loaded with said virus. We are able to try out the controls and see how Gabe runs like he's got joint dysfunction. He meets the first boss, Girdeux, in the Washington Memorial. He's got full body armour and a flame thrower. Oh, how are we going to stop him? Wait a second! I've seen Lethal Weapon 4! That's right, he's got a huge gas tank strapped to his back! Brilliant idea! Putting a giant propane tank on your back kinda makes all that protection pointless. Maybe he could have chose a safer yet still deadly weapon, like a freaking huge belt-fed machine gun. At least his tank will take about 20 shots to completely blow up (those other explosions are just little pussy flame flashes), so he's not a complete pushover.
As the investigation continues, you head to a cathedral to eliminate several scientists and save test subjects (well...) Someone at 989 has a bit of a sadistic streak, cause several of the targets are unarmed and will throw themselves at your feet and beg for mercy. I kid you not, I actually thought about not doing it for a few seconds. It brought back memories of several of my victims. But, uh, nevermind that.
The climax occurs in a missile silo in Kazakhstan. Now here's the only real bad part of this game: the final battle is pretty lame. Although Rhoemer does not seem to be even wearing a flak jacket, he is completely immune to your bullets. Not even grenades or headshots will kill him. He's also equipped with a grenade launcher, which any seasoned SF player is well aware of how dangerous it is. So how do you kill him? You make a break for an opening in the wall which just happens to be there to find some gas grenades in a crate which just happens to be there. Sometimes, Rhoemer will blow you away and sometimes he does not. Just pray that you don't die, get the grenades, chuck one at him, and he dies! Awesome! Not!
Syphon Filter 2:
Well, Rhoemer is dead, but it turns out that your agency was in cahoots with him. Uh oh. Lian was infected with the virus in part 1, but here her infection plays a major part in the story. The game begins with an Agency assault team attacking the 'good guys'. Lian is captured while Gabe is off doing important stuff like tipping over computer mainframes. Assisted by Teresa Lipan and Lawrence Mujari, he works to rescue her and find a cure.
The game begins with Logan's plane being shot down in the Rocky Mountains, and he and several survivors must fight their way of it. Of course, the NPC's are all useless and are quickly killed off. Too bad you have to defend a pair of them for a mission. A helicopter appears and fires a few missiles, causing a huge avalanche. In the fall, Gabe not only loses all his weapons, but his flak jacket as well. Huh? How in the hell do you lose a FLAK JACKET while you're wearing it? Later on, he jumps off a bridge as the chopper blows it up, falling god knows how far, and somehow lands safely on a train passing underneath. Meanwhile, Lian frees herself and they can then focus on obtaining the cure.
This one introduced the ability for (certain) enemies to be able to headshot you. I have nothing against this except for the fact that when an enemy can shoot you in the head, he will always aim for your head. Even if you wear a bulletproof helmet and take off all your other clothes, he will still choose to aim for your head. Why 989 Studios put that feature in the game I'll never know. The problem is that when the word "Headshot" pops up (how does Gabe know when someone is aiming at his head or wearing a flak jacket anyway?), it doesn't mean someone is aiming at your head, it means someone has a LOCK on your head. You'd better roll, or else you'll probably get killed. Even if you guys are running parallel to each other in the opposite directions, 9 times out of 10 he won't miss.
This brings me to my only real gripe about this game. In 2 levels, you chase this guy around who you need to take alive and you don't have the ability to do so yet. However, since he has no problem with putting a bullet in your head, you'll need to avoid getting headshot. Since you can't kill him, you need to get closer to him. Why? Because then he'll run away so you can corner him later on. So you end up rolling repeatedly between cars/trees/ or whatever cover you can find. What the fuck? All of a sudden I'm playing Sonic The Hedgehog with terrorists in the park. The great thing is that when you roll, you only break the lock for a split second, and the guy can shoot you right when you stop. So you just keep rolling as fast as you can and hope that he doesn't plug you when you stop.
At the end, you have the cure for Lian and the Agency's successors are dead. However, there is unfinished business at hand... Chance, the leader of the GI's with you on the mountain is a double agent for the Agency. He shoots Teresa and then goes for you. Once again, the final boss is immune to your weapons. At least this time his invulnerability is justified since he's covered head to toe in full body armour. You defeat him by picking up the UAS 12 auto shotgun and blowing him into the helicopter blades. Not nearly as exciting or gory as it sounds. Apparently he just gets a nasty cut and bleeds to death.
Syphon Filter 3:
Well, we've taken out the terrorists, the corrupt agency, now we've got the crooked secretary of state to deal with. No, that's not really a spoiler. It's painfully obvious from the opening cinema that he's in on this. Speaking of cinemas, this game has seriously given the series an overhaul in the FMV department. However, that doesn't necessarily mean better. Just look at the opening cinema.
One thing I love about the games is that they all follow each other. It feels like watching a season of 24 (a very LONG season), and the similarity between titles aids this. I highly suggest that you play the games in order, but this one is a bit more newbie-friendly than 2 and 3. Otherwise, you will be in the dark about many things.
But let's take a quick look at the predecessors, after all, they are pretty much the same game. Beware, spoilers.
Syphon Filter:
The series begins with agents Gabriel Logan and Lian Xing tracking a German terrorist named Erich Rhoemer, who is in possession of a biological weapon named Syphon Filter. The SF virus is capable of being engineered to target victims of a certain race or nationality while others remain unaffected.
The story begins with Washington DC being held hostage with several bombs loaded with said virus. We are able to try out the controls and see how Gabe runs like he's got joint dysfunction. He meets the first boss, Girdeux, in the Washington Memorial. He's got full body armour and a flame thrower. Oh, how are we going to stop him? Wait a second! I've seen Lethal Weapon 4! That's right, he's got a huge gas tank strapped to his back! Brilliant idea! Putting a giant propane tank on your back kinda makes all that protection pointless. Maybe he could have chose a safer yet still deadly weapon, like a freaking huge belt-fed machine gun. At least his tank will take about 20 shots to completely blow up (those other explosions are just little pussy flame flashes), so he's not a complete pushover.
As the investigation continues, you head to a cathedral to eliminate several scientists and save test subjects (well...) Someone at 989 has a bit of a sadistic streak, cause several of the targets are unarmed and will throw themselves at your feet and beg for mercy. I kid you not, I actually thought about not doing it for a few seconds. It brought back memories of several of my victims. But, uh, nevermind that.
The climax occurs in a missile silo in Kazakhstan. Now here's the only real bad part of this game: the final battle is pretty lame. Although Rhoemer does not seem to be even wearing a flak jacket, he is completely immune to your bullets. Not even grenades or headshots will kill him. He's also equipped with a grenade launcher, which any seasoned SF player is well aware of how dangerous it is. So how do you kill him? You make a break for an opening in the wall which just happens to be there to find some gas grenades in a crate which just happens to be there. Sometimes, Rhoemer will blow you away and sometimes he does not. Just pray that you don't die, get the grenades, chuck one at him, and he dies! Awesome! Not!
