SiN Episodes: Emergence

The Good
SiN Episodes: Emergence is the first part of what has been announced to be a nine part series. As such, it provides both a satisfying five or six hour game in itself, and good start to the series. Fans of explosions will find a lot to love here. Emergence uses the Source engine and Havok physics to full effect. Enemies ragdoll about when killed, exploding barrels and other environmental hazards are plentiful, and the incendiary grenades showcase the lovely effects of fire on both environment and enemies.

Completionists will have a lot to do as well. Forty-four "secrets" are scattered throughout Emergence's levels, and your final score is influenced by how many you find. Secrets range from the useful (crates with ammo and extra health) to the bizarre (the "Dopefish" has to be seen to be believed), but all will satisfy explorers. Finishing the main game also unlocks the utterly brutal HardCORP Mode, where no saving or death is allowed. It's something I'd personally classify as only appealing to masochists with too much time on their hands, but if a five hour marathon gaming session sounds like fun to some people, who am I to judge?

The Bad
Primary complaints about the game stem from a lack of variety in both enemies and weapons. Seeing the same style of enemy trooper, even if armed differently throughout the game, gets rather tiresome. Weapon issues are in a similar vein, with only three weapons available throughout the game. While each one feels substantial and useful through the entire game, it would have been nice to see something more exotic than just a pistol, shotgun, and assault rifle. The pistol I can understand, since it's Blade's signature weapon, but I would have liked to see the rest of the weapons be a little more exotic.

There's no multiplayer mode. This may be a deal breaker for some people. Ritual has promised to add multiplayer at some point, but for the time being, Emergence is strictly a single player game.

The Bottom Line
If you're a fan of shooters with good single player stories, then this is a game worth owning. As a bonus, If you missed out on the original SiN game, it's included with the Steam version of Emergence.

If multiplayer is your thing, or if you can only choose between this and Half-Life 2: Episode 1, then you'll probably be better off waiting until a couple more episodes of SiN come out and multiplayer game modes have been released.