Syphon Filter: The Omega Strain

Syphon Filter: The Omega Strain
Developer(s)	SIE Bend Studio
Publisher(s)	Sony Computer Entertainment
Producer(s)	Darren Yager
Writer(s)	John Garvin
Composer(s)	Mark Snow Mike Reagan
Series	Syphon Filter
Platform(s)	PlayStation 2
Release date(s)	NA: May 4, 2004 EU: July 9, 2004
Genre(s)	Third-person shooter, stealth
Mode(s)	Single player, multiplayer

Syphon Filter: The Omega Strain is a third-person shooter stealth video game developed by SIE Bend Studio and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 2. It is the fourth installment of the Syphon Filter series. As a sequel to Syphon Filter 3, it is the first game in the series to be released on the PlayStation 2.

Gameplay

The gameplay is a huge departure from the previous games. Rather than playing as Gabe Logan, the player is given the role of a new recruit working for Gabe's secret anti-terrorist organization, the IPCA. Players are able to create an original agent using a character customization system.

The game also gives a non-linear, open-ended experience where players are given choices to take on certain tasks, or avoid them altogether. RPG elements were added so that players could create characters, level up their ranks, and unlock new weapons. Enemies constantly spawn so that players can never completely clear an area.^[1]

Plot

Following the destruction of the original Syphon Filter virus, the Agency has received a new cover as the International Presidential Consulting Agency, dedicated to battling terrorist enemies. Gabe Logan, as Commander-in-Chief, has hand-picked a team of leaders and agents for his new organization, including Lian Xing, Teresa Lipan, Lawrence Mujari, and Dr. Elsa Weissenger. The recent threat revolves around the apprehension of Chechen officer named Mikhas Ivankov and ending his distribution of the Omega Strain of the Syphon Filter virus. The man behind the conspiracy, Mihai Niculescu, sends Mara Aramov to find and eliminate Ivankov. Meanwhile, Gabe and the Agency split up and investigate locations of certain outbreaks.

An Agency team headed by Imani Gray visits Carthage, Michigan in search of Mujari, who disappeared while investigating Dr. Richard Broussard. Broussard had made a deal to give the virus to terrorists from the Anarchiste Liberation Army, but he backed down. The ALA acquired it anyway, and attacked the city. Imani and her team rescue Mujari to find the Omega Strain has infected him. The agents defeat the ALA leaders: Andre Proust, Soren Masson and Jean Fournier, then prepare for their next assignment. Investigating an Ebola outbreak in Uganda with Lian, Gabe shows his obsession for stopping the Syphon Filter conspiracy.

IPCA commander Gary Stoneman tells the Agency operatives about his history as an assassin for the CIA, and how he recently killed mafia leader Dimitri Alexopoulous to keep him from obtaining the Omega Strain in Italy. The team follows Stone to Belarus and tracks a shipment of infected cattle which leads to the residence of Ivankov. They discover that his courier Yuschenko is selling the Omega Strain, and Agency pilot Alima Haddad ends up captured by the Chechens. Stone, believing she was killed, assumes the worst.

Lian later tells the Agency team how she identified that North Koreans were attempting to purchase the virus. She infiltrated the domain of warlord Askar Saydahmat and found his people were about to give the Omega Strain to Sok-ju Yang, with a Yemeni terrorist being present as well. Lian eliminated all the involved parties.

Gabe enlists help from Mossad agent Ehud Ben Zohar upon determining that Yuschenko plans to sell the virus to Fatha Al-Hassan, a Yemeni leader. Zohar only cares about stopping the man's terrorist connections, so he steals the viral canister after the Agency retrieves it from Yuschenko, and uses it to force Gabe's people into helping his mission.

Zohar and the team enter Al-Hassan's palace disguised as the dead Chechens. After Zohar eliminates Al-Hassan, he searches for evidence of weapons contracts while the Agency personnel defends him. Stone arrives to rescue them, and reveals that Gabe sent him in case Zohar tried any tricks. They exchange the contracts for the virus.