Syphon Filter 2:
Well, Rhoemer is dead, but it turns out that your agency was in cahoots with him. Uh oh. Lian was infected with the virus in part 1, but here her infection plays a major part in the story. The game begins with an Agency assault team attacking the 'good guys'. Lian is captured while Gabe is off doing important stuff like tipping over computer mainframes. Assisted by Teresa Lipan and Lawrence Mujari, he works to rescue her and find a cure.
The game begins with Logan's plane being shot down in the Rocky Mountains, and he and several survivors must fight their way of it. Of course, the NPC's are all useless and are quickly killed off. Too bad you have to defend a pair of them for a mission. A helicopter appears and fires a few missiles, causing a huge avalanche. In the fall, Gabe not only loses all his weapons, but his flak jacket as well. Huh? How in the hell do you lose a FLAK JACKET while you're wearing it? Later on, he jumps off a bridge as the chopper blows it up, falling god knows how far, and somehow lands safely on a train passing underneath. Meanwhile, Lian frees herself and they can then focus on obtaining the cure.
This one introduced the ability for (certain) enemies to be able to headshot you. I have nothing against this except for the fact that when an enemy can shoot you in the head, he will always aim for your head. Even if you wear a bulletproof helmet and take off all your other clothes, he will still choose to aim for your head. Why 989 Studios put that feature in the game I'll never know. The problem is that when the word "Headshot" pops up (how does Gabe know when someone is aiming at his head or wearing a flak jacket anyway?), it doesn't mean someone is aiming at your head, it means someone has a LOCK on your head. You'd better roll, or else you'll probably get killed. Even if you guys are running parallel to each other in the opposite directions, 9 times out of 10 he won't miss.
This brings me to my only real gripe about this game. In 2 levels, you chase this guy around who you need to take alive and you don't have the ability to do so yet. However, since he has no problem with putting a bullet in your head, you'll need to avoid getting headshot. Since you can't kill him, you need to get closer to him. Why? Because then he'll run away so you can corner him later on. So you end up rolling repeatedly between cars/trees/ or whatever cover you can find. What the fuck? All of a sudden I'm playing Sonic The Hedgehog with terrorists in the park. The great thing is that when you roll, you only break the lock for a split second, and the guy can shoot you right when you stop. So you just keep rolling as fast as you can and hope that he doesn't plug you when you stop.
At the end, you have the cure for Lian and the Agency's successors are dead. However, there is unfinished business at hand... Chance, the leader of the GI's with you on the mountain is a double agent for the Agency. He shoots Teresa and then goes for you. Once again, the final boss is immune to your weapons. At least this time his invulnerability is justified since he's covered head to toe in full body armour. You defeat him by picking up the UAS 12 auto shotgun and blowing him into the helicopter blades. Not nearly as exciting or gory as it sounds. Apparently he just gets a nasty cut and bleeds to death.
Syphon Filter 3:
Well, we've taken out the terrorists, the corrupt agency, now we've got the crooked secretary of state to deal with. No, that's not really a spoiler. It's painfully obvious from the opening cinema that he's in on this. Speaking of cinemas, this game has seriously given the series an overhaul in the FMV department. However, that doesn't necessarily mean better. Just look at the opening cinema.
"She'd be alive today if it wasn't for me."
"Teresadied thewayshelived, doingwhatshebelievedin."
Yes, he really does talk like that, and he looks like
a complete doofus when he delivers that line. Also, the FMV's are usually
devoid of any special effects and are often brief. The one for the first
level goes like this:
(van pulls up in front of hotel)
"I'll monitor your progress from the rendezvous
poi..."
"Right."
Total elapsed time: 5 seconds. In-level FMV's are also
gone, so they only occur before and after levels. Kinda weak.
The story here starts with Gabe and Co. eliminating the attempted buyers of the virus, and then being called to testify in a special Senate court regarding the SF conspiracy. The game unfolds in mostly flashbacks, from how the team got together to what really happened at Costa Rica. But one must wonder why the events of Costa Rica where not revealed in part 1.
This would be a nice place to point out how this game suffers from a bit of what I like to call 'sequalitis.' This is when sequels rip things right out of predecessors and reuse them. You hitch a ride on Rhoemer's plane and he attacks in body armour. You can't kill him with any weapon, so you get a UAS 12 and blow him out of the plane! Sound familiar? It should. This is how you killed the final boss of SF2. Hey, I got a better idea; he's not wearing a helmet, so why don't you just shoot him in the head? No Gabe, the HEAD! Oh, forget it. Too bad he's got a parachute and manages to get away safely. Way to go, dipshit!
Meanwhile, Lian checks out the ground base and encounters an enemy guard who fell down in a hole and needs help. What does this mean in the game? Absolutely nothing! You can't do anything to help him except put him out of his misery. Why did they even put him in the game? Maybe in Metal Gear Solid 3 you'll encounter some guard who got his hand stuck in a pipe!
"Hey, Jack? Is that you? Hey, I need a little help here..."
THIP!
(gets shot in head)
There are also a few missions in the current, but not enough for my tastes. One such mission has you stopping a shipment of the virus by destroying a ship, and then you must destroy several trucks which also contain the virus. They are amoured, so you plant explosives on the ROOF. I guess they didn't expect an attack from above. One of the M16 team members that assist you turns out to be a traitor.
The story here starts with Gabe and Co. eliminating the attempted buyers of the virus, and then being called to testify in a special Senate court regarding the SF conspiracy. The game unfolds in mostly flashbacks, from how the team got together to what really happened at Costa Rica. But one must wonder why the events of Costa Rica where not revealed in part 1.
This would be a nice place to point out how this game suffers from a bit of what I like to call 'sequalitis.' This is when sequels rip things right out of predecessors and reuse them. You hitch a ride on Rhoemer's plane and he attacks in body armour. You can't kill him with any weapon, so you get a UAS 12 and blow him out of the plane! Sound familiar? It should. This is how you killed the final boss of SF2. Hey, I got a better idea; he's not wearing a helmet, so why don't you just shoot him in the head? No Gabe, the HEAD! Oh, forget it. Too bad he's got a parachute and manages to get away safely. Way to go, dipshit!
Meanwhile, Lian checks out the ground base and encounters an enemy guard who fell down in a hole and needs help. What does this mean in the game? Absolutely nothing! You can't do anything to help him except put him out of his misery. Why did they even put him in the game? Maybe in Metal Gear Solid 3 you'll encounter some guard who got his hand stuck in a pipe!
"Hey, Jack? Is that you? Hey, I need a little help here..."
THIP!
