Colonel John R. Blade has returned to the PC in the new episodic sequel to SIN, a late 90s first person shooter overlooked in the wake of the original Half-Life. SIN was entertaining although it was marred by its initial bugs and being released shortly before the critically acclaimed behemoth that was Half-Life. SIN followed a tough cop on the trail of the beautiful but deadly Alexis Sinclare through environments full of petty thugs, money hungry minions and horrific genetic creations. SIN’s developer Ritual is one of the first teams to fully grasp Valve’s online distribution concept through Steam (which for those who don’t know is an application that allows you to purchase and play games like Half-Life 2). Instead of taking the typical route of releasing a full story in one package and charging around $50 for it, Ritual has decided to try a new way of delivering its product. This sequel to SIN is being released in a series of episodes with gameplay tallies that range from 4-6 hours depending on the abilities of the player. Every few months, a new episode will be released continuing the story, priced at an appealing $20. Gamers will be treated to a few hours of gameplay, a “shocking” cliffhanger and then a preview of what to expect next. With Ritual’s first episode entitled “Emergence”, players once again step into Blade’s world and embark on an adventure that makes a stand for episodic content, but doesn’t fully justify itself by the time it ends.

SIN Episodes is a first person shooter that will feel and play similar to anyone who has played the original, Half-Life 2 or pretty much any other game in the longstanding genre. This first Episode opens with Blade having been rescued from a lab where he was being used as Alexis Sincalre’s experimental guinea pig. Alexis is up to a new scheme with her partner Radek and Blade happens to be unwillingly a part of it. With the help of your new partner Jessica, you as Blade make an escape from the facility and embark on a mission to not only unravel Alexis’ new plan but to find out what she did to you in the process.

This first episode spans several environments that include a port, train station, the all but expected sewers, a secret lair and of course, a really big building to scale. Featuring three different weapons which include Blade’s signature pistol, a shotgun and automatic rifle, Blade doesn’t exactly have the fully featured arsenal you might expect out of a shooter. The reasoning behind this is probably to save some surprises for future episodes and to prevent cramming 4-6 hours of gameplay with a bunch of weapons that have little impact on such a small portion of a game. As expected, the shotgun is the most effective weapon in close combat and the automatic rifle is good for taking on a room full of enemies.  Blade’s standard pistol is quite powerful and great for precise shots. All three weapons have a secondary ability that while more difficult to collect ammo for, are much more powerful and great to use when the odds are seemingly against you. Of course what would Blade need these kinds of weapons for if he didn’t have a few bumbling enemies to light them up with? Fear not, as “Emergence” features many firefights and close encounters with the evil kind. Disappointingly though, there aren’t as many different enemy types as you might expect. Throughout the game you combat no more than 4-5 different types of enemies. This selection probably wouldn’t have seemed as lacking if they were distributed better. Much like how most games treat you with a new weapon after completing a few levels, its almost like SIN Episodes does the same. In a conveyor belt fashion, Blade will spend a few levels fighting the same exact enemy over and over and then a new enemy type will be introduced randomly seemingly out of nowhere. This once again seems to be a way of accommodating the shorter nature of this compact episode, but there definitely could have been more variety in the grunts that Alexis and Radek fling at you. Not all of your enemies happen to be human and one in particular makes for a fast moving boss battle, but to spoil all of that would ruin this first Episode’s few genuine surprises.



Enough of simply describing these lowly minions, the real question is do they put up much of a fight? The enemy AI implemented in “Emergence” is quite basic and most enemies won’t hesitate to rush at you at the most senseless moments, but what they lack in patience they make up for primal rage. Soldiers will be shooting at you almost constantly and when they stop, it’s most likely because they don’t appreciate your lack of participation.  That silence ends with a grenade being tossed at you from across the room.  If your enemies happen to get in close, they will most likely come in for a head butt. Blade (and his enemies) are equipped with a melee attack that helps for close encounters or for when sneaking up behind an enemy. It’s not an ability you will need all that much, but its great to use just to watch how enemies fly across the room as you bash them with your gun (which Blade is able to do how?).  To sum it all up, strafing left and right, shooting and a few bashes to the head will most always get the job done.  Since the enemies are particularly feisty, it would be a bad idea not to use the cover provided around the environments because they can take you out in seconds. If you die often the game will automatically adjust the difficulty slightly to slip in a few more health packs and extra ammo, but it doesn't change the nature of these beasts.

