Syphon Filter was one of the most popular franchises on the PSOne back in the day. It was also once considered to be a direct contender to Metal Gear Solid on the PSOne. However, after a long slumber on the PSP, the game may make a next gen comeback to give the Metal Gear franchise a run for its money.
I have fond memories of the original Syphon Filter game developed by Eidetic studios (now known as Sony Bend). You could say that the first Syphon Filter game put third-person shooters on the map. Back in 1999, Syphon Filter was considered to be Metal Gear Solid’s direct competitor in the stealth-action genre. Both games were released three months of each other so it was natural that the games would be scrutinized and compared.
Although, Syphon Filter had stealth elements in the game, it did not heavily rely on it like the Metal Gear series. In the game you could use almost any object to take cover and lean over to take shots at the enemies. The game garnered great reviews (Metacritic: 90) with sites such as IGN putting it into the top 25 games out of 1,639 titles on the PSOne.
There has been hints dropped recently that Syphon Filter 5 may be in the works with Sony Bend putting up a job posting looking for a PS3 developer. Also, according to the PCB Production Credits page, there is a listing for: SYPHON FILTER 5 - (Facial Mo-cap) – PLAYSTATION3- SONY BEND. It is good to know that the game will heavily utilize Mo-cap down to the facial expressions.
I can’t shake the feeling that Sony may be preemptively bringing this old franchise back onto the main platform. The company is probably preparing to combat a potential vacuum that could be created if the Metal Gear franchise goes multiplatform. In my opinion there is still a good chance that franchises like Metal Gear and Gears of War will go multiplatform in the future. Stay tuned for more information as we find out more about the mysterious Syphon Filter 5.
http://gamer.blorge.com/2009/02/14/syphon-filter-5-is-the-answer-to-metal-gear-on-the-ps3/
