Syphon Filter: Logan's Shadow Review

Syphon Filter Logan's Shadow is a rather fascinating "ending" to the series. I consider it to be a solid game overall yet at the same time I feel like the way Bend Studio closed it felt like it was out of bad faith. More on that later.

I'll start with the story and it's...strange. While the character interactions and Gabe Logan himself are as entertaining as ever(Logan's interactions with the new recruits in the tutorial mission being a great highlight), there is also just way too many randomly introduced plot elements that made me started asking questions every 5 minutes. Who is Cordell? Who is Bitar? Who is Alima? Who is Dane Bishop? I played the previous Syphon Filter games within close proxmity of each other and I am wondering who a good number of these characters even are since the previous games never established them, apparently, Alima was in the Omega Strain but the rest are entirely new characters introduced in this game. What makes this even worse is that it's established that Logan and the crew has known the above mentioned characters for a while yet I am just now hearing about them. Some characters like Dane Bishop are entertaining, while others like Bitar are underwhelming since he suffers from that video game villain problem of the story mostly being a goose chase and he only has a little screen time and has a few lines before he dies. Speaking of establishing so many plot points in between games, this feels like Kingdom Hearts levels of "do your homework" before playing the next game but at the same time, I don't think there was any Syphon Filter tie in material for this game which makes everything all the more jarring. Then there is all the stuff involving Lian which I thought the 3rd game already established but it turns out....there is more that the audience and by extension Gabe didn't know about her, it all feels like it comes out of left field, I am guessing this is a theme of the game how there is more to people than you originally thought, I also feel like this could've been built up and alluded to better. In the context of this game, its...fine since it does a good job at creating some tension between Lian and Gabe while being an okay mystery box, but in the context of the series, I find this whole thing to be questionable, mainly because it feels like it enters into the realm of retconning and I am not sure if it adds a whole lot to Lian's character considering what her and Logan has been through. Story is not bad, since Logan and his interactions with his crew does a good job at making the story engaging and the whole over the top spy nature of the plot, I do think the story could've fitted better within the grand context of the series like Dark Mirror did. The ending was also terrible. I am really supposed to believe that Trinidad would magically know where Logan and the gang are hiding out and then he just suddenly kills mostly everyone including Logan. It's contrived and forced considering there was barely any foreshadowing before this point in the story and if the game ended before the after credits ending, it would've been fine, but no, the game pulls a Yakuza 3 and has the whole "killing off" the main character out of nowhere thing like that game did. It really felt like Bend closed the series out of bad faith instead of it being a worthy send off for Logan. 

Now the gameplay and this is where I am more positive on, the game is basically more of Dark Mirror, and if you like that game, you'll like this game. I do think this gameplay is better than Dark Mirror overall, it gives you more options in combat like the human shield mechanic, underwater fighting which I thought was a really good edition to the series, and it makes you use the all in one sniper rifle more, even though I mainly used the explosive bullets more than anything else since electric rounds I used on occasion since now you don't need to use them to damage elite enemies and bosses anymore and gas rounds were useless since they were a stealth tactic and the stealth isn't that great. The combat is the the same as Dark Mirror so if you didn't like the fact that enemies didn't react to getting shot to anywhere other than the head, and how you need to constantly get headshots in order to avoid getting killed, then you are probably going to dislike the combat, I didn't mind since I find it cool that a shooter requires forces you to actively aim for the head, especially a hitscan shooter where you fight human enemies. Flak jacket enemies can be grating since they can take a number of shots to the head so it's best to be careful when they are around to counteract this, you get flak jackets and your health regens now so, even with your flak jacket gone, you aren't in an unwinnable state. I also wish the human shield mechanic got more use like on the levels of Dead to Rights 1 and Retribution and the Volition Punisher game since I only ever used it from time to time especially when enemies can tear your health to shreds when up close.

Syphon Filter is best described as an "interactive spy story" and the game does a good job at fuffling that fantasy. I have been kind of negative on the game, I do feel like the game is solid. I like the underwater gameplay and sections and wished there were more of them. I like that the underwater sections turns your hitscan guns into slow moving projectiles and now you have to check where the bullets will land. The submarine boss fight with Dane Bishop was well done since you have to take down enemies while timing the depth charges to damage the enemy sub and then open it's weak spot to do damage. The game has plenty of sections to break up it's more traditonal cover based shooting galleries like protecting and escorting people, looking around with your detective vision I mean EDSU goggles, shimming around on occasion, sometimes you need to wear heat vision goggles to see enemies through spoke, other times you need to do certain actions while on a timer, then you need to use your RTL to get across and attack enemies while you are using it, there is some stealth here and there and the stealth kills are skill pretty satisfying to pull off even if the mechanics aren't that great. The last episode combines all of the stuff I mentioned really well too, where you need to shut off valves, swim, kill enemies, use the RTL, then go on a timer to get to the other side of the floodgate. The game throws enough new at the player that it never really gets dull even if the cover shooting itself is just satisfactory. The game does a good job at making the player feel like they are in an interactive spy story without it feeling way too scripted and on rails. This is more on the action side of the espionage gameplay spectrum rather than Splinter Cell being more on the stealth side which is why I always found it silly that Syphon Filter was even considered a stealth game at all but that is a different topic.  

Overall, If you like Dark Mirror, you'll like this game, but if you dislike it, there is a good chance you will dislike this one too, and be warned, the after credits sequences ends the series on a really sour note.