Syphon Filter is the name of a video game series published by Sony and developed by Sony Bend (formerly Eidetic), that has appeared on the PlayStation, PlayStation 2, and PlayStation Portable game systems. In the series, Syphon Filter is the name given to the mysterious viral weapon.
Syphon Filter (1999)
Gabriel Logan and Lian Xing were on the trail of wanted international terrorist Erich Rhoemer (who holds German citizenship, but is actually Chechen). Special agent Ellis (a less experienced Agency operative) attempted to infiltrate Rhoemer's operation in Costa Rica, but he was discovered and executed by ex-KGB agent Mara Aramov on Rhoemer's orders. Rhoemer then orders his other lieutenant Anton Girdeux, a French terrorist, to burn down the Costa Rican plantation to hide the evidence of their Syphon Filter research.
The scene then shifts back to Washington, D.C. where Edward Benton is giving a report on Logan's mission to Agency Director Thomas Markinson and a shadowy, unnamed figure who says of Logan, "We will wait and see what he can discover." Gabe and Lian then investigate a mysterious viral outbreak in the Himalayas. When the game begins, Erich Rhoemer and his gang have launched an all-out terrorist assault on Washington, D.C., unleashing murder and mayhem on the streets and in the subways of the national capital. Gabe defeats Pavel Kravitch, Rhoemer's communications expert, and temporarily wounds and captures Mara Aramov, but she later escapes. Gabe also kills Rhoemer's bomb triggerman Jorge Marcos. After a formidable duel with Anton Girdeux, who wields a flamethrower and wears bulletproof armor, Gabe emerges victorious. Anton burns in his flames.
Lab results show that Syphon Filter is a deadly next-generation bio-weapon, capable of actually targeting specific ethnic groups while leaving others unharmed. The next scene concerns mysterious pharmaceutical mega-corporation PHARCOM and its CEO and founder, Jonathan Phagan. Behind the scenes at a black tie gala at Phagan's new EXPO Center Museum, Phagan is taken captive by Aramov. Gabe frees him, and he flees, but Aramov once again eventually escapes Agency custody. Also, Edward Benton is revealed to be a double-agent and is eliminated by Gabe. Phagan is quickly recaptured by Rhoemer's forces.
Gabe next goes on a reconnaissance/demolition mission to Rhoemer's secret base in Rozovka, Kazakhstan. Gabe succeeds in his mission, but his partner, Lian, is taken captive by Rhoemer. Gabe kills Rhoemer's commander Vladislav Gabrek and destroys Rhoemer's attacking chopper. Gabe next infiltrates Rhoemer's stronghold in Uzhhorod, Ukraine, which is a Gothic cathedral of Western European design. Gabe rescues Lian from Rhoemer's clutches and they escape. They also find Phagan, who is later killed by Aramov. Mara decides to help Gabe and Lian, since she has nowhere else to go. Gabe then infiltrates the PHARCOM warehouses in remote Almaty, Kazakhstan. Time is running out and Gabe learns that Markinson has been secretly negotiating with Rhoemer to obtain the Syphon Filter weapon for the Agency, while Rhoemer reveals he has captured an old Soviet era ICBM and loaded it with a Syphon Filter viral bomb ready to launch. Rhoemer kills Markinson and sets the launch sequence for the missile. Gabe cannot prevent it from launching, so his only hope is to initiate its self-destruct sequence once it is already in the upper atmosphere. Gabe successfully destroys the missile over Kazakhstan airspace. Rhoemer, furious at Logan's meddling, engages him in a final showdown. Despite Rhoemer's special kevlar armor, Gabe is able to kill Erich Rhoemer and avert World War III.
After the credits finish, a scene plays showing the shadowy figure (from the beginning of the game that had been talking to Markinson) inside of the Agency's headquarters with Aramov, and laughing.
Syphon Filter 2 (2000)
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Syphon Filter 2 was released in 2000 and it is a sequel to the first Syphon Filter. It picked up where it left. The game is about getting the encryption codes and discs.