(gets shot in head)
There are also a few missions in the current, but not enough for my tastes. One such mission has you stopping a shipment of the virus by destroying a ship, and then you must destroy several trucks which also contain the virus. They are amoured, so you plant explosives on the ROOF. I guess they didn't expect an attack from above. One of the M16 team members that assist you turns out to be a traitor.
"Change of plans. We need to bring this truck in."
"But we're supposed to destroy it..."
"Well, uh, Maggie just called me and said to bring
it in for... uh, research!"
"Well, alright, but you better not be lying and
betray us."
So he almost runs you down and makes off with the truck.
You chase on foot. Of course, that is really going to work, so Nigel decides
to stop and get out so you can shoot him. What a nice guy.
In the conclusion, Teresa turns out to be alive (WHAAAT?) and provides the convincing testimony to put Vincent away. Turns out her death was faked so she could secretly uncover information. Good idea, since only Gabe and Chance saw her get shot, and one of them ain't talking. She gives her story about her first contact with Gabe during a shootout in Montana. Aside from joining the ATF at a really young age, she seems to be cool with her first field action: sniping a pair of shooters. Then she fights off hordes of well-trained NSA operatives. I think she's hiding something.
So it's on to a chase for Mara on a subway train. The level itself is pretty cool, with terrorists crashing through windows and blowing holes in the roofs of the cars. However, the final confrontation has got to be the most anti-climatic scene I have ever seen. Mara hides behind a layer of bulletproof glass. Aha! I just happened to find an AUG on the train, so you're fucked! What? It can shoot through walls, any kind of metal, and solid concrete, but it can't fire through a mere sheet of bulletproof glass!?! So what do you do? Either: stand really far away and shoot her so that a glitch will make your shot go through the glass, or do it the proper way. Climb on top of the train car and shoot her through the roof. Yeah, shoot an oblivious woman in the back through the wall with an X-ray gun; you are indeed one of the best operatives in the agency. Then she somehow escapes. Figures.
This one has often been bashed, but I still think it is a great addition to the series. However, I'm not going to touch the question "Which one is the best?" with a 60-foot pole. At least a few missions take place in Afghanistan, so you get to blow away some Taliban trash. That automatically gets 3 points right there.
And now we have number 4. What? You though that crooked politics were as high as this went? Well, its not cause he was only being manipulated by another, even more evil shadow man. Okay, let's be honest here, this is installment #4 of a conspiracy. How much further can this go? One more game, it seems (for the PSP), but then Sony says its going to call it quits.
After SF3, the buzz was all about how the Syphon Filter saga was over, but Gabe and company would return for another different title. Well, I don't quite see it that way. This still seems like Syphon Filter to me, just a different strain (hence the title.) That doesn't suggest an all new story. Hey, what if we made the Matrix Revolutions with a newly updated Matrix instead? Instead of version 5.6, it will be the 6.0 version of the Matrix! It could be a whole new franchise!
So this new strain of the virus is devastating multiple locations in the world. Italy, Uganda, and Carthage are all facing outbreaks. A Russian general is selling the virus to various terrorist groups across the globe. After the events of SF3, a new organization was formed to combat this menace: The International Presidential Consulting Agency (IPCA.) Huh, I don't recall the agency ever giving the President any real advice or even 'consulting' with him, so how did that last part get worked in there? We just kill terrorists. And why does this group has an acronym resembling a rap band? The story also has Mara imprisoned in Guantanomo Bay. I guess they caught her again after SF3. Of course, she's already escaped by the time the story's begun.
Who stands in the way of worldwide disaster? Why, it's YOU! Well, that is if you can make someone that looks relatively like you with the 4 different faces you can make at the beginning. You have to unlock the rest. When I began, my guy didn't look much like me at all. After many hours, my guy is still a bit off. Oh well, no biggie. However, the fact that you put yourself in the game means that they have to generalize it a bit. You are never seen in FMV's, and you never speak. Again, no biggie, but it is disappointing playing a mute.
Now, on to the quality... The graphics are pretty good, but not spectacular. The FMV's have improved much since number 3, but are still a little limp. Even after 3 games, the special effects still look pretty shabby (just look at the explosions.) Also, every single one starts off with a shade of green. Cool effect, but I got tired of it after the second level. The characters all look good, and the running animation is much more natural.
The music is great, just like its predecessors. When you get caught up with a firefight or other tense situation, the music speeds up and other cool things. However, there are a few places where the music will just stop and there will just be silence. Sometimes it can be annoying when the music will skip back and forth between calm and intense music for no reason at all. Sounds are standard fare. Voice acting is well done; although older SF fans may hate the new voice actors, I don't mind at all. As with earlier titles, the dialogue adds to the feel as bosses will taunt you as you do battle (like Girdeux laughing off your bullets with a taunt.) However, since whenever someone speaks and the subtitles appear over his head, it is very easy to miss what is said. Subtitles on the bottom of the screen would have remedied this. Another problem is that your superiors are whiny little bitches and always get on your ass.
In the first level, I ran straight to the bio-gear and picked it up only to hear "Dr. Elsa needs those water samples!", followed shortly by "Find the field morgue and get those tissue samples!" Whoa, calm down bitch. I haven't even been given that objective yet. When I do get there, I get a "I know Gabe wouldn't have recruited you if you weren't the best, so don't disappoint me." And "Don't screw up that field autopsy!", and then she rewards me by telling me to "Find the scanning station and upload the samples!" Oh, and hurry up! When she told me to hurry up on the second level again, I just wanted to snap.
Look, I just ran all over this city, killed more people than I know, avoided killing CHA officers despite them firing at me, protected said officers from harm, found new bio-gear, collected a bunch of water samples, performed an autopsy, uploaded files, defended a generator, took out Proust, stopped the contamination of the water supply, and saved a bunch of civilians from a hit squad. What have YOU done? Let's see, you chased an unarmed man into the subway. Then you lost him and let him get captured by the terrorists; that was a good one. Now you got yourself pinned down by a sniper and you want ME to bail YOU out. I'm sorry if I'm not making the fucking Guinness world record here (I hear James Bond holds the record.) Thankfully, your supervisors later on are less whiny, although they still nag about the time.
The controls are a bit different, and veterans will take a little while to adjust to it. Movement is now accomplished solely by joystick. The D-pad is used for another things. The only thing I can really nag about is that I often perform a quick 180-degree turn when I want to take a step back. Also, since the game can't be paused online, switching weapons during battle is not as simple as it should be. Off-line is fine though. The auto aiming is still in effect, and it usually suffices for the most part. However, I once unloaded a full AK clip at someone 3 feet directly in front of me without hitting him. I know AK-47's are one of the most inaccurate weapons in existence (Counter-Strike lies!), but he was DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF ME! I could have spat on him, and probably should have. It boggles my mind that I do much better aiming manually with the thing than the computer.
