It's staggering that SiN reviewed as well as it did back in the day, and that it has enjoyed something of a resurgence in the wake of the retro FPS throwback craze. It's a wonky, joyless game with shooting surpassed by anything created on the Build Engine before it. Movement is slippery, affording none of the precision you'd expect from forebearers like Quake or even Shadow Warrior. Firefights take place in the open and involve little more stratgey than standing in the open and whittling down the bullet sponge enemies. There's a reason the levels are littered with armor pickups; you can't avoid damage in SiN, merely mitigate it. The reuslting opening hours are tediously without challenge, bar the odd instant death trap or finicky jumping puzzle, which the controls are ill-suited to complement. By level 4 the game has entirely run out of ideas, choosing to lock you in cramped environments with a veritable tank of an enemy, his slipshod movements no fun to interpret with your wayward aim and spectral movement. SiN sold poorly, and given what it bought to the FPS fore in a time of far better competition, I see no reason why that should change over 20 years later.