Thanks to the Source engine which powers the game, the environments are full of interactive elements. To heal yourself, you can break open a health canister and inhale the fumes or pick it up and install it to the medical wall units around the levels.  Most rooms include explosive barrels that can set enemies on fire or even set off a chain of explosions if other barrels are near.  Interactivity within the environments doesn’t lend itself to gameplay as much as a game like Half-Life 2 mostly because of the lack of puzzles, but being able to pick up objects and see them fly around in the middle of a firefight does a lot to pull you into the game world.  As with most shooters, there are some sections of the game that feature platform jumping. No matter how much you hate it, it can’t be denied that it helps to break up the often relentless action that can become repetitive and tiring. Thankfully, this game’s few hours of gameplay spends minimal time forcing you to climb and descend.   One of the most promising scenes in the episode was that while Jessica was driving, you could hang out of the window and take out a few enemies. The scene was awfully brief and was one example of something that would be great to see expanded upon in future episodes. Although, even better would be the ability for you to actually drive the car, as Blade doesn’t seem to be much of a passenger type.

As you might expect, “Emergence” ends with an intimidating boss battle and brisk conclusion.  The big problem with this first tasting of the game is that the story wasn’t fleshed out as much as it could have been. We still don’t know the motives of the enemies, and there isn’t enough of a connection with Blade’s partners yet. In fact, Blade himself is oddly silent throughout the game, only speaking when activating his communication device. Part of the charm of the original SIN was Blade’s one liner quips and babble with his original partner JC (who returns in a smaller role here). To be fair, this is only the first episode, but for people to genuinely await a new episode, it’s important to make the right connection, which this does on some levels, but not on others.   The game would have also benefitted from a few puzzles or action sequences that have direct involvement with the physics or environment. As far as the first episode stands, “Emergence” is a fairly straightforward shooter, which features room after room of enemies doing much of the same thing (not to mention looking the same). It’s a fun and replayable futuristic romp, but a little more variety in the gameplay would have helped to make more of an impression.



Having been built on the foundation of Valve’s Source engine, SIN Episodes: Emergence looks great and has taken a more colorful route artistically when compared to Half-Life 2. Sharp textures that capture the urban futuristic theme perfectly and excellently detailed character models (Alexis has benefitted from a particularly naughty upgrade) are some of the highlights that help “Emergence” stand out. A special mention goes out to the explosions and particle effects that are in abundance here (enough to please seizure lovers everywhere).  Some areas can become repetitive after while, but the world manages to be vibrant or drab when the situation calls for it and if Half-Life 2 runs well on your system, SIN Episodes should similarly.  Only a few hitches were experienced throughout the game and most occurred when loading up new areas.  On the audio side, the voice acting is quite good and the music appropriately sets the mood.  The sound effects are especially sharp and will definitely please those that enjoy blowing their ears out with a surround sound system.

As the first in a series of episodes, SIN Episodes: Emergence has set up what looks to be an exciting, if conventional first person shooter.  It suffers from a few missteps that include an underdeveloped opening storyline and some repetitive shootouts, but it definitely retains the fun of the original and future episodes can only help to build and evolve off of it.  If each episode makes a hearty leap in gameplay features and plotlines, SIN Episodes could end up being a classic adventure to remember. As it stands, “Emergence” is a solid beginning to what one would hope to be an equally if not more entertaining follow up with Episode 2.