SiN Episodes: Emergence (PC)

GameSpot editors' review

• CNET editors' rating: 3.5 stars Very good
  Detailed editors' rating
  Overall score: 7.3 (3.5 stars)

• Reviewed by:
  Greg Kasavin
• Reviewed on: 05/17/2006
• Released on: 05/09/2006
• Originally published on GameSpot: SiN Episodes: Emergence (PC) Review

One of the most highly anticipated first-person shooters of 1998 was SiN, which promised to combine the action movie feel of Duke Nukem 3D with the impressive technology behind Quake, together with an original storyline. But a game called Half-Life appeared practically without warning at around the same time, stole SiN's thunder, and blew away all other competition. Now, in some sort of demi-miracle straight out of a romantic comedy but with games instead of people, SiN and Half-Life are finally together, in a way. SiN Episodes: Emergence is a budget-priced, bite-sized single-player sequel to its old predecessor, and it's available alongside Half-Life 2 on Steam, Valve's digital distribution service. It's rather strange but somehow satisfying that SiN, which garnered mixed reactions from players and subsequently faded into obscurity, is back all of a sudden. The new game also seems resigned to being purely derivative, so don't go in expecting anything other than a pretty good Half-Life 2 clone, with less style and more flash.

In Emergence, you reprise the role of one Colonel John R. Blade, a macho police officer who is trying to stamp out crime from the futuristic Freeport City, one low-life thug at a time. As in Half-Life 2, you view all of the action from Blade's perspective, so the game never breaks into noninteractive cutscenes. It begins with you strapped down to a table while buxom villainess Elexis Sinclaire and one of her high-ranking cohorts, Radek, discuss your fate. They inject you with some mysterious substance just before the rescue party arrives, in the form of Jessica, a spunky new member of your SWAT team. Together you bust out of there, and you continue on Radek's trail in order to stop him and figure out what happened. As you'd expect from the episodic nature of this game, all the answers won't be revealed once you finish this approximately five-hour adventure, though it will tease you so you'll anticipate the next SiN Episode.

Unfortunately, the game all but misses the mark when trying to draw you in with its characters and storyline. In the original SiN game, John Blade served as the typical wisecracking action hero, delivering all too many ridiculous lines of dialogue in between wasting countless numbers of goons. In Emergence, he's practically silent, as if he's been spending too much time hanging out with Gordon Freeman. In the first few minutes of the game, Blade experiences some weird whiteouts and flashbacks, suggesting there's going to be some depth to the character. But this never really comes back into play, so in the end, the main character of Emergence has no real identity--or special abilities, for that matter--to distinguish him from untold numbers of other first-person shooter heroes. The plot ends up going through some completely predictable motions, and the action itself isn't exactly full of surprises, either.

Blade's weapons include--are you sitting down?--a pistol, a shotgun, and a submachine gun. He also gets to use some incendiary grenades. Each of his guns has an alternate firing mode of some sort and can also be used to bludgeon foes and boxes at close range. Despite how few they are in number, the weapons at least have a solid feel to them. A headshot from the pistol often causes the enemy's noggin to burst like a watermelon as the body flops end over end, a satisfyingly gruesome effect that remains entertaining for the duration of the game. The submachine gun kicks up wildly as you open fire, forcing you to pull down against it to continue firing where you intended to.

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