http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f374/Leo_Horus/3052-2-1.jpg
Shooters, a genre that has not been too friendly to Sony?s hand held over the years. The complaint?s of players over the lack of a second analog stick is certainly justifiable when it comes to this generation?s most prevalent genre and has always hampered the functionality of shooters on the PSP. Developers though have tried to find ways around this dilemma with it being hit or miss, unfortunately the latter seems to be more common. This is not to say shooters can?t work as Bend studio?s third person shooter, Siphon Filter: Dark Mirror proves that with the right amount of tweaking, and a solid design plan, shooters can be done on the PSP, and to an exceptional degree.
Siphon Filter is no stranger to today?s color spectrum when it comes to shooters. It is painted with grays, browns, blues, and many other drab colors; it certainly is no halo or Killer Seven. This isn?t a bad thing as most of the game takes place in industrial and urban type locals, but it can seem rather boring looking to those who are looking for color. The environments themselves are well detailed and are accompanied by well done lighting and set pieces that make the levels feel real and give scope to the game. The environments are always changing from mission to mission giving a very refreshing and progressive feeling to the game; you often don?t feel like you are playing the same level over and over. Character models are excellent and full of detail, with remarkably well done animations that really try to capture that essence of realism in the game. Facial expressions in characters in the in game cut scenes are almost nonexistent at times, but given the effort put into the rest of the visuals it?s excusable and balanced off by the CG scenes used to bookend each mission. The CG cut scenes themselves are good, not great, but they do the job and bookend mission nicely as they don?t compromise the consistency of the rest of the visuals. Overall Dark Mirror pushes the PSP hardware and squeezes out some impressive visuals that can leave you thinking you?re playing a console game.
The sound design in Dark Mirror is well done offering great sound effects and well done voice acting. The weapon sounds are crisp, clear, and easy to distinguish between one another. Some weapons may sound somewhat like toys with their clicking and clacking sounds, but you still get that feel of firing a powerful or weak weapon every time you chamber off a bullet. The music comes and goes throughout the game and provides a nice ambiance to the whole experience. It definitely helps set the tone for the current crisis when you are either in the heat of battle or sneaking up to that unsuspecting guard. The music will never truly ?pop? and most of it goes unnoticed when you are playing, but it gets the job done and can be enjoyed by those who have an ear for it. Voice work in Dark Mirror for the most part is excellent. Characters sound natural and the acting doesn?t feel forced aside from a few exceptions. Each voice actor does a good job fitting into their respective characters and dialogue which is spoken well. Some people though may have trouble with the voice of our leading man, Gabe Logan. Logan?s voice sounds like your typical gruff manly voice, a real Christian Bale Batman type voice as if Logan has been smoking for a good 30 years. It?s not BAD but it certainly isn?t the best voice acting done for a main character. Overall the sound design for Dark Mirror is excellent with great clear sound effects and a voice cast that put?s a good effort into their characters.
Dark Mirrors story follows that of a blockbuster action movie, so you might wanna bring that bag of popcorn for the ride. You play as elite agent Gabe Logan of the IPCA, sent in to take down a paramilitary group calling itself Red Section, and uncovering the origin and secrets behind a project known as Dark Mirror. As Logan infiltrates numerous facilities and areas, he and his partner Lian Xing begin to unravel the mystery behind Dark mirror and the leader heading Red Section. There are two missions where you play as Lian, but for the most part you play the role of Gabe Logan secret agent extraordinaire.http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f374/Leo_Horus/syphon-filter-dark-mirror-200602-1.jpgThe story is told well with in game chatter, cut scenes, and CG scenes that start and end each mission in the game. To cover load times between mission segments the player will have nice bite sized pieces of info in the form of Gabe?s journal to read. It?s certainly a good way to make even the load screen an engaging experience, and shows the careful attention to detail the writers have put into the story which is commendable. Character development is sparse, but you feel that you know all you need to in order to enjoy the ride. Even the subplots work well with the overall story and the pacing never falters always leaving the player interested in what lies ahead. It?s an engaging story from start to finish and leaves you satisfied in the end. The action packed moment?s, startling revelations, and overall intriguing story will have you glued to you PSP as you struggle through the waves of Red Section scum to unveil this great action movie plot. Story is one of this games strongest aspects, and will leave many satisfied till the very end.
