This was my father's all-time favorite game. I have memories from my early childhood of him hogging the family Playstation so he could play it. He passed away a few years ago and today is his birthday. Josh, thank you so much for allowing me to relive this. Love you dad, rest in peace.
I never had the full game, but I remember that using a tazer to set enemies aflame was pretty damn hilarious as a kid when I played (and replayed) the demo of this that came on some demo disk. In retrospect, that was probably pretty fucked, but given that I still enjoy burning enemies to death in video games, who am I to judge my younger self for doing the same?
I really like the concept of the "DANGER" meter. It's basically the secret agent/super spy movie plot armour adapted into a game mechanic. It is balanced out by the fact that when enemies do hit your unprotected body, you take a lot of damage.
I'm genuinely shocked this hasn't been implemented in more games. Did Eidetic file a patent on this mechanic so that nobody else could use it or something?
@@ididntmeantoshootthatvietn5012 No, Uncharted uses a standard regenerating health system that has been stated by developers *outside* of the game to be representative of plot armour. Mechanically, it is not the same as the Danger meter.
@@laughingseal2282 Because it's more about culture than sales numbers. They are infatuated with the N64 because Nintendo fans have created a culture (or a cult, depending on who you ask) around Nintendo's franchises. There is no real equivalent for the PS1 except for 3rd party franchises like MGS or FF. No one is going to upload an entire series of videos on Crash or Spyro lore because there isn't much to talk about and no culture was built around those games. It's the same deal with Capcom vs SNK.
@Trololo231 That is not true at all. People are very nostalgic about Tomb Raider, Crash bandicoot, MGS1, all the Resident evils... It's just for some reason depends on where you live. Like the other guy said, nintendo is a cult in North America.
I remember the syphon filter demo that came in the US playstation magazine like it was yesterday. I played that demo an incredible amount of times. I couldn't believe how awesome it was and how it made me feel like a badass after mastering the controls
I remember in that demo that the taser didn't have you locked into place. You could tase and run through the level with the poor guy just frying in place. Ahhh, war crimes...
It's kinda crazy that a frickin demo disk used to satisfy us for weeks... and now sometimes we buy a game on steam, not open it once for 3 years, and somehow _still_ feel like we're bored of all the games in our library [guess I gotta buy a new one!] Getting old sucks sometimes.
@@The2fiddyridahYeah, I always chose the sniper rifle from Paul when he offers you the weapons at the start, so that made the similarities even stronger lol 😂
@@GetOffMyPhoneGoogleI repeated that level a few times too, just for the coolness factor (and great boss) but the one I repeated the most was where you’re invading Pharcom’s warehouses, and the security is having an open battle with the soldiers. I’d pretend I was on either the grey or blue ‘team’ and then kill all the other guys lol
Im so glad for this. I LOVED this and its sequel as a kid but NO ONE I knew had it. NO ONE played it. NO ONE knew what i was talking about. I was convinced this was a huge fever dream of mine until today. You gave this cherished memory of mine the moment it deserved, thank you!
Don't forget 3 with the closed door senate hearings and all the testimony were missions. And the last level wjere you shot it out with secret service and the train battle
The "danger meter" is basically the same mechanic as modern third and first person shooters' regenerating health, but better and less immersion breaking. While they both signify "time until you get shot for real" this communicates it much less ambigously, while modern shooters make it feel like your bullet wounds close and heal in a couple seconds, like you're always secretly playing as Wolverine
@@glens2019 Yes, but you can only know that from developer commentary. On its own it seems like what I said before. Sci-fi games have it easier because the energy shield concept also helps the suspension of disbelief and doesn't make you feel like secret Wolverine.
@@marctaco2624 IIRC Brothers in Arms did something very similar, just without a GUI bar depicting the danger value. I think the screen would have a vignette that got stronger and stronger as you were in more danger, before you finally got hit and incapacitated.
how they did manage to go from bubsy 3d to syphon filter is beyond me! really a accomplishment! great series. i love your in depth reviews of those old games. and i have to say you got good taste!
To be fair, bubsy was made in a time where a 3d platformer was not perfected and it was like the wild west where every developer tried to translate platforming to a 3d world, and if you factor that a game development cycle is like 2 to 3 years, I can see how bubsy ended up as it was.
I think the camera being not just serviceable but good is an achievement in its own right for the era. So many games from that period, even the good ones, have awful camera. Here's a game with an auto camera that actually works!
Among the many things Syphon Filter justly received praise for, the camera was *heavily* praised. There were several 3D action games at the time that would have been classics if it weren't for a camera you spent the entire game fighting. 3D game camera was a very hard thing for developers to master. Even today, some still struggle with it.
Well not of all time 😂 but back in the late 1990s this game was extremely advanced for its time. It felt like a movie But then by early 2000s the james bond series, splinter cell, soccom navy seals, medal of honor, and some other games took the lead in the elaborated realistic adventure action shooter games genre
@@mathewvanostin7118 its silly at times when things got REAL. Puts a smile in my face tazing someone until he engulfs in flames. But yeah it should be up there.
Started my career in the gaming industry working with the talented crew at eidetic. Designed characters and UI for Syphon Filter 1 - 3 (mostly 1 and 2) Had an incredible time living in Bend Oregon and working with all these industry veterans. It feels great to read the comments and how this game gave so many fond memories. Thank you!
The taser... Oh, the taser. Best weapon in gaming history. Who would've thought that the same people who made that abomination that is Bubsy 3d also made this amazing game.
"Every Tom Clancey novel blended into a fine paste and poured into a VHS set of James Bond topped with a Metal Gear umbrella" is exactly why I like this game and should have been on the box
Good strategy, unfortunately, MGSV didn't agree with us on that play style. It'd give ya a bad level grade even if you didn't get spotted or set off an alarm while going lethal only.
Me and my brother played this game all the time as kids. We never understood the story. We just liked the taser 😂 glad it wasn't just us that thought it was hilarious! Such a great game
I only got to play a little of 1 & 2 at a friend's house but picked up Logan's Shadow when I first got my PSP, and my love of the taser has been everlasting since then. I can't believe they thought censoring it for the PS2 port was a good idea (you couldn't set people on fire with it anymore)
I have fond memories of the sequel, Syphon Filter 2. My cousin used to invite me over to his house, while secretly using gameshark to make player 1 invincible. He had a good laugh until I started throwing grenades at him. For whatever reason, knifing someone or throwing grenades were instant kills.
That makes sense, actually - the Gameshark cheat would stop your HP from falling, but grenades and knives are one-shot kills, so they wouldn't interact with the HP system at all - kind of like how being "invincible" in most games doesn't protect you from falling out of the level.
I remember replaying the original again and again despite me barely even knowing a single word of English. Made it hard to get through, but I did it. This video brings high levels of nostalgia
That is some dedication right there. Glad you still got to enjoy the game, despite not knowing any of the words. Tbh that just stands as a testament to how good these games really were
I remember watching one of my younger brothers play this over and over. While I would always gravitate toward rpgs, he was much more into stealth and action games like this and Metal Gear. The moment he discovered the taser we laughed out asses off for hours over how ridiculous it was. Good times. I hope he's resting easy now.
The taser is still one of my all time favorite weapons in any game ever. Stealth roasting a ski mask for a full minute was the most ridiculous fun thing. Sorry about your brother. Hope you're living well.
I remember when tasing a guy for a long time,on a specific level, another guy would run out in a Micheal Jackson outfit and dance before he burst into flames. Hilarious 😂😂
I replayed Rhoemers base so many times as a kid trying not to set off an alarm. It was a self made achievement. Replayed it not long ago and as soon as the level loaded, I knew my mission.
same/ loved it imo - Rhoemers base had better atmosphere (music, design, camera) than "first stages" of Shadow Moses Island from MGS and gameplay in SF (aiming, sneaking) was way better also (nowadays I like them almost the same but years ago after playing Syphon Filter/this sneaking level I couldn't understand why my friends were so much more hyped about exclamation points in mgs and long many times really boring codec talks)
I literally had my best gaming moment of all time on that level: the first time I managed to go far without setting off the alarm I stumbled upon the guy you must kill and his guards, I had wasted all my grenades and was hiding at a corner. When the three of them reached me I managed to pull a triple headshot with 3 bullets in like half a second, without setting the alarm off. Couldn't believe it. I've tried countless times to recreate this and never pulled it off 😂😂
When you played that intro cutscene, memories exploded out of my mind. I was on the cusp of quoting along. The cadence, the visuals it all came back to me. I loved this game growing up.
@@TheBlueboy7777 That's what I was thinking. How are we going to challenge the Syphon Filter cast with zombies? They'll take a hard look at the area, leave in a chopper, and suddenly, everything starts blowing up.
Another thing i really like that this game (and its sequels) does is the dynamic soundtrack. There's different verisons of each level theme that play correspondingly with what's happening on screen. If you're in combat the music will pick up in intensity for example.