Levels:
- Colorado Mountains - in the Western Colorado
- McKenzie Airbase Interior - in Denver, CO, inside the airbase
- Colorado Interstate 70 - Colorado's Interstate 70 (Western Colorado)
- I-70 Mountain Bridge - Interstate 70 Bridge
- McKenzie Airbase Exterior - outside the airbase
- Colorado Train Ride
- Colorado Train Race
- C-120 Wreck Site - the crash site
- Pharcom Expo Center - in New York City
- Morgan - the boss level
- Moscow Club 32 - in a club of Downtown Moscow
- Moscow Streets
- Volkov Park - a park
- Gregorov - another boss level
- Aljir Prison Break-In - Siberia setting
- Aljir Prison Escape
- Agency Bio-Lab - in New York City
- Agency Bio-Lab Escape
- New York Slums
- New York Sewer
- Finale - the final boss level: Chance is the boss
Syphon Filter 3 (2001)
Gabe, Mujari, and Lian are standing outside the mortuary. We pull over to Hadden talking to Aramov. Aramov complains that with administration pulls, he could end it. Hadden says that he has other plans for Gabe Logan, that hearings have been scheduled and that he has to blame some one.
At the Senate house, Mujari and Lian are standing outside in a hallway while Gabe is inside talking to Hadden. Hadden is saying that Logan is to blame for the Agency's doings in D.C. and in New York. He then asks Gabe if he has ever assassinated a world leader, Gabe says no, but remembers a mission in Tokyo in which he shot Shi Hao from across the street in a hotel.
In the first mission, Gabe is dropped off at a hotel, where Lian tells him that he has to go to room 314. Gabe goes up to the desk and asks for the key. He then goes to the elevator. After a talk with the elevator attendant about the weather, Gabe goes to the room. He receives a transmission from Lian to get his equipment from the bathtub.
Gabe gets his equipment and goes to the window. He aims carefully for Shi Hao, who is currently in a meeting/interrogation with the JRA. Gabe watches as they are beating a man. He takes the shot, only after eliminating the rooftop sniper, and kills Shi Hao. The other men in the building rush to attack Gabe, but he takes them out with singular bullets to the head.
JRA members have entered the hotel and have taken the daughter of a Japanese official hostage. Gabe eliminates most if not all of the grunts and, in the process, gets an explosive round shotgun from the man who took the beaten across the street. He saves the daughter of the Japanese official. Gabe leaves the hotel and Lian tells him that hearings have been scheduled.
The second mission is the first flashback. In it, Gabe details the events leading up to the D.C. incident in 1999. Gabe and Lian were sent to South America to meet with Ellis, who had infiltrated the ranks of Rhoemer.
Gabe and Lian were airdropped into the area, but were separated. After they meet up, they notice several automated gun emplacements. Gabe and Lian are only able to take out the emplacements with grenades, and Lian quickly runs out, forcing Gabe to take out the rest.
Rhoemer has Anton Girdeux set fire to all the plants in the area, and has Aramov kill Ellis. Gabe and Lian show up right after Ellis was killed. Gabe and Lian are forced to continue Ellis' mission. Gabe must secure 5 samples of the plants, and destroy Rhoemer's assault chopper; Lian must find out what in the hell they were growing.
Gabe gets his samples, takes out the chopper, rescues two slaves and finally comes across a minefield. He crosses the minefield after several close calls. Gabe procures a jeep and trails Rhoemer to his C-5 Galaxy transport. Gabe manages to get on and find the exact same type of armor he would find no more than a month later on Chance.
Gabe finds Rhoemer on the plane, donning the armor. Gabe does the same thing to Rhoemer that he does later to Chance, shoots him with a UAS-12 shotgun. Although this time, it is less dramatic; he can only shoot him out the back of the cargo area. Rhomer escapes.
The next testimony for Hadden to hear which spans for two missions, is that of Mujari. Mujari explains the first time he came into contact with the Agency and the Syphon Filter virus. In 1978, Mujari was working with the ANC, in South Africa, to free repressed Africans.
We find out after the testimony that Mujari discovered the virus and give it to Ms. Lipan who was working in the WHO (World Health Organization) and she sent it to the Agency labs, Mr. Hadden asked if he remembered what labs it was sent to. Mujari replied "of course, it was Pharcom."