So this game looks good, sounds alright, and has a pretty good story?.so how does this shooter play? Dark Mirror is proof of how well shooters can be implemented on the PSP. To overcome the lack of a second analog nub, the face buttons have been assigned to camera control. If you don?t like that, Dark Mirror has some preset customized controls for people who prefer to use the nub for camera. You can easily assign face buttons to movement and the nub to camera and vice verse. This works extraordinarily well with the option to turn on or off the auto aim (L Lock) feature if your looking for a challenge. It takes some getting used to, but the transition is about as difficult as learning to use a console controller for an FPS. Your gear is mapped to the L & R D-pad with each piece of gear assigned to a face button. This provides quick and easy streamlined item management which will have you easily switching gear on the fly. Simply tapping the button will have you switching weapon firing modes or quickly turning on or off your various vision goggles. Shooting is mapped to R, reload to up on the D-pad, and crouch to down on the D-pad. It?s all very streamlined and does a good job overcoming the lack of a second nub offering a smooth as can be game play. http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f374/Leo_Horus/syphon-filter-dark-mirror-200602-2.jpgEach piece of gear has a proper use and you will be encouraged to use all of it in given situations. Thermal vision is a good way to look through walls and plan you next attack, and finding those hard to see units, night vision and the flashlight help you through dark areas, and the EDSU goggles allows you to locate critical equipment and devices in the environment that you must use in order to succeed. They play well into the mission structures of the game and all your other various tools come into use in one way or another. Gabe can crouch, climb, take cover, and slaughter untold amounts of terrorists with ease. Speaking of cover, the cover system works well and is as easy and intuitive as gears of wars. Body armor and med kits are spread generously enough throughout the levels that some of the tedium of the enemies is relieved.
The AI itself isn?t too shabby as they will take cover, rush appropriately and offers up a good challenge. On harder difficulties they do a good job employing their tactics to take you down. Your allied AI isn?t too bad either as even in the one not so bad escort mission in the game, your partner AI does a good job actually defending themselves and putting down covering fire for you to exploit. This is no F.E.A.R. AI but for a hand held it is rather impressive.http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f374/Leo_Horus/syphon-filter-dark-mirror-200602060.jpg The game also lets you play it your way for the most part. It give you equal opportunities to be a stealthy assassin, and a blood thirsty Rambo allowing for some great experimentation. Although sometimes you are forced to do one or the others in certain segments as the game will harshly punish you if you don?t, but those segments are not too common and make sense when they are presented to you. Depending on how you play unlocks special achievements that will grant you new weaponry or bonuses offering a good bit of replay value to the game. The mission structure is your standard point A to B scenario, but there plenty of side objectives that break up the mission nicely and no mission is the same. One minute you?re escorting someone, the next you got to go hack a computer, it works well and keeps things fresh as you?ll have plenty of objectives to complete in each scenario.
The game play is not without its fair share of frustration though. You will sometimes encounter boss type characters at the end of a mission and they can prove to be annoying as they just soak up damage if you don?t hit them in the sweet spot. I mentioned an escort mission earlier and it will prove to be challenging the first time around. You will be swarmed with enemies sometimes making it difficult to overcome forcing you repeat the segment again. Thankfully your escorted knows how to defend themselves taking off some of the heat which is something other escort missions should do. http://ps2media.gamespy.com/ps2/image/article/795/795164/syphon-filter-dark-mirror-20070608094240500-000.jpg You can quickly lose a mission if you end up shooting that hostage or civilian by accident but the game is forgiving by allowing you to restart at that exact same fuck up point so you can get it right. Controls can be a tad sluggish but it?s all a matter of tweaking your sensitivities to your liking. The final boss is the meaning of annoying and you will no doubt spend an hour trying to beat him, as you will end up dying over and over again due to some absurd difficulty. Those aside, the game isn?t too harsh and the nuisances kept to a fair minimum. The game play is exceptional by all means and does a fantastic job overcoming the PSP?s handicap.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Siphon Filter: Dark Mirror proves shooters can be done on the PSP and done well. With excellent visuals, game play, and an engaging story, it is one of the best PSP games on the market. Siphon Filter fans will no doubt enjoy it, and newcomers to the franchise have an equal opportunity with a game that does not require you to play the originals offering up a totally separate story arc. Dark Mirror is indisputably one of the best PSP games there is and has garnered a sequel deemed Logan?s Shadow. For PSP owners that are also shooter enthusiasts, pick this game up, you won?t be disappointed as it is an excellent addition to anyone?s game library. So while we await the arrival of Resistance Retribution; which is made by the same studio, pick up Dark Mirror and uncover the secrets behind Red Section and project Dark Mirror.
Note: Sorry if this may be a little long, can't help myself, feedback would be much appreciated. Thank you for reading.
