Lead man Gabe Logan is back and he brings hottie Lian Xing with him. But this time they’re both wanted by the government for the murder of former agent, Teresa Lipan, and the actions of The Agency that Logan and Xing worked for. Logan starts to explain to Secretary Vince Hadden about his and Xing’s efforts to stop the virus Syphon Filter from spreading into the wrong hands, and missions take place in a series of flashbacks. Each testimony leads to a different mission, and each mission better explains the operatives’ efforts.

SCEA did a nice job with the detail in SF3. The visuals are solid and create believable environments for missions to take place in. The first mission starts out in Tokyo and does a decent job to recreate a hotel and the neon lights flashing outside. The music is high orchestral quality and resembles that of a feature film. There are big drum beats to get the action pumping and each level is represented by sneaky, slightly pulsating tempos. The voice acting is decent, though a bit maniacal for theatrical purposes. The supporting cast has voices that are appropriate for each of their characters. But Gabe sounds too old to be the action-spy that he is. His grizzled voice is muffled and sounds more like a man on his last breath. But Gabe and cast all look nice in the CG cinematics that flesh out the story in-between missions.

Gabe talks softly but carries a big arsenal to back him up. There are 20 weapons in all, including handguns, machine guns, assault rifles, sniper rifles, shotguns, grenades, a knife, and an air taser. A spy needs his gear to get the job done, and Gabe certainly has enough of it. If he doesn’t want to fire arms, Gabe can evade. He can strafe, roll, duck, and climb with the help of the action button. He still runs like he needs to head to the nearest bathroom, but the animation is real enough to make it look like professional spy work.

There are a few replay factors in SF3 – the two-player death match mode and mini games. The death match mode pits you and a friend against each other, sort of. Normally a death match mode in a spy game would be great, but in this one you can’t hit each other every time. A point blank shot will register once and subsequent shots won’t. It’s not much of a death match if you can’t unload a clip on a friend. The mode’s saving grace is that you can choose to be a corpse character and run around in undies.

The SF3 mini games are fun. Players can choose from: Thief – Steal a briefcase and return to position; Elimination – Kill all enemies; Demolition; find bombs and cover ammunition expert; Assassin – Kill all targets without being detected; and Biathlon – Destroy targets from specific position in allotted time. Each are short quips that require some good spy work, and don’t wear out their welcome in length.

The problem with Syphon Filter is its boring gameplay. The title starts out well with a sniping introduction, but soon after the title gets dull. Gabe might carry an arsenal an army would be proud of, but he hardly ever has to use it. All Gabe needs is his trusty old air taser. Yup, the air taser. The nifty electrocuting gadget tosses out a piece of high voltage floss to any nearby enemy and fries him up to a golden crisp. If Gabe holds the attack button long enough, the enemy incinerates and turns into a fireball. It’s a pretty satisfying attack that uses the best of the Dual Shock’s vibration capabilities. Just don’t get too close to a fire-y enemy – Gabe will burn and die.

The reason why you can tour the game with the air taser is because the AI stinks. Gabe can be in point blank range of an enemy and not be in any danger. He’ll even have time to switch weapons during fire to make sure he’s wasting an enemy with the right gun. Some enemy grunts can tag you depending on where you are. But 80% of the time they’ll fire and miss. The sorry AI makes the game a breeze and tosses the danger element out the window.

Another problem is the weapons and map selection. Gabe can’t switch to a certain weapon on the fly. Players have to hold select, then switch weapons with the triggers. It makes it hard to get what you want, and even harder since none of the weapons are named in the selection screen. The map, which is essential to mission completion, can’t be accessed fast either. Players have to hit start, then X, which needlessly pauses the action.

Syphon Filter 3 is a quality film with B-movie gameplay. The visuals, music, and CG are all top-notch, but the chewy gameplay center gets old after a few bites.