This game is a masterpiece. I bought it when it first came out and found it more enjoyable then Metal Gear at the time. Snake, Gabe, and Sam, the Holy Trinity of the spy games. Going back and playing it again will not do it justice since this generation is onto the PS5, and we were upgrading from the SNES to the Play Station.
its about 10 minutes of getting used to the controls and graphics, and after that you'll adapt pretty fast. I got it as a rom and still enjoy playing through it
Nobody remembers the generic name of logan. combine that with his generic voice acting, and lack of successs in the gaming industry is the reason why the memorable david hayter or michale ironside are actually memorable. plus, the big 3 of stealth games have hitman instead of syphon filter.
@@iswitchedsidesforthiscat well he did say spy games not stealth games, and hitman isn't a spy game, you're just like an assasin also no, Syphon filter is still more fun.
@@macro3751 We’re not talking about fun factor, we’re talking about success in the gaming industry. CoD is more successfull than Syphon Filter, but I wouldn’t argue that it’s fun.
One thing that I love about this game is that everything that applies to the enemies also applies to your character and vice versa. Explosions will kill anyone, fire will kill anyone, gas will kill anyone, armor works the same for everyone, the weapons work the same for everyone (enemy snipers will even hit headshots, that also instakill YOU) etc. One thing that wasn't mentioned in the video that is a perfect example of this is that the enemies also have a DANGER and TARGET meters, but their TARGET meter is your DANGER meter and vice versa. This gives the feeling that every npc is an equal entity to the player character. Gabe isn't any more special than the npcs except for the fact that the player is controlling him. Everyone works just the same. When I was a kid this gave me a huge feeling of realism that I never got from any other game.
I really love when games do that too. Its so annoying when enemies have special rules for them and different rules for the player. its like fighting a boss that has 5,000 HP when the player has 100, but the boss is just another regular human. He's just "supposed to be hard" so they just lazily give him a huge amount of HP, instead of making an intelligently difficult battle with challenging mechanics. It goes for the other way around too. Like when the player is some super-rambo, he can take like a whole magazine of assault rifle bullets before dying but enemies die in 1 or 2 shots. Or rubber-banding in racing games is also really annoying. Rubber-banding basically punishes you for being really good (and sometimes rewards you for sucking), it makes no sense. It turns a racing game from going as fast as possible without wrecking your car, into a strategy game, just keeping behind the pack, and timing your overtake just before the finish line
@@Eralen00 Agreed. This was the most off putting thing to me about The Division. Decent concept, decent gunplay, glitches and cheaters notwithstanding; that was such a massive letdown to have regular humans in overalls, not armor and a mask, absorb hundreds of bullets.
Minor nitpick: the Target meter and Danger meter weren't entirely symmetrical. Notably, the Danger meter is all-or-nothing, where you don't get hit at all until the Danger meter fills up, while the Target meter is more of a straightforward hit-chance (i.e. if it's half full, about half of your shots will land on the target). This isn't a straightforward benefit to the player, since the Target meter is very dynamic and will change depending on what you are doing, e.g. if you are running towards the enemy it fills up faster and likewise decreases if you are running away from them, whereas the Danger meter will tend to fill up the same amount regardless of what the enemy is doing as long as you are standing in the open. Overall, the system worked very well, it allowed for very dynamic action given the limitations of AI at the time. It also allowed the gameplay to be well-balanced (a bit on the harder side, but par for the course for the era) without having to fall into the usual shooter tropes where because hitscan weapons predominate and you can get hit with no warning so the player character needs to be some superhuman bullet sponge or given magic healing powers or sci-fi shields or whatever.
@@Carlos-M It has to be like that because the enemies outnumber the player. If it was symmetrical, the difficulty of the game would skyrocket everytime there were more than two enemies on the screen aiming at the player at the same time. If the player had to fill their target meter 100% every time to hit every single enemy, they would get hit twice as much in return if there were two enemies, three times as much if there were three enemies and so on.
The taser alone makes this an epic game. Doing cross level shots to guys on the roof just to watch their burning bodies rain down. I wish more games had a weapon like it, its up there with a good shotgun as one of my favorites.
I remember reading an interview with the developers saying that they designed Gabe to look and sound like Alec Baldwin, and even looking back on it years later, it really shows.
Dang shame the guy who voiced Gabe didn’t get another project. Imho he had an awesome voice and suited Gabe really well. Him saying Lian and Theresa’s name stucked with me up until today.
@@madgavin7568 As much as I don't want to throw shade on people. He might not have been but... who can really say? A great voice actor can't shine under a poor director. Look at the ol' RE1 voice acting. Some of those actors were decent... but the direction was awful. That said. He probably just decided, for one reason or another, that voice acting wasn't his thing.
@@b4ds33d Good job completely ignoring the context of the message that went into further detail about how great actors have had terrible performances due to: poor production, bad direction, bad localization, rushed deadlines etc. etc. etc. You got to "who can say?" and just stopped reading. Good for you :)
OH MY GOD JOSH You just unlocked some extremely nice memories. When I had just gotten a ps2, I only had demo discs in the first couple of weeks. My favourite disc had a Syphon Filter game and Nightshade, both of which were games I was searching for, for ages. Thank you
I completely forgot I ever beat this game until you showed the grenade launcher boss getting killed by a gas grenade-then it was like a core memory unlocked. Before then, I just had the most vivid memories of the Park and the Museum any time Syphon Filter was mentioned (as well as the snow level in Syphon Filter 2).
I remember watching my dad play these games and having a blast when he'd hand the controller over and then abusing the taser. I remember the way my dad beat the final boss in the labrynth-like office building was throwing random gas grenades until the guy was dead. And I remember I figured out how to beat the armored dude in the sequel and excitedly told my dad, who replied with "OF COURSE!" and could finally beat him
I had a very similar experience. My older brother and his friend were fighting the last boss of the second game and couldn't figure out how to do it, and 8 year old me had the bright idea to push him into the helicopter blade.
Dude, for figuring out how to take down the armored dude I salute you😂. It took me days and eventually read that on a video game magazine😉 (I was about 11 or so)
That shit brings back core memories of sneaking through the Washington park with the night vision, climbing that damn monument statue thing, fighting the dude yelling 'looggggaaaaan' in the worst accent, dodging trains in the subway, sneaking into the museum. Damn I still remember every mission lmao. I can still name missions in the follow up and maybe even the third one.
This game was so badass to me as a kid. It consumed way too much of my time (along with MGS). I loved the music, the taser and his front jump roll. I was 12, so I learned how to do the roll like him in my parents yard. Thanks for bringing back the memories!!!
My dad favorite game series alongside the army men games on PS1. God, so many memories of watching my dad plays this on the living room until the day he's too busy with work to play and i basically inherit his gaming spirit to this day. This and MGS DOMINATE my childhood.
Syphon Filter 1&2 will always have a place in my heart. As a kid, these were two of the few games that I beat over and over and never got bored of playing
RE3 released in the same late window as MGS and SP, like late 98 thru early 2000? There were just so many bangers then. You either had an N64 and a bunch of party games, or you had a PS1 and played all these wild hits back to back to back. Or you had both and I was jealous as hell!! 😅😅 There really hasn't been an era of gaming quite like it. PlayStation dominated and and from about 98 on the games really broke through and differentiated itself from every other 32-bit system in a huge way.
Played the first two with my bro countless ties and still do occasionally. Unfortunately the first RE I ever played was RE2 remake, always loved the first movie though😂
This and Tenchu were my favorite PS1 games. A few years after I beat this, I had the pleasure of working with Richard Ham, who led Syphon Filter's design team. Great guy, brilliant designer and creative lead. Thanks for the great memories, Rich!
@@VALLANCEGAMING The best part was when you realized that sticking to rooftops and shadows made the game SO much easier (and more fun). It was the first game I played that truly rewarded you for "role playing" your "class".
Thank you for this comment because it took me down memory lane when I only had Syphon Filter, Tenchu, and Metal Gear Solid on PS1 and I repeatedly played these games!
Reading the comments here, I can appreciate how much of a "dad game" this title was. Really put a smile on my face knowing I'm not the only one who played this game with my dad. What is it about games like this that make it appealing for fathers to play with their kids?
My dad outright refused to play most fantasy or sci-fi stuff, so it was gritty "realistic" shooters, with some leeway allowed for Tomb Raider (guess he just liked Lara)... When I got older and bought games, I got tired of his caprices and just stopped getting "dad games" altogether... though now I kinda wish I didn't miss Splinter Cell (I LOVED Snake Eater though, and played it on my own, Eva is so badass).
@@aloneinthedark4660 barely but not gamers. I'm not saying women don't play games. I play games today because my mom would stay up at night and play final fantasy or zelda and I'd sneak up and watch her play. More and more girls are playing and I love it the more people we have playing the better. Men and women are different. Our brains are different. I would say most women don't want to run around and shoot people. Of course it happens and a lot of women do play things like CoD but everytime I play I may hear 1 woman in every few hours.