When it was Lian's turn to testify, she tells about the events that happened in Kabul, Afghanistan during 1987. At the time of the event, she was gathering evidence of Soviet troop movements led by Uri Gregorov while she was an MSS agent. She was ambushed at one point by the Soviets, and was saved by a U.S. Army Ranger. The Ranger that saved her was none other than Gabe Logan. Gabe debriefed Lian on his mission to deliver weapons to the local rebels in the area, and Lian agreed to create a distraction for him.
While Lian was testifying, Gabe was doing a joint operation with an MI-6 team headed by Maggie Powers. They tracked a shipment of the Syphon Filter Virus in Dublin, Ireland and had objectives to destroy the ship in order to prevent the virus from falling to the wrong hands. Gabe also recovers the shipping manifest to find out where the virus came from
Lian then started telling about her side of the operation in Costa Rica saying that Rhoemer had kidnapped an impressive list of world-renowned scientists and medical technicals to work at his labs. Benton ordered Lian to get the scientists out alive in order to find out whatever the plants were used for. She was also ordered to collect samples of the plant material Rhoemer's group was synthesizing, and collect data disks, and destroy the computer. It was later found out that the plants were part of creating the Syphon Filter virus.
At the time of testifying about the Costa Rica operation, Gabe and the MI-6 team were under attack by the Irish Republic Army. The IRA discovered the Agency consortium's plans to drop off viral containers at this particular dockyard and already unloaded several truckloads of the virus while the bombs were planted on the ship. Gabe and the MI-6 team set out to prevent the trucks from the leaving the area. An MI-6 agent named Nigel Cummings was the double-agent of the IRA, and Gabe killed Nigel in self-defense as the IRA agent attempted to run him over with a truck.
It was Gabe's turn to testify and he told about his mission to deliver the weapons to the rebels in Afghanistan during 1987. Gabe, Ellis, and Benton were the only survivors of a destroyed convoy. While Benton was driving the truck, Gabe and Ellis were repelling attacks from other Afghan rebel factions while clearing away all obstacles. Upon entering Kabul, Lian's diversion worked as the heavily guarded portion of their entrance was temporarily empty. Unfortunately, the rendezvous point had a Soviet T-64 tank guarding the town square. Gabe had to take out the tank using C-4 charges.
While Gabe was testifying, Lian was working in the Tanami desert at Australia with tactical support provided by Maggie. The manifest recovered by Gabe led her to the desert and also found out that Dr. Elsa Weissenger was running the medical end of the operation. Lian intends to kidnap Elsa, take photographic evidence of genocide, sabotage the compound's communications systems, take out as many terrorists as possible, and save as many aborigines as possible. Upon Elsa's kidnapping, Lian convinces Elsa to synthesize the vaccine. Before going off to save the villagers, Elsa gives Lian a data disk containing information about Mara Aramov as an insurance policy in case Aramov double-crossed her. Lian saves the villagers and kills Commander Silvers in the process. Elsa disappears when Lian returns to the chopper.
Hadden starts to accuse Gabe of killing Teresa Lipan, but Teresa barges in saying that Gabe is innocent and that she faked her death. Hadden was however surprised at her appearance. Teresa makes a testimony of what happened when she was an ATF agent in Western Montana, Paradise Ridge. She received a call from two FBI agents saying that they needed back-up in order to take down a militia sniper. Teresa provided back-up for the agents, but she ended up being in a middle of a conspiracy. It turned out that a militia survivalist named Earl Oakton was captured by the Agents and was executed in cold blood. The acclaimed FBI agents were corrupt N.S.A. agents who were hell-bent on killing the Oakton family just for picking up the data, and one captured Teresa. Teresa's captor killed the executors and it was revealed that the disguised Gabe Logan was the one responsible for saving her life. Gabe is concerned about retrieving the data. Teresa does her best to save the militia men and her fellow ATF agents from the N.S.A. hitmen. She eventually meets up with Dusty and Debbie Oakton, recovers the satellite data, and extracts them from the area with Gabe.
