Syphon Filter: Combat Ops

With about as much fanfare as the release of a Michael Bolton album, Sony Computer Entertainment has finally brought life to the concept of original PSP downloadable games. Syphon Filter: Combat Ops, the first such contender, distils the multiplayer elements of the highly-acclaimed action series (most recently served by the brilliant Logan's Shadow), offering a standalone game wholly dedicated to competitive play.

Unfortunately, the single-player element isn't the only thing that gets strained out in this spin-off, which sees sweet action turn to bitter boredom as Combat Ops reveals itself to be nothing more than a glorified map editor.

The game obviously hones in on network multiplayer. Ad-hoc and infrastructure encounters are the focus here, enabling up to eight players to link up for competitive matches. Deathmatch/team deathmatch highlight a small assortment of modes that also includes objective-based game types retrieval (a capture-the-flag variant), sabotage, and rogue agent.

The original modes are by far the most entertaining. Sabotage, for example, establishes two teams that compete to arm and detonate the opposing squad's bomb. Rogue Agent tasks each player with assassinating a marked operative, not unlike a deadly game of tag. Getting people to play these games with you, however, is a challenge.

Despite having been available for the last two weeks in North America, Combat Ops possesses an abysmally threadbare community and linking up with others for a match is problematic due to the lack of players. Upon hosting a game, we waited for 45 minutes without a single person joining. On average, there are no more than a dozen players simultaneously logged into the game at any given time. This is obviously a poor multiplayer gaming environment since, obviously, other people are needed to actually get things going.

Part of the problem as we see it is that anyone interested in playing Syphon Filter online is already doing so in Logan's Shadow. It's a likely explanation for such low numbers, as is perhaps the perceived general lack of new content on offer here.

Consisting of the exact same modes and maps as the multiplayer portion of Logan's Shadow, the only thing that sets Combat Ops apart is its map editor. Unique maps can be created using level templates, weapons crates, and a range of interactive objects. Generating maps is a two-part process involving the mission modifier and combat modifier. The former sets basic parameters, such as time of day, weather, and map template.

With mission basics established, you then move to the interactive combat modifier. Unlike a traditional map editor that gives you a bird's eye view of your creation, you actually walk about the level and activate objects and spawn points firsthand. It's an unusual, albeit creative way of editing a map. You get a good sense of how an environment will potentially play out during a match by modifying it from on the ground; moreover, this format works exceedingly well for the portable.

The only issue lies in a lack of variety with the types of maps you can create. Combat Ops allows for a wide range of weapons and freedom to set spawn points nearly anywhere you want, however, there are next to no options for actually changing the layout of a map. Depending on the level you select, a ladder or zip-line might be available for use but most of the time you don't have the ability to tweak the environment. This gives all maps a familiar feel since they're all fundamentally similar.

In essence, it will come down to the community to create compelling maps in order to attract any interest in the game, because as it stands it isn't worth buying over what's available in Logan's Shadow.

And without that element currently in place, when it comes down to it you can't help feeling Combat Ops ought to have been included with Logan's Shadow, not sold separately. Sony claims the thinking behind the decision stemmed from wanting to make the multiplayer experience accessible to those who haven't purchased Logan's Shadow or its predecessor, Dark Mirror, but the game plays like a missing piece of the former, intentionally held back in order to make an extra buck. That said, it is obviously possible the extra 68Mb of data couldn't be squeezed onto the UMD alongside the rest of Logan's Shadow.

Nevertheless, this doesn't excuse the current hollow qualities of Combat Ops, even at its modest price tag. While its assorted multiplayer options are superbly designed and its infrastructure credentials are undoubtedly impressive (when you get to experience it, this is technically refined online handheld gaming), it's simply too meagre an experience to stand on its own.

While we fully appreciate its appeal will massively increase alongside its community, based on our experience to date (which is obviously the only thing we can assess the game on), too few players and highly similar user-created maps leave Combat Ops feeling inferior to the multiplayer portion of Logan's Shadow, and effectively mean this spin-off ends up shooting itself in the foot.