I have 3 copies this game sitting on my shelf. One from my childhood (pretty scratched up, still playable), one from a flea market with cracked case, and one in mint. Game felt unreal as a 7 year old.
UserName checks out! ...the love never went away lol One could see a parallel or two between this game & what's been going down. Too bad we never got a true Siphon Filter.
Lol I think I still have the book for the first game, haven’t had a psone since highschool, kinda like I have ff7 still but only one disc is in there and the rest went to new jersey with my forgetful friend lol
I remember being like 6 and running around the house acting like Logan. Jumping off tables, recreating scenes with my toys. The second one to my 6 year old self was the coolest damn thing
26:08 The briefing for this mission actually explains why the trains are still running. They're transporting emergency personnel and wounded too and from the site.
What a blast from the past. I remember playing the demo as a kid but, like many childhood memories, I remember it as kind of a fever dream. All I could vividly remember was bad guys coming from behind a brick wall and me lighting them on fire with a taser. No name, nothing else. I've been wondering the name for all this years, so thank you very much for making this video 🙏🏻
Quick note: at 16 minutes when he's talking about bottles; there actually is a mechanical aspect to the game play. One of the later levels has bottles with chemicals that explode or release toxic gas when shot.
That danger meter is a very cool way to narratively explain the "regenerating sheild" mechanic. Also, reminds me of Uncharted's explanation for it. The screen going dark as you're close to death is not Nate taking damage. He hasn't actually been hit. It's his luck running out. And when it's gone, THEN he is shot/hit once and dies.
Syphon Filter 1 and 2 were both incredible at the time. As a kid, these games told stories otherwise rarely touched upon. Similar to the Tv show Burn Notice. Stellar for their time.
Your "does the grenade launcher kill me as well........ *explosion*........ yes it does" you're one of my favorite people. Always gonna follow and support you!
You keep churning out these "Was it any good?" vids and I keep watching them religiously. You keep covering games that I played, loved and thought most people had forgotten about back at the turn of the century. You keep unlocking my childhood and teenage memories This is my jam, keep going :D
God. I loved Syphon Filter. Siphon Filter Omega Strain's multi-player was AMAZING. I don't understand why companies don't do more cooperative story based shootera like that anymore. The way you unlocked guns was really cool
They do. Borderlands is a decent example. Omega Strain did have a problematic single player though, I wish they did that better. It definitely is still a neat and clever game though. It has a really fun gear system.
Omega Strain is great its the first game I think of that had such a large customization system in it without it being paywalled but instead locked behind playing the game and not trying to empty your wallet
I remember playing all 3 of these like it was yesterday… this was literally the game that got me addicted to shooters . Man the amazing memories!! Amazing game ❤
I love this game! I was hooked when I played the demo disc, and bought the game on release. I have never found a game with a more controllable character. With all the different button combinations it felt like there wasn't anything you couldn't do. It was just so immersive.
I was 19 or 20 when this came out. I cannot tell you how much I loved this game. It was incredible and so much fun. You hit the nail on the head when you said that it felt like you were in a 90s action flick. Nothing was cooler than rolling around a corner and shooting some bad guys. The lighting was very cool as well. And each time I played this I was impressed with the feeling it gave me.
Oh god the intro of the first mission was etched and sealed into my mind. That car blowing up opened FLOODGATES of nostalgia. I was enthralled with the first two games, but I never heard about the third and forgot about the series until a few years ago. I appreciate the retrospective!
Parents could not afford any consoles when i was a kid. But there was this game center in the neighborhood that had Genesis and Sony PlayStation that you can play and pay per hour. This is the only game i used to spend my time on. One time the owner wanted to sell the game to get some other popular game at that time. I begged him to to do it, but he did. Did not play it since. But, Syphon Filter will always be the game i remember as the only PS1 game i spent my time on. Thanks for the nostalgia Josh
late 90s/ early 2000s game centers were a vibe. So many hours spent playing fifa or pes. The one I used to go to would rent out PS1 and PS2 for 24 hours.. ah life was easy back then.
Great video. I remember playing it on the demo disc and using the tazer. Those are the first memories of this game and I remember them extremely well. Game was ahead of it's time.
This game was one I played with my brother in law. I knew him most of my life and we would have a blast playing games. Doom, corridor 7, wipeout and tomb raider. This was one of his favourites. Unfortunately he died riding a motorcycle and I'm left with a few triggered memories. Mostly fine. Some sad. Life. Good times.
Nobody forgets Gabe's funny running and voice. The shooting was actually very fun, I found myself playing Syphon Filter 2 about half as much as Goldeneye and Perfect Dark which is ALOT.
I remember I'd get so frustrated I'd just shoot one of the yellow suited guys in the head and always regret it when I heard "Oh my god Gabe, you killed a CBDC agent!"
bro you unlocked the title achievement for me. I’ve been trying to know what the title of a shooter game that had some sort of weapon that was like a string that got people on fire. Decade of wondering put to ease
This looks pretty cool. I've heard about this game online, but never really knew much about it. It's remarkable that the same team that released Bubsy 3D could turn around and make a pretty great game. They were able to learn from their mistakes and improve for the next time. They still had more improving to do, but it was a big step up in quality.
these guys went on to make what is considered by many to be the best PSP game, Logan's Shadow, a downright underrated entry into the Uncharted franchise, Golden Abyss, and Days Gone, which many people say was underrated and sadly undersold.
@@quinnmarchese6313 i wish they got the same reverence as naughty dog did, at least from sony. Always felt like bend was the middle step child of the early ps1 devs. Last of us and uncharted are great games but not enough to overshadow what legacy bend had to offer as well
I personally have always thought Syphon Filter could have been a really great, lasting series if they kept the quality (or improved on it) of the first 2. The PSP game is good too but 3 and Omega Strain are both very 'meh' IMO. They're not bad, just forgettable.
the best part of this fact is that the second and third game are progressively better, both in graphics, dificulty and mechanics, also, SF3 wraps up everything about the plot that was never introduced to the player in a mix of current missions and flashback missions, my favourite were the two missions in afganistan you play with logan
I also remember the split screen multiplayer of the sequel, we spent so much time playing it with my brother and friends :) And yes, the taser was iconic, can't hear the word "taser" without thinking about this game.
I used to play it with parents and we were laughing while trying to chop each other with the knife! XD It had that funny animation and character models were unique, to this day I love using melee in multiplayer games.
38:48 there is an alternative to killing Gabrek and his minions stealthily without using the gas grenades. There is one point in their patrol where all three of them walk side-by-side; and at that point there is a conveniently located hiding spot. If you take out the Sniper Rifle and line them all up with a headshot, one bullet will kill all three of them! As far as I know this was the only moment you can do this in the game, so I have no idea if there is some kind of generalized mechanic for shoot-through multi-headshots or this is just some ad-hoc one-off.
@@tartrazine5 I think that SF2 level actually gave me the idea to try it out in SF1 which is how I found out about this trick with Gabrek. I wouldn't be surprised if this was an actual mechanic and they felt like it I was wasted in SF1 with almost no opportunity to use it which is why it's usage is contrived in the hostage GIs objective in SF2.
One of the cool things about Editic Studios is learning about their history. The company was founded by Marc Blank and Michael Berlyn. Blank had been previously one of the co-founders of Infocom and Berlyn was a well-known text adventure game maker. They formed Editic Studios in the mid-1990s and were contracted by Accolade to make Bubsy 3D. Unfortunately, they had no prior experience in creating 3D games and were given an absurdly short development time to make it. This is why Bubsy 3D feels like an unfinished college student's project, because they barely got it into working prototype stage before Accolade said, "That's good enough!" and shoved it out the door. Funny redemption arc for the company that they've gone on to do all the Syphon Filter games, Resistance Retribution, Days Gone, and even Uncharted: Golden Abyss.
I thought 989 Studios developed SF. Or were they the publisher? I still remember that "nine eight nine studios" voice and logo though. That was pretty iconic. Edit: So I looked into it, and yes, 989 was the publisher. Strangely enough, according to Wikipedia, it was 989 that approached Eidetic with the proposal for SF. This was because Eidetic released Bubsy 3D before, so that means they already had the experience of releasing a title for PS, and they already had their own engine. Ironically, the game that many consider as meh was the one that got Eidetic into 989's sight, leading into what was to become one of their best franchise ever.
Thank you for the Nostalgia. I remember this game bringing the family together taking turns after every death trying to solve it moving forward. And more often than not my dad or my older cousin would end up playing it because they were just better at the game while we little ones would cheer on. Syphon Filter was a classic. thank you for covering it.
Great talking points on the colour choices. It truely did make it that much more memorable, I still remember that green UI and the cover of the game, yet I hadn't thought much of it till you discussed it.. which just shows how good of a design choice it was. Iconic!