At the end of the testimony, it turned out that Teresa was shadowing Hadden the entire time and found out that Mara Aramov was his accomplice. Gabe appears with federal agents with a warrant to arrest Hadden. Before any action could be taken, Aramov barges in and shoots everyone in sight, with Gabe and Teresa escaping danger. While Teresa monitors the wounded agents, Gabe attempts pursues Aramov while saving captured federal agents, and looking for disarming codes for planted bombs mentioned by Mujari. After sending the codes to Mujari, Gabe continues his pursuit, eventually entering a subway train and shooting Aramov.
Upon Aramov's capture, Gabe is now directed the head of the Agency, which was eventually labed the I.P.C.A. Before Gabe, Lian, Lawrence, and Teresa could take any R&R, Mara Aramov escaped the hospital. Gabe however was more concerned about forming the I.P.C.A. knowing that he'll deal with Mara at another time. The final ending clip shows that Mara recovers the shipment of the Syphon Filter virus from the S.S. Lorelei's wreckage.
Syphon Filter: The Omega Strain (2004)
The game opens in Zurich, Switzerland. Mara Aramov is talking with Mihai Nicelescu. Mihai is talking about Mikahs Ivankov. He says that Ivankov's decided to go into business for himself and wants Mara to look into it. Mara says that she will deal with him if she can find him Mihai comments "it shouldn't be too difficult, the new strain of the virus appears to be rather unstable, it shouldn't be too hard to track him". The screen cuts to Berlin, Germany, to the reformed Agency now called the International Presidential Consulting Agency (IPCA) named by the president. Gabe Logan, leader of the IPCA, is standing at the head of the room, saying that each of the members of the IPCA knows what they have to do and were all handpicked to join this team. Teresa Lipan stands near him, saying that they all need to stay in contact with IPCA headquarters. Gary Stoneman heartily agrees, his pilot Alima Haddad says she'll keep track of him.
The first three missions are set in Carthage, when Imani Gray, and four I.P.C.A. recruits are sent in to locate Lawrence Mujari, and eliminate the French Anarchiste Liberation Army (ALA) threat. The ALA were planning on dropping the Syphon Filter virus into the water systems, and it was up to the I.P.C.A. agents to prevent it from happening. The recruits were also tasked to save all Carthage Health Authority agents and S.W.A.T. team members in the area, while killing Jean Fournier, Proust, and the main leader Masson. They were also ordered to take water samples as well as tissue samples from the corpses gathered by the C.H.A. Mujari was recovered and under medical care. Imani is somewhat impressed with the recruits and gives a rare compliment to them.
If the player agent completed their single-player par times, there is a bonus mission in which Stone tells about his assassination mission in Italy while the agents were in Carthage. He was tasked to kill an Italian mob member named Dimitri who apparently had access to the Syphon Filter virus. Stone's assassination mission prevented a lowly mafia family from gaining access to Syphon Filter.
The next two missions has the recruits working under the command of Stone in Belarus. The recruits were investigating Krivorozhstal Mill only to be under fire by Chechen military forces. The Chechen forces were killing off all the workers for transporting cattle contaminated with the Syphon Filter virus. The recruits were ordered to bring the workers to safety in an underground bomb shelter, while preventing the escape of a commanding officer named Zhidkov and saving the mill from destruction. The recruits took tissue samples from the contaminated cattle for further research.
Upon evacuation, the helicopter was eventually shot down by Chechen forces in Mazyr, Belarus at Belaya Vezha. The recruits were separated by Stone and their pilot Alima Haddad. The recruits took a sample from a nearby water source and had to rescue Stone. The recruits succeeded, but Alima was missing and presumed dead. Stone blames himself for losing Alima after being evacuated by IPCA pilot William Crusher.
If the player has completed all of the par requirements in Belarus, Lian Xing becomes a playable character explaining her mission in Kyrgystan, which involved gathering intel, preventing an arms dealing with a bio-weapon container, and killing Samaev, poisoning Arms dealer Saydahmat, and killing a North Korean agent named Sok-ju Yang.
