Developed by Nightdive Studios and published by Nightdive Studios and Atari, SiN Reloaded is a remastered release of the classic 1998 boomer shooter. The original game was developed by Ritual Entertainment using the Quake II engine, and it greatly appealed to fans of Quake and Duke Nukem 3D at its release. With SiN Reloaded, the franchise marks its return to modern hardware with a complete remaster featuring HD visuals, enhanced gameplay, and many new mechanics thrown into the mix. This is our review of SiN Reloaded on PC via Steam, in which we take down mutants and listen to some nostalgic 90s humor.
SiN Reloaded follows the adventure of a security consultant, Colonel John R. Blade, who must take on the evil Doctor Elexis Sinclaire and eradicate her plans to turn the whole city of Freeport into genetically engineered mutants. The story is told through cutscenes and dialogue with multiple characters playing an important role in the narrative. Throughout your adventure, you explore different highly detailed and interactive locations with multiple entry points and exits, and different decisions leading to separate results. For its time, SiN was way ahead of its time, and after playing SiN Reloaded, I can still see that this game is relevant today when it comes to its gunplay and combat. If you are a fan of the Quake-style boomer shooters, you will have a lot to love here.
Next up, Wages of SiN is essentially not a full sequel but serves as a mission pack for the original SiN that continues the story further from the same point where the first game ended. The game brings back Blade, who must now hunt down the mob boss Gianni Manero, who is now using SinTek scientists to create an army of mutants. This mission pack brings 17 missions and new types of enemies into the mix. This offers additional playtime and more action to players, making the re-release a much sweeter offer for fans and newcomers alike.
SiN Reloaded offers a detailed tutorial mode where you can jump into different simulations and try your luck in beating high scores. You can try out different weapons and even take part in multiple exercises to get ready for the main campaign. Once you are ready and up to speed with all in-game mechanics, you can kick off the main campaign. The game gives you the option of selecting either the SiN Reloaded campaign or the Wages of SiN mission pack when you start a new game. There are also multiple difficulty options to cater to your playstyle. You can further tinker with some modern gameplay mechanics, like allowing the base game to include Wages of SiN-specific mechanics like dual-wielding pistols, monster AI behavior adjustments, and more.
This option is only available in the base game because Wages of SiN already has these improvements. These improvements refer to gameplay and AI improvements that were added to the game when Wages of SiN was launched back in 2000. These do not refer to SiN Reloaded’s specific improvements. SiN Reloaded brings its own plethora of improvements and optimizations which are both visual and under-the-hood and are visible throughout the game. Each mission in the game has multiple main and secondary objectives, and completing certain objectives and finding certain items will help you further down in the campaign. This allows you to alter the story a little bit and aim for a different approach for the next mission.
SiN Reloaded shines when it comes to its gameplay. The shooting mechanics are solid, and the weapons feel meaty. The development team at Nightdive Studios has done an amazing job of remastering the gameplay while still keeping the DNA of the original game intact. The controls feel modern but also a bit nostalgic. The movement is crisp, and the gunplay is very refined. As you change weapons and try multiple weapons, you notice that each weapon has a unique feel to it, and you can easily switch around the weapons as well thanks to a weapon wheel. Apart from the weapon wheel, you also have an item wheel where you can use multiple items like glow sticks in the dark to increase your visibility. At key points, you can also drive different vehicles like ATVs, helicopters, and forklifts, where each vehicle feels different, thanks to refined driving mechanics.
When I started playing SiN Reloaded for this review, I was surprised at how well its gameplay is still holding up even today. Granted, it has a lot of improvements with the latest release, but once you get the hang of its controls and mechanics, you are fully immersed in the game, and it just shows the true power of its Quake II engine. You can shoot different parts of enemies to get a different reaction, and if you shoot at the perfect spot, you can also knock weapons out of your enemies’ hands. This is a feature that many modern shooters fail to implement. During my playthrough, there were many instances where I was reminded of both Quake and Doom, especially when it comes to shooting and automatic ammo pickups when running over dead enemies and ammo pallets.
