Syphon Filter Dark Mirror review.:..:..:::.::.:!

Among all the junk the PSP has, there is one really really really super game called Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror. No no, not Splinter Cell Essentials. That game sucks. Let me tell you why it’s so good.

If you’ve never played Syphon Filter before it is essentially Sony’s less popular version of Splinter Cell. Let’s start with the good. Hell there is no bad. First of all, the controls are the best thing this side of the nubberly nub. The nubble is used to walk around, and the 4 buttons are used to turn in different directions. Then you can zoom or lock on with left trigger, and all of the other commands are on the d-pad. GREAT use of the PSP’s stuff.

Second of all, the single player is gigantimongous, with 8 chapters of 3 or 4 missions each. You play through them each in about 15-20 minutes if you don’t screw up, and they are all different kinds of missions. You can get all these unlockables for doing certain stuff, and each one lets you have more health, new abilities, or new guns you can start with. It’ll take you for freaking ever to get everything.

Next of all is the guns, which is probably the biggest set I have seen in a LONG time. I think the website had 56 listed in all, from mini-grenade launchers to shotgun pistols. Also if you get a certain award you can dual wield pistols, which is a useful ability. You can melee in this too, with either a choke or a knife. Oh yeah, and you can tazer people too. Sadly it’s not for their pleasure. It’s for barbeque. I guess you could give them some though.. even though they're the barbeque..

What I’m really itching to talk about here is the multiplayer, which is better then most console games. You can play with 8 people on deathmatch, team deathmatch, objective games, or rogue agent. The only one to describe is rogue agent, which has one person trying to survive as long as they can with everyone else against them. That one’s not too popular. What makes this so cool is the fact that it’s portable, and it still has full clan support, buddy lists, ignore lists, message boards, chat, and all, on a portable game! It still amazes me after this long..

And there are ranks and medals too, with 2 medals for 7 or 8 skills, and at each level you get a new item relating to the thing you got the shiny medal in. At each rank you get to brag that you’re up a level, and you get a new gun or two. That’s one of the coolest things, leveling up and then partying about it for an hour.

In the actual battles there are ziplines, hidden rocket launchers, grenade launchers, rifles, and all sorts of funky things. You can set up traps for your enemies like laser mines and turning on fires that block their way through hallways. It’s really hard to put into words why the multiplayer is so fun, it just is awesome. One thing: if you work as a team you will pwndizzle them, because you can heal team mates and revive them once they die.

Oh yeah, and the graphics are very good. I think probably as good as the PSP is going to get. Getting roasted with a tazer looks very good.

But the one downside is actually in the multiplayer, and it comes in the form of only 6 maps. Even though they are nice and big, and very well designed, it's still sort of boring to play 6 over and over again. Hopefully they'll release some new ones for download... (please Sony I'll pay you)

I wish I could tell you why this is awesome, but it’s just like when Yoda says “Good, yes?” It’s good because it is but you don’t know why. I’m going to shut up and score it. Guess what, it’s getting my coveted 5 people tazering themselves out of 5 because I still play it like it’s my life after having it for months. Go on, get it. You know you want to use your PSP for something good for once, instead of looking at pr0n on the browser.