SiN Gold

You can download demo of that game from archive.org/details/swizzle_demu_Sin

A horrible underrated game, thanks to Half Life being released just the same time back in 1998. The games a mixture of Duke Nukem 3D Half Live and the later released Deus Ex. It features 3 main charakters, the Policeman John Blade whos allways around for some funny 1 liners (Party millers Back!, Rockn Roll, I teach ya a new one!), the Computer hacker JC, whos allways in Blades Ear over Infolink and this makes up some really funny conversations with our hero, and the seductive supervillain Elexis Sinclair, shes as hot as shes crazy. The game plays in the futuristic city Freeport, but as Blade dives deeper into the conspiracy of Sintek, you head out for new Places such as an Oilrig, a waterpowerplant, a remote Island, which really brings much varity of locations into the game. Sin really stands out for a few innovative features, that havent been picked up before by any FPS game. You can hack into Computers, and use an MS Dos interface, to type in passcodes or deactivat Cameras and turrets, you can drive some vehicles like a Jeep, a Lifter . A lot of secrets and eastereggs are hidden in the game, probably today most of them wouldnt apper in a game in our ultra political correct society now, and theres a lot of other funny provocative stuff hidden in the game! You just have to have an Eye open. So if you havent played Sin or the Wages of Sin, both are highly recommendet by me, especially if you love FPS games that stand outside the todays mishmash FPS games, the story and everything feels a bit like an old Bond Movie, just this crazy stuff with evil supervillains trying to rule the world, maybe not to original, but better than HL i think. The game released here in GOG has been patched to work with modern GPUs, and doesnt come with the ridiculous censorship someone did on the Steam release. Since i think this Type of game will probably not be produced anymore, besides 1 day someone either buys the Sin IP or the original Teammembers head back on Kickstarter.

When the game was released in 1998 the load times and the bugs were barely tolerable on an average computer, luckily this is a fixed up version and computers are much better now so both issues are gone. The game is surprisingly good. The graphics are improved Quake 2 engine, I think the most important improvement is the better textures and the more detailed models. Though the fidelity is probably slightly under Half-Life. The levels are big, and more colorful than Half-Life's, at certain points there is a good chance for interactivity: walls can be broken down by machines, pipes can be wrecked by steel columns, different vehicles can be driven. Another good thing is the use of computer terminals, it is a very nice touch, that alarms can be disabled for example, and there is a simple DOS interface too. The game is fast pace, and it is easy to find the way around, it is rare that a person gets stuck. The bad side of the game is the nonexistent AI, the bad weapon and enemy design.

This game is somewhere between Half Life and Duke Nukem, without the charm of either. You play as John Blade, a hulking, dreadlock-festooned, google-wearing, lantern-jawed futurecop who looks like he was designed by Rob Liefeld. Backed up by a stereotypical computer nerd, J.C., as support, you battle against CEO Elexis Sinclaire, a mad scientist dominatrix and probably one of the earliest implementations of jiggle physics. While I have to give the game credit for including such an unusual antagonist, essentially a competent and seductive female Bond villain who eludes and outsmarts the oafish Blade at every turn, it's somewhat ruined by the way she's objectified and treated as a teenager's wet dream, from the scantily-clad posters of her everywhere to the way she fondles herself while watching Blade through a window to the viewscreen where you can spy on her taking a bath. It's possible to have a busty female villain who uses sex appeal as a weapon, but in this case she's more fan service than character. The entire game has this immature, dated attitude. Every bulletin board is filled with lame jokes or references to Army of Darkness, pieces of equipment say "90210 SUX" on them, and everything in general represents the worst side of 90s nerd culture. Duke Nukem got away with a lot of silly stuff because it was over-the-top satire, but one gets the impression that this game really thinks this is all edgy and cool. For the time, the level of interactivity was probably impressive- there are multiple exits to levels, things you do in one can affect another later on, there's an ATV you can ride, and switches and levers galore. It hasn't aged well, however, and most of this feels boring and pointless, not helped by a bug which forces you to use a no-clipping cheat just to continue the game. The combat is fine but the enemies are generic and boring, the plot is shallow, objectives are sometimes confusing, and most importantly, it's just not fun, immersive or interesting.

I remember SiN as a fun game, but after attempting to replay it recently, I have to say it's a way more flawed title even for its time than some may say, and on a top of that it dated poorly. A first couple of levels are pretty fun, enemies try to hide and run, but the game takes a run downhill really fast. Every next level is more streamlined, even if there are some options available for the player that impact set ups further down the line. However, a thing that got me the most to the point of stopping playing half way through, is a terrible movement and a gun handling. The character's movement is really floaty, to the point of giving an impression of sliding on the floor. Collisions are also messed up, with the player character getting stuck and possibly crushed to death by an opened door or a wardrobe. Last, but not the least, there're also sound effects. When the game introduces snipers for the first time, you can die repeatedly at the very beginning of the level, because you can't see nor hear snipers sitting on a shelf behind your starting position and around a starting arena. Took me a long while before realising that there's a couple of snipers. Situations where you wonder why you are losing HP without any other indication besides the numbers going down are pretty common. The further down the line you progress, the more of them you will encounter. The game can still be a bit of fun, especially for the first time playing. I wouldn't say it's worth to replay it, though.