"The atrocious voice acting" And yet that's part of it's charm, because everyone who's grown up with that bad VA'ing has forever been quoting it and it plays repeatedly in your head haha. Never forget Goldman from House of the Dead 2 as the pinnacle of Voice acting. I stumbled across this video and now I'm strapped in for this hour long video. Can't wait :)
Grew up playing the Command and Conquer series. So cheesy VA and acting was just standard to me growing up. It has it's own charm. So I actually just get the 80-90's high-adrenaline action flick vibes from the SF series. Good times!!
Man I remember when this came out and played it none stop, I think I was 12. It was amazing. I remember at the time thinking this is the best game ever, a game changer. It was amazing. Cool video.
This video brought back so many mamories of playing the first level over and over again, i always thought the hazmat agents looked so cool and i always killed every enemy i could with the taser also that guy on fire at the start of the second level still haunts my mind to this very day
The way this unlocks memories in my brain is insane. I watched that training video so many times 🤣 That flaming guy in the subway used to scare the shit outta me 😂
I watched my older brother play this game but my favorite was watching him play the 2nd one…..that game looked so damn hard he restarted over and over again lol
I played many, not all, of the series (1, 2, 3, Omega Strain, Dark Mirror). I have nothing but fond memories. There are days where I miss the online play of Omega Strain.
I used to hold it down for so long!!! I was deranged as a kid lol this game was awesome for sure. The 2nd one is my favorite, the battle with chance near the end was so intense as a kid
God this was a trip down memory lane. This series was my dad's favourite and I'd beg him to let me play as a kid. They're rough to look at now, but God we're they my favourite thing ever at the time. think 2 and omega strain were my favourites though. Though I can't remember which one it was from, I'll never forget the pain of the level in the lab when you lose all your stuff x.x
This is one of my most beloved and remembered games of my chilhood. I watched the entire review as usual. Thank you so much for taking the time of analyzing and showing it the love it deserves.
I got to say man the last couple years I've really been on a PS1 and PS2 kick, and I really appreciate all these PS1 and PS2 games that you are reviewing. Keep it up I love it you are working your way up to being the best! I would love to see you do something like kingsfield, or something like baroque
This game brings back great memories. This was the only game me and my dad ever played together. If we get stuck on certain parts we just pass the controller to the other person. The taser was my favorite weapon.
Oh man, what a fun series. Can't remember what was more memorable, the first time I inadvertantly immolated some poor bastard with that taser, or when I realized the way to beat the completely armored final boss of SF2 was by picking up a shotgun and blasting them into the tail rotor of a helicopter so they went from person to a cloud of exceptionally rare steaks.. Good times. Good, horrifying times.
This was my father's all-time favorite game. I have memories from my early childhood of him hogging the family Playstation so he could play it. He passed away a few years ago and today is his birthday. Josh, thank you so much for allowing me to relive this. Love you dad, rest in peace.
😢
Yup never forget the good times
same here!!!!!!
I watched my dad play all 3 games so many times. I feel you fam
Wonderful beautiful memories.
That first level... the endless bad guys over the wall and tazeing them until they burst into flames. Played that game for so long
oh g-d the memories…
I never had the full game, but I remember that using a tazer to set enemies aflame was pretty damn hilarious as a kid when I played (and replayed) the demo of this that came on some demo disk. In retrospect, that was probably pretty fucked, but given that I still enjoy burning enemies to death in video games, who am I to judge my younger self for doing the same?
Getting the hidden grenade launcher and going to town on fools.
God this game was LEGENDARY when it came out.
I can't believe my mom let me play this 🤣
Good times man. Good times.
I really like the concept of the "DANGER" meter.
It's basically the secret agent/super spy movie plot armour adapted into a game mechanic.
It is balanced out by the fact that when enemies do hit your unprotected body, you take a lot of damage.
I'm genuinely shocked this hasn't been implemented in more games. Did Eidetic file a patent on this mechanic so that nobody else could use it or something?
@@HQ_Default Uncharted used that mechanic too
@@ididntmeantoshootthatvietn5012 No, Uncharted uses a standard regenerating health system that has been stated by developers *outside* of the game to be representative of plot armour. Mechanically, it is not the same as the Danger meter.
@@thegrouchization yeah but when you think about the concept its pretty similar
@@ididntmeantoshootthatvietn5012 Conceptually, maybe, but we're talking about mechanics here.
Medievil, Legacy of Kain and now Syphon filter! You are hitting my golden spots! keep up the good work!
One of the few channels that delves into ps1. I don't know why "retro" channels are so infatuated with n64 when the ps1 outsold it almost 3 to 1
@@laughingseal2282 Because it's more about culture than sales numbers. They are infatuated with the N64 because Nintendo fans have created a culture (or a cult, depending on who you ask) around Nintendo's franchises. There is no real equivalent for the PS1 except for 3rd party franchises like MGS or FF. No one is going to upload an entire series of videos on Crash or Spyro lore because there isn't much to talk about and no culture was built around those games. It's the same deal with Capcom vs SNK.
@Trololo231 That is not true at all. People are very nostalgic about Tomb Raider, Crash bandicoot, MGS1, all the Resident evils... It's just for some reason depends on where you live. Like the other guy said, nintendo is a cult in North America.
Our time rules. Video game era after school. Damn, miss those times
🤘🏾Legacy of Kain🤘🏾
I remember the syphon filter demo that came in the US playstation magazine like it was yesterday. I played that demo an incredible amount of times. I couldn't believe how awesome it was and how it made me feel like a badass after mastering the controls
I remember in that demo that the taser didn't have you locked into place. You could tase and run through the level with the poor guy just frying in place. Ahhh, war crimes...
I played the sequels demo on a disc that also came packed with Tomba. Wat a great time
I remember feeling the same about the pizza hut MGS demo and Die hard demo. Those brought blockbuster alot of business lol
It's kinda crazy that a frickin demo disk used to satisfy us for weeks...
and now sometimes we buy a game on steam, not open it once for 3 years, and somehow _still_ feel like we're bored of all the games in our library [guess I gotta buy a new one!]
Getting old sucks sometimes.
Good memories
The park level where you used night vision and sniped the enemies was a game changer. Was blown away by that level back in the day.
Looks like park from 1st level Deus Ex a year before that legendary game released!
I played that level so many times, having night vision was just so cool. That was the first time I had seen it.
Dude this level and that is what got me into this one and sighh I fell in lovee 💖
@@The2fiddyridahYeah, I always chose the sniper rifle from Paul when he offers you the weapons at the start, so that made the similarities even stronger lol 😂
@@GetOffMyPhoneGoogleI repeated that level a few times too, just for the coolness factor (and great boss) but the one I repeated the most was where you’re invading Pharcom’s warehouses, and the security is having an open battle with the soldiers. I’d pretend I was on either the grey or blue ‘team’ and then kill all the other guys lol
Im so glad for this. I LOVED this and its sequel as a kid but NO ONE I knew had it. NO ONE played it. NO ONE knew what i was talking about. I was convinced this was a huge fever dream of mine until today. You gave this cherished memory of mine the moment it deserved, thank you!
Yeah man, none of my friends have heard of SF. 😮😢
It’s on ps store for free with plus ❤️
Don't forget 3 with the closed door senate hearings and all the testimony were missions. And the last level wjere you shot it out with secret service and the train battle
My dad has the first four. He was in love with the series when I was growing up and he had more time for video games.
2 player battle was OP and outright hilarious
The "danger meter" is basically the same mechanic as modern third and first person shooters' regenerating health, but better and less immersion breaking. While they both signify "time until you get shot for real" this communicates it much less ambigously, while modern shooters make it feel like your bullet wounds close and heal in a couple seconds, like you're always secretly playing as Wolverine
It’s such a unique idea. Shame more don’t use it.
@@marctaco2624 This is used in the Uncharted series. Drake isn't actually getting hit but his luck is running out before a shot hits its mark.
It’s like the shied in halo or mass effect
@@glens2019 Yes, but you can only know that from developer commentary. On its own it seems like what I said before. Sci-fi games have it easier because the energy shield concept also helps the suspension of disbelief and doesn't make you feel like secret Wolverine.
@@marctaco2624 IIRC Brothers in Arms did something very similar, just without a GUI bar depicting the danger value. I think the screen would have a vignette that got stronger and stronger as you were in more danger, before you finally got hit and incapacitated.
I was obsessed with this series. The original trilogy was everything to me growing up.
Same
Same
Not to sound redundant here but;
Same
Syphon Filter vs MGS was a common schoolyard debate for my friends
Yea, this was the first game that I remember headshots were a game changer.
This entire time I’m thinking “How the hell did they go from The worst platformer to this masterpiece.”
I think its called finding your niche lol, it is a jarring transition tho
You learn more from failure than from success, and that was one hell of a failure...
@@Grease-Goblin very true lol
@@Grease-Goblin Good point
Bubsy 3D did have troubled development too. I doubt the original build would have been good, but they seemingly panicked after seeing mario 64
how they did manage to go from bubsy 3d to syphon filter is beyond me! really a accomplishment! great series. i love your in depth reviews of those old games. and i have to say you got good taste!
That's actually a good question. Not all games of its ilk are so integrally sound.
