The year is 2001, and the Playstation era is coming to an end. The next generation of video game consoles are coming out with games that take advantage of new hardware to deliver unparalleled graphics and experiences. It was easy to assume that the Syphon Filter story would jump ship and continue on the Playstation 2, but Sony, to the surprise and delight of people like me who couldn’t afford a shiny new console, released Syphon Filter 3 on the original Playstation instead, bring Gabe Logan’s story to an end. (While leaving things open for further sequels, which would eventually come along a few years later.)

Syphon Filter 3 is something of an odd duck in the original trilogy: the story consists of Gabe, Lian, Lawrence Mujari, and others testifying in Congress about their involvement with the Agency and the Syphon Filter virus, meaning that half the missions are flashbacks, with the other half mainly treading water until the finale. Coupled with only a few new additions to the franchise (a few new weapons, slightly better graphics, and the addition of mini-games), and it’s easy to see why many fans see Syphon Filter 3 as a mission-pack sequel. I agree with that assessment, but that doesn’t make Syphon Filter 3 a bad game, though I do think it’s the weakest of the trilogy; most of the present-day missions feel like padding that doesn’t advance the story (such as everything that takes place in Ireland), and I would have preferred to have a longer climax instead of just two levels. But the game does have the most variety of the series when it comes to locations and playable characters, and it continues the series’ trademark of unique action sequences. Best of all, though the story is left open for further sequels, the main storyline of the Agency and the virus itself is wrapped up well enough that the saga could have ended here. And for people like me who aren’t fans of what came after, this is indeed the preferred ending. (Mara’s submarine in the post-credit scene? It developed a leak and imploded, so the virus is still lost on the ocean floor.)

Let’s take a look at Syphon Filter 3’s levels and see how well they stand the test of time. And as with the previous two articles, this list will spoil the story for anyone who hasn’t played the game yet.

19. Aztec Ruins

It’s only fitting that the last game in the PS1 trilogy goes back to where everything started and explores Gabe and Lian’s mission to Costa Rica that we saw in the opening cutscene of the first game. While SF3 lets us discover that Gabe got to do lots of cool stuff, we also learn that poor Lian was stuck running around the labyrinthine levels of some Aztec ruins to rescue lots of scientists, destroy virus samples, destroy computers, retrieve artifacts, warn Gabe about mines, file her taxes, and do a book report on War and Peace. Okay, maybe not the last two, but like the Agency Bio-Labs of SF2, and the abandoned cathedral of SF1, this is a huge level, but nowhere near as fun, and twice as long, and it’s surprisingly easy to miss some of the things you need to find or destroy, leading to lots of tedious backtracking. It also has a whopping 26 checkpoints, the highest of any level in the series!

Best story moment: Meeting Dr. Elsa Weissinger for the first time, story-wise, the same woman who will infect and experiment on Lian and so many others in future games.

18. Waterfront

Despite their importance when it comes to receiving and shipping goods responsible for the functioning of modern society, I’ve never found docks to be interesting places for action sequences, and the Waterfront level is no exception. Aside from the ever-solid gameplay, there’s nothing really memorable here.

Best story element: Gabe and his new partner Maggie Powers learning that the IRA has the virus and is trying to escape so they can unleash it upon Europe, giving the player a very good reason to go after them.

17. Dockyards

More of the same as the Waterfront level, save learning that the guy you’ve been sent to save is actually an IRA operative. Oh no! Thankfully, you manage to kill him before he escapes with the virus. Yay!

Best story element: Watching the SS Lorelli be sunk, taking the virus with it to the bottom of the Atlantic ocean and stopping anyone else from getting their hands on it, ensuring that all your efforts were successful. Plus, the bubble sound effects of the sinking crates is cartoonish and unintentionally funny.

16. Australian Outback

Lady power time! This modern-day mission has Lian tracking down Dr. Weissinger to kidnap her and gain more information about who’s truly behind the Syphon Filter virus, but ends up with her doing everything she can to save the local Aboriganies, who have become unwilling test subjects. Gameplay-wise, there’s nothing extraordinary here, but but I like how this is the first mission in the series where all the main characters are women (Lian, Weissinger, and Powers), which is a refreshing change of pace from the normally testosterone-filled spy genre.

Best story element: Lian changing her mission and refusing to give up on the test subjects, as she knows exactly what it’s like to be infected by the virus and wants to spare others from suffering as she did.