The next two missions have the recruits in Yemen working under the command of a Middle Eastern Mossad agent named Ehud Ben Zohar, someone Gabe Logan reluctantly trusted due to an unexplained fiasco in the Afghanistan operation. In order to get more information about the people behind the shipments of the Syphon Filter virus, Zohar has a lone recruit sabotage an arms bazaar while eliminating Chechen forces headed by Yuschenko, and gathering all types of evidence of terrorist activity. Zohar and the recruits grab the uniforms off of the dead soldiers in order to infiltrate the Taherir Palace. The recruits work on gathering their gear and killing the security guards while Zohar assassinates Al-Hasan and looks for documents containing information about arms shipments. The recruits are then stuck providing cover fire for Zohar. Crusher and Stone eventually evacuate the group, with Stone giving the information of the arms shipments in exchange for the viral container recovered by Zohar.
The next mission places a recruit on a return trip to Belarus, at Minsk university. The recruit is alone being provided support by MI-6 agent Maggie Powers and Crusher. The recruit is supposed to retrieve mission gear from a designated safehouse, deploy viral sniffers around the university campus, download MetaGlobal's records, deploy a beacon inside the refrigerated truck to track the shipment, bug all MetaGlobal containers, enter the underground lab, plant Agency surveillance gear, acquire Omega Strain serum, and extract. The mission went well, but not without a hitch as an alert is raised after placing the surveillance equipment in the lab.
If the player completed the par objectives in Yemen and the Minsk University mission, Lawrence Mujari is playable in Chechnya at Ivankov's home. Mujari was taking photographic evidence of mass genocide while stunning all S.V.R. forces. Unfortunately, with great reluctance, Uri Gregorov was at the scene responsible for the massacre. Mujari takes a discreet photo of Gregorov for future use by Gabe Logan. Mujari also picks up hidden clues at Ivankov's home, as well as tissue samples from the corpses.
The next mission has a lone recruit working with Mujari at a salvage rig covering the wreckage of the S.S. Loreilei. The recruit is supposed to plant four nuclear explosives at the lower level of the rig in order to prevent any future extractions of the Syphon Filter virus from happening. The recruit also collected the original Syphon Filter virus sample as well, and attempted to cure Dr. Jandran. Apparently, Jandran died from the serum. Lawrence Mujari issues an evacuation order on the P.A. system to prevent any unwanted casualties. William Crusher is killed in action by an airborne threat.
The next two missions has the team of recruits working under Lian Xing. The first mission is in Tokyo, at the Murakawa Tower. The recruits are ordered to eliminate Yakuza officers, eliminate HNT leader Corin Matsua, infiltrate Murakawa Tower, eliminate head of security: Ryusaki, search building for surveillance tape, breach security without triggering alarms, upload computer data, plant C-4 charges on lab floor, and obtain virus samples. The mission did not go without a hitch as a rocket hit the helicopter transporting them. Lian Xing and Gina Hunter were with the helicopter while the recruits were busy with the infiltration, and Lian suffered from a leg injury in the process
The next mission was an extraction mission when an airliner Imani Gray was on was shot down at Irawaddy Basin in Myanmar. Out of personal guilt, Lian takes the team of recruits with her to the mission area, securing the extraction zone for the recruits. The recruits were responsible for recovering Imani's body, recovering radio evidence that it was a terrorist attack, eliminating a MetaGlobal terrorist and Than Muang, and recovering Yong-jun Kim's belongings.
At this point, Gabe was frustrated with the recent losses of Alima, Crusher, and Imani up to the point that he felt helpless. He was given an order by the Secretary of State Birchim to *NOT* go to Zurich. At this point, Gabe started to not care about his orders and takes a lone recruit with him to Switzerland to investigate Mihai Niculescu at the Niculescu Towers. While Gabe investigates the main office, the recruit is tasked to plant camera transceivers, insert data transmitters, access the main frame computer, power up emergency elevators, obtain security chief's handprint and bypass security system, search vaults on the third floor, sarch the vault on the fourth floor, and rendezvous with Gabe at the last vault on level 4. The recruit finds the financial records for the A.L.A. and a file incriminating that Birchim was complicit in the Syphon Filter conspiracy. Gabe orders the recruit to return to base while Gabe has Teresa trace the source of the paintings.