The gameplay has changed a little bit. Enemies that can do headshots are very rare (I can only remember 2 or 3 levels where enemies can do so) and their chances of hitting are more realistic. But the biggest change is the "anything goes" rule. Now, you can still finish a level after failing an objective or parameter. On the other hand, when you die, you are only sent back to the previous checkpoint. You don't lose any real progress and the guys you killed are still dead (for now; see below), although a death can mess up your timetable and cause you to fail an objective. This makes TOS easier than its predecessors. Although nice, I prefer the other way.
Why? Because missions are still somewhat trial and error. On the first level, after uploading the samples, a few blips on the radar appeared to signal enemies. I immediately thought "Uh oh, ambush!" and dug in. I waited... and waited... Well, they never came, but they sure were having quite a time with their weapons. Suddenly, the game tells me that they blew up the generator and I failed the mission. Oh gee, thanks for the heads-up! It would have been nice if the game had let me know I was supposed to protect the stupid thing. Maybe a "The generator is under attack!" would have been helpful. Problem #2 is that there is no retry last objective, restart from last checkpoint, or even restart feature in the game. If you want to retry something, you have to quit, wait for the game to load, reselect the level, wait for the game to load, and reselect your loadout. Very annoying and a huge waste of my time. I could understand why they didn't want this feature to be used online, but they removed the pause option online, so why not this one?
One of the most toted features of TOS is the online mode. However, I don't have online capabilities and I don't plan on it anytime in the near future, but from what I hear, it's great. Provided you don't get a n00b or one of those 'ELITE SF PLAYERS WHO HAVE HEADSETS BECAUSE ONLY THOSE WHO SUCK DON'T HAVE ONE!' Friendly little community.
In fact, it seems that Sony forgot about the large body of SF fans who won't be playing this game online. There are several flaws evident while playing. First is the ever-respawning bad guys (see title.) More than half the guys you'll face will respawn, sometimes as fast as you can kill them. I don't really mind those that reappear when you run through an area again, but the whole reason I kill everything is to be done with them. This makes online games way more exciting, as you have 2-4 people fighting at once, but it doesn't work so well for 1 player. Sometimes, you can't even secure an area and simply have to make a break when you temporarily whittle down their numbers enough. It sucks killing a wave of 7 people only to move 10 steps and encounter 7 more.
Even worse is the inability to complete the game off-line. At my count, there are 7 objectives I can never complete, 4 FMV's (one of which is the good ending) I will never see, and at least a couple Zeus files I cannot unlock. There are also several other bonuses, but I don't care about those. I don't mind not being able to do team objectives, and the Zeus files would be nice, but the FMV's I cannot forgive.
So those aside, how's the game? Just like the first 3: awesome. Although easier than its predecessors, this game sports several difficult objectives, and even some 'secret' missions to unlock if you have the skill. There are a few stealth missions which will bring back fond/accursed memories of part 2. Here though, they are much better than before. With one exception, its no longer some guy sees you and immediately uses his telepathic powers to alert the base and you get shot to death in about 1/8th of a second. Now they either have to hit alarms planted around the base or get a shot off (although nobody notices when they discharge their guns as they go down.) There are also a few fun parts which turn into complete turkey shoots.
However, now I must mention unforgivable act #2 (the first is inability to 100% game): taking 4 missions and making them 'bonus' missions and requiring you to complete levels in bullshit times. Par times, they call them. Huh, my knowledge is a bit rusty, so let me consult the Webster's Desk Dictionary Of The English Language:
Par
A: an equality in value or standing.
B: an average or normal quality, condition, etc.
C: the legally established value of the monetary unit of one country.
D: the nominal or face value of a stock or bond.
E: (Golf) the number of strokes set as a standard for a hole or a complete course.
F: average or normal.
G: at or pertaining to par.
I'm guessing that F is the one we're looking for. Wow, I didn't know that the average SF player ran away from every terrorist he/she encountered. That makes me feel a little better, but that doesn't get me a bonus level. Considering that you have to know the level like the back of your hand, run from anybody you don't have to kill, and not make any mistakes, I don't know where they thought the word 'par' would be the right one. And who thought this was a good idea? Last time I checked, this game was about stopping terrorism, not running a fucking marathon. The kicker is that despite how hard this is, you can't possibly think you're good at this game when you're running down a hall with less than 50% life and 3 guys shooting at you.
And why do I even have to unlock this level? These levels contains valuable plot points that you will miss out on and will have to figure this junk out yourself. And since you'll probably have beaten the game by the time you are good enough to get 'par', you won't need the little plot points anyway. Extra multiplayer arenas, characters, weapons, or even just bragging rights would be fine, but the only requirement to unlock a level relevant to the plot should be 'complete the previous level.' Maybe in Metal Gear Solid, they should have made the nuclear warehouse area a 'bonus' area and you need to complete the previous parts in 20 minutes to enter it! Maybe in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (ah, the power of updating old articles) , the Green Sabre mission should have been a 'bonus' mission unlocked after completing the prior missions with 90% firearm accuracy. Yeah, maybe the fans will like that. Getting par is hard, no fun at all, and they aren't even worth all that effort spent to get them.
And a couple of little things... The enemies in this game are pretty tough, as evidenced by the multiple times (pretty common, actually) that they shrug off headshots. I know I got them; their faces are covered with blood! Also, usually about 1/4 of the damage I receive during a mission is sustained by dead bodies firing wildly as they collapse. There is also a little quirk I like to call 'the shit factor', as in shit happens. These are the little anomalies that occur and screw your otherwise good game and make par even more impossible to attain (you have to accomplish all objectives and parameters too), like guards suddenly turning around for no reason and seeing you. The greatest one was when Khorsh saw me crouching behind a pair of boxes way across the bazaar in the properly marked discreet area with his back to me.
All right, if you don't want SF 4 spoiled, you'd better just leave now, cause from here on out, it is all spoilers.
Now here's a quick overview of the story. The game starts off with a French terrorist group (huh, France has terrorists?) leading the strike on Carthage, Michigan. Apparently, this was supposed to be set in Montreal, but those wacky Canadians didn't like the idea, so they instead went with the city/town of Carthage. Too bad they got the state wrong. There is no Carthage in Michigan, but there is one in IL, which I guess was the one they were thinking of. Hey Sony, try looking at a map sometime! Oh well, it's fun running around yelling, "Take this, cheese eaters!" The main plot is in the mall, where the group plans to detonate 2 viral bombs.