Next, the team investigates a lead recovered from the Belarus operation that shows Dr. Nikolai Jandran is conducting virus tests. Maggie Powers assists them in breaking into Jandran's labs and recording evidence. The team escapes before enemy forces destroy the university where Jandran works.

Mujari, having recovered from his injuries, explains his own investigation into the Chechens and why Ivankov wants independence from Russia. He sees that Uri Gregorov and other Russians are imprisoning the rebels, and finds hints of atrocities, photographing the acts for future blackmail.

Afterwards, Mujari takes control of the Agency team as they check the wreckage of the S.S. Lorelei. The university turned up salvaged boxes, indicating an undersea operation. Mujari requires that his team incapacitate innocent guards, and he evacuates the salvage rig before the Agency's planted nukes destroy the viral containers for good. However, Jandran dies from a serum before he can be brought back for questioning.

While Gabe faces pressure from the president and Alex Birchim of the White House Internal Affairs, he sends Lian and the team to track North Korean agent Yong-jun Kim, a man connected to Murakawa Industries in Japan. The investigation reveals that Murakawa, a legitimate part of the Yakuza, was helping develop the Omega Strain. Aramov arrived before Lian and forced Murakawa to commit suicide for trusting Kim. Kim pretended to work with Murakawa so he could get the virus.

Unfortunately, the team hears tragic news after destroying the Japanese labs. Imani had been tracking Kim on an airplane that crashed in Myanmar. Guilt-ridden, Lian takes the team to recover her body and the viral sample Kim was carrying. Despite claims that inclement weather brought down the jet, they find evidence indicating that Aramov had paid the Myanmar army to shoot down the plane.

Gabe becomes frustrated with his investigation into the secret corporation Meta Global Funds, which he believes controls the Syphon Filter conspiracy. The purchase of Murakawa Industries by Meta Global was possible through Niculescu Funds, headed by international banker Mihai Niculescu. He is powerful and influential, but secretive as well, so Gabe suspects he is behind Syphon Filter. Against Birchim's commands, Gabe brings the Agency team to the Niculescu Funds headquarters in Zurich. They break in and find evidence linking Birchim to bribes, but nothing implicating Niculescu.

Gabe will later describe the rest of his investigation to the Agency team, and how he looked into Niculescu's Montenegro estate in a final effort to expose him. Although he did not find physical evidence, he learned that Mara was working for him, but Mihai betrayed her. Mara did not want Ivankov to destroy Moscow, for he traded the Omega Strain to the North Koreans for a nuclear weapon.

Having learned of Ivankov's location from Mara, the Agency mobilises to his base and works to prevent the missile's launch. Stone recovers Alima, injured but alive, and the team works with Gabe to disable the nuclear weapon. Ivankov is eventually killed during a fight with Gabe when the enemy attempts to escape through the forest.^[2]

Thanks to tissue and virus samples recovered by the IPCA, a vaccine for the Omega Strain virus is successfully synthesized. The World Health Organization confirms that the Syphon Filter virus is no longer a threat as the vaccines are working. The President of the United States congratulates the IPCA. Birchim is arrested by Secret Service agents under the Homeland Security Act after Gabe shows the president the evidence of bribery. Stone carts off a wheelchair-using Alima. Dr. Weissenger is reported missing from a meeting with the WHO. Mihai Niculescu is killed by two anonymous gunmen as a result of the IPCA recruit planting a computer virus that wiped out the bank's records. Elsa Weissenger gives a written confession that she had the recruit kill Dr. Jandran, as well as signs of mental instability. Gabe sends a note to Mara Aramov. As Aramov reads the note, a rifle with a cracked scope appears, which reveals that Stone is sent to assassinate Aramov.^[2]

Development

In a June 2007 interview with GameSpy, franchise veteran John Garvin maintained his attachment to the game, and explained that it was originally not intended to feature a single player mode. Garvin implied that the ability to play through the campaign alone had been tacked on at the demand of parent company Sony Computer Entertainment, late into the development process, in order to broaden the game's appeal.^[1]

Reception

Syphon Filter: The Omega Strain received mixed reviews. It received a score of 65.36% on GameRankings based on 48 reviews^[3] and 65/100 on Metacritic based on 47 reviews.^[4]

References