Dark Mirror may not have been the most original title for the PSP last year but it was one of the few games to take full advantage of the hardware, and as such, gained critical acclaim pretty much across the board. Fresh from their success SCEA have kicked out the inevitable sequel.

So, what’s new? Firstly Gabe has been given a set of new close combat moves allowing him to grapple with enemy, use them as a shield or simply dispose of them. It’s a nice touch but in all honestly you spend most of your time shooting from behind boxes rather then getting up close and personal to have fisticuffs.

The major new addition is the introduction of swimming sections. Unfortunately these can be a little clunky due to the controls (which I will get to later), and border on the annoying when you have to protect someone. Firing a spear gun at moving targets whilst grappling with the controls isn’t particularly enthralling. Luckily the rest of the game is perfect PSP fodder.

To begin with controlling Gabe is more then a little tricky. Going through the five training missions is a must, if only so you can figure out which control scheme is for you. The default has you moving with the analogue stick, whilst using the four face buttons to maneuver the camera, in effect like a second analogue stick. I stuck with this one and after about 30 minutes play I’d got used to it and was killing and maiming the enemy like there was no tomorrow.

Most of the game you’ll be taking pop shots from behind cover but now you can “blind fire” which helps you to draw the enemy out from cover. The whole ‘peek and shoot’ mechanic is tried and tested and allows you to line up shots before exposing yourself. This means you’ll rarely get frustrated and switch off but it can also mean it can get rather easy, especially when up against the basic enemy AI. That said on occasions you will come up against one of the smarter grunts who’ll run at you rather then wait for you to take a head shot, which ups the challenge.

As well as the extensive 22 single player levels (split over six episodes) on offer, the multi-player section makes a welcome return. There are the expected deathmatch and team deathmatch modes as well as two new modes “Sabotage” and “Retrieval” and a good selection of maps, some of which have been lifted from Dark Mirror along with some totally new maps. As if this wasn’t enough also included on the disk is a demo of the forthcoming multiplayer-only Syphon Filter: Combat Ops.

The high production values of the last game have been carried over and it’s in the visuals where it most shows. Smoke and water effects look lovely and the FMV sections between missions are stunning on the PSP’s widescreen. A decent musical score finishes off a very polished package. One of the best the PSP has to offer.