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$20 Game of the Week: Syphon Filter – Dark Mirror (PSP, PS2)
by William Talley, filed in $20 Game Of The Week, Games on Jul.07, 2009
Our nation’s birthday was this past Saturday, so in celebration, this week’s $20GOTW and Lost classics will feature games based on Sony’s Syphon Filter, a franchise about keeping the world safe from terrorism. When it debuted on the original Playstation in the late 90s, Syphon Filter gave players its own brand of espionage action. It may not have been Metal Gear Solid, but Syphon Filter was the closest thing players got to playing through an episode of 24. Syphon Filter’s storyline covered 3 PS1 games and a PS2 entry which featured online play. In 2006, Sony bought Syphon Filter to the Playstation Portable, creating one of the best games available on the system.
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Bioshock is one of those games that you can’t pigeonhole into one category. Is it an FPS? While you play it from the first person viewpoint, and there are guns to shoot, you would be doing this game a great disservice if you write it off as a simple Halo-style blastfest. Is it an RPG? Well, the stat upgrade and skill development systems are almost as complex as any RPG skill tree. Is it a survival horror game? Well, there are things that are just as gripping and disturbing as any Silent Hill game. Considered a spiritual successor to Irrational games’ System Shock 2, BioShock is a blend of several different genres that features a powerful narrative, unique gameplay mechanics, and a breathtaking underwater setting.
Remember the old days of the FPS genre? You know, Doom, Wolfenstein 3-d, Duke Nukem and such. This was back when you developers didn’t have to reinvent the genre with some fancy graphics engine, Havok physics, or even complex AI. No sir, all you needed was a gun and a bunch of enemies to shoot. Rise of the Triad is a lesser known relic from that era. Created by a subsection of Apogee developers known as the Developers of Incredible power, Rise of the triad was another fun early FPS blast fest. It also added a few unique tricks of its own to make it all the more enjoyable. I’m shocked that no one developed a console version of this game as they did with Doom and Wolfenstein.
For as long as anyone can remember, Konami was one of many companies who made video games exclusively for Nintendo systems thanks to the Big N’s heavy license restrictions. Thus, it came as a surprise when Konami finally began to develop games for other console manufacturers’ systems, most notably the Sega Genesis. Sega’s 16-bit had already seen Rocket Knight, along with console-exclusive Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle and Castlevania games, so players hoped that it would be a matter of time until Konami graced the system with its flagship run-and-gun series, Contra. Sure enough, Konami delivered. Contra Hard Corps would be the first and last Contra game on the Sega Genesis. Although it wasn’t as memorable as Contra 3, it was good enough to stand among the past entries of the series. In fact, it would be the last good Contra game before the series slipped into a period of mediocrity.
In light of Iraq, Katrina, and the Blackwater controversies, it may seem strange to do a feature on a game about mercenaries. However, the gameplay, backdrop, and atmosphere help this title avoid similarities to real-world events. It doesn’t hurt that this game’s strategy RPG gameplay and team management are solid as well. Although this title never gained commercial success, it achieved a healthy cult following amongst its fans. If you give this game a shot and bear through its old school graphics and interface, then it isn’t hard to see why.
This is the follow up to Sega/Treasure’s Bleach: The Blade of Fate which was released in the U.S. in 2007. Based on the popular anime of the same name, Bleach: Dark Souls provides more fighting action featuring your favorite characters from the series. One would look at this and call it Bleach: The Blade of Fate Championship edition, and they wouldn’t be completely wrong, as Dark Souls borrows a lot of its content from Blade of Fate. However, there is a huge amount of new content in the game, and some gameplay refinements have been made, making this game stand out from its predecessor.
Whenever a lot of people often talk about how cool the old-school Ninja Turtles games were, they usually talk about the first arcade game and Turtles in Time. How come no one hardly ever mentions this game though? It’s just as cool as its arcade counterparts, even if its graphics aren’t as nice as they are. TMNT 3 was the third NES game based on the TMNT franchise (with the first being a horrid platforming game and the second being an NES port of the arcade game). Although it wasn’t based on any arcade game, it took it’s basic gameplay from the arcade titles while presenting all-new bosses and areas. Like the arcade games, the game did a good job of showcasing what people loved about the franchise at the time while providing fun cooperative gameplay.
We’re facing a prequel-heavy year in entertainment: Star Trek, Wolverine, Terminator: Salvation, the upcoming Caprica (based on the new Battlestar Galactica), and shows that involve so much time travel it’s hard to say which is the beginning or end. Some of those shows won’t even be coming back next year, thanks to a slew of announced cancellations.