To be fair, bubsy was made in a time where a 3d platformer was not perfected and it was like the wild west where every developer tried to translate platforming to a 3d world, and if you factor that a game development cycle is like 2 to 3 years, I can see how bubsy ended up as it was.
I think the camera being not just serviceable but good is an achievement in its own right for the era. So many games from that period, even the good ones, have awful camera. Here's a game with an auto camera that actually works!
Among the many things Syphon Filter justly received praise for, the camera was *heavily* praised. There were several 3D action games at the time that would have been classics if it weren't for a camera you spent the entire game fighting.
3D game camera was a very hard thing for developers to master. Even today, some still struggle with it.
Case and point : Mario 64 came out in this era, and while it’s generally regarded as a perfect game… that camera was sometimes atrocious
...What? I absolutely *_HATED_* the camera in Syphon Filter, it was the main reason I couldn't enjoy the game.
@@Whatareyouumadeof And here I am struggling to understand how people struggled with Mario's camera yet managed to wrangle this clunky thing.
Also one of the 1st cover based shooter if u used the aim and lean well sick action fame one of the best of its time
One of Sony's forgotten franchise with a trilogy to boot.
One of the greatest action games of all time.
Well not of all time 😂 but back in the late 1990s this game was extremely advanced for its time. It felt like a movie
But then by early 2000s the james bond series, splinter cell, soccom navy seals, medal of honor, and some other games took the lead in the elaborated realistic adventure action shooter games genre
@@mathewvanostin7118 its silly at times when things got REAL. Puts a smile in my face tazing someone until he engulfs in flames. But yeah it should be up there.
This, splinter cell, and MGS the holy trilogy in this genre. Nothing else compares. Not even an opinion it’s known.
@@AndrewKidd14145 Spy Thrillers are awesome.
@@StillTheVoid absolutely I’m bout to play chaos theory I just got home lol
Started my career in the gaming industry working with the talented crew at eidetic. Designed characters and UI for Syphon Filter 1 - 3 (mostly 1 and 2) Had an incredible time living in Bend Oregon and working with all these industry veterans. It feels great to read the comments and how this game gave so many fond memories. Thank you!
Thank you! This game was my first love and led me to becoming a Game Designer myself.
If thats true you helped create a game from my childhood that i played the shit out of.
We need guys like you back to guide the current devs that have lost their way!
Then thank you! Was a great game!! Was in my twenties when it released. Was loads of fun!
Thanks for your hard work man. Loved those games growing up. Would buy a new one day one.
The taser... Oh, the taser. Best weapon in gaming history.
Who would've thought that the same people who made that abomination that is Bubsy 3d also made this amazing game.
I remember tap firing it and thinking this thing doesn't do anything... one day much later I open mouth set people on fire and had to show my dad
The cerebral bore from Turok 2 is also a strong contender for that title.
This game was amazing to me as a kid. The taser still stands out in my mind. Just burn the dude if he pissed you off
I loved the taser! I will tase a person and just watch them turn in to a giant smoking briquette
Yes should I put a Bogle to home as
The sound of the grenade launcher and shotgun...this game is insane nostalgia
Thunk
"Every Tom Clancey novel blended into a fine paste and poured into a VHS set of James Bond topped with a Metal Gear umbrella" is exactly why I like this game and should have been on the box
It’s weird but my copy says something like if you love metal gear solid, this one’s for you.
@@aidandunne936well it was basically Metal Gear at home.
@@vladv5126 what?
@@vladv5126 it’s always at home mate, it’s a video game.
Game was released only a few months after Metal Gear Solid, I doubt it had such a big influence on SF.
“There’s nothing stealthier than a grenade launcher.”
“If everyone is dead. There’s no one alive to say that you weren’t stealthy.”
💯 True!
The SOCOM games literally rate stealth like that.
Got addicted using grenade launcher
"No one will notice...if there is no one TO notice" - Big brain stealth logic
Good strategy, unfortunately, MGSV didn't agree with us on that play style. It'd give ya a bad level grade even if you didn't get spotted or set off an alarm while going lethal only.
If Deus Ex taught me anything it's that explosive weaponry are the bast way to silently take down enemy
Me and my brother played this game all the time as kids. We never understood the story. We just liked the taser 😂 glad it wasn't just us that thought it was hilarious! Such a great game
How can I forgot about taser!!!
Oh yea I was always cooking people with the taser 😂😂
I only got to play a little of 1 & 2 at a friend's house but picked up Logan's Shadow when I first got my PSP, and my love of the taser has been everlasting since then. I can't believe they thought censoring it for the PS2 port was a good idea (you couldn't set people on fire with it anymore)
As a kid I didn't know what a taser was and wondered why the people kept waking up
I remember being so impressed with Logan's run animation. I still think it looks good today.
I always thought his running animation was funny back then and still is. 😂
Same. As a kid, I'd go as far as to mimic it. Good times.
You said "Logans Run". Haha
"There is no sanctuary."
Logan's Run is so good, it got its own movie.
Literally one of my favorite games ever as a kid and still holds a lot of nostalgia for me.
I have fond memories of the sequel, Syphon Filter 2. My cousin used to invite me over to his house, while secretly using gameshark to make player 1 invincible. He had a good laugh until I started throwing grenades at him. For whatever reason, knifing someone or throwing grenades were instant kills.
That makes sense, actually - the Gameshark cheat would stop your HP from falling, but grenades and knives are one-shot kills, so they wouldn't interact with the HP system at all - kind of like how being "invincible" in most games doesn't protect you from falling out of the level.
I didn't know hacks existed for PS1. But when I was playing with my bro, knife was illegal because of its oneshot. We were not using knife.
You needed separate invincibility codes to negate grenades.
@Rokabur Because grenades and knives just killed you rather than depleting HP, you needed to short-circuit that check.
GameShark codes are not so much codes but straight up hacking. This is why If you put on too many cleats the game would get goofed
I remember replaying the original again and again despite me barely even knowing a single word of English. Made it hard to get through, but I did it. This video brings high levels of nostalgia
I had a similar experience, but I'm english and was too young to read 90% of what was on screen!
That is some dedication right there. Glad you still got to enjoy the game, despite not knowing any of the words. Tbh that just stands as a testament to how good these games really were
Same!!
I remember watching one of my younger brothers play this over and over. While I would always gravitate toward rpgs, he was much more into stealth and action games like this and Metal Gear. The moment he discovered the taser we laughed out asses off for hours over how ridiculous it was. Good times. I hope he's resting easy now.
The taser is still one of my all time favorite weapons in any game ever. Stealth roasting a ski mask for a full minute was the most ridiculous fun thing. Sorry about your brother. Hope you're living well.
I remember when tasing a guy for a long time,on a specific level, another guy would run out in a Micheal Jackson outfit and dance before he burst into flames. Hilarious
😂😂
I replayed Rhoemers base so many times as a kid trying not to set off an alarm. It was a self made achievement. Replayed it not long ago and as soon as the level loaded, I knew my mission.
same/ loved it
imo - Rhoemers base had better atmosphere (music, design, camera) than "first stages" of Shadow Moses Island from MGS and gameplay in SF (aiming, sneaking) was way better also
(nowadays I like them almost the same but years ago after playing Syphon Filter/this sneaking level I couldn't understand why my friends were so much more hyped about exclamation points in mgs and long many times really boring codec talks)
I literally had my best gaming moment of all time on that level: the first time I managed to go far without setting off the alarm I stumbled upon the guy you must kill and his guards, I had wasted all my grenades and was hiding at a corner. When the three of them reached me I managed to pull a triple headshot with 3 bullets in like half a second, without setting the alarm off. Couldn't believe it.
I've tried countless times to recreate this and never pulled it off 😂😂
When you played that intro cutscene, memories exploded out of my mind. I was on the cusp of quoting along. The cadence, the visuals it all came back to me. I loved this game growing up.
I find SF’s dialog to be beautifully campy. It’s part of the charm.
Agreed.
They should have done a Resident Evil cross-over
@@highriskgunman4181 lol gabe logan can wipe out all of the zombie without breaking sweat😅
@@TheBlueboy7777 That's what I was thinking. How are we going to challenge the Syphon Filter cast with zombies? They'll take a hard look at the area, leave in a chopper, and suddenly, everything starts blowing up.
Another thing i really like that this game (and its sequels) does is the dynamic soundtrack. There's different verisons of each level theme that play correspondingly with what's happening on screen. If you're in combat the music will pick up in intensity for example.
This game is a masterpiece. I bought it when it first came out and found it more enjoyable then Metal Gear at the time. Snake, Gabe, and Sam, the Holy Trinity of the spy games. Going back and playing it again will not do it justice since this generation is onto the PS5, and we were upgrading from the SNES to the Play Station.
all i remember is me sucking ass at this game ngl, it was pretty fucking cool tho.
its about 10 minutes of getting used to the controls and graphics, and after that you'll adapt pretty fast. I got it as a rom and still enjoy playing through it
Nobody remembers the generic name of logan. combine that with his generic voice acting, and lack of successs in the gaming industry is the reason why the memorable david hayter or michale ironside are actually memorable. plus, the big 3 of stealth games have hitman instead of syphon filter.