15. Pugari Goldmine

Lawrence Mujari gets his chance to shine with a flashback mission detailing his efforts to free trapped slaves from a mine in Africa… though there’s not too much to this level, aside from the satisfaction of freeing workers being held against their will.

Best story element: The protagonist infiltrating a facility to free people being held against their will.

14. Pugari Complex

A continuation of the previous mission, this one starts off with Lawrence getting to ride a mine cart out of a collapsing mine, a great way to start things off. Aside from that, though, this is another average level with no bad elements or standout moments.

Best story element: Finally learning the origin of the Syphon Filter virus: That it came from a mine in South Africa, rather than being something engineered in a lab.

13. Yuendumu Village

Continuing on the previous mission, this one has Lian sneaking into a remote village to save innocent Aborigines before they can be executed. The Syphon Filter series have few missions dedicated to saving innocent people, and this is one of the better ones, combining stealth with a moral imperative. Being able to eliminate the man responsible for it all is just icing on the cake.

Best story element: Elsa Weissinger deciding that if she’s going to be betrayed, she has no qualms about betraying her former employers, and gives Lian a data disk that will allow her and the others to finally unravel who is behind the entire Syphon Filter operation.

12. Underground Bunkers

Every Syphon Filter game features a level revolving around sneaking through darkened, underground passages without a map, and SF3’s contribution is the Underground Bunker, where Teresa has to escort her new survivalist friend, Dusty, and his pregnant mother to safety while being swarmed with rogue NSA agents. So not only do you have to get through a very dark and easy-to-die mine complex, but you have a dreaded escort mission as well. Still, the claustrophobia here is effective, and it’s satisfying to get Dusty and his mom to safety at the end.

Best story element: Having to escape rogue government agents with a pregnant woman who could give birth at any moment, making said escape all the more challenging.

11. Kabul, Afghanistan

The Afghanistan levels of Syphon Filter 3 are dark, moody, and atmospheric, and the first one sets the stage with Lian infiltrating the war-torn ruins of Kabul. The stage excels at feeling like a warzone that’s momentarily quiet, but the big draw here is learning how Gabe and Lian met for the first time, beginning a partnership and friendship that would last for decades… but you know what’s even cooler? Getting your hands on a gun that can shoot through walls!

Best story element: Saving an extraction helicopter from four goons with grenade launchers by shooting said goons with a gun that can shoot through walls.

10. Costa Rica Plantation

Years after we first saw it in the opening cutscene of SF1, we finally get to see exactly what happened when Gabe and Lian reached Rhomer’s plantation in Costa Rica. While the cutscene just revealed that poor Ellis was executed, and that Rhomer set everything on fire, we get to see what really happened, which includes Gabe gathering samples of the virus, freeing slaves, sabotaging helicopters, and avoiding land mines. What’s more impressive is that this is the trilogy’s first jungle level, and it’s pulled off well considering the technical limitations of the original Playstation.

Best story element: Seeing Gabe freeing slaves, and then gunning down the people who were keeping them against their will.

9. Militia compound

With the treasonous rogue agents exposed, Teresa has to try and save as many survivalists as she can from those determined to wipe them out. This is a standard level, but like it’s immediate predecessor, the atmosphere and music are top-notch, and it’s neat to meet Stevens – the mastermind of the Australian massacre – decades before that happened. While it’s tempting to kill him, alas, that would create a time paradox, which means the player has to let Stevens live, while knowing how he will meet his ultimate end decades later.

Best story element: Some of the survivalists remembering how Teresa helped them out and returning the favor by giving her a grenade launcher to help blow up those dastardly rogue agents.

8. Paradise Ridge

In a twist I didn’t see coming, it turns out that Teresa was only wounded by Jason Chance at the end of SF2, leaving her to pop up unexpectedly near the end of SF3‘s second act, allowing her to recount a mission where the raided a survivalist compound in the snow-covered mountains of Montana with the ATF and unknowingly helped rogue NSA agents who wanted to wipe out the survivalists. While my teenage brain had a hard time keeping track of all the factions shooting each other, the mission is a nice change of pace from Syphon Filter’s usual urban locations, and features survivalists depicted as innocents (albeit, ones who aren’t afraid to shoot first and ask questions later). The music’s pretty sweet, too.

Best story element: Portraying militia members as innocents in a combat situation. Not friendly and pure of heart, mind you, but still innocent.

7. S.S Loreli

Gabe’s been everywhere from Washington DC, Russia, the jungles of Costa Rica, and abandoned cathedrals in Europe, and now he finally gets to go on a ship that’s setting sail with large shipments of the Syphon Filter virus. This is a great level filled with plenty of running and gunning in an environment we haven’t seen before in the SF series.

