This review was originally published on Gaming Horizon, GameBump's predecessor. Its format does not match our own but we support its content.

Syphon Filter has been around just as long as Metal Gear Solid and even longer than Splinter Cell – yet it never seems to get as much coverage as either of those two. Could that be, perhaps, that all the games in the Syphon Filter series have been pretty weak? The PlayStation titles were alright, if not watered down MGS copycats, but they had their moments. The previous attempt to bring the series back into the spotlight (The Omega Strain for the PS2) was a total mistake, so why are we here yet again – this time with a portable version?

I really don’t know why. It defies logic, but Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror for the PSP is actually a pretty good game. In fact, it’s probably the best action or stealth game on the system right now. I say probably so as not to offend the Splinter Cell fans.

The thing that most developers for the PSP seem to love to forget is that the PSP is not the PS2 - it is a Portable system (that’s what the P stands for… the second one) and should be treated as such. Long, flowing cutscenes or missions that go on and on without letting you save your progress are not suitable for a system designed for use while out and about and for making the other kids at school jealous. A PSP game should come in single-serving doses of gameplay that can be enjoyed at length for a car trip to grandma’s house or briefly while waiting for your Hot Pockets to cook in the microwave.

For this, Dark Mirror is great. Cutscenes are brief, yet well done; and the levels themselves are filled with enough action and intrigue but don’t go on for eternity without letting you save.

Don't mind the plot - there isn’t much of one. Terrorists want a virus, or they want to use a virus, or they want to make a virus; I don’t know, I’m basing that off of the running theme (and title) of the series. The game seems to know that you’re probably going to be skipping all the exposition and does a good job of letting you know what you’re supposed to be doing once the control is back in your hands.

Standard stealth-action fare ensues. Silenced pistols, thermal goggles, ladders, sniping, and that taser-of-death from the previous games (one of the few things I really liked from those games; a self-charging medium-range stun gun that you can use to knock out enemies or guards or just kill them outright by juicing them until they catch fire). The gameplay feels fluid enough as you progress, and small touches like aim-assistance really take a lot of the headache out of the game.

The game looks quite convincing too. It could be called either early-PS2 or late-late-PS One caliber graphics. There are some nice snow and other environmental effects to make the game seem that much more real.

Aside from the good (albeit short) single-player mode, there’s a wireless (online and ad hoc) multiplayer where up to 8 players can go postal – quietly – on each other. The game has one of the better-developed online components I’ve seen in a PSP title, including centralized leaderboards, clan support, and the ability to send in-game “e-mails” to other players. It’s like text messaging, except even harder to type and your dad won’t yell at you when the phone bill comes.

The lack of a second analog pad foils another control scheme. To make up for that, the default control scheme pulls one of those numbers where you use the face buttons to control direction and the little nub of a stick to control movement. That just doesn’t make sense to my brain, so I had to switch to an alternate control system which felt a lot more familiar, where the game stopped trying to pretend it was Splinter Cell and just mapped all degrees of movement to the stick. Most people seem to do likewise, so I don’t know why these 3D PSP games keep kidding themselves. Make the least-frustrating control scheme the default, please.

Even with the customized controls, you do start to feel like there’s too much to do and not enough buttons with which to do it.

Some of the sound design felt a bit off. It seems like whoever does the voice for Gabe always sounds goofy. Weapons and effects seem to miss their audible marks. One weapon shoots darts that you can detonate remotely; you’re told in training how powerful these explosives are, but they sound like bottle rockets. Other weapons sound watered-down too, which is out of place for a game with otherwise great sound engineering.

Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror is very surprising. When I saw this game was coming, I was amused. When I saw I was assigned to review it, I was annoyed. I was not expecting such a well-presented game at all, but here it is. This could be the best Syphon Filter game, if not the best action game so far for the PSP. The depth is something out of a console game, but it’s tailored to the tiniest stitch to work best on a handheld – and it does.

Better than you could expect for the PSP, controls are a bit wonky though.

One of the best looking titles for the handheld market. Great characters and environments.

Good voice and scoring, some of the weapon effects are weak.

The control curve takes a bit of the fun from the initial experience.

Unlockables and such, but don’t miss out on the online mode. Yay e-mail!