About a month ago I had a hankering to play some early-to-mid 2000s FPS games. Games like Quake 4 and Painkiller: Black Edition. I ran into a few roadblocks, though, and ultimately gave up on trying to get these running. I suppose it should come as no surprise that running old games on new hardware has some issues.
For instance, you might need to download some files from a random Google Drive or directly edit the files of the game; whatever the case, I’m not really down for that. I want it to run without any issues. This is all to say, I’ve definitely come to appreciate Nightdive Studios’ work even more than I already did. With SiN Reloaded, the studio has once again worked its magic.
Nightdive TLC
As with any Nightdive remaster, let’s talk about how the experience is improved from the original. Weirdly, a free update to the original 1998 title renamed the FPS to SiN Gold, which was also done by — you guessed it — Nightdive. SiN Reloaded might have the same campaign, but this is not merely an update. It’s a separate game, adding so many enhancements and improvements, ultimately making this the definitive way to play a cult classic FPS.
SiN Reloaded comes with enhanced visuals and the modern bells and whistles you’d expect from a remaster such as this. Graphically speaking, the new textures help revitalize the game and bring it up to the same standard as the studio’s other titles. The most noticeable change are redone weapon models, which still look authentic to their original but are cleaner overall.
A really neat feature that isn’t included in every remaster (but should be) is the ability to toggle the new graphics on or off. This makes it very easy to compare and see where SiN Reloaded is improved upon, and while some of the changes are subtle, it’s clear that this is the best the game has ever looked.
They go wild with additional options, all of which you can toggle in the options to change up the experience to the way you see fit. The biggest improvement, even though I haven’t played the original, are “enhanced weapons,” which add a number of changes to quite a few guns in SiN Reloaded.
This includes damage buffs to certain weapons such as the flamethrower and spear gun (the spear gun seemed pretty weak in my playthrough, so I can’t imagine how bad it was in the original); meanwhile, the shotgun has “more pellets” and “improved spread” so you can land headshots better. If you’re nostalgic for the old gunplay, you can toggle these on or off.
Another change as advertised by Nightdive are improved vehicle controls. If we call this an improvement, the main game’s controls must have been horrendous. Jumping on an ATV or forklift would cause the physics to bug out and fling me super high. Once I was actually on land, controls felt unintuitive and generally more trouble than they were worth, so hopefully these get fixed.
1998 is Back
Those familiar with SiN and shooters that released around that time are probably aware that Half-Life came out in the same year. Less than a month apart, no less. SiN could probably be construed as well-made for its time, but the shadow of Half-Life was impossible to ignore. Even so, SiN Reloaded impressed me with its focus on story-telling distinct aesthetic.
From a story perspective, SiN Reloaded is a raunchy game. It’s definitely a game from 1998: It’s full of cool dudes with big guns and hot women, and it’s not afraid to flaunt all that. The design of its main character, John Blade, is your typical action hero macho man with huge muscles and sick sunglasses.
Your sidekick hacker and assistant J.C. has his signature, ostentatious spiked hair and dorky glasses complementing his juvenile outfit of a graphic tee and messy jeans. The main villain, femme fatale Elexis Sinclaire is this busty seductress that sows chaos behind the scenes. One look at any of these designs, and you definitely understand the tone and direction of SiN Reloaded.
The story doesn’t take itself seriously, making this a pretty entertaining ride all the way through. It’s a mindless quest to stop Elexis Sinclaire from turning an entire city into mutants with her toxins and experiments, but the banter between John Blade and J.C. really make SiN Reloaded what it is.
These two are clearly good friends and won’t stop busting roasting each other. The dialogue is super cheesy, but in an endearing way. Besides that, some of the dialogue from enemies are silly. These mob goons won’t hesitate to say “I could really go for a cannoli” in an Italian accent, or “Oh God, I think I’m dead” as they fall to the floor from my hail of bullets.
SiN Reloaded is An All-Around Adequate Shooter
These endearing qualities do not necessarily extend to the level design. While there are some creative levels from a visual perspective, they’re adequate, and nothing more. Some levels are more open-ended than others and appear to have alternate ways to approach each situation, showing a hint of promise in an otherwise average offering.
Certain levels might incentivize being stealthy, for instance, allowing you to bypass enemies. By and large, you can just run in guns blazing without making a huge difference. I never got lost in any of the levels, which is a plus, but there’s just a lack of substance. A lot of it was just shooting up enemies in tight corridors, which is something I’ve seen a million times already, even for 90s shooters.
Some levels try to be a bit more distinct by adding twists like underwater diving. That level was a bit of a nightmare, with no clear direction and the environment looking the same throughout. Though, there are a few standout levels such as Elexis Sinclair’s mansion and evil laboratory, as well as a casino with impeccable atmosphere.
Levels in SiN Reloaded can also be extremely dark at times. I found myself desperately wanting a flashlight or something, and even went so far as to bump up the brightness in an effort to find my way forward. Turns out, a flashlight is included in the Wages of SiN expansion only and not the main campaign. The expansion is even darker, so it was nice to have that flashlight, but man, the main game could really use one, too.
As for gunplay, it is satisfying enough, with a decent selection of weapons, though I found myself sticking to the staples. The pistols are great as you can duel-wield them and seem to take out most enemies pretty fast, so they feel powerful. Meanwhile, walking up close to an enemy and blasting them with a shotgun can explode them into pieces, so you have this satisfying, crunchy quality to the gunplay for certain weapons.
Wages of SiN has a better selection of weapons overall, and I once again found myself wishing I had access to those in the base campaign. Included is a super cool, powerful crossbow that shoots explosive arrows, as well as the flamethrower which just melts through enemies. It’s easy to stick with two or three main weapons in the campaign only since they get the job done, but the expansion had me using everything.
Sin Reloaded Review | Final Thoughts
The most distinguishing qualities of this title are the story and 90s charm. SiN Reloaded‘s aesthetic, this cartoonish, colorful world filled with violence, adds to the appeal. The level design and gunplay are sufficient, but ultimately don’t stand out among other titles of this caliber. Still, Nightdive’s efforts in revitalizing this FPS are impressive as always, breathing new life into this goofy FPS.
SiN Reloaded was reviewed on PC via Steam, with a copy provided by the publisher over the course of 10 hours – all screenshots were taken during the review.