@@iswitchedsidesforthiscat well he did say spy games
not stealth games, and hitman isn't a spy game, you're just like
an assasin
also no, Syphon filter is still more fun.
@@macro3751 We’re not talking about fun factor, we’re talking about success in the gaming industry. CoD is more successfull than Syphon Filter, but I wouldn’t argue that it’s fun.
One thing that I love about this game is that everything that applies to the enemies also applies to your character and vice versa. Explosions will kill anyone, fire will kill anyone, gas will kill anyone, armor works the same for everyone, the weapons work the same for everyone (enemy snipers will even hit headshots, that also instakill YOU) etc. One thing that wasn't mentioned in the video that is a perfect example of this is that the enemies also have a DANGER and TARGET meters, but their TARGET meter is your DANGER meter and vice versa. This gives the feeling that every npc is an equal entity to the player character. Gabe isn't any more special than the npcs except for the fact that the player is controlling him. Everyone works just the same. When I was a kid this gave me a huge feeling of realism that I never got from any other game.
I really love when games do that too. Its so annoying when enemies have special rules for them and different rules for the player. its like fighting a boss that has 5,000 HP when the player has 100, but the boss is just another regular human. He's just "supposed to be hard" so they just lazily give him a huge amount of HP, instead of making an intelligently difficult battle with challenging mechanics. It goes for the other way around too. Like when the player is some super-rambo, he can take like a whole magazine of assault rifle bullets before dying but enemies die in 1 or 2 shots. Or rubber-banding in racing games is also really annoying. Rubber-banding basically punishes you for being really good (and sometimes rewards you for sucking), it makes no sense. It turns a racing game from going as fast as possible without wrecking your car, into a strategy game, just keeping behind the pack, and timing your overtake just before the finish line
@@Eralen00 Agreed. This was the most off putting thing to me about The Division. Decent concept, decent gunplay, glitches and cheaters notwithstanding; that was such a massive letdown to have regular humans in overalls, not armor and a mask, absorb hundreds of bullets.
Minor nitpick: the Target meter and Danger meter weren't entirely symmetrical. Notably, the Danger meter is all-or-nothing, where you don't get hit at all until the Danger meter fills up, while the Target meter is more of a straightforward hit-chance (i.e. if it's half full, about half of your shots will land on the target). This isn't a straightforward benefit to the player, since the Target meter is very dynamic and will change depending on what you are doing, e.g. if you are running towards the enemy it fills up faster and likewise decreases if you are running away from them, whereas the Danger meter will tend to fill up the same amount regardless of what the enemy is doing as long as you are standing in the open.
Overall, the system worked very well, it allowed for very dynamic action given the limitations of AI at the time. It also allowed the gameplay to be well-balanced (a bit on the harder side, but par for the course for the era) without having to fall into the usual shooter tropes where because hitscan weapons predominate and you can get hit with no warning so the player character needs to be some superhuman bullet sponge or given magic healing powers or sci-fi shields or whatever.
@@Carlos-M It has to be like that because the enemies outnumber the player. If it was symmetrical, the difficulty of the game would skyrocket everytime there were more than two enemies on the screen aiming at the player at the same time. If the player had to fill their target meter 100% every time to hit every single enemy, they would get hit twice as much in return if there were two enemies, three times as much if there were three enemies and so on.
I love how the bosses were absolutely terrifying too. That KA-50 or Anton Girdeaux could murder you in a heartbeat if you switched off
The taser alone makes this an epic game. Doing cross level shots to guys on the roof just to watch their burning bodies rain down. I wish more games had a weapon like it, its up there with a good shotgun as one of my favorites.
I remember reading an interview with the developers saying that they designed Gabe to look and sound like Alec Baldwin, and even looking back on it years later, it really shows.
It was a metal gear solid clone
I hope Baldwin isn't cast in a movie adaptation-with the weapons in this game, he'll end up shooting the entire cast and crew!
@@boilerhousegarageyou really need some new jokes.
@@dirpyturtle69 Who's joking? The man's a complete menace.
@@boilerhousegarage Beetlejuice, beetlejuice, beetlejuice!!
Dang shame the guy who voiced Gabe didn’t get another project. Imho he had an awesome voice and suited Gabe really well. Him saying Lian and Theresa’s name stucked with me up until today.
He had a good voice but he wasn't a particularly great voice actor.
@@madgavin7568 As much as I don't want to throw shade on people. He might not have been but... who can really say? A great voice actor can't shine under a poor director. Look at the ol' RE1 voice acting. Some of those actors were decent... but the direction was awful.
That said. He probably just decided, for one reason or another, that voice acting wasn't his thing.
@@Unethical.FandubsGames who can really say? I dunno, someone with functional ears?
@@b4ds33d Good job completely ignoring the context of the message that went into further detail about how great actors have had terrible performances due to: poor production, bad direction, bad localization, rushed deadlines etc. etc. etc.
You got to "who can say?" and just stopped reading. Good for you :)
Don't forget that a good voice can be trained for better voice acting, it's a skill, not just a talent.
OH MY GOD JOSH
You just unlocked some extremely nice memories.
When I had just gotten a ps2, I only had demo discs in the first couple of weeks.
My favourite disc had a Syphon Filter game and Nightshade, both of which were games I was searching for, for ages.
Thank you
Played the heck out of that syphon filter demo.
@@AzureRaven2 that's why I bought the full game 😂
"Girdeux! I hope Rhoemer's paying you enough to DIE for him!"
Loved that line.
"Gabriel Logan, always the optimeest!"
"Kravitch!" I used that as a favorite cuss word for years. 😆
Man and that music in the loading screen. I still play it every once in awhile. Omega Strain's Theme was also pretty good
I completely forgot I ever beat this game until you showed the grenade launcher boss getting killed by a gas grenade-then it was like a core memory unlocked.
Before then, I just had the most vivid memories of the Park and the Museum any time Syphon Filter was mentioned (as well as the snow level in Syphon Filter 2).
I remember watching my dad play these games and having a blast when he'd hand the controller over and then abusing the taser. I remember the way my dad beat the final boss in the labrynth-like office building was throwing random gas grenades until the guy was dead. And I remember I figured out how to beat the armored dude in the sequel and excitedly told my dad, who replied with "OF COURSE!" and could finally beat him
I had a very similar experience. My older brother and his friend were fighting the last boss of the second game and couldn't figure out how to do it, and 8 year old me had the bright idea to push him into the helicopter blade.
Dude, for figuring out how to take down the armored dude I salute you😂. It took me days and eventually read that on a video game magazine😉 (I was about 11 or so)
We lived the same childhood. Turn them into a crisp with that taser 😅
I had to use a guide
That shit brings back core memories of sneaking through the Washington park with the night vision, climbing that damn monument statue thing, fighting the dude yelling 'looggggaaaaan' in the worst accent, dodging trains in the subway, sneaking into the museum. Damn I still remember every mission lmao. I can still name missions in the follow up and maybe even the third one.
This game was so badass to me as a kid. It consumed way too much of my time (along with MGS). I loved the music, the taser and his front jump roll. I was 12, so I learned how to do the roll like him in my parents yard. Thanks for bringing back the memories!!!
My dad favorite game series alongside the army men games on PS1. God, so many memories of watching my dad plays this on the living room until the day he's too busy with work to play and i basically inherit his gaming spirit to this day. This and MGS DOMINATE my childhood.
Man, I forgot about Army Men. 3DO, right? Good stuff, enjoyed the split-screen with my brother.
Ahh Army Men was awesome!!
Syphon Filter 1&2 will always have a place in my heart. As a kid, these were two of the few games that I beat over and over and never got bored of playing
what about (3) ?? :o
This game, metal gear solid, and resident evil 3 were everything. You just had to be there
RE2 for me
Yeah RE2 was the big one.
RE3 released in the same late window as MGS and SP, like late 98 thru early 2000?
There were just so many bangers then. You either had an N64 and a bunch of party games, or you had a PS1 and played all these wild hits back to back to back. Or you had both and I was jealous as hell!! 😅😅
There really hasn't been an era of gaming quite like it. PlayStation dominated and and from about 98 on the games really broke through and differentiated itself from every other 32-bit system in a huge way.
Played the first two with my bro countless ties and still do occasionally. Unfortunately the first RE I ever played was RE2 remake, always loved the first movie though😂
we had it so good
This and Tenchu were my favorite PS1 games. A few years after I beat this, I had the pleasure of working with Richard Ham, who led Syphon Filter's design team. Great guy, brilliant designer and creative lead. Thanks for the great memories, Rich!
I loved the violence in Tenchu! So over the top and gory! Great game back in the day!
