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So what's the weather like where you're going? Good question. "Look. It's Belarus. You're going to look like a right nimrod running around in the snow with short sleeves..." Yes, but- "And what's up with the 'tache and beret? You're hunting terrorists, not posing for Gay Times." Hang on a sec- "Give us the controller."

In our heart of hearts, we always suspected that at some point our gruff specialist in bio-terrorism countermeasures would get cut down to size by one evil group or another. Spetsnaz, the Chechen militia, the Armee Libertaire Anarchiste? Perhaps. But not the fashion police. Wrestling the DualShock 2 back into our control we continue to customise our agent's look how we see fit. We've invested way too much time and effort in agent Ted Mungous for him to go out like that. Not today. Not on our watch...

Welcome to the surprisingly personal world of Syphon Filter: The Omega Strain. It's the fourth game in a previously stellar PSOne series which, if historial precedent counts for anything, means it'll be a half-baked piece of crap, fatally compromised by the law of diminishing returns. Only it's not. It's actually pretty damned good. Even less plausible but equally true, a large amount of the hour-devouring goodwill that Omega Strain generates is down to its canny blending of the long-standing chalk and cheese of the gaming world; single-player offline and multiplayer offline modes. What is the world coming to? We're glad you asked...

Oddly enough, Syphon Filter's "bio-terrorists threaten global anarchy with programmable DNA virus" storyline has never seemed more prophetic than it does here. It appears that the series' themes have sadly hit their stride as fiction and fact converge. And so it is, the game's opening mission kicks off at the scene of an outbreak of a (ahem) mysterious illness in Michigan, while a shipment of contaminated beef heading for Chechnya winds up causing a secondary outbreak in Italy. As for series femme fatale, Mara Aramov... she's languishing in the infamous Guantanamo Bay chokey as the opening credits roll. Not that she's in there for long of course.

Fans of the series will recognise the premise, as they will the basic gameplay pattern than develops. Flexible, fluid action featuring mucho gunplay, cascading objectives and complex level maps that reward exploration. What they won't recognise is the game's hero. IF you want the dull exploration (aw, go on), the decision to feature four-player co-op play online meant that Gabriel Logan would constantly be meeting himself in the field. As a result, whether you're heading online or just going Han Solo, you now get to create your own Agency operative, from eye colour to tattoos via vests, shades, headgear and flak jackets. And because there are scores of additional 'cosmestic items' unlockable through killer performances in combat, it's not long before you're experimenting gleefully with Lennon shades, comb-overs and ridiculous beards between missions.

Don't worry though, Gabe hasn't retired to spend more time with his jutting chin. As a new recruit, he's your boss and as such pops up throughout the game either in person or via the reams of meticulously produced intel documents that bookend levels and provide deeper insights into the ongoing Syphon Filter conspiracy.

If the character creation mode provides Omega Strain's light relief, it's the game's multi-layered and expansive missions, packed as they are with cascading objectives, that provide the tense but always gripping contrast. Quite simply, Sony has done an outstanding job of matching the series' accessible control system (it's virtually unchanged from earlier games) with believably exacting AI opponents and smartly paced tasks that challenge but never spoil the flow of the action.

The nine main mission maps are huge, gratifyingly complex things and it's easy to play offline at full pelt for up to an hour on a single level. Now that's epic gaming at its furious best. Of course, part of the reason for the size of missions is down to the joint ownership of the 'big nine' by offline and online modes. If you want to know if it works, all you have to do is check out the score over there, right?

Not that the game is perfect. While it's true that the hero of Omega Strain no longer runs like he/she's wearing a full nappy, an ungenerous spectator may wonder if the graphics overall are really up with the state of the art. There are flashes of brilliance and, to be fair, in the heat of battle you're unlikely to notice, but there's a distinct air of online optimisation going on. Also, the decision to map a 'one way only' weapon scroll key opposite the 'use torch' key left this reviewer high and dry on more than one occasion. You try attempting to select the stealthiest weapon in a hurry, over-shooting and shining the torch at a squad of now alerted soldiers instead, and you'll see what we mean.

Minor quibbles though. Omega Strain's four-player, online co-operative play is all the incentive you need to return to familiar missions, but even offline you won't be struggling for motivation. For a start there are five solo bonus missions that can only be accessed once you've aced the objectives in preceding missions. What's more, aside from the virtual dressing-up box mentioned above, there are over a hundred weapons to unlock linked to dozens of ranks and special awards. And, best of all, every new window-maker or award patch you access comes with you when you go online. Who's the man? You. You are the man, and you've got proof.

So it's a win-win situation really. A classy and accessible actioner that doesn't leave broadband challenged gamers frustrated that they're missing a third of their game, while giving server jockeys a brilliant opportunity to take their skills online and experience familiar missions with a new twist. All in all, a pretty infectious mix.

The fourth game in the bio-espionage action series brings bigger missions, more weapons and a new co-operative online mode, central to completing the Omega Strain experience.

Graphics 80%
Tidy and occasionally awesome.

Sound 70%
Dramatic, polished score and spot effects.

Gameplay 90%
Fast paced, richly textured missions.

Lifespan 80%
Co-op online boosts great offline game.

Verdict 80%
Syphon Filter offers a compelling reason to fork out for a Network Adapter fused to an engrossing single-player game. Great stuff!