Right from the start, it's pretty obvious that Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror is not lacking in the quality department. The game is chock full of high production values, with an intruiging story, excellent visuals, a dramatic score, and well crafted and deep gameplay. Sony Bend went all out in producing a game which rivals the best console games out there, and the attention to detail really shows.

In Dark Mirror, Gabriel Logan finds himself dealing with a para-military group by the name of Red Section, which is in possession of a next-generation weapon of mass destruction. Using Precision Strike Tactics, advanced vision technology, and the latest in high-tech weaponry, Logan and his team are assigned to perform recon and surgical strike missions in order to determine and ultimately dismantle the threat. Along with Solid Snake and Sam Fisher, Gabe is right up with the best of them. He's a seasoned, hard-ass special forces guy with a gravelly voice and an attitude which is difficult not to like. He skews as more of a weapons expert than a stealth ninja-type, and Dark Mirror really plays this up to an extent.

Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror centers around the Story Mode, which is broken down into several "Episodes" that take place in a variety of settings. The actual plot is more interesting than originally expected with some nice twists and turns, and the game pushes it along with fully voiced pre-rendered CG scenes (between episodes usually), and realtime cut-scenes. One of the game's best but not immediately recognizable traits are the well crafted missions and objectives. For lack of a better term, they feel very "organic" and natural, and Sony Bend did an awesome job in constructing them in an interesting way. One scenario smoothly flows into the next, and something about the rhythm and pacing just feels right. You can be taking down a clotch of terrorists at one point, then sneaking along while issuing commands to an AI character, then solving a puzzle-type situation, which leads into something else interesting that you haven't previously seen. Puzzle solving never feels like you are solving a puzzle. The game doesn't rely on simple switch flipping and backtracking, or various completely unrealistic elements. There are a few instances when you take on the role of Lian, one of your other team members, though you'll primarily see things from Gabe's perspective. On occasion, the game reminds me of what Perfect Dark Zero on the Xbox 360 could've been. Rare needs to spend some time playing Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror before working on the next PD installment, in my opinion of course.

The PSP is obviously missing buttons even when compared to the original PlayStation, so cramming all of Gabe's moves and techniques into the game was a challenge. Somehow, they've found a way to do even more with less, and while complicated at first, the completely customizable schemes work extremely well. Nearly every control parameter can be adjusted and tweaked, and it would be difficult to not find a method that works. As a result, Gabe can move around, freelook, crouch, crawl, shimmy, climb ladders, jump, slide down ziplines, snap to surfaces, peek around corners and over items, and perform context sensitive actions, such as open/kick down doors, command AI characters, and more. What's more impressive is that many of the actions can be performed while using a weapon or an item. The default and advanced control schemes can be challenging at first, though the game provides a number of useful training missions to help get a handle on the complexity of it all. After then training missions and the first few missions, most gamers should have a handle on how it works.

As with previous games in the Syphon Filter series, the weapons, items and gadgets in Dark Mirror are farily realistic and cool as hell. Gabe/Lian can equip a number of guns, such as pistols, shotguns, various machine and sub-machine guns, a couple sniper rifles, and pretty much anything that an enemy has dropped. Most weapons also have alternate firing modes, from single shot to burst for the machine guns, to completely original ammo types - like explosive tips or time delay taser sniper rifle rounds. Gabe can also perform various closeup melee and stealth attacks utilizing his weapon, bare hands, a knife, or the insanely cool "I'll make you burst into flames" EDT taser. The action in Dark Mirror is decidedly violent in parts, and is rated as such, so expect a bit of blood and brutal looking explosions. In addition to the weapons, he has access to several gadgets and items, such as scopes, a flashlight, health packs, ammo boxes and body armor. The scopes in particular borrow a page from the Splinter Cell and Metal Gear universe. Not only can Gabe utilize night vision and infrared scopes, he also has an electromagnetic-type scope which can pick up on certain energized items in the environment like mines, hidden locks, and equipment. All are well utilized in one way or another during the game.

Visually, Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror looks unbelieveable. If there is anything on the system that shows off the power of the PSP, this is it. The indoor and outdoor environments are diverse, detailed, interactive and overall impressively designed. The character models fare just as well, with great animation, texturing, lip synching and little details like the proper weapons/items strapped to your back. The framerate seems to be locked in at 30fps with hardly any noticeable hiccups or issues whatsoever. The engine also throws around a nice amount of lighting, texture and particle effects. For good measure Sony Bend also threw in a helping of ragdoll physics, which allows yourself and enemies to realistically react to gunfire and explosions. Overall, the game is incredibly comparable to a number of better looking PlayStation 2 games.

The audio matches up with the graphical quality of Dark Mirror quite nicely. As mentioned earlier Sony definitely did not skimp on the production values. The entire game is fully voiced, and the voiceovers are definitely above average even as compared to a console game. And just as a warning for those who ignore the 'M - Mature' ESRB rating, Syphon Filter's dialog is littered with 4 letter words, so kids should probably stay away. The soundtrack is full of dramatic orchestrated-sounding tunes which change depending on the situation. Various sound effects, from enemies being zapped with a taser, to trip mine exploding, to the ambient environmental noises are of high quality as well.

Besides the Story Mode, which should take the average gamer 12 - 15 hours to take down, Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror contains a Mission Mode and a Multiplayer mode. Mission Mode allows you to take on the various episodes again, in addition to some bonus missions, in an effort to unlock more goodies and achievements for use in the other modes. Multiplayer, on the other hand, is a full blown online playable (locally or over the internet) mode which pits you against up to 7 other players. Like with SOCOM: Fireteam Bravo, I'm amazed at the depth of the multiplayer mode. Not only can you simply play a number of team and individual-style ranked games, you can also create/maintain a clan, send email, set up a buddy list, post on a message board, create/modify a game, set up a search filter, and chat (via onscreen keyboard and/or voice). It seriously rivals the best that Xbox Live has to offer in terms of features. The gameplay modes range from simple deathmatches to objective-based missions, and the more you play online, the better the items/weapons you can unlock. In the games I've played, I've not witnessed any dropped connections or issues beyond a slightly irregular framerate depending on the number of players and map.

Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror is really the complete package. For gamers even mildly interested in the genre, the game should not be overlooked by PSP owners (or those contemplating picking up one). I'm sure no one would complain if the game were a little longer, but with the excellent and addictive online multiplayer mode to fall back on, it isn't much of a complaint. I eagerly anticipate the next Syphon installment, either for the PSP, PS3, or both.