Shooters, a genre that has not been too friendly to Sony?s hand held over the years. The complaint?s of players over the lack of a second analog stick is certainly justifiable when it comes to this generation?s most prevalent genre and has always hampered the functionality of shooters on the PSP. Developers though have tried to find ways around this dilemma with it being hit or miss, unfortunately the latter seems to be more common. This is not to say shooters can?t work as Bend studio?s third person shooter, Siphon Filter: Dark Mirror proves that with the right amount of tweaking, and a solid design plan, shooters can be done on the PSP, and to an exceptional degree.
Siphon Filter is no stranger to today?s color spectrum when it comes to shooters. It is painted with grays, browns, blues, and many other drab colors; it certainly is no halo or Killer Seven. This isn?t a bad thing as most of the game takes place in industrial and urban type locals, but it can seem rather boring looking to those who are looking for color. The environments themselves are well detailed and are accompanied by well done lighting and set pieces that make the levels feel real and give scope to the game. The environments are always changing from mission to mission giving a very refreshing and progressive feeling to the game; you often don?t feel like you are playing the same level over and over. Character models are excellent and full of detail, with remarkably well done animations that really try to capture that essence of realism in the game. Facial expressions in characters in the in game cut scenes are almost nonexistent at times, but given the effort put into the rest of the visuals it?s excusable and balanced off by the CG scenes used to bookend each mission. The CG cut scenes themselves are good, not great, but they do the job and bookend mission nicely as they don?t compromise the consistency of the rest of the visuals. Overall Dark Mirror pushes the PSP hardware and squeezes out some impressive visuals that can leave you thinking you?re playing a console game.
The sound design in Dark Mirror is well done offering great sound effects and well done voice acting. The weapon sounds are crisp, clear, and easy to distinguish between one another. Some weapons may sound somewhat like toys with their clicking and clacking sounds, but you still get that feel of firing a powerful or weak weapon every time you chamber off a bullet. The music comes and goes throughout the game and provides a nice ambiance to the whole experience. It definitely helps set the tone for the current crisis when you are either in the heat of battle or sneaking up to that unsuspecting guard. The music will never truly ?pop? and most of it goes unnoticed when you are playing, but it gets the job done and can be enjoyed by those who have an ear for it. Voice work in Dark Mirror for the most part is excellent. Characters sound natural and the acting doesn?t feel forced aside from a few exceptions. Each voice actor does a good job fitting into their respective characters and dialogue which is spoken well. Some people though may have trouble with the voice of our leading man, Gabe Logan. Logan?s voice sounds like your typical gruff manly voice, a real Christian Bale Batman type voice as if Logan has been smoking for a good 30 years. It?s not BAD but it certainly isn?t the best voice acting done for a main character. Overall the sound design for Dark Mirror is excellent with great clear sound effects and a voice cast that put?s a good effort into their characters.
Dark Mirrors story follows that of a blockbuster action movie, so you might wanna bring that bag of popcorn for the ride. You play as elite agent Gabe Logan of the IPCA, sent in to take down a paramilitary group calling itself Red Section, and uncovering the origin and secrets behind a project known as Dark Mirror. As Logan infiltrates numerous facilities and areas, he and his partner Lian Xing begin to unravel the mystery behind Dark mirror and the leader heading Red Section. There are two missions where you play as Lian, but for the most part you play the role of Gabe Logan secret agent extraordinaire.http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f374/Leo_Horus/syphon-filter-dark-mirror-200602-1.jpgThe story is told well with in game chatter, cut scenes, and CG scenes that start and end each mission in the game. To cover load times between mission segments the player will have nice bite sized pieces of info in the form of Gabe?s journal to read. It?s certainly a good way to make even the load screen an engaging experience, and shows the careful attention to detail the writers have put into the story which is commendable. Character development is sparse, but you feel that you know all you need to in order to enjoy the ride. Even the subplots work well with the overall story and the pacing never falters always leaving the player interested in what lies ahead. It?s an engaging story from start to finish and leaves you satisfied in the end. The action packed moment?s, startling revelations, and overall intriguing story will have you glued to you PSP as you struggle through the waves of Red Section scum to unveil this great action movie plot. Story is one of this games strongest aspects, and will leave many satisfied till the very end.
