A fantastic game. It's too bad the development team folded.
The STEAM engine is used to make some pretty amazing visuals, especially when you compare the looks of the original to this latest iteration.
Great, now I'm feeling angry. Somebody, alert Jack Thompson.
The STEAM engine also features some great physics. As a result of this, hitboxes on your enemies have evolved beyond "headshots hurt more" to include much more location-specific damage. In fact, I found myself often taking out a sentry's knee, so that I could finish him when he crumpled to the ground. Beyond that, bodies fall realistically, and parts can be seen flying through the air after a well-placed grenade lands in the middle of an outpost.
Other improvements to gameplay include the addition of secret locations (which are not new to the realm of video games). Why the developers chose to mark several of their secret locations with a model of a retarded fish, however, is beyond me.
The usual cast of characters join the protagonist, including the sexy villain Elexis Sinclair, but also seen this time around is a new thong-showing sidekick, Jessica.
The Beavis & Butthead ****of humor of Ritual continues in this game, complete with companies such as "Schitt Brick Industries," and "Morning Wood Technologies." I probably should shake my head at this kind of low-brow humor, but I found myself chuckling and muttering something to the effect of "it never gets old."
Further, the signs-that-ellicit-the-laughs (patent pending) are back. LOLZQ.
Sin Episodes also featured dynamic enemy AI. The game actually monitors how well, or poorly, you play, and adjusts the enemies' abilities accordingly. Die over and over in the same place? You might just slower guards and more health the next time around. Keep making headshots? Now the guards appear wearing helmets. This feature is a God-send for players like me: those who want to find the game difficult enough to feel rewarded upon complettion, but easy enough that keyboards aren't broken in two out of frustration. Please developers, take note.
Unforunately, I cannot talk about my experience without describing the first day of play. It went something like this: open game, hardlock, reboot... open game, sound stutters, hardlock, reboot... open game, watch three seconds of the opening visual, hardlock, reboot... play the game for one minute (you get the idea). It was only after scouring the seemingly defunct Sin Episodes technical support advice on the internet that I discovered that a large number of players were having major hardlocking and sound-stuttering issues. At the time, Ritual couldn't seem to figure out the problem... and yet I saw two reoccuring issues within ten seconds of parousing the cries-for-help: everyone with the problem had Creative Soundcards, and the game was coded on a version of the STEAM engine that was over a year old. Ritual also said that they were planning on patching the game soon (back in 200whatever) so that it used the most recent STEAM code, and hopefully that would have solved everyone's problems... yeah. Note to developers: when you're using a dynamic engine, such as STEAM, that has known sound-stuttering issues, check for audio bugs thoroughly before going gold. You know, just a thought.
Eventually, I found the solution: set the video textures to "medium" (down from "high"), and open the STEAM console (~) and type "snd_async...1". I've said it before, and I'll say it again. TEST YOUR **** PC GAMES BEFORE RELEASE, ESPECIALLY ON HARDWARE THAT IS THE MAINSTREAM. Console gamers never have to deal with this tripe, and neither should we.
If it weren't for the bugs, I would definitely give this game a 9. I absolutely loved it.
Hopefully the community members will use STEAM's highly-moddable engine to "finish" Sin Episodes, and we can all see the conclusion of this story. I'm not exactly holding my breath.