If the player completed the single-player par times for Tokyo, Myanmar, and Zurich, Gabe Logan is a playable character. The source of the paintings came from Budva, Montenegro at Niculescu's Villa Estate. While Mara Aramov and Niculescu were meeting, Niculescu tells Mara that he was going to have Ivankov nuke Russia. Aramov felt compelled to warn Russia, but passed out from a drugged drink. Gabe was tasked to infiltrate the estate and look for any evidence. All of his efforts were somewhat for naught as he only found one launch code, and had to save Aramov. Aramov tells Gabe that his attempts at Niculescu will be in vain, and tells Gabe where Ivankov's base is.
The last mission is in Kiev, Ukraine at Ivankov's base. Gabe, Stone, and Lian are out on the field with the recruits. The recruits had to eliminate Ivankov's top four lieutenants, disable helicopter flight controls for a helicopter, and find the Omega Strain DNA code. It is later found out that Alima Haddad is alive, and Stone knows the location of Alima's cell. The recruits provided cover fire for Stone and helped facilitate Alima's extraction. All that was left to do was to help Gabe prevent the missiles from launching. Ivankov is later reported killed.
A series of events take place in this order:
- 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 I.P.C.A. for a job well done
- 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 wheel-chaired Alima.
- Dr. Weisenger is reported missing from a meeting with the W.H.O. No one has a clue of where she went.
- Elsa Weisenger gives a written confession that she had the recruit kill Dr. Jandran. Elsa is changed and somewhat mentally disturbed as a result, wanting to change the world by making and breaking chaos with her medical knowledge.
- Mihai Niculescu is killed by two mafiosos who lost their money when an I.P.C.A recruit inserted a virus in Niculescu's mainframe which contained thousands of Swiss bank accounts. The scene doesn't show Mihai's death but Elsa Weissenger confirms his death in Syphon Filter Dark Mirror.
- Gabe sends a written note to Mara Aramov. As Aramov reads the note, a rifle with a cracked scope appears, indicating that Stone is sent to assassinate Aramov.
Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror (2006)
Released on March 14th, 2006 for the PlayStation Portable, Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror takes advantage of a number of the systems capabilities, including game sharing and online multiplayer. Dark Mirror is currently amongst the highest rated PSP games available due largely to its success in adapting a complex game to a handheld system. The game is considered by Gamespy to be, "possibly the best game on the PSP yet" - Gamespy Review.
Plot
After Mara Aramov and Elsa Weissinger are assassinated by Gary Stoneman, Gabe Logan and IPCA are sent to Kemsynth Petroleum in Alaska. A paramiltary group known only as Red Section has taken hold of the complex. He kills Red Jack, a soldier with a flamethrower similar to that of Anton Girdeux in the first game. After finding clues that prove that Red Section is searching for something, Gabe faces off with Black King, a fully armed soldier that is the apparent leader of the attack. He arms electronic explosives ready to destroy the oil rich factory. After he is killed, his hostage, like most of the personnel IPCA attempt to rescue, commits suicide.
A data disc reveals that the attack is connected to Kemsynth's botanical arm in Peru in charge of making a new DDT pesticide. They also learn that a former Agency operative (Gabe's first partner, professionally and romantically) Addison Hargrove is in charge of security. Gabe goes down their to find a revolutionary army, killing and destroying the compound. During their new partnership, Addison repeatedly apologizes to an unphased Gabe.
From their information, Gabe heads to war-torn Bosnia to find another revolutionary organization, this time in an embattled weapons factory. Like Peru, these soldiers are receiveing aid by the ruthless Red Section. Here, Gabe saves and meets a young UN soldier, Private Janzen. Gabe tries to reunite Janzen with his group, only to find they have been slaughtered. Along the way, they meet up with Kress, a medical UN soldier who tells Gabe to find some medical equipment to help a soldier that is in serious need of help. When Gabe goes to find it, he is caught in a trap. After killing the rebel soldiers to find Janzen and the wounded soldier murdered and Kress gone, proving Kress was a Red Section mole working in the higher ranks of the UN. He find Kress ready to escape and, while reciting Dante's poem and the lowest levels of eternal damnation being reserved for traitors like him that will be covered in ice up to their necks and be repeatedly shit on by demons, kills him. He faces down the rebel's sadistic leader in a hijacked M1 Abrams UN tank and uses a SMAW Anti-tank to destroy the tank and kill the leader, Zhidmov.