I loved tenchu, I played the demo for hours upon hours and was blown away
@@VALLANCEGAMING The best part was when you realized that sticking to rooftops and shadows made the game SO much easier (and more fun). It was the first game I played that truly rewarded you for "role playing" your "class".
Thank you for this comment because it took me down memory lane when I only had Syphon Filter, Tenchu, and Metal Gear Solid on PS1 and I repeatedly played these games!
Memories bro. Me and my best used to swap memory cards in class and beat each others custom levels.
Reading the comments here, I can appreciate how much of a "dad game" this title was.
Really put a smile on my face knowing I'm not the only one who played this game with my dad.
What is it about games like this that make it appealing for fathers to play with their kids?
I think it's just the fact that it came out when dad's now were kids then.
My dad outright refused to play most fantasy or sci-fi stuff, so it was gritty "realistic" shooters, with some leeway allowed for Tomb Raider (guess he just liked Lara)... When I got older and bought games, I got tired of his caprices and just stopped getting "dad games" altogether... though now I kinda wish I didn't miss Splinter Cell (I LOVED Snake Eater though, and played it on my own, Eva is so badass).
@@aloneinthedark4660 how many compared to guys? 90/10
@@aloneinthedark4660 barely but not gamers. I'm not saying women don't play games. I play games today because my mom would stay up at night and play final fantasy or zelda and I'd sneak up and watch her play.
More and more girls are playing and I love it the more people we have playing the better. Men and women are different. Our brains are different. I would say most women don't want to run around and shoot people. Of course it happens and a lot of women do play things like CoD but everytime I play I may hear 1 woman in every few hours.
I think it was the graphics the movement and the action that got dads into it. Pretty badass game for its time. And the weapon sounds are good too.
Loved Syphon Filter 1-3. I played it so much, I could basically beat every level with the taser. Gabe was the man.
According to the thumbnail, he was also Sly Stallone. 😂
I have 3 copies this game sitting on my shelf. One from my childhood (pretty scratched up, still playable), one from a flea market with cracked case, and one in mint. Game felt unreal as a 7 year old.
UserName checks out! ...the love never went away lol
One could see a parallel or two between this game & what's been going down. Too bad we never got a true Siphon Filter.
When I moved to Tokyo my gf work colleague played it when he was younger and was generous to give me a Japanese copy of the game.
Lol I think I still have the book for the first game, haven’t had a psone since highschool, kinda like I have ff7 still but only one disc is in there and the rest went to new jersey with my forgetful friend lol
Such a satisfying game. This, Tenchu Stealth Assassins and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night were my favorite Playstaion Games back in the day.
I remember being like 6 and running around the house acting like Logan. Jumping off tables, recreating scenes with my toys. The second one to my 6 year old self was the coolest damn thing
I got my hands on the demo, and then 'headshot bang' became a thing for a few months at school.
I used to roll everywhere lol
Recreating the dying animations irl and rolling everywhere those were the days
Thank you so much for including the cutscenes. Gold.
"It's logan! blow the bridge now!"
Right up there with
"You should followed that damn train CJ"
26:08 The briefing for this mission actually explains why the trains are still running. They're transporting emergency personnel and wounded too and from the site.
Hmm... interesting
Oh man every time you say “syph-ON” kills me
What a blast from the past. I remember playing the demo as a kid but, like many childhood memories, I remember it as kind of a fever dream. All I could vividly remember was bad guys coming from behind a brick wall and me lighting them on fire with a taser. No name, nothing else. I've been wondering the name for all this years, so thank you very much for making this video 🙏🏻
do you remember them turning black after they catch fire ?
Quick note: at 16 minutes when he's talking about bottles; there actually is a mechanical aspect to the game play. One of the later levels has bottles with chemicals that explode or release toxic gas when shot.
Thats a good way to flesh out a overlll one off mechanic
That danger meter is a very cool way to narratively explain the "regenerating sheild" mechanic. Also, reminds me of Uncharted's explanation for it. The screen going dark as you're close to death is not Nate taking damage. He hasn't actually been hit. It's his luck running out. And when it's gone, THEN he is shot/hit once and dies.
Personally, I find having luck be a finite regenerating resource to be weirder than just being Wolverine.
@@KopperNeomanYeah it's needless overexplaining what are simple game mechanics.
I swear that bullets clearly do hit Drake though
very fitting then that Bend ended up working on Uncharted later on
Syphon Filter 1 and 2 were both incredible at the time. As a kid, these games told stories otherwise rarely touched upon. Similar to the Tv show Burn Notice. Stellar for their time.
3 was pretty fun too
@@TheAverageGamer1 2 short
Your "does the grenade launcher kill me as well........ *explosion*........ yes it does" you're one of my favorite people. Always gonna follow and support you!
You keep churning out these "Was it any good?" vids and I keep watching them religiously. You keep covering games that I played, loved and thought most people had forgotten about back at the turn of the century. You keep unlocking my childhood and teenage memories This is my jam, keep going :D
Damn this was a great game I’m 38 now but this brings back memories one of my all time favorites.
I don’t know what that is?
God. I loved Syphon Filter. Siphon Filter Omega Strain's multi-player was AMAZING. I don't understand why companies don't do more cooperative story based shootera like that anymore. The way you unlocked guns was really cool
I miss omega strain to bad. It was the coolest game ever.
They do. Borderlands is a decent example.
Omega Strain did have a problematic single player though, I wish they did that better.
It definitely is still a neat and clever game though. It has a really fun gear system.
Omega Strain is great its the first game I think of that had such a large customization system in it without it being paywalled but instead locked behind playing the game and not trying to empty your wallet
I tried it without internet back in the day and I really hated it. Now I just wish I was able to play the multiplayer
The last Splinter Cell had a really cool co-op feature in the campaign… something about tactical espionage games and co-op is just so wonderful
I remember playing all 3 of these like it was yesterday… this was literally the game that got me addicted to shooters . Man the amazing memories!! Amazing game ❤
I love this game! I was hooked when I played the demo disc, and bought the game on release. I have never found a game with a more controllable character. With all the different button combinations it felt like there wasn't anything you couldn't do. It was just so immersive.
spoiler: it was
It was okay, yeah.
I was 19 or 20 when this came out. I cannot tell you how much I loved this game. It was incredible and so much fun. You hit the nail on the head when you said that it felt like you were in a 90s action flick. Nothing was cooler than rolling around a corner and shooting some bad guys. The lighting was very cool as well. And each time I played this I was impressed with the feeling it gave me.
so many memories come flooding back watching this!.. good stuff!!
Oh god the intro of the first mission was etched and sealed into my mind. That car blowing up opened FLOODGATES of nostalgia. I was enthralled with the first two games, but I never heard about the third and forgot about the series until a few years ago. I appreciate the retrospective!
Parents could not afford any consoles when i was a kid. But there was this game center in the neighborhood that had Genesis and Sony PlayStation that you can play and pay per hour. This is the only game i used to spend my time on. One time the owner wanted to sell the game to get some other popular game at that time. I begged him to to do it, but he did. Did not play it since. But, Syphon Filter will always be the game i remember as the only PS1 game i spent my time on. Thanks for the nostalgia Josh
late 90s/ early 2000s game centers were a vibe. So many hours spent playing fifa or pes. The one I used to go to would rent out PS1 and PS2 for 24 hours.. ah life was easy back then.
that danger mechanic makes you feel like a movie hero of some kind. You can literally not get hit exapt when act stupid and recless. I like this.
Great video. I remember playing it on the demo disc and using the tazer. Those are the first memories of this game and I remember them extremely well. Game was ahead of it's time.
This game was one I played with my brother in law. I knew him most of my life and we would have a blast playing games. Doom, corridor 7, wipeout and tomb raider. This was one of his favourites. Unfortunately he died riding a motorcycle and I'm left with a few triggered memories. Mostly fine. Some sad. Life. Good times.
I played it with my little brother. I lost him in February. Having the same feelings
Nobody forgets Gabe's funny running and voice. The shooting was actually very fun, I found myself playing Syphon Filter 2 about half as much as Goldeneye and Perfect Dark which is ALOT.
Oh, perfect dark 🥰🥰🥰
I spent hours playing the first Syphon Filter, as a kid, and was so excited when I got the second game for my birthday.
Me thinks you held the button on the taser for a long time :D
is 2 not as good?
@@idontwantahandlethough It's just as good as the first, the perfect sequel honestly. From 3 and onwards it went downhill in my opinion, though.
I remember I'd get so frustrated I'd just shoot one of the yellow suited guys in the head and always regret it when I heard "Oh my god Gabe, you killed a CBDC agent!"
The first one was amazing! The taser, the levels, the cheesyness. It was all wonderful at the time.
bro you unlocked the title achievement for me. I’ve been trying to know what the title of a shooter game that had some sort of weapon that was like a string that got people on fire. Decade of wondering put to ease
This looks pretty cool. I've heard about this game online, but never really knew much about it. It's remarkable that the same team that released Bubsy 3D could turn around and make a pretty great game. They were able to learn from their mistakes and improve for the next time. They still had more improving to do, but it was a big step up in quality.
these guys went on to make what is considered by many to be the best PSP game, Logan's Shadow, a downright underrated entry into the Uncharted franchise, Golden Abyss, and Days Gone, which many people say was underrated and sadly undersold.
