Gaming Target - PlayStation 2: Syphon Filter: Omega Strain

Written by Matt Partington on April 17, 2003

First Impressions: Old man Gabe's washing up the creek for a new generation of Syphons.

With the PlayStation 2's online capabilities well over six months old now, Sony is showing that they have absolutely no intentions of slowing down. Syphon Filter Omega Strain, the fourth in the blockbuster series, is perfect proof of this. Featuring both online and offline capabilities, Omega Strain aims to bring the Syphon Filter world into the newly established online console gaming universe.

First and foremost, Syphon Filter will no longer put you into the shoes of agent Gabe Logan, but rather a newcomer in his agency (created after the events of Syphon Filter 3). You have full customization of this character from their natural look to their clothes and beyond (further items are gained as you progress). As you may have suspected, the story revolves around a terrorist organization of sorts gaining hold of the Syphon Filter virus, and it's up to you to gain back possession of it. Your journey will take you on a total of 17 missions all over the world.

Missions can, of course, be completed on single-player, but they can also be accomplished differently with multi-player interaction. There's a solid list of online games currently for your PS2, but Omega Strain brings something new to the table Ц cooperative online play. It will no longer be simple skirmishes or mini-games of such, but full-fledged missions that can be finished with you and up to three others by your side. Sony Bend (formerly Eidetic, developer of the first three games) is hard at work making sure that the online objectives match those of the offline play in order to give players who can't get online the same experience.

Omega Strain is said to be fully supported with USB keyboard and headset technology; how this will be accomplished, is unknown. Voice interaction is right up the alley, so it's a promising feature.

Sony Bend obviously has no intent of coming up short handed when it comes to a full arsenal of weapons Ц more than 100 are included. Although you can only hold a designated number of weapons at a time, this gives you a wide variety of options in terms of how you want to play. You get to choose one primary weapon, a secondary, melee (knife, tazer, and so forth), and pistol. There's everything from sniper rifles to machine guns, so there's not very many limits in terms of what you want to do.

Even though there's a lot of changes to the game, there's also much of the same to ensure that the Syphon Filter name is kept as healthy as ever. Omega Strain, will most of all, include the same classic action gameplay that's made it so popular among Sony gamers. Your character will the same moves such as rolling and strafing, but more elements have been adding to suit your stealth and battle fancies. Following in the steps of other recent games, Omega Strain will also feature destructible environments that will directly impact the gameplay.