With Addison mysteriously gone, Gabe goes to Kaliningrad where his MI:6 counterpart has installed micro recording devices in a casino serving as a Yavlinsky crime family front. We learn here that before the Syphon Filter fiasco, Mara took a job from this crime family to go and kill rival criminals on Christmas Eve, no matter where they were. She left the bullet casings in their children's stockings. She also sold Niculescu's paintings on the black market as her source of income until she died.
Gabe meets up with Addison in Warsaw, Poland. Here he learns the truth about why she left Gabe and the Agency. She was pregnant, and she did not want her daughter, Blake, now ten, to be raised a life of violence. But, Red Section tracked down her daughter's boarding school and kidnapped her. The deal is for Addison to meet Touchstone, the second-in-command and Red Section head of security, and turn over her data discs containing information on the mysterious Project Dark Mirror to him. In return, she will get her daughter back. However, Addison's experience has taught her that Red Section is ruthless enough to kill Blake anyway, as the ransom tape, has audio of Singularity, the leader of Red Section, abusing her to cooperate. They also sent Adddison Blake's left tennis shoe.
They meet at a tram terminal in the German Mounatains of Zugspitz Pass. Touchstone brings Red Section to the meeting spot and as he argue with Addison, she hits him. Touchstone shoves her over the railing and she falls off the mountain to her death. Gabe is distraught that he failed to save her and becomes obsessive in single-handedly destroying Red Section. Gabe believes in controlling one's destiny over Addison's belief in fate. He saves hostages inside and savors the moment he tells Touchstone that he'll see him in hell first, then casually drops him over the cliff to his demise.
Gabe learns the truth behind Red Section. Grant Morrill was an Interpol accountant who audited and copied every single piece of information he had so he could disappear and start his own company, Aerospace Integrated Technology (AIT). Mild-mannered Grant Morrill became the sadistic, almost sociopathic entity known only as Singularity, becoming one of the most disturbing characters Gabe has ever faced. And, considering he has dealt with the likes of Erich Rhomer, Mara Aramov, Mihai Niculescu and Jason Chance in the past, this would be a great challenge to Gabe. However, learning that an accountant was behind all of this makes Gabe furious, more apathetic to Red Section, and it consumes him unlike anything he ever faced in the Syphon Filter incident. He and Lian go to AIT to stop Red Section once and for all, and to save young Blake.
Inside, he learns that Singularity has built a new type of technology: an electromagnetic suit that deflect all kinds of bullets. Luckily, an electric shock from Gabe's taser, EDT dart, or EMP grenades can disable it long enough for Gabe and Lian to do some damage. Lian goes to rescue Blake, who is trapped in a rising pool of water. Lian feels that she is emotionally drowning because Gabe has never obsessed about her. Unbeknownst to her, Gabe did obsesses about her in the second game when she was infected with the Syphon Filter virus. Lian succeeds, but Blake runs away. Gabe tracks her down to a centrifuge room, where she has been taken hostage again. Gabe kills the Red Section soldiers holding Blake, still with only one shoe, and team up to stop the centrifuge so Lian could rig a bomb to it and use it to break down a door. Singularity hacks into IPCA's Zeus files to taunt Gabe. Gabe enters, takes down two EM guards and enter the bullet train station. Singularity has built canisters of the element known only as Project Dark Mirror. Singularity is in a EM suit stronger and unique to the other EM suits, similar to how the Emergency Defense Squad-Unit One full body armor suits while not as strong as Jason Chance's ultra-tough body armor in SF2, which was even impervious to M-79 grenade shots. In the battle, Singularity provides his complete "review" of the Syphon Filter attacks, from taunting him about those who repeatedly betrayed Gabe from the Georgia Street subway bombing to the Niculescu obsession and Stoneman's involvement in IPCA.