The police use smoke grenades (which last way longer than mine), but the terrorists have bullpups with thermal scopes. The police are getting wiped out, so you get sent in to lock down the mall entrances to keep the SWAT team out. The only thing is that like most (if not all) malls, the doors are made out of GLASS, and there are huge panes of glass next to them as well. I guess SWAT gets the hint, and doesn't simply give the glass a kick. But hey, if you fail, only one officer gets killed (there's one outside each exit.) I guess in Canada (to hell with their wishes, I'm still saying Canada), one person makes up a team. So, when the Canadian police say "We are sending 4 additional teams into the mall," they mean "We are sending 4 additional officers into the mall." But if someone is there to immediately snipe anyone who gets inside, how come I don't get shot?
Finally, AFTER I defuse the bombs, the terrorist decide that they should take me down. With their weapons, they have quite an advantage over me. Too bad they run and attack in close. Uh guys, you do know that you have THERMAL VISION SCOPES on your guns, right? You can shoot from more than 7 feet away. Apparently they don't, so I easily take one down and use my newly acquired bullpup to waste them all.
We make a stop in Yemen to obtain the viral container from the Russian general when he makes a deal in an arms bazaar. Zohar decides to plant explosives to take out the vehicles. Whoa, he's supposed to be carrying a container with the Omega Strain in his car; are you sure we should blow it up? So the general comes tearing in and shows no regard for the gate at the market. Hey asshole, those gates aren't cheap! Why don't you take your car and crash it into his palace while you're at it? Maybe Al Hassahn will like that. I don't know about you, but if I was meeting terrorists in their arms market to make a deal, I'd be careful what I did. I certainly wouldn't start breaking their shit. I'm pretty sure that if I told my friend I would trade games with him, then walked to his house and kicked down his door, he'd be really pissed. Anyway, when you take him down, it turns out he don't have the container! Then what was the point of his coming here? Yeah, I'll just give you the vial containing the deadliest bio-weapon in the world and you can pay me later! No problem! Turns out I have to help Zohar eliminate Al Hassahn to get the virus. No problem, the next level is a lot of fun anyway.
So its on to the next mission (mission, not level) at the Minsk university in London. Time for some stealth. There are snipers around watching, so remain inconspicuous. Remember, brandishing weapons and being in restricted areas is conspicuous, but running, rolling, or hunching down and tiptoeing while hugging walls is not suspicious. Whatever. And if you do get accosted by a security guard, just walk (or run) away. That's not suspicious either.
In the conclusion, Teresa turns out to be alive (WHAAAT?) and provides the convincing testimony to put Vincent away. Turns out her death was faked so she could secretly uncover information. Good idea, since only Gabe and Chance saw her get shot, and one of them ain't talking. She gives her story about her first contact with Gabe during a shootout in Montana. Aside from joining the ATF at a really young age, she seems to be cool with her first field action: sniping a pair of shooters. Then she fights off hordes of well-trained NSA operatives. I think she's hiding something.
So it's on to a chase for Mara on a subway train. The level itself is pretty cool, with terrorists crashing through windows and blowing holes in the roofs of the cars. However, the final confrontation has got to be the most anti-climatic scene I have ever seen. Mara hides behind a layer of bulletproof glass. Aha! I just happened to find an AUG on the train, so you're fucked! What? It can shoot through walls, any kind of metal, and solid concrete, but it can't fire through a mere sheet of bulletproof glass!?! So what do you do? Either: stand really far away and shoot her so that a glitch will make your shot go through the glass, or do it the proper way. Climb on top of the train car and shoot her through the roof. Yeah, shoot an oblivious woman in the back through the wall with an X-ray gun; you are indeed one of the best operatives in the agency. Then she somehow escapes. Figures.
This one has often been bashed, but I still think it is a great addition to the series. However, I'm not going to touch the question "Which one is the best?" with a 60-foot pole. At least a few missions take place in Afghanistan, so you get to blow away some Taliban trash. That automatically gets 3 points right there.
And now we have number 4. What? You though that crooked politics were as high as this went? Well, its not cause he was only being manipulated by another, even more evil shadow man. Okay, let's be honest here, this is installment #4 of a conspiracy. How much further can this go? One more game, it seems (for the PSP), but then Sony says its going to call it quits.
After SF3, the buzz was all about how the Syphon Filter saga was over, but Gabe and company would return for another different title. Well, I don't quite see it that way. This still seems like Syphon Filter to me, just a different strain (hence the title.) That doesn't suggest an all new story. Hey, what if we made the Matrix Revolutions with a newly updated Matrix instead? Instead of version 5.6, it will be the 6.0 version of the Matrix! It could be a whole new franchise!
So this new strain of the virus is devastating multiple locations in the world. Italy, Uganda, and Carthage are all facing outbreaks. A Russian general is selling the virus to various terrorist groups across the globe. After the events of SF3, a new organization was formed to combat this menace: The International Presidential Consulting Agency (IPCA.) Huh, I don't recall the agency ever giving the President any real advice or even 'consulting' with him, so how did that last part get worked in there? We just kill terrorists. And why does this group has an acronym resembling a rap band? The story also has Mara imprisoned in Guantanomo Bay. I guess they caught her again after SF3. Of course, she's already escaped by the time the story's begun.
Who stands in the way of worldwide disaster? Why, it's YOU! Well, that is if you can make someone that looks relatively like you with the 4 different faces you can make at the beginning. You have to unlock the rest. When I began, my guy didn't look much like me at all. After many hours, my guy is still a bit off. Oh well, no biggie. However, the fact that you put yourself in the game means that they have to generalize it a bit. You are never seen in FMV's, and you never speak. Again, no biggie, but it is disappointing playing a mute.
Now, on to the quality... The graphics are pretty good, but not spectacular. The FMV's have improved much since number 3, but are still a little limp. Even after 3 games, the special effects still look pretty shabby (just look at the explosions.) Also, every single one starts off with a shade of green. Cool effect, but I got tired of it after the second level. The characters all look good, and the running animation is much more natural.
The music is great, just like its predecessors. When you get caught up with a firefight or other tense situation, the music speeds up and other cool things. However, there are a few places where the music will just stop and there will just be silence. Sometimes it can be annoying when the music will skip back and forth between calm and intense music for no reason at all. Sounds are standard fare. Voice acting is well done; although older SF fans may hate the new voice actors, I don't mind at all. As with earlier titles, the dialogue adds to the feel as bosses will taunt you as you do battle (like Girdeux laughing off your bullets with a taunt.) However, since whenever someone speaks and the subtitles appear over his head, it is very easy to miss what is said. Subtitles on the bottom of the screen would have remedied this. Another problem is that your superiors are whiny little bitches and always get on your ass.
In the first level, I ran straight to the bio-gear and picked it up only to hear "Dr. Elsa needs those water samples!", followed shortly by "Find the field morgue and get those tissue samples!" Whoa, calm down bitch. I haven't even been given that objective yet. When I do get there, I get a "I know Gabe wouldn't have recruited you if you weren't the best, so don't disappoint me." And "Don't screw up that field autopsy!", and then she rewards me by telling me to "Find the scanning station and upload the samples!" Oh, and hurry up! When she told me to hurry up on the second level again, I just wanted to snap.
