Read from time extension:
While Hideo Kojima's PS1 masterpiece Metal Gear Solid has gone down in history as one of video gaming's greatest achievements, another PlayStation-based stealth action title, Syphon Filter, is somewhat less well-known – despite spawning several sequels and building its own devoted fanbase.
The design lead on the 1999 game, Richard Ham, has been speaking to Retro Gamer about the experience of going up against one of gaming's biggest reveals (thanks, Games Radar), and he explains that Metal Gear Solid's memorable E3 showcase in 1997 had a dramatic impact on the morale of the team at Eidetic, the studio behind Syphon Filter.
The first time the world saw this trailer, it was not just on some little TVs at the Konami booth. This was on a gigantic jumbotron screen that towered over everything. As I recall, every hour, they would play that trailer, and for the entire convention, this would become like appointment viewing - there'd be a huge crowd, and so everyone would come and sit and watch. It was so next-level. So many interesting camera angles for everything. It felt so cinematic.
"Cinematic gameplay was something I was trying very, very hard to achieve with Syphon Filter, with camera locks and being a fan of John Woo and action cinema," Ham adds.
While Ham maintains that Syphon Filter was a "radically different kind of experience" to Metal Gear Solid, he admits that he "was despairing" after viewing the iconic E3 trailer because "it looked like [Konami] were doing everything that we were trying to do, better."
As we've noted, however, it's not like Syphon Filter flopped when it was released. Sure, reviews weren't quite as positive as they were for Metal Gear Solid, but it would nonetheless sell in decent numbers and pave the way for five sequels.
While Hideo Kojima's PS1 masterpiece Metal Gear Solid has gone down in history as one of video gaming's greatest achievements, another PlayStation-based stealth action title, Syphon Filter, is somewhat less well-known – despite spawning several sequels and building its own devoted fanbase.
The design lead on the 1999 game, Richard Ham, has been speaking to Retro Gamer about the experience of going up against one of gaming's biggest reveals (thanks, Games Radar), and he explains that Metal Gear Solid's memorable E3 showcase in 1997 had a dramatic impact on the morale of the team at Eidetic, the studio behind Syphon Filter.
The first time the world saw this trailer, it was not just on some little TVs at the Konami booth. This was on a gigantic jumbotron screen that towered over everything. As I recall, every hour, they would play that trailer, and for the entire convention, this would become like appointment viewing - there'd be a huge crowd, and so everyone would come and sit and watch. It was so next-level. So many interesting camera angles for everything. It felt so cinematic.
"Cinematic gameplay was something I was trying very, very hard to achieve with Syphon Filter, with camera locks and being a fan of John Woo and action cinema," Ham adds.
While Ham maintains that Syphon Filter was a "radically different kind of experience" to Metal Gear Solid, he admits that he "was despairing" after viewing the iconic E3 trailer because "it looked like [Konami] were doing everything that we were trying to do, better."
As we've noted, however, it's not like Syphon Filter flopped when it was released. Sure, reviews weren't quite as positive as they were for Metal Gear Solid, but it would nonetheless sell in decent numbers and pave the way for five sequels.