So this game looks good, sounds alright, and has a pretty good story?.so how does this shooter play? Dark Mirror is proof of how well shooters can be implemented on the PSP. To overcome the lack of a second analog nub, the face buttons have been assigned to camera control. If you don?t like that, Dark Mirror has some preset customized controls for people who prefer to use the nub for camera. You can easily assign face buttons to movement and the nub to camera and vice verse. This works extraordinarily well with the option to turn on or off the auto aim (L Lock) feature if your looking for a challenge. It takes some getting used to, but the transition is about as difficult as learning to use a console controller for an FPS. Your gear is mapped to the L & R D-pad with each piece of gear assigned to a face button. This provides quick and easy streamlined item management which will have you easily switching gear on the fly. Simply tapping the button will have you switching weapon firing modes or quickly turning on or off your various vision goggles. Shooting is mapped to R, reload to up on the D-pad, and crouch to down on the D-pad. It?s all very streamlined and does a good job overcoming the lack of a second nub offering a smooth as can be game play. http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f374/Leo_Horus/syphon-filter-dark-mirror-200602-2.jpgEach piece of gear has a proper use and you will be encouraged to use all of it in given situations. Thermal vision is a good way to look through walls and plan you next attack, and finding those hard to see units, night vision and the flashlight help you through dark areas, and the EDSU goggles allows you to locate critical equipment and devices in the environment that you must use in order to succeed. They play well into the mission structures of the game and all your other various tools come into use in one way or another. Gabe can crouch, climb, take cover, and slaughter untold amounts of terrorists with ease. Speaking of cover, the cover system works well and is as easy and intuitive as gears of wars. Body armor and med kits are spread generously enough throughout the levels that some of the tedium of the enemies is relieved.
The AI itself isn?t too shabby as they will take cover, rush appropriately and offers up a good challenge. On harder difficulties they do a good job employing their tactics to take you down. Your allied AI isn?t too bad either as even in the one not so bad escort mission in the game, your partner AI does a good job actually defending themselves and putting down covering fire for you to exploit. This is no F.E.A.R. AI but for a hand held it is rather impressive.http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f374/Leo_Horus/syphon-filter-dark-mirror-200602060.jpg The game also lets you play it your way for the most part. It give you equal opportunities to be a stealthy assassin, and a blood thirsty Rambo allowing for some great experimentation. Although sometimes you are forced to do one or the others in certain segments as the game will harshly punish you if you don?t, but those segments are not too common and make sense when they are presented to you. Depending on how you play unlocks special achievements that will grant you new weaponry or bonuses offering a good bit of replay value to the game. The mission structure is your standard point A to B scenario, but there plenty of side objectives that break up the mission nicely and no mission is the same. One minute you?re escorting someone, the next you got to go hack a computer, it works well and keeps things fresh as you?ll have plenty of objectives to complete in each scenario.
The game play is not without its fair share of frustration though. You will sometimes encounter boss type characters at the end of a mission and they can prove to be annoying as they just soak up damage if you don?t hit them in the sweet spot. I mentioned an escort mission earlier and it will prove to be challenging the first time around. You will be swarmed with enemies sometimes making it difficult to overcome forcing you repeat the segment again. Thankfully your escorted knows how to defend themselves taking off some of the heat which is something other escort missions should do. http://ps2media.gamespy.com/ps2/image/article/795/795164/syphon-filter-dark-mirror-20070608094240500-000.jpg You can quickly lose a mission if you end up shooting that hostage or civilian by accident but the game is forgiving by allowing you to restart at that exact same fuck up point so you can get it right. Controls can be a tad sluggish but it?s all a matter of tweaking your sensitivities to your liking. The final boss is the meaning of annoying and you will no doubt spend an hour trying to beat him, as you will end up dying over and over again due to some absurd difficulty. Those aside, the game isn?t too harsh and the nuisances kept to a fair minimum. The game play is exceptional by all means and does a fantastic job overcoming the PSP?s handicap.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Siphon Filter: Dark Mirror proves shooters can be done on the PSP and done well. With excellent visuals, game play, and an engaging story, it is one of the best PSP games on the market. Siphon Filter fans will no doubt enjoy it, and newcomers to the franchise have an equal opportunity with a game that does not require you to play the originals offering up a totally separate story arc. Dark Mirror is indisputably one of the best PSP games there is and has garnered a sequel deemed Logan?s Shadow. For PSP owners that are also shooter enthusiasts, pick this game up, you won?t be disappointed as it is an excellent addition to anyone?s game library. So while we await the arrival of Resistance Retribution; which is made by the same studio, pick up Dark Mirror and uncover the secrets behind Red Section and project Dark Mirror.
Note: Sorry if this may be a little long, can't help myself, feedback would be much appreciated. Thank you for reading.
