The original Syphon Filter was my least favorite of the trilogy back on PS1. As a child I'd struggle in certain sections of this game. Revisiting it in 2022 was a rather enlightening experience... It made me realize that I've never actually beaten it. I think I got a little past the Helicopter battle and that's all. I funny enough, used the think the other games were a prequel since Lian "dies" during that fight only to never have the later plot revelations resolved.

As for the game, it holds up surprisingly well. The plot of these games used to be a major love of mine as a child but in 2022 they're beyond cheesy and poorly acted. The level design in this game is a major negative, however I even thought this back in 1999. A lot of levels give you objectives and just expect you to do things like "Find all the scientists" or "Plant all the explosives" if you for whatever reason miss one of these things while following the path the developers curated, the game will gladly remind you that you better backtrack through the level. Gunplay is serviceable with first person aiming being a giant time stamp on the era this game was released in.

I look forward to Sony's release of 2/3 on the PS Plus Premium tier... but with their lack of focus on classics it may be a long time unfortunately.