SiN Episodes

SiN Episodes
Developer(s) Ritual Entertainment
Publisher(s) Ritual Entertainment
Distributor(s) Valve Corporation
EA Distribution
Composer(s) Zak Belica
Engine Source engine
Platform(s) Microsoft Windows
Release date(s) May 10, 2006
Genre(s) First-person shooter
Mode(s) Single-player Multi-player

SiN Episodes is the title of a planned series of episodic games for the PC that would have expanded upon the 1998 computer game SiN. A total of nine episodes were planned with only the first one released. Developed by Ritual Entertainment and powered by the Source engine, the first episode "Emergence" was the first computer game by a major developer to both be produced episodically and delivered over the Internet without the intervention of a publisher. This was accomplished through Valve Corporation's Steam content delivery system.

In 2007, Ritual was acquired by casual game developers MumboJumbo, stalling the franchise and leaving the future of the series uncertain. With the sale of Ritual to MumboJumbo[1] and departure of several employees,[2] all future development of Sin Episodes appears to be delayed indefinitely, if not entirely canceled. MumboJumbo has already tasked Ritual to develop "high-quality casual content."[3]

Gameplay

Three Mercenaries, two with the Assault Rifle, one with the Scattergun. The closest one, in helmet, is a heavy version

Arena Mode is a new single player mode and was designed to run a contest at E3 2006 as part of a promotion alongside Vigor Gaming. This high score mode is superficially similar to Max Payne 2's Dead Man Walking and Resident Evil series' The Mercenaries mode, where the objective is to survive as long as possible among the steadily spawning and increasing enemies. Unlike Max Payne however, there are time limits to the maps and it is possible to survive an entire round. The scoring system is also tied to the Personal Challenge System which runs at a much higher rate than in the main game. The challenge level changes every few seconds depending on the player's performance and the higher the challenge, the higher the rate of points that are accumulated. This mode was introduced into the game on June 26, 2006 with four maps available.[4][5] An update was released on July 18, 2006 which included three further maps.[6]

Plot

Freeport City is a bustling, futuristic megacity with a population of 27,000,000 and described as a mix of New York, San Francisco, and Tokyo. Areas that are featured in Emergence include the Freeport Docks, Sintek Supremacy Tower, and Radek's hidden drugs lab on board a beached, derelict oil tanker.

Characters

Models Cindy Synnett dressed as Jessica Cannon (left) and Bianca Beauchamp dressed as Elexis Sinclaire (right) at E3 2006

Development

Ritual's original intention was to release an episode every six months that would cost US$19.95 and take around four to six hours to complete.[8] A total of nine episodes were envisioned.[3] Although originally released as a single-player game, various multiplayer modes were planned including co-operative and team based modes.

One of Ritual's main design goals with SiN Episodes was to offer interactivity, character-driven gameplay, emergent AI, and a plot reflecting the choices made by players through an opt-in statistics system that aggregates play data to a database: the intention that future episodes would thus depend on the choices that are made by each player.

SiN Episodes is built on the Source engine with additional technology added by Ritual.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by Zak Belica, then Audio Director at Ritual Entertainment, who had also composed the soundtrack to the original SiN. The "Emergence" soundtrack was available as a standalone item on iTunes soon after the release of the game on May 12, 2006. A CD version of the soundtrack was made available later in the year on August 18 and included two bonus tracks.[13]

Unlike the disjointed electronic tracks which changed from map to map as in the original, "Emergence" employs a more focused approach by utilizing a central unifying theme underscoring other elements of the soundtrack. This method was inspired by the approach used by John Barry in the Goldfinger film and other James Bond style soundtracks. The central motif used was Jessica Cannon's theme, the song "What's the World Come to", sung by Sarah Ravenscroft.[14][15]

SiN Episodes: Emergence Soundtrack album art
  1. "Emergence Theme – In Her Clutches"
  2. "Jessica and JC"
  3. "SinTek Checkpoint"
  4. "Freeport Docks"
  5. "Turbine"
  6. "Enter the Tanker"
  7. "Radek and Elexis"
  8. "The Pit"
  9. "Quadralex"
  10. "Supremacy Tower"
  11. "The Helicopter"
  12. "Emergence Suite"
  13. "What's The World Come To"
  14. "What's The World Come To (SinTek remix)"
  15. "Sin Episodes CD – Bonus Track"
  16. "Sin Episodes CD – Bonus Track 2"

Reception

SiN Episodes: Emergence received generally favorable reviews and currently holds the score of 75 on MetaCritic.[16] As of January 27, 2007 the game has sold 150,000 units, enough to recoup development costs but not enough to fund a sequel.[17]

References

  1. Brightman, James (2007-01-24). "Ritual Acquired by MumboJumbo, Goes Casual". gamedaily.com. Retrieved 2010-04-04.
  2. Remo, Chris (2006-12-06). "Ritual Sees Departures, Appoints New Studio Director". shacknews.com. Retrieved 2010-04-04.
  3. 1 2 "'SiN's Episodic Sequel Shelved". Totalgaming.net. 2007-01-25. Retrieved 2007-01-25. |first1= missing |last1= in Authors list (help)
  4. John Callaham (2006-08-18). "SiN Episodes Update Interview". Firing Squad. Retrieved 2006-08-24.
  5. Jason Ruymen (2006-06-26). "SiN Episodes: Emergence and Red Orchestra Update Released". Steam News. Retrieved 2006-08-24.
  6. Jason Ruymen (2006-07-18). "SiN Episodes: Emergence Update Released". Steam News. Retrieved 2006-08-24.
  7. Elexis Sinclaire - Hottest Girls in Games - UGO.com
  8. Jake Mitchell (2006-01-15). "SiN Episodes Hands-On and Interview". Digital Entertainment News. Retrieved 2006-05-04.
  9. SpaecKow (2005-08-01). "SiN Episodes Interview". Ritualistic. Retrieved 2005-08-02.
  10. Monki (2006-05-22). "Monki interviews Tom Mustaine of Ritual about SiN: Emergence". Ain't It Cool News. Retrieved 2006-08-24.
  11. Alfred Reynolds (2006-05-17). "SiN Episodes: Emergence Update". Steam News. Retrieved 2006-05-17.
  12. Russell, Michael (2006-05-17). "[SiN] Patch Live, Bug Post-Mortem #1". Rom's Rants. Retrieved 2006-05-18. delete character in |title= at position 1 (help)
  13. Stylsy (2006-08-18). "SiN Episodes: Emergence Soundtrack - Now On CD!". Ritualistic. Retrieved 2006-08-24.
  14. badman & Stylsy (2006-04-25). "SiN Episodes Interview: Zound and Muzak". Ritualistic. Retrieved 2006-08-24.
  15. Zak Belica (2006-05-26). "SiN Episodes: Emergence music study". Music 4 Games. Archived from the original on April 16, 2007. Retrieved 2006-08-24.
  16. Episodes "SiN Episodes: Emergence" Check |url= value (help). Retrieved 2010-07-04.
  17. "Going Small - How the MumboJumbo Merger Will Affect Ritual". 2007-01-27. Retrieved 2010-07-04.

External links

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