Look, I just ran all over this city, killed more people than I know, avoided killing CHA officers despite them firing at me, protected said officers from harm, found new bio-gear, collected a bunch of water samples, performed an autopsy, uploaded files, defended a generator, took out Proust, stopped the contamination of the water supply, and saved a bunch of civilians from a hit squad. What have YOU done? Let's see, you chased an unarmed man into the subway. Then you lost him and let him get captured by the terrorists; that was a good one. Now you got yourself pinned down by a sniper and you want ME to bail YOU out. I'm sorry if I'm not making the fucking Guinness world record here (I hear James Bond holds the record.) Thankfully, your supervisors later on are less whiny, although they still nag about the time.
The controls are a bit different, and veterans will take a little while to adjust to it. Movement is now accomplished solely by joystick. The D-pad is used for another things. The only thing I can really nag about is that I often perform a quick 180-degree turn when I want to take a step back. Also, since the game can't be paused online, switching weapons during battle is not as simple as it should be. Off-line is fine though. The auto aiming is still in effect, and it usually suffices for the most part. However, I once unloaded a full AK clip at someone 3 feet directly in front of me without hitting him. I know AK-47's are one of the most inaccurate weapons in existence (Counter-Strike lies!), but he was DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF ME! I could have spat on him, and probably should have. It boggles my mind that I do much better aiming manually with the thing than the computer.
The gameplay has changed a little bit. Enemies that can do headshots are very rare (I can only remember 2 or 3 levels where enemies can do so) and their chances of hitting are more realistic. But the biggest change is the "anything goes" rule. Now, you can still finish a level after failing an objective or parameter. On the other hand, when you die, you are only sent back to the previous checkpoint. You don't lose any real progress and the guys you killed are still dead (for now; see below), although a death can mess up your timetable and cause you to fail an objective. This makes TOS easier than its predecessors. Although nice, I prefer the other way.
Why? Because missions are still somewhat trial and error. On the first level, after uploading the samples, a few blips on the radar appeared to signal enemies. I immediately thought "Uh oh, ambush!" and dug in. I waited... and waited... Well, they never came, but they sure were having quite a time with their weapons. Suddenly, the game tells me that they blew up the generator and I failed the mission. Oh gee, thanks for the heads-up! It would have been nice if the game had let me know I was supposed to protect the stupid thing. Maybe a "The generator is under attack!" would have been helpful. Problem #2 is that there is no retry last objective, restart from last checkpoint, or even restart feature in the game. If you want to retry something, you have to quit, wait for the game to load, reselect the level, wait for the game to load, and reselect your loadout. Very annoying and a huge waste of my time. I could understand why they didn't want this feature to be used online, but they removed the pause option online, so why not this one?
One of the most toted features of TOS is the online mode. However, I don't have online capabilities and I don't plan on it anytime in the near future, but from what I hear, it's great. Provided you don't get a n00b or one of those 'ELITE SF PLAYERS WHO HAVE HEADSETS BECAUSE ONLY THOSE WHO SUCK DON'T HAVE ONE!' Friendly little community.
In fact, it seems that Sony forgot about the large body of SF fans who won't be playing this game online. There are several flaws evident while playing. First is the ever-respawning bad guys (see title.) More than half the guys you'll face will respawn, sometimes as fast as you can kill them. I don't really mind those that reappear when you run through an area again, but the whole reason I kill everything is to be done with them. This makes online games way more exciting, as you have 2-4 people fighting at once, but it doesn't work so well for 1 player. Sometimes, you can't even secure an area and simply have to make a break when you temporarily whittle down their numbers enough. It sucks killing a wave of 7 people only to move 10 steps and encounter 7 more.
Even worse is the inability to complete the game off-line. At my count, there are 7 objectives I can never complete, 4 FMV's (one of which is the good ending) I will never see, and at least a couple Zeus files I cannot unlock. There are also several other bonuses, but I don't care about those. I don't mind not being able to do team objectives, and the Zeus files would be nice, but the FMV's I cannot forgive.
So those aside, how's the game? Just like the first 3: awesome. Although easier than its predecessors, this game sports several difficult objectives, and even some 'secret' missions to unlock if you have the skill. There are a few stealth missions which will bring back fond/accursed memories of part 2. Here though, they are much better than before. With one exception, its no longer some guy sees you and immediately uses his telepathic powers to alert the base and you get shot to death in about 1/8th of a second. Now they either have to hit alarms planted around the base or get a shot off (although nobody notices when they discharge their guns as they go down.) There are also a few fun parts which turn into complete turkey shoots.
However, now I must mention unforgivable act #2 (the first is inability to 100% game): taking 4 missions and making them 'bonus' missions and requiring you to complete levels in bullshit times. Par times, they call them. Huh, my knowledge is a bit rusty, so let me consult the Webster's Desk Dictionary Of The English Language:
Par
A: an equality in value or standing.
B: an average or normal quality, condition, etc.
C: the legally established value of the monetary unit of one country.
D: the nominal or face value of a stock or bond.
E: (Golf) the number of strokes set as a standard for a hole or a complete course.
F: average or normal.
G: at or pertaining to par.
I'm guessing that F is the one we're looking for. Wow, I didn't know that the average SF player ran away from every terrorist he/she encountered. That makes me feel a little better, but that doesn't get me a bonus level. Considering that you have to know the level like the back of your hand, run from anybody you don't have to kill, and not make any mistakes, I don't know where they thought the word 'par' would be the right one. And who thought this was a good idea? Last time I checked, this game was about stopping terrorism, not running a fucking marathon. The kicker is that despite how hard this is, you can't possibly think you're good at this game when you're running down a hall with less than 50% life and 3 guys shooting at you.
And why do I even have to unlock this level? These levels contains valuable plot points that you will miss out on and will have to figure this junk out yourself. And since you'll probably have beaten the game by the time you are good enough to get 'par', you won't need the little plot points anyway. Extra multiplayer arenas, characters, weapons, or even just bragging rights would be fine, but the only requirement to unlock a level relevant to the plot should be 'complete the previous level.' Maybe in Metal Gear Solid, they should have made the nuclear warehouse area a 'bonus' area and you need to complete the previous parts in 20 minutes to enter it! Maybe in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (ah, the power of updating old articles) , the Green Sabre mission should have been a 'bonus' mission unlocked after completing the prior missions with 90% firearm accuracy. Yeah, maybe the fans will like that. Getting par is hard, no fun at all, and they aren't even worth all that effort spent to get them.
