Sunday 29 June 2008

SiN Emergence review

I recently picked up the first episode of the videgame series SiN. Sadly, SiN was cancelled for unnconeccted reasons and only the first episode exists. Once I had finished playing, the urge to review what I had bought struck me.

"Not that long ago, everyone was abuzz about episodic gaming. About how this was the future. The first big attempt at this was SiN: Emergence, the first episode in a new series. Sadly, the developers, Ritual, were bought out and SiN appears to be dead. Only the first glimpse into this series is available for the world.

SiN is a FPS that draws immediate parallels with the Half Life Series; episodic, on Steam, all first person with no cutscenes. It even has a similar loading bar. But the difference is that while Half Life is perfectly crafted, SiN is pure entertainment. The enemies and weapons are few, and can become repetitive. This is not a flawless game. Nonetheless, its weapons feel meaty, and it is well paced. You will be entertained, through well chosen humour, diversity and tougher sections. Difficulty is something targeted by the game, dynamically shifting throughout, to maximise fun. Hardly noticeable, but that is the point. The game does not break your immersion. Music, speech and sound effects all play a role in this, keeping you involved in this sort game. You sit down, and you play, a pleasure until the end.

The problem with SiN is that it has no end. The final boss is finished with a teaser for the next episode, giving more questions. Who will survive? What is really going on? The potential for the rest of the series leaves me eager for more.

And so all that can be done is to enjoy. Enjoy an underrated great. Don’t be put off because there is no sequel, but enjoy it because it is fun. And hope, that one day, the essence of SiN is continued."

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