Game: SiN Episode: Emergence Platform: PC MSRP: $19.99 Rating: RP Time to Complete: 3-4 hours 
Well Valve has found another way to add on to the millions of dollars of revenue the company has already garnered from the highly successful Half-Life 2 and Counterstrike games. When a blockbuster game is released, the engine in the game will only survive for a short period of time unless a popular online multiplayer option is attached; for instance Counterstrike. Valve realized this, and instead of investing serious capital to produce a game that would shortly be forgotten until the next F.E.A.R. or S.T.A.L.K.E.R. engine is released, they decided on two key marketing campaigns.
The first move was to continue the Half-Life story by adding episodes that will be released for $19.99 periodically, utilizing the same engine with little production costs. Distribution of the new episodes is easy because they can be downloaded using Valve's online store via Steam.
The second was to sell their engine to other developers, who would reduce the development cost of their game significantly while Valve collected licensing fees. SiN Episode: Emergence, produced and published by Ritual is the first episode released under this strategy, and boy are we in for some fun.
SiN Episode: Emergence continues the story of the original game SiN released around the same time as the original Half-Life. The player assumes the role of John Blade who is still a cop and still in the year 2037 trying to stop the evil
Alexis Sinclair (who reminds me of the guitarist from
Static-X ). During the game you run around office buildings, sewers, and streets shooting bad guys and mutating experiments that Alexis has created.
Gameplay:
If you figured the gameplay would be similar to Half-Life 2 because they use the same engine, you figured correctly. The movements of the characters, the inside and outside environment with impressive lighting, and of course the physics are almost identical to Half-Life 2. I say almost because I feel Value downgraded the quality of SiN so it would not be better or even of equal quality to Half-Life 2.
Since SiN uses the same engine has HL2, one might think the games would be so strikingly similar SiN would completely rip off HL2 in its entirely. Although the enemies are similar, both games include soldiers in armored suits that sound like they are talking on a walkie-talkie, and there is enough original material for you to forget about HL2 and start thinking SiN.
One of the more original ideas is to take the healing method from HL2 and modify it. SiN makes you search for empty canisters that can be found throughout the game, and carry them to wall-mounted health stations where they can be used to spray a healing blue cloud. Other times when you are too lazy to carry the canister, you can just shoot at them and the healing cloud is released around the area, allowing a quick heal but not as complete as it would have been if you had taken it to the station.
Another neat feature added is a chemical agent, that when exposed to, it increases your response time dramatically. What does that mean? It means they copied F.E.A.R and Max Payne to a degree and slow down time a bit so the player can react to apposing enemies better. This feature is not controllable, but rather goes into affect when a canister is broken in a gun battle and you walk through the green cloud. The time it takes to wear off is represented as a green bar on the left side of the screen. But be careful; too much exposure to this stuff will result in the loss of health.
Over the course of the game, Blade will interact with a different characters. We saw in HL2 how effective Valve was in creating life-like faces and by the following screenshots you can see this effect was also used in SiN.
Blade also fights along side the hot Jessica Cannon who pretty much resembles
Alyx from HL2 and does most of the talking. But Alyx didn't have her thong strings poking above her hips now did she? Gun battles are similar to Half-Life 2. You are given a handgun at the appropriate time and gradually upgrade to an assault rifle and shotgun, but that's it. I am guessing the plan is to release more guns as the episodes continue, but it gets a little repetitive using the same guns after a while. Most of the soldiers are easy to kill, until you get to the more armored mini-gun soldiers. One thing SiN lacks that HL2 incorporated so well was a scare factor. SiN ignores this approach and aims for a more typical shooter where you can see your enemy coming from a couple of feet down the hall or road.
SiN apparently keeps track of your shooting statistics. The data isn't kept for you to print out and nail to your dorm room wall, but the game actually analyzes the data and will adjust the difficulty level of the game as your progress through the game. For example, if the game senses that out of your last 10 kills, 9 of them were headshots, you may see soldiers appear with helmets or dodge your fire more often. As I think about it now, I can remember a few instances in the game where I tired to kill an armored soldier and took a lot more ammo then I previously had used. Very impressive AI technique.
Graphics and Sound:
SiN is filled with crisp luminous lighting in various different areas of the game. The soft pastel sunset with a mirrored reflection over the water looks great and need I say HL2ish? There are numerous scenes throughout the game where you stop fighting and shooting, and just take a moment to look at the scenery, or when you're inside, look at the detail of some of the rooms.
The monster and mutant skins are nothing special, except for the two giant ones you ultimately end up fighting, but I have a feeling they are going to release a few more enemies in the next episode.
Again, the faces on most of the characters look extremely realistic and in the very opening scene, you will notice an obvious feature that they added to one of the bad guys'or should I say bad girl. Can't figure it out? Well
here is a pic to help you.
Multiplayer:
N/A.
Pros: Fast paced, inspired visuals from HL2, interesting story, check out all the hot chicks!
Cons: Very short, Only 3 weapons.
Bottom Line: For people who are DYING for the next episode of Half-Life 2, SiN Emergence will hold you over. For $19.99 you will receive a fun, quick FPS shooter. Ritual claims they have 4-6 more hours of upcoming episodes, which will probably play out longer considering it, took me between 3-4 to finish Emergence.
We give it a
3 out of 5 D-keys:
Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2: Episode One
Review Originally Posted on 05-15-2006 More Pics 