Probably the biggest overhaul comes in the form of the game’s visuals. SiN is already a gorgeous title for its age, but in SiN Reloaded, the game’s visual charm really comes out. The levels are crisp to look at and a visual treat. I loved the character design; the enemies are varied and cool to look at, and even the boring interiors have some interesting details for you to look at and admire. The game features a decent balance of both grim and colored environments. The outdoor environments are detailed with many extra interactable options available. On the walls, you will find many new posters and pictures that were not present in the original game.
To get a more nostalgic experience, you can head over to options and disable the Enhanced Weapons toggle, which removes all enhancements like dual-wielding pistols, increased damage, and effects for different weapons like the Pulse Rifle, Plasma Bow, and the Flamethrower. You can also turn off the Smart Pickup, which will require you to manually grab ammo from killed enemies. You also have the option to toggle between two firing modes, which change how you can switch between the primary and secondary firing modes of select weapons.
This nostalgic feeling can be extended beyond gameplay and into visuals as well. Pressing the ‘H’ key on the keyboard allows you to switch between modern and classic visuals, but if you head into options, you can change specific elements of the visuals as well. Using checkmarks, you can toggle specific sets of visuals like HD Models, HD Pics, HD Skies, HD Sprites, and many others. Turning off all options will allow you to experience the original game with modern gameplay elements. This is probably the best feature that any modern remaster can have, and I am glad that Nightdive Studios decided to include this in SiN Reloaded.
The Multiplayer mode offers both local and online gameplay options. The local mode supports up to eight-player matches where each player can connect a controller and join in the game. There are multiple game modes such as Capture the Flag, Marked for Death, Hoverbike Deathmatch, Lunch Mob, and classic Deathmatch. Each mode has multiple maps and offers a Quake III Arena-style fast-paced competitive multiplayer experience with power-ups, ammo, and weapon pickups, and maps offering a lot of verticality. Players can choose their player model and skins before jumping into games. There are no custom skins or mod support as of now, but there are multiple player models to choose from, such as Blade, JC, and Elexis, each with multiple skin options.
Players can either join or create their own custom servers for matches with custom settings. Custom servers can be created over the internet, locally for split-screen, and even on LAN. Joining online servers also supports LAN, so if you have been looking for some nostalgic LAN parties, you can now add SiN Reloaded to your available list of games to play in these parties as well. For custom games, you have options like keeping servers private or public, along with certain conditions like maximum players, time limit, frag limit, and maps. There is no auto-rotation of maps like modern games, so you will be returned to this screen after a game concludes.
While SiN Reloaded might have been developed for a newer audience, it brings enough nostalgia with it to cater to veteran players as well. The game has a dedicated vault which is a literal gold mine for fans of this franchise. This is one of the biggest collections of original retro content added to a 90s remaster in recent times. Upon entering the Vault through the Extras tab, you are presented with a long list of options that you can choose and view. These include Promotional screenshots, artwork, and 3D renders from the launch days of the original title. My personal favourite is the documents section because it includes full written scripts of the original game, including an original design document of SiN, from the time when even the game’s name was not decided.
Other nostalgic bits include a full PCGames magazine article which was published back when the original game launched and is a detailed feature by Levelord on how he creates a map. Other important parts of the vault include texture sheets by Robert M. Atkins showing off some of the texture sheets made for the game, and the original storyboards for the game. A lot of these documents, concept art, and other files were either confidential or just not released to the public, but now SiN Reloaded brings them into the spotlight with its latest release. Any fan of the franchise will spend a great deal of time here, learning more about the original release of the game, as well as its Wages of SiN mission pack.
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Final Verdict:
SiN Reloaded is the perfect way for newcomers and veterans to experience this goated shooter of the late 90s. It brings many improvements and optimizations to the table that not only enhance the gameplay but also makes its visually appealing and accessible to modern players. The vault is a treasure trove for anyone who wants to dive deep into the development history of SiN, while the ability to toggle the visual style to classic and modern is enough to relive the nostalgia. SiN Reloaded is the perfect re-release of this franchise for modern systems and should be on every shooter fan’s must-play list.
Final Score: 8.5/10
Disclaimer: A PC Steam review code for SiN Reloaded was provided by FortySeven on behalf of Atari and Nightdive Studios for this review. For a detailed breakdown of our scoring and review process, please refer to our Review Policy.