After killing the other soldiers, Gabe allows Singularity to say some final words as he is held on the train platform. Singularity rants about who built his X34 gas darts and for Gabe to see his reflection in the dark mirror. He makes a last-ditch effort to take Gabe's MB-150, but is kick in front of a bullet train, killing him painfully. Gabe reunites with Lian and Blake and leaves.
At base, Gabe learns from Dr. Mujari and Teresa Lipan that Dark Mirror was a nerve gas that could kill millions by fusing with oxygen molecules. It grows more deadly as it spreads, and Singularity's single canister could've killed almost half of the population of Europe. It is the nerve gas equivalent to Syphon Filter: Both are the deadliest in their categories and are weapons of mass death.
Gabe goes to Addison's plaque at Arlington National Cemetery a week after the AIT assault and leaves a flower, the same flower Singularity used to genetically engineer the nerve gas Dark Mirror. After minutes of quiet reflection (credits begin to roll), he turns around to find none other than Addison, alive and well. She prepared her death in advance and tied her self with a bungee cord to the railing. Gabe is upset that she once again lied to him. Blake comes inside and greets Gabe. He honors her as the bravest ten-year-old he's ever met. She corrects him, by saying she is twelve, not ten. Addison left him, and the Agency, twelve years ago.
He wants to tell Blake the newfound truth and is furious that Addison would hold such an important secret from him. She responds by mentioning that he will never want to leave the Agency, so he could end up causing indirect harm to Blake. She begs Gabe to let them leave in peace. Gabe honorably agrees. So, Gabe is forced to watch his former love and his only child to ride off in the distance, broken-hearted and alone once again.
A bonus level in Bangkok suggest a new finale, taking place after the AIT assault, and Gabe's revelation. Jimmy Zhou, a gang leader tries using the avian bird flu as a weapon against his rivals. Gabe destroys the feet/birds and learns that Zhou has taken Lian hostage. Inside his penthouse, Gabe faces an army of Zhou soldiers, including once with a gatling chain gun. Gabe bursts in and without a single breath, shoot Zhou in the eye with the powerful Desert Express .50. In the final scene, Lian thanks Gabe by embracing him, and he embraces her. This moment symbolizes that Gabe cares about her and would die for her.
Speculation
Singularity's last words, along with Gabe's unknown future will most likely yield a new Syphon Filter saga in the near future for the PSP, or even the Playstation 3.
Trivia
- While the first three games were popular with fans and critics alike, during the development of the third game, the creators were criticized for continuing the series on the PlayStation, which was already slowly on its way to being phased out. The series later debuted on the PlayStation 2 with The Omega Strain.
- In Syphon Filter 3, a bomb was supposed to go off in the Senate instead of Mara wasting an entire magazine of a fully-automatic pistol at Vince Hadden. The plan to bomb the Senate was scrapped when 9/11 occurred.
- Gabe Logan's (and several others) voices changed with Syphon Filter: The Omega Strain. Many critics hated this change. The only voice that did not change was Shannon Tilton as Teresa Lipan.
- In the European versions, Stephane Cornicard has interpreted the French Gabe Logan since the launch of the game.
- Until Dark Mirror, Mara Aramov was the only character in the series who had a different voice actress for every game she appeared in:
- Gregorov appears in Syphon Filter: The Omega Strain in a newspaper clipping. In Omega Strain, he has gone missing and then resurfaces and stops a war between two nations. His appearance in the clipping shows his picture from the Syphon Filter 2 instruction booklet.
- All three of the first Syphon Filter games end with Aramov laughing. In the first, she is standing in Vincent Hadden's office with him. In the second, she is standing next to Hadden who doesn't want to kill Gabe at that moment. And in the third, she is supposedly in the submarine that picks up the container from the S.S. Lorelei. The fourth game ends with Gary Stoneman about to take a shot at Mara as she sits at her apartment reading a letter from Gabe Logan. The final words uttered in the game are "Goodnight, sweetheart." In Dark Mirror, a bonus level has the player as Gary Stoneman and he must kill Mara and her lover Elsa Weissenger. When Gary Stoneman walks off after the shootings, Mara's laugh is still heard...
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