Syphon Filter: Logan's Shadow

Syphon Filter: Logan's Shadow
Developer(s)	SCE Bend Studio
Publisher(s)	Sony Computer Entertainment
Composer(s)	Azam Ali, Jonathan Mayer, Justin Burnett
Series	Syphon Filter
Platform(s)	PlayStation Portable, PlayStation 2
Release date(s)	PSP NA October 2, 2007 EU November 30, 2007 AUS December 6, 2007 PlayStation 2 NA June 1, 2010
Genre(s)	Stealth, third-person shooter
Mode(s)	Single-player, Ad-hoc and Infrastructure
Rating(s)	ESRB: Teen OFLC: M PEGI: 16+
Media/distribution	UMD, DVD-ROM
System requirements Firmware 3.52

Syphon Filter: Logan's Shadow is a third-person shooter developed by SCE Bend Studio and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation Portable. Logan's Shadow was released on the PSP in North America on October 2, 2007 and in Europe on November 30, 2007. It was ported to the PlayStation 2 on June 1, 2010 only for the United States. The game's story was written by Greg Rucka and its music composed by Azam Ali. Being the sixth game in the series, it is the follow-up to Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror. It is also the third game in the series to receive a Teen rating by the ESRB.

Story

Some time after the events of Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror, Gabriel Logan receives an assignment from a bureaucrat named Robert Cordell. A United States Naval supply ship, the U.S.S. Mt. St. Helens, has been boarded by Somali "pirates" in the Indian Ocean and is being led by a Syrian, Ghassan al-Bitar. Logan is supposed to secure the classified contents of Hold Five. Cordell explains to Gabe that he is the only option because he cannot expect special operations to keep any secrets. Despite Teresa Lipan's protests, Gabe accepts the assignment to tie up loose ends with Bitar.

Upon arrival by helicopter, Gabe's pilot, Alima Haddad, tells Gabe that a distress signal coming from U.S. special operations has been broadcasting for hours. Gabe realizes that Cordell was lying to him. After fighting the pirates on deck, he learns from a dying special operations soldier that the squad's missions failed due to poor intelligence from Cordell. Gabe surmised that the attack was complex enough that Bitar's terrorist group, Al-Jamil, was behind it. Gabe fights his way to the cargo hold, with Alima being killed by anti-aircraft fire. Gabe makes it to Hold Five, only to find the cargo stolen. Gabe attempts to shoot down Bitar but misses. Cruise missiles were fired at the ship, with the missiles impacting before Teresa's warning was finished. Gabe kills Fahid, the commander of the piracy operation and escapes when a cruise missile hits the bridge. Upon returning to headquarters, Gabe finds out that Cordell accused Lian Xing of being a double agent, while presenting photos of her and a man in Cyprus.

Gabe learns of the identity of the man in the photo, a Chinese scientist named Shen Rei, Lian's former husband. Shen was wanted by Cordell, the British and Chinese governments, as well as Bitar for a weaponized device called X-Z-2. Gabe also learns that Lian only went rogue to protect Shen. Gabe finds incriminating evidence on Cordell wanting the weapon and exposes him to the government while neutralizing Bitar and his plans. However, after Gabe destroys the weaponized devices and kills Bitar, Shen commits suicide to avoid capture by Chinese CSS agent Trinidad. After the ordeal, Gabe tells Lian that he is considering retiring due to the nature of their work. However, they find Lawrence Mujari dead and Teresa wounded by Trinidad. While protecting Lian, Gabe is shot four times in the chest by Trinidad. After Gabe kills Trinidad, Lian administers CPR to him, leaving the fates of Gabe and Teresa unknown.

Gameplay

Logan's Shadow is played from a third-person perspective. With the Havok physics, enemies and objects will react realistically to gunfire and other means of interaction.

Logan's Shadow features weapons and gameplay mechanics. These include additions to the cover system such as side-to-side movement, leaning, and blind fire around obstacles and corners, an advanced melee system that allows Gabe to use enemies as human shields, underwater combat, and the ability to command other characters.

Multiplayer

Players can now play as new factions in five game modes, two of which are new to the franchise. The new modes revealed are Sabotage and Retrieval. Sabotage pits two teams against each other as they try to locate bomb codes and arm the other team's nuclear warhead and guard it to prevent them from disarming their bomb until the timer runs out, while Retrieval has players trying to retrieve a beacon from the enemy's base and return it to their own base to score a point. Returning modes are Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, and Rogue Agent.

Combat Ops Demo

Syphon Filter: Combat Ops.

Syphon Filter: Combat Ops is a multiplayer-exclusive game released on the PlayStation Network on November 20, 2007. Logan's Shadow features a playable "sneak preview" from the main menu.

Players can create different "missions" by editing pre-existing maps (by adding their own objects, weapons, objectives, spawn points, factions, etc.) and other information. The missions can be placed online and shared with other players or through Ad-hoc.

Reception

IGN called Logan's Shadow "a worthy successor to Dark Mirror" and that it has "a deeper experience that surpasses Dark Mirror in every way", and also refers to it as one of the best PSP games of the year. GameSpy gives credit to Greg Rucka for writing an immersive and complex storyline.

External links

• Official Syphon Filter: Logan's Shadow Web site
• Gameplay videos provided by 1UP.com.