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Syphon Filter 2 was released in 2000 and is a direct sequel to Syphon Filter. It picked up where the first game ended with Gabriel Logan leaving Kazakhstan with his CBDC partners on his way to the U.S. The game is about locating the encryption codes and discs, and most importantly, finding a cure for the Syphon Filter-infected Lian Xing.
Plot sypnosis
Gabe and Lian are now targets of the Agency after uncovering its connection to Syphon Filter. Agency operative Dillon Morgan captures Lian at the PharCom warehouses, forcing Gabe and the CBDC soldiers to rendezvous with ex-agent Teresa Lipan in Arizona. At the same time, F-22 Raptors scrambled by the Agency destroy their transport over the Colorado Rockies, so Gabe and CBDC Lieutenant Jason Chance head down the mountain in search of their plane and a box of PharCom data disks. Steven Archer of the Agency attempts to stop them at all costs.
A group of conspirators, including Mara Aramov and Agency director Lyle Stevens, promise to deliver the virus to a rogue Chinese general named Shi-Hao. Meanwhile, Lian recovers in a U.S. air force base where Morgan and two operatives are working with Dr. Elsa Weissinger of PharCom to extract infected plasma from test subjects. Lian learns that the other subject was Phagan, who survived his gunshot wound long enough for the Agency to take the plasma. Weissinger attempts to keep Phagan alive for research, but Morgan, intending that the government not find Pharcom's CEO infected with an unknown virus, deactivates his life support.
Lian eventually escapes the medical building and interrogates Agent Thomas Holman to learn that Morgan is planning another operation to the PharCom Expo Center to find an encryption disk. She leaves the base in a helicopter and teams up with Gabe to battle Archer's forces. Gabe shoots Archer during his escape, and recovers the PharCom data.
The protagonists follow Holman's lead to the Expo Center and kill Morgan before he can recover the disk he sought. After decrypting the PharCom data, Teresa realises that some information is missing. The other half must be with Uri Gregorov, director of the Russian SVR, who appeared at the warehouses before Gabe left. Since Lian and Uri know each other, they agree to meet in Moscow.
Aramov instigates a gunfight while they meet and Lian pursues Gregorov. Lian later learns he is an impostor working for Mara and trying to find the other half of the data. The man confesses that the true Gregorov is in a Russian gulag, Aljir Prison, which once held Lian. Gregorov uncovered a plot to sell the virus to Shi-Hao, so Aramov intervened. Lian goes to stop Gregorov's execution, but collapses from the virus. Gabe takes her back to the States, while Gregorov promises to handle Shi-Hao.
Gabe and Teresa arrive back at the Virginia safehouse overseen by Lawrence Mujari, a freelance pathologist. They decide to trade the PharCom data to the Agency for Lian's vaccine. Director Stevens double-crosses Gabe in the Agency's New York City labs, but Logan escapes and forces Dr. Weissinger to give him the vaccine. Gabe also finds out that Chance survived the mission in Colorado, and sets him free.
Pursued by NYPD SWAT cops and Agency personnel, Gabe and Teresa hurry back to their helicopter. Stevens attempts to kill Gabe and Teresa destroys part of the streets to knock them into the sewers. Gabe and Teresa eventually corner Stevens, shooting him in cold blood. Assuming that Chance was killed since he failed to respond to radio calls, Gabe brings Teresa to the rooftop.
They reach the helicopter to find Chance waiting in impenetrable Agency-issued super-armor. He was really working for them, and he seemingly kills Teresa. Gabe suspected it since the Agency always knew where he was in Colorado. Both men fight, and Gabe kills the man he trusted with an assault shotgun that drives Chance into the helicopter blades, decapitating him.
A news report reveals that the Agency's existence is now public, and U.S. Secretary of State Vincent Hadden promises that the government will investigate. Gabe cures Lian and demarcates a grave for Teresa, for whom they all mourn. He, Lian, and Lawrence hold a small memorial and promise to keep fighting, while soldiers watch them from a distance. In a post-credits scene, Hadden and Aramov emerge from a helicopter, with Aramov saying that the Administration will soon fall allowing Hadden to become President. Although he could end it here, Hadden has other plans for Gabe.