And a couple of little things... The enemies in this game are pretty tough, as evidenced by the multiple times (pretty common, actually) that they shrug off headshots. I know I got them; their faces are covered with blood! Also, usually about 1/4 of the damage I receive during a mission is sustained by dead bodies firing wildly as they collapse. There is also a little quirk I like to call 'the shit factor', as in shit happens. These are the little anomalies that occur and screw your otherwise good game and make par even more impossible to attain (you have to accomplish all objectives and parameters too), like guards suddenly turning around for no reason and seeing you. The greatest one was when Khorsh saw me crouching behind a pair of boxes way across the bazaar in the properly marked discreet area with his back to me.
All right, if you don't want SF 4 spoiled, you'd better just leave now, cause from here on out, it is all spoilers.
Now here's a quick overview of the story. The game starts off with a French terrorist group (huh, France has terrorists?) leading the strike on Carthage, Michigan. Apparently, this was supposed to be set in Montreal, but those wacky Canadians didn't like the idea, so they instead went with the city/town of Carthage. Too bad they got the state wrong. There is no Carthage in Michigan, but there is one in IL, which I guess was the one they were thinking of. Hey Sony, try looking at a map sometime! Oh well, it's fun running around yelling, "Take this, cheese eaters!" The main plot is in the mall, where the group plans to detonate 2 viral bombs.
The police use smoke grenades (which last way longer than mine), but the terrorists have bullpups with thermal scopes. The police are getting wiped out, so you get sent in to lock down the mall entrances to keep the SWAT team out. The only thing is that like most (if not all) malls, the doors are made out of GLASS, and there are huge panes of glass next to them as well. I guess SWAT gets the hint, and doesn't simply give the glass a kick. But hey, if you fail, only one officer gets killed (there's one outside each exit.) I guess in Canada (to hell with their wishes, I'm still saying Canada), one person makes up a team. So, when the Canadian police say "We are sending 4 additional teams into the mall," they mean "We are sending 4 additional officers into the mall." But if someone is there to immediately snipe anyone who gets inside, how come I don't get shot?
Finally, AFTER I defuse the bombs, the terrorist decide that they should take me down. With their weapons, they have quite an advantage over me. Too bad they run and attack in close. Uh guys, you do know that you have THERMAL VISION SCOPES on your guns, right? You can shoot from more than 7 feet away. Apparently they don't, so I easily take one down and use my newly acquired bullpup to waste them all.
We make a stop in Yemen to obtain the viral container from the Russian general when he makes a deal in an arms bazaar. Zohar decides to plant explosives to take out the vehicles. Whoa, he's supposed to be carrying a container with the Omega Strain in his car; are you sure we should blow it up? So the general comes tearing in and shows no regard for the gate at the market. Hey asshole, those gates aren't cheap! Why don't you take your car and crash it into his palace while you're at it? Maybe Al Hassahn will like that. I don't know about you, but if I was meeting terrorists in their arms market to make a deal, I'd be careful what I did. I certainly wouldn't start breaking their shit. I'm pretty sure that if I told my friend I would trade games with him, then walked to his house and kicked down his door, he'd be really pissed. Anyway, when you take him down, it turns out he don't have the container! Then what was the point of his coming here? Yeah, I'll just give you the vial containing the deadliest bio-weapon in the world and you can pay me later! No problem! Turns out I have to help Zohar eliminate Al Hassahn to get the virus. No problem, the next level is a lot of fun anyway.
So its on to the next mission (mission, not level) at the Minsk university in London. Time for some stealth. There are snipers around watching, so remain inconspicuous. Remember, brandishing weapons and being in restricted areas is conspicuous, but running, rolling, or hunching down and tiptoeing while hugging walls is not suspicious. Whatever. And if you do get accosted by a security guard, just walk (or run) away. That's not suspicious either.
"What are you doing here? Can I see your ident...
hey! Aw man, they ALWAYS run away!"
These guys seriously need to work on their assertiveness.
However, if one does make you, he will use his amazing telepathic powers
to instantly warn his buddies. I guess that makes up for the pointless
security protocols they have here. One mission requires you to obtain
the code to a door, which you can learn by a guard who just happens to
be forgetful and thinks out loud. REALLY LOUD. However, inside the building,
a security camera sweeps the area. Quite a problem, eh? No, cause entering
the code for the door also deactivates the camera. WHY HAVE THE DAMN CAMERA
THEN!?! Isn't the whole purpose of the camera to catch people who shouldn't
have been able to make it through the door? No one seems to care if a
camera fails to come back online, though. Of course, the building also
has an unguarded and unlocked door just to the side.
Once in the lab, you plant surveillance equipment around the room. However, the cleanup team arrives and burns the whole place down. Oh well. Fortunately, we discover a deep sea salvage operation for the USS Lorelei (the ship destroyed in part 3.) Lawrence accompanies me. Of course, he doesn't believe in using lethal force, even against enemies, unless absolutely required. Of course, this is hard to notice during this mission since Mr. 'I Will Not Kill Them' shows no problem with spraying already dead bodies with holes as they go down (and sometimes as they lay.)
Next up is a raid of Murakawa Tower. However, once inside you come face to face with some dude named Ryusuki, head of security. Well, he's certainly doing a good job, what with taping his boss doing deals and leaving the tapes strewn randomly about filing cabinets throughout the building. Why did Murakawa think this was a good idea in any way? Anyway, Ryusuki is equipped with a gatling gun which can seriously fuck anything up (it kills in one hit!.) You know, the kind that go, 'EEEEEEEEE...Dadadadadadadadadadadadada!' I love that! You can't get the jump on someone with working ears, what with the huge whine it makes when it warms up. But the great part of this game is the general vagueness and unanswered questions allows people to create their own theories, no matter how stupid.
Getting deja vu facing this guy? Well, after researching all the Zeus files, I have discovered a very plausible theory: Ryusuki is actually Anton Girdeux!* Girdeux didn't really die after being set on fire at the Washington Memorial, and then planted a burned body in a morgue slab at the New York agency lab marked with his name, knowing full well that Gabe would be curious to check it out (why does he check it out anyway? Oh crap, shock troopers! I need to escape, pronto! Hey, this is that guy I fried in the predecessor! I wonder what he looks like...) and then would gossip all about it and spread the word that he was dead, allowing him to move about in secret. Next, he went to work for Murakawa Industries. He secretly used the laboratory to manufacture massive amounts of PCP and sell them to bolster his funds. He was known on the streets by the name 'The French man with the burned face'.
He planed to gain control of the company via controlling stock, then sell it and buy a prominent video game producer and run it behind the scenes. Then, he'd obtain the rights to a wildly successful movie, churn out a completely horrible game based on it in under 5 weeks, and manufacture a few million more copies than they could have ever possibly hoped to sell. After the game flopped, the company would try to cut their losses and the unsold games would be dumped in landfills all over the globe. However, samples of the Syphon Filter virus would be hidden among them, which would seep out into nearby water supplies and contaminate the entire planet!
