Hearing that Syphon Filter 3 was PlayStation-bound came as a bit of a surprise. Being one of Sony's more lucrative internal properties, it seemed logical that it would be given the PS2 treatment as soon as possible. But rather than do so, Sony has decided that a new Syphon Filter would better serve the original PlayStation. And there you have it. Given that there are several million (and likely hungry) gamers out there with dusty PlayStations, it seems indeed difficult to critcize Sony's logic in any way that would matter to the company.

　　The cutting edge in 32-bit gaming. The game is being developed by the team formerly known as Eidetic, which is responsible for the whole of the series. Now named Sony Bend, the team is definitely well versed in the intricacies of the engine it's developed for the Syphon Filter series. The latest Syphon Filter game reflects the team's keen hindsight and serves as a testament to its mastery of the tools it's created. Syphon Filter 3 seems to harken back to the pacing of the original, and a little bit of thoughtful level design is bringing it that much closer to realizing the sequel's ambitions.

　　Fans of the original Syphon Filter were mostly into the sense of destructive freedom it facilitated. Most of the game's stages were sprawling and not necessarily linear, allowing, to an extent, for a variety of paths to the goal. However, the objective was constant, if not explicit: "destroy everything," or some variation thereof. The sequel emphasized the game's adventure element more heavily and focused a great deal on stealth missions. Ultimately, though, the missions felt deliberate and rudderless, when compared with the first game's high-energy, focused pacing.

　　Welcome to the jungle. The ideal remedy was obvious: Keep the action fast and constant, but make it feasible for those so inclined to use less-direct tactics. It's this very philosophy that Syphon Filter 3 was built on. Though we're inclined to say that the game is definitely skewed to reward the confrontational approach, most scenarios seem to allow for stealth action, however understated the option may seem. At any rate, it's definitely obvious that the levels were designed more mindfully than the previous games'. The downside is that they seem to have lost some of their focus in their quest to become multifaceted. The plus, however, is that they feel more dynamic--you feel that you have more of a choice in regard to how you play your missions. Simple things--like being able to jump over a counter, instead of unlocking its entry--emphasize this, and a pleasant variety of scripted events help reinforce it.

　　Not all of the cinemas are in real-time. The game's narrative mechanics have definitely facilitated the creation of diverse scenarios. The whole game takes the form of a retrospective, focusing on the post-Syphon Filter 2 lives of Gabe Logan and Lian Xing. As they recount their dangerous, exciting exploits during a Senate hearing, you get to play through them. You'll bounce through the lives of these operatives, as well as those of their friends, and you'll cover a variety of time periods. You'll be introduced to certain characters, only to see them in another sequence years younger or older, helping to satisfy those of you who've followed the series' mythology until now. This sort of approach gives the team the liberty to design levels with much less inhibition and the opportunity to introduce new players to the Syphon Filter series and develop the roles of old ones.

　　Aside from the slight shift in design focus, Syphon Filter 3 adds a few things to the established formula, most notably new characters and new guns. Though you'll primarily play the game through the eyes of Gabe and Lian, you'll have the opportunity to assume the role of two other operatives: a chemical expert named Lawrence Mujari and an as-yet-unmentionable female character. The guns, though, are undoubtedly the game's real stars, and Syphon Filter 3 makes some worthy additions, in this regard. Most notable is the AU300, which is Syphon 3's take on Perfect Dark's Farsight. Using the blackest of technologies, this weapon lets you see and shoot through objects, granting you the ability to nail enemies behind doors, crates, and walls. Also new are genuine proximity mines and a refurbished Falcon handgun that's perhaps a bit too powerful.

　　Getting some face-time. To break up the doldrums of covert operations, Sony Bend has included a handful of minigames in Syphon Filter 3. Accessible via the game's main menu, these mini-missions are very similar to the MGS VR training missions--they throw you in a generic multiplayer map and force you to fulfill a variety of objectives, depending on the mission type. There are several base types of missions, grouped by category: Terminator missions force you to kill everyone in the map, for instance, while demolition missions have you escort a bomb-squad guy to a series of bomb locations and defend him while he disarms the explosives. They're definitely a nice diversion, and they allow for a good bit of the type of classically paced action that made the series cool in the first place. The multiplayer game is also back, with a whole bunch of new maps, for those who'd be into it.

　　Fans of the Syphon Filter series will definitely want to keep an eye on this one. Whether you're craving some of what made the original great, or you want to experience what the second should have been like, this third one looks like it should have you covered. Though it's definitely dated in many ways, it's probably much more relevant than a good number of next-generation games. Watch out for the full review soon.