SiN Episodes: Emergence (Windows)

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Description

Emergence is the first episode of a planned series. As an installment in an "episodic" series, it is shorter than comparable games, comprising 3-6 hours of gameplay. You play as Colonel John R. Blade, founder and top operative of HardCORPS, a private security firm operating in the city of Freeport sometime in the near future. Aided by rookie partner Jessica Cannon and technical wiz JC, you seek to shut down the operations of SinTEK and its founder Elexis Sinclaire, and prove that they are knowingly contributing to the outbreaks of mutant activity occurring in various districts of Freeport.

Gameplay is FPS-style, with a few non-standard elements, such as a couple of brief sequences where the player is riding in a car. All plot is conveyed in-game via NPCs and radio messages, rather than by cutscenes. Weapon variety for the player is limited to a pistol, shotgun, and assault rifle, each with a secondary fire mode, and incendiary grenades. Each weapon can also be aimed, which gives the player better accuracy at the expense of movement speed.

Enemy variety is similarly limited, with one basic trooper type armed with the same weapons as the player, a high-powered chaingun-wielding enemy, two mutant variants, and a super "boss" mutant. However, the game has a learning system that dynamically adjusts the game difficulty to your play style. For example, players who excel at making headshots will find that enemies later in the game begin wearing armored helmets to defend against the player's prowess, and that enemy trooper armament adjusts so that they are better equipped to fight at the player's preferred engagement range.

Screenshots

Promo Images

Trailer

Alternate Titles

• "原罪第一部：浮现" -- Simplified Chinese spelling
• "シン エピソード1 : エマージェンス" -- Japanese spelling

Part of the Following Groups

• 3D Engine: Source
• BPjS / BPjM indexed games
• Distribution Method: Episodic
• Game feature: Original theme song
• Games with Dopefish
• Physics Engine: Havok
• Protagonist: Black
• SiN series
• Technology: amBX
• Theme: Law enforcement

User Reviews

Part One of a new series kicks off with a Bang!	Shadowcaster (261)
A fun, futuristic, B-movie type of FPS.	Ian Dawson (10)

Critic Reviews

Atomic Gamer	May 16, 2006	90 out of 100	90
Gamesmania.de	Jun 07, 2006	78 out of 100	78
Fragland.net	May 30, 2006	76 out of 100	76
GameSpot (Belgium/Netherlands)	May 30, 2006	74 out of 100	74
Gameguru Mania	May 28, 2006	72 out of 100	72
Video Game Generation	Jul 16, 2006	7 out of 10	70
Armchair Empire, The	Jul 14, 2006	7 out of 10	70
Gameplay (Benelux)	May 26, 2006	69 out of 100	69
JeuxVideoPC.com	Jul 15, 2006	9 out of 20	45
Factornews	May 28, 2006	4 out of 10	40

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Trivia

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Bianca Beauchamp and Cindy Synnett were hired to play real life versions of Elexis Sinclaire and Jessica Cannon for E3 2006 and other promotional events for the launch of SiN Episodes: Emergence.

Dopefish

SiN Episodes: Emergence is one of many in a long line of games to feature a cameo by the Dopefish. An aquatic character created by Tom Hall. The Dopefish's first appearance was in Commander Keen 4: Secret of the Oracle.

Episodes

A total of nine episodes were planned in the SiN Episodes series, but because of the sale of Ritual Entertainment to MumboJumbo, SiN Episodes: Emergence was the only one released.

German version

There are a number of changes in the German version:

• All blood and gore effects are removed. Despite contrary rumours, the original version only has gore for headshots and the Heavy Runner enemy type.
• The ragdoll effects were replaced with a ragdoll-like standard animation.
• When enemies are on fire, they burn for a shorter amount of time before dying and don't scream.
• In the U4 Labs level, there is a cabin in which the player can transform a few grunts into mutants. Said cabin is empty in the German version.

A detailed list of changes can be found on schnittberichte.com (German).

References

The security checkpoints at the docks, near the beginning of the game, display scrolling messages about prohibited items above the doorway, including;

No blades.
No bows.
Leave your weapons here.

This is a quote from the film, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.

Information also contributed by Noah Aman, SDfish and WildKard.

Related Web Sites

• SiN Episodes: Emergence (official website)
• SiN Episodes: Emergence (Official website for the series)
• SiN Episodes Fansite SiNEpisodes.net (English language fansite dedicated to SiN Episodes. Run by the creator of the Halflife2.net fansite.)