Character
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Gabriel Logan |
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Lian Xing |
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Antagonists
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Missions
- Colorado Mountains
- McKenzie Airbase Interior
- Colorado Interstate 70
- I-70 Mountain Bridge
- McKenzie Airbase Exterior
- Colorado Train Ride
- Colorado Train Race
- C-130 Wreck Site
- Pharcom Expo Center
- Morgan
- Moscow Club 32
- Moscow Streets
- Volkov Park
- Gregorov
- Aljir Prison Break-In
- Aljir Prison Escape
- Agency Bio-Lab
- Agency Bio-Lab Escape
- New York Slums
- New York Sewer
- Finale
Missions 1 to 8 are on Disc 1. The remaining ones, 9 to 21, are on Disc 2.
Weapons
| Mission | Weapons |
|---|---|
| Rocky Mountains, Colorado |
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| MacKenzie Air Force Base Interior |
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| I-70 Mountain Bridge |
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| MacKenzie Air Force Base Exterior |
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| Colorado Train Ride | |
| Colorado Train Race | |
| C-130 Wreck Site | |
| PHARCOM Expo Center | |
| Morgan | |
| Moscow Club 32 | |
| Moscow Streets | |
| Volkov Park | |
| Gregorov | |
| Aljir Prison Break-In | |
| Aljir Prison Escape | |
| Agency Biolabs | |
| Agency Biolabs Escape | |
| New York Slums | |
| New York Sewers | |
| Finale |
Multiplayer
- Main article: Syphon Filter 2 Multiplayer
The Multiplayer mode is accesible by selecting a new game on the title screen then choosing, in turn, 'two players'. This will bring the player to a menu where various options can be made: Armour strength, Invert Aim, Vibration, Controller Setup, map select and point limits can be changed to both players' needs, even Headshot can be calibrated on or off. Multiplayer consists of a simple death match between players wherein players can kill each other to reach the set amount of points necessary to win. There are a total of 20 Multiplayer maps with different terrain as well as an array of weapons to use and 28 multiplayer characters to choose from, which are recurring characters from the Syphon Filter series; however despite their distinctions the differences are only cosmetic and each character functions the same. initially 10 maps and 18 characters are unavailable to the player they must be unlocked on certain missions.
Multiplayer can only be played on Disc 1, as selecting a map and starting the game on Disc 2 will result in a prompt for changing discs.
Reception
Syphon Filter 2 received mostly positive reviews from game critics and game sites.
- IGN rated Syphon Filter 2 with an 8.9 of "Great" and praised it for it's slightly tweaked gameplay, improved graphics, more missions and multiplayer mode. However it was criticized for its familiar gameplay to its predecessor, its trial and error trend, and confusing storyline, the IGN reviewer remarked "it's like a C+ movie script." The IGN reviewer then closed with: "So, would I would buy the game? Absolutely. It satisfies that primal video game urge to sneak around and snipe enemies, or to simply blow them away. It's still a great action game."
- Gamespot rated Syphon Filter with 6.6 of "fair" Gamespot, being less generous, also criticized it for it's similar gameplay to it's predecessor, storyline and it's multiplayer, stating: "the control, camera angles, and overall feel of Syphon Filter don't lend themselves very well to a multiplayer component." the reviewer closed with: "If you were a big fan of Syphon Filter, you may get a kick out of the sequel, but the lackluster mission design and super-convoluted story really cancel out the improvements to the game's control. If you missed the first game, it's a much better (and likely cheaper) game than Syphon Filter 2." Other users and critics obviously disagreed with these results by rating Syphon Filter 2 with scores such as 8.8 and 8.9, however since they are not the official reviewers of the game, their reviews will go uncredited.
