Syphon Filter: Logan's Shadow impressions

Normally I just play PSP games on the road, but I played LS at odd moments at home because of the imminent arrival of FF Tactics :D.If you are a fan of the series, buy this game. The new and improved hand to hand combat is good stuff (sneaking up behind a terrorist, grabbing him, using him as a bullet shield while one takes out his buddies with an automatic pistol and killing him if he survives the shootout never gets old). The water segments are really fun (who could not love killing divers by impaling them with harpoons or shooting their oxygen tanks?). Sadly one doesn't have many opportunities to pop out of the water and drag terrorists to a watery grave (I only managed it once).For the uninitiated, traditional Syphon Filter levels (of which LS features an abundance of) involve sneaking around a level quitely murdering a few guards up until an alarm goes up in which case one starts using the shotguns, machineguns and grenades one picked off of guard's corpses. As one might expect, there are times when stealth is not an option. The arsenal of weapons is huge and one can select the rate of fire of one's weapons (one can choose set an automatic weapon to full auto, burst or single fire).Its very weird that the developers have scaled back the carnage. In addition to tasers not setting people on fire, there is no blood. This in a game which shows ethnic cleansing (Russian soldiers murdering non-combatants while taking on the resistance in an Azerbaijani town). The ragdoll physics (which were also present in the prior game, though not as well done) still make for very interesting deaths, but why the babysafing (Dark Mirror was M, Logan's Shadow is T)? I hope Sony isn't going to make a habit of Disneyfying their games.I thought the plot (going after an Arab terrorist who wants to get the West out of the Middle East and who cut his teeth training in Afghanistan and who has his hands on a new device which he is using as a superweapon) was pretty cool though it mostly served as a vehicle to get from action sequence A to action sequence B. The voice acting is well done, though like the protagonist, the game never gets overly emotional (cut scenes are minimal).I can't make an honest estimate about the playtime since as I said, I was playing it at weird times.Syphon Filter: Logan's Shadow impressions
I haven't played Dark Mirror. What's the aiming like? Does it auto-aim?Another question. Would you say the gameplay is has more stealth than all-out action or is it the opposite (or an equal mix)?ThanksSyphon Filter: Logan's Shadow impressions
Thanks for the impression. I'm looking forward to this title. between this and GOW my PSP should get some good use as a game system. It's been a little while.
I just got my PSP a few weeks ago, would reccomend this new one over Dark Mirror? I dont like the sound of the T rating to be honest... but if the gameplay is tight than its alright.
[QUOTE=''GodModeEnabled'']I just got my PSP a few weeks ago, would reccomend this new one over Dark Mirror? I dont like the sound of the T rating to be honest... but if the gameplay is tight than its alright.[/QUOTE]
If the glove don't fit, you must acquit!

edit: ...and thanks for the impressions carnageheart.  I didn't just come into the thread to make fun of GME.
[QUOTE=''bugsonglass''] I haven't played Dark Mirror. What's the aiming like? Does it auto-aim?Another question. Would you say the gameplay is has more stealth than all-out action or is it the opposite (or an equal mix)?Thanks[/QUOTE]One can turn auto-aiming on or off (I played with it off). When using a scope (which happens often since Logan has a sniper rifle which fires explosive, poison gas, taser and conventional rounds) one always has to manually aim. There is location specific damage (a bullet to the head is lethal, a bullet to the leg cripples) so there is much to be said for manual aiming. As for the balance, there are segments where stealth is not an option and I tend to get detected pretty quickly (once you get detected, you stay detected on most levels), so for me the game was mostly action, but someone sneakier could have snuck through more of the game than I did.
[QUOTE=''GodModeEnabled'']I just got my PSP a few weeks ago, would reccomend this new one over Dark Mirror? I dont like the sound of the T rating to be honest... but if the gameplay is tight than its alright.[/QUOTE]Logan's Shadow is the better game, but Dark Mirror is alsoquality andits only 20 bucks, so you can't go wrong either way.There is a download for the Dark Mirror demo at the link below. Don't let the lack of blood be your determining factor. Logan's Shadow has better ragdolling, which is at least as important as blood. I hope that the next SF has ragdolling and blood though.http://www.us.playstation.com/psp/downloads/GameDownloads
I really liked the demo, and you could see that a really great game was a definite possibility. Dark Mirror was a real surprise to me because it was a much different game than the three games on the PSX. IGN absolutely loves this new game. It's their highest rated PSP title ever with a 9.5. I would say it's worth checking out, but I recommend playing through the first game. It now out on the PS2 and with it's control scheme it might be the better experience to catch up with the story. If I had the time right now to play my psp anywhere except the train ride to and from work, I would be all over this game. I'll pick it up when my work load loosens up or the price drops sometime next year.
Thanks so much. I am terrible and have little patience for games which require extreme care to be stealthy like Splinter Cell. It's good for me that you can mostly take a guns ablazing approach most of the time.