SiN

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Description

The year is 2037. The police forces of the world have been disassembled due to their incompetence at stopping the ever-rising waves of crime. Instead, private security companies have taken upon themselves to protect citizens or entire companies from criminals for a fee. One of the best-known security services in the city of Freeport is HardCorps, under the command of Colonel John Blade. A large-scale bank heist involving a hostage situation, apparently perpetrated by a well-known gangster Mancini, attracts the attention of HardCorps, and John is summoned to the crime scene. Further investigation reveals the existence of a powerful new drug called the U4, and possible ties to a multi-national biotechnology corporation known as SiNtech, which is guided by the beautiful and enigmatic Elexis Sinclaire. With the help of his colleagues from HardCorps, John will have to avert the greater threat and save the city.

SiN is a first-person shooter that uses a modified version of the Quake II engine. John Blade is armed with a rather standard FPS arsenal, starting with a default bare knuckles and a pistol, and ending with heavy guns such as rocket launcher and plasma rifles. The game is notable for being the first FPS that had missions exclusively based on stealth (i.e., the game is automatically lost if the hero is detected). The game incorporates realistic damage effects: headshots are instantly effective, while shooting an enemy in the knees will merely hinder his movements. SiN also includes the option of hacking computer terminals to disable security.

Cutscenes are employed to advance the plot between the levels. At certain times, the outcome of a mission will be different depending on the player's actions during it. Taking a cue from Duke Nukem 3D, SiN features a wise-cracking main hero, humorous "easter eggs", and environments with a high degree of interaction.

Screenshots

Promo Images

Trailer

Alternate Titles

• "シン" -- Japanese spelling

Part of the Following Groups

• 3D Engine: id Tech 2
• BPjS / BPjM indexed games
• Covermount: Fullgames
• Gameplay feature: Transformation
• Games made into movies
• Games with downloadable official map/level editors
• Games with officially released source code
• Games with official modding tools
• Middleware: SDL
• Protagonist: Black
• SiN series
• Theme: Law enforcement

User Reviews

It would be a sin not to play this excellent game	Windows	Katakis | カタキス (42793)
Barney Miller is here to teach you a lesson in pain	Windows	Ian McLean (23)
My all time favourite.	Windows	Goteki45 (352)
An underrated shooter	Windows	x0n1c64 (14)
A typical blast-fest with an actual plot.	Windows	Matt Dabrowski (222)
A near miss	Windows	Alex L (1029)

Critic Reviews

Absolute Games (AG.ru)	Windows	Nov 11, 1998	90 out of 100	90
Hacker	Windows	Dec, 1998	89 out of 100	89
PC Games (Germany)	Windows	Dec, 1998	88 out of 100	88
PC Action (Germany)	Windows	Nov, 1998	88 out of 100	88
GameStar (Germany)	Windows	Dec, 1998	85 out of 100	85
Computer and Video Games (CVG)	Windows	Jan, 1999		80
PC Player (Germany)	Windows	Dec, 1998	70 out of 100	70
Adrenaline Vault, The (AVault)	Windows	Nov 12, 1998		60
GamePro (US)	Windows	Jan 01, 2000	2.5 out of 5	50
Cincinnati Enquirer	Windows	2000		50

Forums

Topic	# Posts	Last Post
Blade is black?	66	Chentzilla (226) Dec 12, 2007

Trivia

Bugs

When SiN was first released, it was so buggy that, at one point, the first boss just stood still while he was being hit.

Capture The Flag

Ritual Entertainment released a free Capture The Flag multiplayer add-on along with the 1.04 patch.

Demo

Some copies of the SiN demo carry the nasty CIH virus, which corrupts a hard disk and BIOS on the 26th of the month. These infected copies came into circulation from players who downloaded the demo onto their infected computer, then uploaded the demo to their website for people to download.

German index

On December 4, 1998, SiN was put on the infamous German index by the BPjS. For more information about what this means and to see a list of games sharing the same fate, take a look here: BPjS/BPjM indexed games.

German version

In the German version, all blood and gore effects were removed.

Movie

On October 24, 2000, a feature length anime based on the game was released (VHS and DVD).

Multiplayer

SiN featured the first-ever multiplayer level with multiple gravity axis (the Escher house-themed paradox), as well as the first commercial miniaturization level (spry), which let players duke it out in a giant living room.

References

• In a few levels in the game (SinTEK Chemical Plant part 1, Sinclaire estate, etc.) issues of the computer game magazine PC Zone can be seen laying on tables. The developers were so impressed by the coverage of PC Zone that they included the front cover of that issue in the game.
• In the first level, there is a safe hidden behind a picture in one of the rooms in the bank (the one with only one picture). In the safe there are two boxes of Quake Mission Pack No 1 games.

Information also contributed by Ajan, ClydeFrog, Goteki45, NeoMoose, Spartan 234, Steve Hessel and Xoleras.

Related Web Sites

• SiN (official website)
• Blade's Sin Page (A fan page )
• Postmortem: Ritual Entertainment's Sin (A postmortem of the FPS, SiN, on the industry website Gamasutra. The article is written by one of the game's programmers, Scott Alden, and discusses the balance between what went right in the creation of the game and what was problematic (Mar. 5th, 1999).)
• Sin Japanese (An interesting site that has the game's entire dialogue in English and Japanese.)
• Sinpost (A nice place for Sin-related stuff.)
• Wikipedia: Sin (A general article about the game in the open encyclopedia.)