My SiN: Emergence Episode 1 Review! Plus Vote!

[Asuka]

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Story

Pros:

1. The introduction of the characters, reintroduction of old ones

Neutral:

1. The story really starts at the end of the game so there isn't much its a good thing that it starts, story does keep you interested throughout the game tho.

GFX:

Pros:

1. Source is looking good, very good.
2. The new effects used in SiN E1 are really cool especially when you don't expect them
3. Shaders are looking good
4. Models of everything looks REALLY good. Enemies, monsters, main characters, world objects, buildings, etc.
5. Gibbing! WOOT!
6. A lot more particle effects good addiction.
7. Textures were good
8. Holy shit at the skybox!

Cons:

1. No HDR (but they did say it will be in future episodes so that's good)
2. Some major clipping of the models.
3. Even tho the models look extremely good i don't get why almost every ones hands look crap...
4. Gun models looked weird, dunno i though they were to plain.

Gameplay:

Pros:

1. If feels really good when you shoot people dunno why but it feels very satisfying.
2. I like that there were only 4 weapons, it felt right for this episode. (7 really) Alt Fire for everything was very useful and cool
3. Dynamic difficulty was great, i notice it took effect (for me it just kept making the game harder and harder and harder)
4. Boss fights were fun.
5. Being able to "touch" or "use" everything was a BIG plus
6. It was a challenging game
7. Stats were insanely detailed (But how did they miss the time played stat?) (or am i just blind)

Cons:

1. AI was pretty dumb, dunno after playing F.E.A.R i felt like i was back a few years. (I guess its a focus point, really hope they improve on it tho)
2. Boss fights were fun yes but to easy and regular arena type, i was expecting more epic battles. (I guess we will have more of this later)

Bugs:

1. Enemies seem to spawn next to you sometimes (Happened like 3 times)
2. There is a bug that if you stay infront of one gate (cant explain exactly which one) the enemies keep respawning (you have to go towards the path it doesnt happen)

Length:

Pros:

1. It was A LOT longer then i thought. I think it took me somewhere between 7-8 hours to beat. That's longer then a lot of FULL games these days. Length was perfect.

Ending:

Pros:

1. The part after the credits was really funny and cool to watch. That was so cool of a addition. Made me like some of the characters so much more (Like Viktor Radek and Jessica)

Neutral:

1. I knew the To be Continued thing would show up!!! lol.

Description:

From the moment i loaded up the game and saw the REALLY cool title screen i was like "this is going to kickass" Once i heard the song i was like "oh man this is REALLY going to kickass!

Does anyone know who that title song is by? (I really liked it)

Really fun Episode, really cool intro to the story, cool new Source engine effects, great level design, 90% of everything was top notch.

Barley any problems NOT ONE CRASH! Beat the whole game without ONE crash.

86% for my Final score and i cant wait for Episode 2!

I know im missing some key points but ya if i remember ill edit.

The vote has multiple voting options.

Pick 2.

If you agree with my score/Review. Yes or No
If your buying SiN Episodes 2. Yes or No, Maybe

Ill be adding a screenshot pack soon.

Screenshot Pack:

http://files.filefront.com/FILE_VOTE/;5055776;5;/fileinfo.html

 

[MeatPuppet]

This game feels like a good old school shooter in a newer engine. I love it! Even if it kicks my ass.

 

[Sebastian]

How is the replay value or is there any?

 

[NeoNight]

Where is the already got it option?

 

[MeatPuppet]

How is the replay value or is there any?

I think there is a lot of replayability. There are something like 40 secrets to find, a hardcorps mode is available after you finish the game (you can't save during play and you try for a high score), stats can be uploaded at the end although I'm not sure where they go, Valve or Ritual? And if they aren't already, the stats should be available on a web site somewhere for global bragging rights. You can also try to complete the game at a harder challenge setting. Although I found it to be pretty damn hard at the default setting.

 

[Asuka]

How is the replay value or is there any?

Very good, lots of secrets and options.

Where is the already got it option?

Huh?

 

[hungryduck]

good review, glad to hear that the graphics are looking nice...,

 

[Asuka]

good review, glad to hear that the graphics are looking nice...,

I'm uploading a 50mb Screenshot pack right now running the game at its highest settings. So you'll get a look for yourself, even tho i do recommend playing it. (I always thought ingame looks A LOT better then ANY screenshots)

191 Screenshots @ 1600 Res.

17 Mins till my upload is done.

Here it is: http://files.filefront.com/FILE_VOTE/;5055776;5;/fileinfo.html

 

[BlackMesaDude]

how many hours did it take you to finish ?

 

[MeatPuppet]

how many hours did it take you to finish ?

It took me seven hours.

 

[Asuka]

how many hours did it take you to finish ?

7-8 Its listed in my review! READ IT LOSER! :frown:

 

[Asknoone]

I'll get back to you when they finish fixing a bug.

Excellent screens Raz.