- One of the newest features introduced in Syphon Filter 2 was the Multiplayer game. It was considered to be an enjoyable add on by fans. More info on Multiplayer can be found here.
Development
Cast
- John Chacon: Gabriel Logan
- Zoe Galvez: Lian Xing
- Shannon Tilton: Teresa Lipan
- Peter Kepler: Jason Chance
- Andrea Satin: Elsa Weissinger
- Jay Styne: Steven Archer
- Bryan Session: Lawrence Mujari
- Elina Filipova: Mara Aramov
- Bill Glanting: Dillon Morgan
- J.S. Gilbert: Uri Gregorov and Imposter Gregorov
- Dan Kennedy: Lyle Stevens
- David Caffey: Gershon
- George Joyce: Thomas Holman
- Mark Atherlay: Derek Falkan
- Dennis Cheng: Shi-Hao
- Jason Cusson: Anton Girdeux
Additonal voices:
- Mike Benton
- Leo Chleyapov
- Chris Colon
- Shawn Dobbins
- Ryan Eames
- Otto Halboth
- Trenton Haskins
- John Koller
- Biraj Lala
- Grant Luke
- Andrei "Andy" Marcon
- John Miewald
- Conner Morlang
- Derek Quakenbush
- Shirley Tang
- Jay Vo
- Diana Zlatina
- Roy Allen
- Robert Hernandez
- Chris Johnson
- James Miller
- Jim Wallace
Trivia
- According to what Vince Hadden mentions in the intro Syphon Filter 2 takes place only four hours after the original Syphon Filter.
- When rescuing Lian (or at least attempting to), Logan kills a total of eighteen Spook Commandos.
- The font used for the game's logo is a slightly modified version of industria font.
- During Chance's speech with Gabe before the last mission, the traitor makes a comment about 'doing his job'. These are the same words used by Dr. Kaufman in the Bond movie Tomorrow Never Dies after 007 stuns him and forces his pistol to himself.
- Chance's comment 'Let's dance!' is also a reference to Predator 2, where Lambert taunts the City Hunter with the same line when confronting the extraterrestrial on the subway.
- This is so far the only Syphon Filter game to be split into two discs. Disc 1 contains 8 levels while disc 2 has the remaining 13 levels.
- The game's second disc is inexplicably absent on the European PS store. This effectively translates to only half the game for this region and users in Australia. The reason for this is that the Australian PS store is generally the same as the European store, while the American store has more content than its counterpart in Europe or Japan.
- This game was the first to introduce the 'Headshot Danger' mechanic, making snipers and other head-aiming enemies much more dangerous.
- It was also the only game in the Syphon Filter lineup to have a 'Hard' difficulty, unlockable only via controller input code. It is not a cheat, however.
- This is the first game to introduce Lian Xing as a playable character.
- The message on the back of this game's cover reads 'Deadly Espionage in a World Held Hostage', which is strikingly similar to the tagline for SWAT: Global Strike Team. The latter's tagline is 'Squad-based Action in a Hostile World'.
Goofs
Audio and visual unsychronised
- Morgan shoots the pilot at McKenzie Air Force Base with a silenced 9mm pistol, but the gun emits a loud bang instead of the quiet pop a suppressed weapon should make (in-game anyway: in real life and contrary to popular belief, suppressors do not truly silence guns as they do in the game but rather they reduce the noise to approximately 160 db - which is close to the amount of noise that a jet engine produces)
- The maximum possible sound reduction that silencers can physically generate would cause weapons to create about 130 to 140 db, which is roughly equivalent to the sound that a jackhammer or chainsaw would produce.
Continuity
- Holman's sunglasses are knocked off when he is pistol-whipped by Lian, yet he is wearing them again when the game resumes and he's lying unconscious on the floor. There is a possibility he may have picked them back up and put them back on for reasons unknown. It is likely the developers just didn't want to invest more time and energy into creating a new face for such a minor character.
- Ramirez's face changes from the generic "GI" model, in the early Colorado levels to a more unique model in the later Agency Bio-Lab mission.
