SiN

SiN is a game that should have deserved to be treated better. It's launch was an epic failure due Activision rushing it to the christmas market of 1998. SiN featured awful lot of bugs which had to be fixed with a patch that was too large for most people to download, thus Ritual and Activision had to spend money shipping the patch CDs for people who requested one. Situation also got worse when the demo version got infected by a computer virus at popular 3rd party shareware website and some computers were infected due it. And arguably the largest problem that faced the SiN was the release of Half-Life only one week after the SiN was released. Looking SiN now feels little bit strage now in 2014.

Graphically SiN is one of the better Quake 2 engine based games. It features some technical aspects that are not found from any other Quake 2 engine based games. Daikatana is probably the closes comparison point to make but it was released few years after the SiN. SiN has colorful environments, fairly smooth animations, and a nice texture work. However that doesn't hide the fact that graphics in SiN were outdated already at the time of its release. Half-Life (which is a Quake engine based game) when it came out was technologically outdated just as much SiN was. SiN's lightning is nice but it could have been done better as was showcased by the Daikatana. SiN has a feature that enables different kinds of wounds to appear on the enemies based on were player shoots them. Raven Software made that feature popular later on in their Soldier of Fortune (which is an another Quake 2 engine based game).

SiN's level design is great and few dynamic elements add variety to the gameplay. The game begins with a helicopter turret section where you shoot rocket launchers located on rooftop of a bank. If you hit the rocket containers the rooftop of the bank, those will explode and the roof is destroyed. And when you later on move into the bank you can see the holes you made to the ceiling of the bank. You could also for example shoot the advertising board and make it fall down breaking the glass window and causing the bank's water fountain to overflow water which in turn breaks ATM machine.

However if you are not used to 90s labyrinth based level design with keys and stuff, SiN probably might not be your thing. SiN is also fairly strange bird that in some cases the SiN actually has a fairly linear pipe and cutscenes placed in various spots. But most of the time it offers small labyrinth with "locks and keys" progression you need to solve in order to move on. Puzzles aren't particulary difficult but unless you're used to solving these kind of 90s level puzzles you might be left scraching your head and you probably might drop the game in frustration.

SiN also has lots of interactivity in its environments. For example in the first level (which is a bank robbery) player can hack into the bank's computer using a MS-DOS alike command prompt, check the bank account number of the main villain, and her pin code, and use those codes to wire all the money she has to player's own bank account which is a pretty neat feature.

Gameplay in SiN consists of clearing certain amount of certain missions with each of them having additional secondary objectives for bonus points and additional plot points. Shooting things in SiN is pretty standard affair from the 1998. But the hit point detection mentioned is a great addon to everything. Player has variety of tools and other items he can use. For example coins to make phone calls and keys to open secret doors.

Sounds and music in SiN are fairly good for its time and there's nothing bad I can say about them. Voice acting (for its time) is nice and there isn't much over acting. Some side characters make some weird comments but I guess that's more of an issue of the guys who wrote the plot for the game. SiN features dynamic music changes. Music itself is mostly electric rock, electric techno and ambient tracks. Music lacks some coherence but in 1998 that wasn't that big of a deal. Level of quality in music changes frequently between bad and good, and that can be a little bit annoying these days.

Plot in SiN isn't nearly as complex as in Daikatana, but despite of that it is entertaining enough and if you like these kind of video game plots then you probably can keep your interetest up in following the Blade story around the city in search of people who are responsible for the U4 drug which, if taken overdose, causes the addict to mutate into a horrible mutant monstrosity. And the love drama between the hero and the supervillain isn't that boring either but comparable to the relationship of the Batman and the Catwoman.

This review is getting out of the hand. I should summarize that the AI in this game has some major issues, just like the game itself, but nothing that you cannot over come. The main manu is pretty unique and stylish but not very functional (although it gets the job done). Transitions between cutscenes and the game doesn't always function properly. SiN as a game is fairly fun deal and it's much better game in my opinion than it's follow up SiN Episodes: The Emergence. And it's a game that was pretty much the showcase of what Duke Nukem Forever would have been like if it had seen the original year 1998 planned release which never came to be. In SiN technology of its time and the ultimate 90s shooter design meet to form a game that's both fun and entertaining but also frustrating and boring at times. And oh boy, there are still some bugs in the game.