 

[Crispy]

I'd imagine they'll use the stats page to see what the spread of dynamic difficulty was on those who completed the game. That way they can make minor alterations if they think it's looking too difficult at the lower end of the scale. They'll probably also look at how often you picked up health and which weapons you used the most. This way they can tell whether people at the low end of the skill scale where not finding the health bonuses they were desperately in need of. Few people using the shotgun could be ojne of two things: they didn't like how you had to use the shotgun (wide spread .: very close quarters weapon) or they weren't finding enough of its ammo. They probably have logs stored for each map too, so they can assess which map was optimally balanced and didn't ask too much or two little of players. Pretty neat system, really.

 

[Przemek]

Any word about performance? Does Sin have higher system requirements than HL2?

I read comments on bluesnews and everyone complained how bad this game is They finished it in 4 hours, had problems jumping over obstacles and getting stuck on geometry. Have you experienced anything like this?

 

[Asuka]

Any word about performance? Does Sin have higher system requirements than HL2?

I read comments on bluesnews and everyone complained how bad this game is They finished it in 4 hours, had problems jumping over obstacles and getting stuck on geometry. Have you experienced anything like this?

Nope and its a lot longer then 4 hours. Especially if you look and do all the little things you can. I ran it perfect @ high fps 1600 res.

 

[Przemek]

Cool, I always play games exploring every inch of the maps - when a game has a good physics engine, I just have to throw or shoot all things possible in a location

So I bet it will take 8-10 hours to finish it for me

ps - anyone with a comp similar to mine? I bet it has higher requirements - usually games on an older game engine run slower, even if no enhancements were added to the engine. So I'm worried

 

[Crispy]

Yeah my specs are more or less the same atm, so I'd be interested to see how it performs.

 

[nutcrackr]

I thought the thing after the credits was lame, it wasn't even slightly funny. The review is pretty spot on, my major gripe and it's really major, is that the last half of the game is so stupidly hard for me and the game didn't adjust itself to let me live, weak for the famously advertised "dynamic difficulty system". I would have expected that it would get easier after 20 deaths, my bad.

My verdict is that it was enjoyable but at this stage I won't be getting the next one unless the fix the extreme frustration I endured :/

 

[MeatPuppet]

I read comments on bluesnews and everyone complained how bad this game is QUOTE]

The folks at BluesNews hate everything. I wouldn't base anything off what I read there.

 

[Asuka]

I thought the thing after the credits was lame, it wasn't even slightly funny. The review is pretty spot on, my major gripe and it's really major, is that the last half of the game is so stupidly hard for me and the game didn't adjust itself to let me live, weak for the famously advertised "dynamic difficulty system". I would have expected that it would get easier after 20 deaths, my bad.

My verdict is that it was enjoyable but at this stage I won't be getting the next one unless the fix the extreme frustration I endured :/

You sure you set the option on how much it helps you at the start? There is a slider with how much you want the game to help you.

 

[nutcrackr]

You sure you set the option on how much it helps you at the start? There is a slider with how much you want the game to help you.

I left it at default, which according to the programmer is meant to be
"'reasonable' difficulty, and everyone should be able to complete it without too much frustration."

Which is nothing like what I got.

 

[eAi]

I've played up to when the evil things first start appearing and it suddenly gets really hard. Lots of quickloading

Up till then its really good fun - just need to motivate myself to get back in there!

If you complete it in 4 hours you're probably playing it on too low a level - I've been playing for about 3 hours or so and from what I gather there's lots more.

For the amount it costs, its much better value than going to the cinema

 

[cquinn]

The title song

Raziel-Jcd.

The best info I could find so far comes from the FAQ on Rituals site for
SiN episodes

http://72.14.207.104/search?q=cache...stic.com/games.php/sineps/faq/sinepsfaq02.php

2.16 Who will be creating the music for SiN Episodes?
SiN Episodes' soundtrack will be composed by Zak Belica, who also did the music for Sin, and all of Ritual's other titles. Stylistically, the soundtrack will be changing to a more incidental approach, meaning music will only play during key sequences of the game to increase its dramatic impact.

Each episode will also feature unique themes that mirror the events and characters featured in it. Emergence, for example, will feature a James Bond-style song called "What's the World Come to?", featuring Sarah Ravenscroft on lyrics.

 

[Asuka]

I've played up to when the evil things first start appearing and it suddenly gets really hard. Lots of quickloading

Up till then its really good fun - just need to motivate myself to get back in there!

If you complete it in 4 hours you're probably playing it on too low a level - I've been playing for about 3 hours or so and from what I gather there's lots more.

For the amount it costs, its much better value than going to the cinema

or running through the game not exploring anything. Its a shame whoever plays games like that.

Raziel-Jcd.

The best info I could find so far comes from the FAQ on Rituals site for
SiN episodes

http://72.14.207.104/search?q=cache...stic.com/games.php/sineps/faq/sinepsfaq02.php

Thx for the info :thumbs: