SiN Episodes: Emergence

"Another unexpected hit from Ritual."

Introduction

Many people haven't heard of SiN, or even Ritual Entertainment for that matter. That is really unfortunate because it's a great game by a great company. SiN Episodes: Emergence is their latest creation. I picked up the original SiN for 5 bucks and loved it. When I heard about this game, I knew I had to at least try it so I ended up buying it. Now it's time to tell everyone else about it.

Story - 8/10

This game's story is much based around the original, so I recommend playing the version that comes with this game. In the near future, Colonel John R. "Blade" leads a team of elite officers (Hardcorps) to fight crime in a city known as Freeport. His sidekick J.C. is a computer whiz who helps him out with Intel and such. His main enemy: Elexis Sinclair, leader of Sintek, a genetics lab where she experiments on humans transforming them into mutants. This game takes place four years after the first, and Sintek reigns over Freeport. The story starts with Blade laying in some sort of experimental lab, with Elexis and her new right-hand man Radek. Blade is injected with some sort of chemical, and is then rescued by a new Hardcorps officer, Jessica Cannon. As the game progresses, you must track down Radek and find out what he's up to. Overall, the story is good, though lacking in some areas, such as giving you some background from the first SiN. It would also help to give more information during the game. Although by pressing the TAB key when a portrait of a character is in the corner you gain a little info, it's hard to notice and only gives limited background information.

Graphics - 7/10

This game definitely looks alright, and even though it can't compete with newer games like Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion or Half Life 2, it's still pretty damn good. The character models look nice, and the movements are smooth and flow well together. The environments are great, but there's only three major environments in the game, which brings down the score. Also, the rooms tend to similar, lots of shelves full of explosives and mutagen canisters, but they're pt together well. The weapons look quite good, and explosions and fires look even better (nothing like shooting an explosive barrel to see it catch fire, explode a few seconds later and cause a nice fiery death to anyone near it). To add to that, enemies graphics aren't bad either. Look closely at the dead bodies of mini-gunners and you'll see and extra bit of gore that you normally wouldn't notice. Finally, all this game needs graphics-wise is an update. If the next episode looks better than Half-Life 2 then their on the right track.

Gameplay - 9/10

This is where this game really makes the cut. The controls are easy to understand. The movement is smooth and natural. The enemies aren't incredibly stupid or supernaturally smart. They really make use of the AI system which gets smarter as you get better. It even sets itself to your techniques and uses counter-actions to them. For example, lots of headshots equals more helmets. If you move around a lot and hide behind pillars and such, you can bet they're going to start with more grenades. I never once had a problem beating enemies in the game, but they did prove quite a challenge. I even tried getting only headshots, and sure enough more helmets popped up. Not to mention the fun factor is incredible. I you shoot an enemy in the head a couple times (even with a magnum) if they don't ragdoll into the wall behind them they're sure to get their heads blown off. As for mini-gunners (as I call them), you'll have a hard time avoiding getting destroyed with a harrow of bullets, but when you kill them they completely explode. Mutants will jump at your face and kick large crates at you, and sometimes get blown to pieces when killed. The weapons are cool, but with only 3 weapons, I was definitely disappointed. The secondary fires are decent, like ricocheting bullets around corners or some kind of "power shot" that can break through weak barriers (like wood), or even a small grenade launcher. Unfortunately, you'll find the secondary fire ammo will stock up; you use them very little unless in a tight situation. As for the boss - well, boss-es, there's two but they're the same enemy - it's not yor standard shoot-rapidly-until-you-kill-it, I had to play it a few times and come up with a strategy to avoid getting slaughtered. Overall the gameplay is excellent, only a few minor flaws, such as length, but for $20 it's not bad.

Sound - 8/10

The sound is nice for this game. The voice overs are excellent, and if you played the first SiN you'll notice Blade's voice hasn't changed, unlike some games which swap voice-actors often. The sound effects are realistic, explosions, taunts from enemies, and best of all, yelling and screaming when they get blown away by grenades or set on fire. The background music is where they got a bit lazy. It's very unnoticeable, as I'm still trying to figure out if there is any in some areas. Even with this flaw, it's still good enough sound.

Re-Playability - 7/10

For a game with only about 6 hours of gameplay it has a pretty good replay value. I personally thought I would go through it once and quit, but now I've been through the game twice and still can't get enough. It's not as addicting as other longer shooters like Doom 3 or Halo, but this game definitely leaves you wanting more.

Overall - 8/10

Overall, this game is very good. Maybe not the best, but it's definitely worth a try. If you're still skeptical, borrow it from someone to just test it out, you'll get really into the game. I'm waiting impatiently for the second episode, after this, it's bound to be good (you also get a little preview if you beat the game). And hey, if you don't like it, it's not a big loss. For 20 bucks, this game is worth your money.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 01/09/07