@@quinnmarchese6313 i wish they got the same reverence as naughty dog did, at least from sony. Always felt like bend was the middle step child of the early ps1 devs. Last of us and uncharted are great games but not enough to overshadow what legacy bend had to offer as well
I personally have always thought Syphon Filter could have been a really great, lasting series if they kept the quality (or improved on it) of the first 2.
The PSP game is good too but 3 and Omega Strain are both very 'meh' IMO. They're not bad, just forgettable.
the best part of this fact is that the second and third game are progressively better, both in graphics, dificulty and mechanics, also, SF3 wraps up everything about the plot that was never introduced to the player in a mix of current missions and flashback missions, my favourite were the two missions in afganistan you play with logan
Is like that developer from the Rambo game that made an amazing Terminator game
I also remember the split screen multiplayer of the sequel, we spent so much time playing it with my brother and friends :) And yes, the taser was iconic, can't hear the word "taser" without thinking about this game.
I used to play it with parents and we were laughing while trying to chop each other with the knife! XD It had that funny animation and character models were unique, to this day I love using melee in multiplayer games.
38:48 there is an alternative to killing Gabrek and his minions stealthily without using the gas grenades. There is one point in their patrol where all three of them walk side-by-side; and at that point there is a conveniently located hiding spot. If you take out the Sniper Rifle and line them all up with a headshot, one bullet will kill all three of them!
As far as I know this was the only moment you can do this in the game, so I have no idea if there is some kind of generalized mechanic for shoot-through multi-headshots or this is just some ad-hoc one-off.
They definitely forced you to use this mechanic in the sequel to save two hostages from a pair of terrorists who needed to be killed at the same time.
@@tartrazine5 I think that SF2 level actually gave me the idea to try it out in SF1 which is how I found out about this trick with Gabrek. I wouldn't be surprised if this was an actual mechanic and they felt like it I was wasted in SF1 with almost no opportunity to use it which is why it's usage is contrived in the hostage GIs objective in SF2.
Have to say, first time I've seen your channel and I must say this is some Ross Scott game dungeon quality! I'll be marathoning your videos for sure!
One of the cool things about Editic Studios is learning about their history.
The company was founded by Marc Blank and Michael Berlyn. Blank had been previously one of the co-founders of Infocom and Berlyn was a well-known text adventure game maker.
They formed Editic Studios in the mid-1990s and were contracted by Accolade to make Bubsy 3D. Unfortunately, they had no prior experience in creating 3D games and were given an absurdly short development time to make it.
This is why Bubsy 3D feels like an unfinished college student's project, because they barely got it into working prototype stage before Accolade said, "That's good enough!" and shoved it out the door.
Funny redemption arc for the company that they've gone on to do all the Syphon Filter games, Resistance Retribution, Days Gone, and even Uncharted: Golden Abyss.
I like a good redemption arc. Unfortunately, I worry for the future of Bend as most of the original founders are gone now.
I thought 989 Studios developed SF. Or were they the publisher? I still remember that "nine eight nine studios" voice and logo though. That was pretty iconic.
Edit: So I looked into it, and yes, 989 was the publisher. Strangely enough, according to Wikipedia, it was 989 that approached Eidetic with the proposal for SF. This was because Eidetic released Bubsy 3D before, so that means they already had the experience of releasing a title for PS, and they already had their own engine. Ironically, the game that many consider as meh was the one that got Eidetic into 989's sight, leading into what was to become one of their best franchise ever.
So many of us here remember our dads loving and playing this game. I didn't know it was such a shared experience 🥺🥺🥺
Thank you for the Nostalgia. I remember this game bringing the family together taking turns after every death trying to solve it moving forward. And more often than not my dad or my older cousin would end up playing it because they were just better at the game while we little ones would cheer on. Syphon Filter was a classic. thank you for covering it.
Great talking points on the colour choices. It truely did make it that much more memorable, I still remember that green UI and the cover of the game, yet I hadn't thought much of it till you discussed it.. which just shows how good of a design choice it was. Iconic!
"The atrocious voice acting" And yet that's part of it's charm, because everyone who's grown up with that bad VA'ing has forever been quoting it and it plays repeatedly in your head haha. Never forget Goldman from House of the Dead 2 as the pinnacle of Voice acting. I stumbled across this video and now I'm strapped in for this hour long video. Can't wait :)
Anton Girdeux's voice acting in particular was so terrible and yet so brilliant!
"in time, a succesor will come" you also have to add the small goblin with the headless knight.
like the original resident Evil, same kind of think "Baaaaaaaaaaarry" , Barry :> "Don't Open that Door!!!"
"Sufer like G did....?"
I've always loved that deliver. Like the actor didn't knew if it read it well, and the recorder team just did it in one take
Grew up playing the Command and Conquer series. So cheesy VA and acting was just standard to me growing up. It has it's own charm. So I actually just get the 80-90's high-adrenaline action flick vibes from the SF series. Good times!!
Syphon Filter 1-3 were a big part of my childhood (Especially 2, I loved that one the most). Seeing this retrospective really put a smile on my face.
Number 2 was the real Gem. John Chacon's voice acting may have been simple and cheesy, but it was perfect.
Man I remember when this came out and played it none stop, I think I was 12. It was amazing. I remember at the time thinking this is the best game ever, a game changer. It was amazing. Cool video.
This video brought back so many mamories of playing the first level over and over again, i always thought the hazmat agents looked so cool and i always killed every enemy i could with the taser also that guy on fire at the start of the second level still haunts my mind to this very day
I loved these games! I was unaware they made anymore after the first 3. Gives me something to look into!
I love the 2 they released for the psp
Omega Strain was fantastic. People still play it online on unofficial servers, I think.
The way this unlocks memories in my brain is insane. I watched that training video so many times 🤣
That flaming guy in the subway used to scare the shit outta me 😂
I watched my older brother play this game but my favorite was watching him play the 2nd one…..that game looked so damn hard he restarted over and over again lol
I played many, not all, of the series (1, 2, 3, Omega Strain, Dark Mirror). I have nothing but fond memories. There are days where I miss the online play of Omega Strain.
Man, I remember playing the split screen deathmatch on Syphon Filter 2 as a kid with my friends. Good times.
I used to love the MP in the second game.
That merciless tazer, bro...
I remember playing splitscreen also and we used cardboard divider so we could not see eachothers side
of screen haha, great memories
Goated memory . The vibes were unmatched
Damn. That taser in real life would be a war crime.
I used to hold it down for so long!!! I was deranged as a kid lol this game was awesome for sure. The 2nd one is my favorite, the battle with chance near the end was so intense as a kid
It's not a war crime the first time.
@@aerfwefd7334 😮💨
None of the enemies can take you to court for it.. if you tase them all to death first. B i g B r a i n.
Napalm sticks to kids!
God this was a trip down memory lane. This series was my dad's favourite and I'd beg him to let me play as a kid. They're rough to look at now, but God we're they my favourite thing ever at the time. think 2 and omega strain were my favourites though. Though I can't remember which one it was from, I'll never forget the pain of the level in the lab when you lose all your stuff x.x
Don't be like that, we were kids, not blind. You knew the game was ugly back then.
It's crazy how this channel has all the games from my childhood...haven't seen one I didn't play so far. Thank you mom
These reviews are the perfect mix between nostalgia and detail/depth. Great editing too!
Would love to see you review Colony Wars or G-Police.
This is one of my most beloved and remembered games of my chilhood. I watched the entire review as usual. Thank you so much for taking the time of analyzing and showing it the love it deserves.
no other game had the atmosphere like Syphon Filter, the story, iconic voice action, characters and level designs/weapons were just too damn good
I got to say man the last couple years I've really been on a PS1 and PS2 kick, and I really appreciate all these PS1 and PS2 games that you are reviewing. Keep it up I love it you are working your way up to being the best! I would love to see you do something like kingsfield, or something like baroque
The helicopter boss fight is one of my favorites! It feels badass once you learn how to evade its strafes.
This game brings back great memories. This was the only game me and my dad ever played together. If we get stuck on certain parts we just pass the controller to the other person. The taser was my favorite weapon.
Same with me... we used to play from🌚to 🌝hahaha.
Oh man, what a fun series. Can't remember what was more memorable, the first time I inadvertantly immolated some poor bastard with that taser, or when I realized the way to beat the completely armored final boss of SF2 was by picking up a shotgun and blasting them into the tail rotor of a helicopter so they went from person to a cloud of exceptionally rare steaks.. Good times. Good, horrifying times.
"...they went from a person to a cloud of exceptionally rare steaks" fuckin gold.
@@wordman2537 Always pleased to be of service
Omg, I played this game as a kid and I searched of it since then. Thank you, Josh!