- Chance is armed with a Heckler and Koch MP5 submachine gun when he shoots Teresa. This weapon magically changes to a Daewood Precision Industries USAS-12 during the fight with Gabe.
Factual errors
- During the post-credits cutscene Mara Aramov, when conversing with Vince Hadden, claims that as the Secretary of State he will become president when the administration falls. This is factually erroneous because were the President and Vice President to depart from office the Presidency would pass to the Speaker of the House of Representatives. Developers realised this and, when replicating the scene at the beginning of Syphon Filter 3, changed the line from "become president" to "have the power."
- When the Agency captures Lian at the game's beginning, Falkan orders his men to use concussion grenades since they "need their target alive". If this device were used in real life, however, it would have killed her outright due to the destructive effect it possesses.
- The concussion grenade is described as a device which "produces casualties during close combat while minimizing danger to friendly personnel exposed in the open owing to minimal fragmentation. There is a secondary fragmentation hazard though from rocks, gravel, wood splinters, glass, etc."
- During the escape from New York, Gabe claims a SWAT officer is out of ammo. There is no way he could have known this for sure.
- The game rather bizarrely classifies the Heckler & Koch G11 as a sniper rifle rather than an assault rifle, despite the weapon still featuring fully-automatic fire. The weapon is modelled as a G11K2, but incorrectly uses a 50-round magazine: this was only used on the K1 and earlier models, with the K2 using a 45-rounder.
- The PK-102 appears to be depicted in art with the barrel fully exposed, lacking an instrument resembling a handguard.
- For reasons which are not entirely clear, the shotguns (including the normal one and the USAS-12) are all treated as if it is belt-fed and is thus loaded with every round Gabe or Lian currently has. The latter can apparently only hold 12 rounds in a 20-round drum.
- The gas grenade launcher carries a maximum of 5 rounds meaning Gabe (or Lian) cannot even fully load the 6-round cylinder.
- When Gabe shoots Stevens at the end of New York Sewers, he uses a .45 ACP weapon and fires at almost point-blank range. This would generally be sufficient to kill an average person, yet his adversary somehow survives long enough to mutter a few words before dying.
- However, it is possible that just as the case was with Phagan after Mara shot him, Stevens, for some reason whatsoever, retained an unknown amount of energy which allowed him to issue his taunts, possibly for gameplay purposes.
Geographical errors
- The Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre can only be glimpsed briefly when Gabe breaks into the Pharcom Exposition Center. Despite logic dictating they should in fact be visible in the skyline during the escape from New York (specifically, during Missions 19: "New York City Slums" and 21: "Sykes Parking Garage" , both of which are set in the lower east side of Manhattan), they for some reason whatsoever remain unseen.
Miscellaneous mistakes
- In Mission 19: "New York Slums", the M16 assault rifle's firing sound-effect is inexplicably changed to the one for the HK-5 sub-machine gun.
Plot holes
- Instead of killing Dobson at the PHARCOM Warehouses, the Agency decides to capture him alive with Lian and then issue a dose of potassium chloride to him.
Retroactive continuities
- Jonathan Phagan was fatally shot in the head at the end of Stronghold Catacombs in the previous game, and the game heavily implies he was killed outright. This, however, is not the case, since Lian sees him hooked up to life support when escaping from McKenzie Airbase; he was merely rendered brain-dead, and his clinical death truly occurs when Morgan switches off the machine.
- Teresa Lipan is shot and assumed killed during the escape from New York City, with the developers heavily implying once again if not outright confirming she was killed. Although the protagonists visit her demarcated gave at the end of this game (and the beginning of the third instalment) and despite Vince Hadden himself evincing significant surprise that she was resurrected, she again appears alive and well.
- However, given the circumstances in which she was shot, it can be assumed she was wearing some type of body armour; this, together with the fact that the weapon responsible for shooting her was a suppressed Heckler and Koch MP5 (which does not generally possess high stopping power), could have allowed her to somehow survive.
External Links
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