Best story element: Seeing a particularly cheerful crewmember, making him stand out among his serious, gun-toting brethren.

6. Convoy

Chronicling one of Gabe’s earliest combat missions, this mission takes us back to a late 80’s Afghanistan, where Gabe teams up with Ellis (the guy shot by Mara in the opening cutscene of SF1) and Benton (the guy Gabe killed in the first museum level of SF1) to get a damaged truck full of weapons to safety, all while under attack by Afghan rebels and a road littered with landmines. The Syphon Filter series hasn’t done desert environments before, so going through a desert at night is a unique situation, and the moody music helps set the mood for an intense mission filled with plenty of gunfights.

Best story element: Working with Ellis and Benton, which gives two minor side characters a chance to take on a starring role, despite knowing how their lives will end in twenty years time.

5. The Beast

While Solid Snake may be video gaming’s secret agent who has the record for most unique boss fights, Gabe’s no slouch either, having taken on a helicopter, multiple adversaries in bullet-proof armor, and, thanks to this level, a tank! Unlike Solid Snake, though, Gabe has to be much more careful in how he engages this Soviet monstrosity, making it feel more like a horror level (the sound of the tank treads is downright chilling), as he has no health powerups and has to lure the tank into a trap rather then engage it in a one-on-one fight. While a short level, it’s one of the most intense in the series.

Best story element: Seeing Gabe – a lone infantryman – taking on a tank by himself and winning.

4. Senate Building

It isn’t until the last two missions that SF3 finally starts wrapping up the PS1’s story, and boy does it start with a bang, revealing that Gabe’s interrogator, Secretary of State Vince Hadden, is the man who has been in charge of the Syphon Filter project all along. But with him dead, Mara Aramov and her men have filled Congress with over twenty bombs, taken hostages, and intends to detonate a viral bomb in Washington DC. It’s one hell of a way to start the finale of the game, and the series as a whole, as Gabe rushes to stop the bombs and save hostages.

Best story element: Gabe having to save a famous landmark and seat of power for a government (Congress) before it’s destroyed.

3. Hotel Fukushima

Every Syphon Filter features a strong opening, and I think Syphon Filter 3 has the best one, featuring Gabe infiltrating a hotel in Tokyo during a nighttime rainstorm to assassinate a Chinese rebel leader who wants the virus for himself. What follows is a sneaky infiltration mission, a high-rise shootout, and then a fast-paced gunfight to escape the hotel and rescue an innocent hostage in the process. It’s a fantastic way to kick the game off and get players hyped for the rest of the game.

Best story element: a shootout that takes place between two high rises where Gabe manages to take out the leaders of a terrorist organization.

2. C5 Galaxy

He’s been in cathedrals, burning subway stations, ships, underground labs, and runaway trains, and now Gabe heads to the skies in a C-5 Galaxy (which, for some reason, is depicted as a C-130 in cutscenes) in an attempt to stop Rhomer from escaping from his Costa Rica plantation. Essentially a boss fight level, this stage features a very clever way of having Gabe fight and defeat Rhomer while leaving him alive to be killed off for good at the end of SF1: bring back Chance’s body armor from the end of SF2 for Rhomer to wear, making it impossible for Gabe to kill him. While the level is short, being able to face off against Rhomer once again in a unique situation makes it a great one.

Best story element: Gabe being able to fight and defeat Rhomer once again inside a flying cargo plane, but in such a way that Rhomer survives to reappear in the original game.

1. DC Subway

One of my favorite sayings is that, while it’s good to begin well, it’s better to end well, and SF3 wraps up the PS1 trilogy by taking the player back to Washington DC, where the series first began. With her plan to destroy Congress foiled, Mara Aramov takes a subway train and plans to unleash the Syphon Filter virus in the Washington DC subway system, infecting and killing millions of innocent people. Only Gabe has a chance to stop her, and to do so he’ll have to fight his way through the subway as it races through the same tunnels where he and Mara first fought years ago, and the ensuing gunfights, hostage rescues, and final confrontation with Mara makes it a great way to end the series.

Best story element: Gabe climbing up onto the top of a speeding subway train and shooting Mara in the head with a gun that can shoot through metal.

And with that, that’s a wrap for the Playstation one trilogy. Tune in next time for an analysis of the best and least-enjoyable levels to see what story lessons the Syphon Filter series has to offer.