SiN: Emergence offers a fast-paced shooter that oozes with guns, gore and girls
Picking up a few years after the first SiN game occurred and ignoring the movie that was made, you play as John Blade, special agent for the police force. Your main goal is to find and stop Alexis Sinclair, the antagonist from the first game. She is still at large and has continued her research of the chemicals from the first game. The tables have turned as Alexis has captured you and you begin the game strapped to a gurney, with Alexis and her cohort in crime, Raked, leaning over you, discussing your fate. After your imminent escape, you meet up with Jessica, your partner, who seems to have just left Victoria Secret before rescuing you with her thong sticking out from her uniform. You then find yourself trying to find out what the bad guys have done to you and what their plan calls for and how you can stop it.
The mechanics of the game are fairly simple. Run and gun your way to the end of the game without getting killed. It will seem simple at first as the first few waves of enemies you kill will have the brain capacity of a T-Rex. As you progress, the scaling difficulty comes into play. Depending on how well you are playing, the game starts to ramp up or notch back the difficulty of the game. If you make too many head shots, the game will present you with enemies that wear helmets. If you get killed far too often, the game will place more health on the level or have the enemies use less cover. It is a novel approach, but you still feel like you are walking through the game regardless of what the story throws at you until the half way marker when some of the tough enemies appear in significant volume. At this point, the challenge is kicked up to another level with mutants and armored troopers, armed with a mini arsenal in the case of the trooper. Many an FPS player is going to be upset at the fact that there is a limited weapon selection in the game. While games like Quake and Half Life give you a mini arsenal to lay down a swath of destruction, this game limits it to the basics. You start with access to a pistol and can gain a shotgun and an assault rifle. Throw in some grenades and that is the extent of the weapons in the game. A rather sparse list at best, but you will never feel short changed by the minimal selection. It actually gives the game a sense of realism in that you have a limit to the weapons you can carry and that are available.
The game is an absolute pleasure to look at. The character animations are stunning as is expected with the Source engine. The detail in the main characters goes down to the last necklace or the way their hair moves. You start to admire the sense of realism that was put into the characters as they blink, make faces and just act human. In the face of this effort, it is unfortunate that all the other enemies you face have a generic feel. There are about eight bad guy types including the mutants and they have no real variation. It is a little repetitive to kill fifty yellow jacketed bad guys only to have to kill fifty more of the same kind. Backgrounds show off the power of the engine with their detailed splendor. Looking out the window, the end tower shows off a beautifully rendered cityscape, which will just leave you breathless at the power of the graphics this game provides. Whether you are in a railroad yard, or a submerged supertanker, you will never get bored by the locations.
The game stands out with all of its aural feedback. Popping off a few rounds from the pistol, you get a solid blast with recoil that just feels right. A round of buckshot from a shotgun lets out a thunderous boom that will leave you smiling at the resulting carnage. There is a backing soundtrack and score that is pleasant to the ears while not getting in the way of the action unfolding in front of your eyes. The main menu tune is especially memorable and will have you singing it long after you are finished playing the game. Other ambient sounds are there, but never seem to stick out. Occasionally, you get a door opening that clues you into an enemy’s location, but you never notice much else in the background.
Ritual knows that sex sells and the SiN games have never shied away from the concept of having women that are pleasing to the eyes. Alexis Sinclair was great to look at with the Quake 2 engine, and with the help of the Source engine, is a heavenly treat to be enjoyed. You know that the game is catering to a crowd that enjoyed titillation when in the first five minutes of the game, you have Alexis leaning over you with her ample lung capacity fairly obvious, then a rescue by Jennifer with thong straps flying high on the hips and topping it all off with a full on thong shot of Alexis in a flashback sequence. It is refreshing to see a company that is not afraid to infuse their game with a healthy sense of libido, but here it is all about objectification and never about seduction.
Upon completion of the game the biggest flaw becomes obvious at this point in time. Here we are six months later and we have no part two of the series. If you are going to release a game on the premise of episodic content, then you need to stick to a schedule or give the people a reason as to why there is a delay in the product. The point is to keep you hanging on for the next episode like an old style movie serial, but after a certain amount of suspense is lost by having to wait an inordinate amount of time between games. Let’s hope that Ritual releases another episode soon or announces a release date soon or they risk losing people being interested in the game.
SiN Emergence gives you a short but satisfying experience while you are playing the game. The beautiful visuals will suck you in and the simple minded story is gripping enough to keep you focused on working you way to the end. If you are prepared to wait for a sense of conclusion at some point in the future, you will enjoy your time with the game.