Tragically, Ryusuki accidentally ate the liver of a blowfish and died. Seeing his chance, Girdeux went to Fadhil, got plastic surgery and assumed Ryusuki's identity. He then bought some new weaponry. Learning from past mistakes, he got a safer weapon this time. However the chain gun, surgery, and company fees cost a lot of money and he could no longer afford his body armour, so he had to make do with a helmet and flak jacket. Armed with this knowledge, shoot him in the neck a couple times and he goes down. Time for some real fun now. Oh wait, you can't heft the weapon, so you'll just have to be satisfied that no terrorist will ever use it again.
The agency discovers a link to some guy named Niculesque. He appears clean, so they check out the bank he runs. There they find evidence that an agency official is on the payroll. Now, logically the next step is to arrest him or put him out of office, right? Well, no. Gabe decides to wait until AFTER they stop Ivankov to arrest him. Also, in order to unlock this particular ending you need to get some Canadian award. You obtain this by completing several objectives in the first 3 levels such as saving the SWAT team and CHA officers. Whatever the hell this has to do with Birky I don't know. I guess they must have been carrying evidence too.
And the final showdown is at a military base in Ukraine. Right when it begins, Lian says:
Once in the lab, you plant surveillance equipment around the room. However, the cleanup team arrives and burns the whole place down. Oh well. Fortunately, we discover a deep sea salvage operation for the USS Lorelei (the ship destroyed in part 3.) Lawrence accompanies me. Of course, he doesn't believe in using lethal force, even against enemies, unless absolutely required. Of course, this is hard to notice during this mission since Mr. 'I Will Not Kill Them' shows no problem with spraying already dead bodies with holes as they go down (and sometimes as they lay.)
Next up is a raid of Murakawa Tower. However, once inside you come face to face with some dude named Ryusuki, head of security. Well, he's certainly doing a good job, what with taping his boss doing deals and leaving the tapes strewn randomly about filing cabinets throughout the building. Why did Murakawa think this was a good idea in any way? Anyway, Ryusuki is equipped with a gatling gun which can seriously fuck anything up (it kills in one hit!.) You know, the kind that go, 'EEEEEEEEE...Dadadadadadadadadadadadada!' I love that! You can't get the jump on someone with working ears, what with the huge whine it makes when it warms up. But the great part of this game is the general vagueness and unanswered questions allows people to create their own theories, no matter how stupid.
Getting deja vu facing this guy? Well, after researching all the Zeus files, I have discovered a very plausible theory: Ryusuki is actually Anton Girdeux!* Girdeux didn't really die after being set on fire at the Washington Memorial, and then planted a burned body in a morgue slab at the New York agency lab marked with his name, knowing full well that Gabe would be curious to check it out (why does he check it out anyway? Oh crap, shock troopers! I need to escape, pronto! Hey, this is that guy I fried in the predecessor! I wonder what he looks like...) and then would gossip all about it and spread the word that he was dead, allowing him to move about in secret. Next, he went to work for Murakawa Industries. He secretly used the laboratory to manufacture massive amounts of PCP and sell them to bolster his funds. He was known on the streets by the name 'The French man with the burned face'.
He planed to gain control of the company via controlling stock, then sell it and buy a prominent video game producer and run it behind the scenes. Then, he'd obtain the rights to a wildly successful movie, churn out a completely horrible game based on it in under 5 weeks, and manufacture a few million more copies than they could have ever possibly hoped to sell. After the game flopped, the company would try to cut their losses and the unsold games would be dumped in landfills all over the globe. However, samples of the Syphon Filter virus would be hidden among them, which would seep out into nearby water supplies and contaminate the entire planet!
Tragically, Ryusuki accidentally ate the liver of a blowfish and died. Seeing his chance, Girdeux went to Fadhil, got plastic surgery and assumed Ryusuki's identity. He then bought some new weaponry. Learning from past mistakes, he got a safer weapon this time. However the chain gun, surgery, and company fees cost a lot of money and he could no longer afford his body armour, so he had to make do with a helmet and flak jacket. Armed with this knowledge, shoot him in the neck a couple times and he goes down. Time for some real fun now. Oh wait, you can't heft the weapon, so you'll just have to be satisfied that no terrorist will ever use it again.
The agency discovers a link to some guy named Niculesque. He appears clean, so they check out the bank he runs. There they find evidence that an agency official is on the payroll. Now, logically the next step is to arrest him or put him out of office, right? Well, no. Gabe decides to wait until AFTER they stop Ivankov to arrest him. Also, in order to unlock this particular ending you need to get some Canadian award. You obtain this by completing several objectives in the first 3 levels such as saving the SWAT team and CHA officers. Whatever the hell this has to do with Birky I don't know. I guess they must have been carrying evidence too.
And the final showdown is at a military base in Ukraine. Right when it begins, Lian says:
"Remember, our main priority is to stop the missile
from launching."
Well, that's not going to happen because that's a team
objective and I need at least 2 other people to do it. It would also have
been nice if the programmers could have come up with a better challenge
than just "Hey, let's jack up the damage dealt by the enemy's weapons!"
Enemies are packing AK-74's (dunno if they exist UPDATE: They do! The
History Channel does come in handy!) and C11's, which are deadly enough
to begin with, but here a grazing bullet will take off 75% of your armour/life.
Did I mention they can headshot you too? In the silo, they also have flame
throwers which set you on fire (which any SF veteran knows is very
bad, except for the fact that here, the game can glitch and make you invincible
for the rest of the level. Happens somewhat often, actually.) They aren't
nearly as deadly in your hands, however. There is no final boss, although
there is one guy in a tank if that counts. He's really easy to kill though.
Instead, you just 'defend' Gabe as he works the control panel. Of course,
he won't ever die, but if you don't cover him he might not be able to
hack the computer in time. The Russian general Ivankov is never seen during
this level except for the opening scene. What happens to him? Well, we
did nuke his base, so I guess he died in the explosion, but a final fight
would have been more exciting.
Yes, so I skipped a few levels, what of it? Well, count on Sony to make a good ending though (except for the part about not being able to unlock the good missile ending on solo.) At the very end, Gabe finally does what he should have done a long time ago: finish Mara. That totally made my day. Finally, Ellis is avenged! And so, that's my shtick (ooh, lame pun.) I am not disappointed at all with this game, there were just several thing done that I don't like. Even with the whole 100% thing, this game is still worth the price off-line.
Yes, so I skipped a few levels, what of it? Well, count on Sony to make a good ending though (except for the part about not being able to unlock the good missile ending on solo.) At the very end, Gabe finally does what he should have done a long time ago: finish Mara. That totally made my day. Finally, Ellis is avenged! And so, that's my shtick (ooh, lame pun.) I am not disappointed at all with this game, there were just several thing done that I don't like. Even with the whole 100% thing, this game is still worth the price off-line.