SiN

Moby ID: 322
Windows Specs
Buy on Windows
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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.

Spellings

  • シン - Japanese spelling

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Credits (Windows version)

73 People (57 developers, 16 thanks) · View all

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 79% (based on 29 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.8 out of 5 (based on 73 ratings with 6 reviews)

It would be a sin not to play this excellent game

The Good
id Software released Quake II a year after the original game, and turned out to be highly successful. So it wasn't surprising that other companies wanted to capitalize on its success. Activision was one of them, but did it produce a very good first-person shooter that could compete with Quake II Well, yes and no. This is SiN a first-person shooter that is set in the future where the police are useless, leaving private security companies to tackle crime. You play John Blade, a member of the Hardcorps.

Blade starts out in a chopper, dealing with thugs on the roof with the mounted gun while avoiding their projectiles. I found this first mission difficult, since the projectiles come at you at all directions. I was glad when I finally got onto the ground and started the second mission. From the second mission onwards, the game behaves like a normal first-person shooter where you can explore the surroundings and shoot as many enemies that get in your way.

Before you tackle the main game, you can go to Headquarters where there are plenty of skills you can practice. The great thing about HQ is that when you enable certain ones through a computer terminal, you can also pick any weapon you want to use, most of them are found in the actual game. During most of the training missions, your score is recorded and the top three scores (by difficulty) is posted on a LED board outside. You can top your previous score if you want, or just proceed to different training missions.

Like Duke Nukem 3D before it, you can interact with the environment. As well as accessing computer terminals, you can shoot everything you see and look at security monitors. There are also multiple routes you can take throughout some levels, meaning they deserve to be played more than once. These routes will depend on how the game play out. In the Biometric Labs, for instance, not letting a scientist bring up a map of the South Pacific means that you will be unable to get to the Missile Silo.

You will deal with various enemies in the game, and each have their own weapons they use to kill you, be it shotguns, rocket launchers, or grenades. AI is excellent, with them coming after you when you fire a weapon in their vicinity. I like the way you have the SinTek guards sounding the alarm the moment they see Blade, so you have to kill them before they do. If you don't, then this will change how the game is played.

The subtitles in the game look quote good, with white dialogue on a black background, which is surrounded by a blue border. To its left is a portrait of who is speaking, even when the character is visible on screen. Speaking of the dialogue, the script is well written, and there are a lot of humorous conversations between Blade and JC. The “blue theme” of the heads-up display looks excellent.

SiN introduced some features to the FPS genre, and one of them was locational damage. Shoot someone in the leg and they will be knocked back. Shoot them in the face and they get their heads blown off. You can also shoot the weapon off the enemy's hand, though this is really difficult to do. There are also some vehicles that you have to drive in the game.

From time to time, there are cut-scenes, mostly involving Elexis Sinclaire and her troops. All of the cut-scenes in the game are well scripted. They also add depth to the story and link the levels together.

The music in the game is excellent, and so are the sound effects. I really like how the music in the level changes as you are fighting a swarm of enemies at once. This “battle music” really reflects the intensity of the situations. As for the sound effects, the only ones I like are the screams of enemies as you kill them.

The Bad
In the same year SiN was released there was also a killer app called Half-Life, and the developers wanted to get their game out before Valve's. People who brought this game at the time of release will encounter a multitude of bugs, with the major one concerning the first boss who couldn't move at all. Although plenty of patches were released that fix bug after bug, but the damage was done and SiN wasn't as popular as it should have been.

The Bottom Line
SiN is an excellent first-person shooter with a captivating story and a great experience throughout. It also has great game mechanics and excellent sound. Unfortunately, it came out with some severe bugs that made the whole thing unplayable. Judging by its sales, I am surprised that only one expansion pack was released for the game. If you do decide to play the game, make sure you read the excellent backstory to the game first.

Windows · by Katakis | カタキス (43092) · 2014

My all time favourite.

The Good
I LOVED the story. It's all about a special police force called the HardCorps. You are Colonel John R. Blade and together with you sidekick J.C. you'll have to halt the spreading menace caused by the popular drug "U4". It all starts out simple with a bankheist, but it slowly turns into a biomechanical nightmare. Beautifull!!

The sounds are so great. When i first played the game in december 1998, i was stunned by the music and the sound effects. They really add to the atmosphere of the game. I especially like the music in the Freeport bank, the SinTEK chemical plant, the construction site, the subway and the sinclaire estate. Never before had i heard such music in a video game. The voice acting is a little bit cheesy, but not that bad.

The enemies could be shot in many parts of the body, sadistic but fun!. Especially if you want to off every enemy with a headshot.

I loved the diabolical Elexis Sinclaire. She is the ultimate bad girl. When you play as Blade you won't just play the game, it makes you want to play the game so you can bring Elexis down! Believe me, if you hear that twisted little laugh of her, you'd want to shoot that grin off of her face.

The level design is incredible. You'll have to pass through jungles, city's, slums, sewers, chemical plants, rocket bases etc etc. The jungle level and the HardCorps training facility are the best looking levels (well that's what i think).

The Bad
Not much really.

The only thing that annoyed me are the bugs. They can't be counted. Thank god for the 1.01 patch. The retail (v.1.00) version is so buggy. The most irritating bug is the loading bug. The loading of a level could take up to 10 minutes, because of a memory leak. This has been fixed though in v.1.01, which reduces the loading time by at least 80% on my computer.

The Bottom Line
This is my all time favourite. It may sound strange, because many would expect something like Doom, but this my favourite. The sound is incredible, the story is perfect, the level design is great, the graphics are even better (for that time). Just don't forget to upgrade it to at least v.1.01.

Windows · by Goteki45 (323) · 2001

A typical blast-fest with an actual plot.

The Good
There is a lot to like about SiN. Though the color pallette used is more drab than Half-Life's, the background graphics are still pretty cool. Many of the places that the player must visit are based on real-world locations, which makes them a lot more interesting than some of the nonsensical stuff we're used to seeing in FPS games. Your enemies have good artificial intelligence, and not only are they generally tough to kill, but hitting them in certain areas of their bodies causes varying degrees of damage. The whole "mission objectives" thing also adds to the game's appeal. Not a ton of people seem to play SiN online, but overall, the cool multiplayer levels and nicely paced action make for some good deathmatchin'.

The Bad
Unfortunately, the uninteresting environments in the game far outnumber the interesting ones. While you can interact with many things in the environment, this interaction is usually limited to breaking them, which isn't particularly interesting. The music in SiN can really get on your nerves after hearing the same annoying "tunes" one too many times. The game's sound effects, which don't sound anywhere near powerful enough, are even worse. After the first couple of levels were over, nothing about the game really drew me in, which is too bad. SiN is very long, but not terribly enjoyable.

The Bottom Line
Despite its flaws, SiN is definitely worth at least some of your time. It's no Half-Life, but it will keep you occupied for some time. The fun multiplayer mode only adds to the game's longevity. Just don't expect a real classic of Doom-like status.

Windows · by Matt Dabrowski (218) · 1999

[ View all 6 player reviews ]

Discussion

Subject By Date
Blade is black? St. Martyne (3648) 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.

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Related Sites +

  • 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.

Identifiers +

  • MobyGames ID: 322
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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Matt Dabrowski.

Linux added by chirinea.

Additional contributors: Alan Chan, Andrew Hartnett, Foxhack, Zeppin, Cantillon, Patrick Bregger.

Game added October 25, 1999. Last modified January 18, 2024.