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Much of that skill requires working around bad design choices. SiN requires skill and has the best level design the genre has seen yet. Don't waste your time on this shitty game, play SiN.
I have, already. I didn't play it back when it was released, but I did play it when it was re-released on Steam back in 2006 when SiN: Emergence was released. There were many things I enjoyed about SiN, but there were also many things that frustrated me about it. I re-played it recently, and it still has some weird bugs which mess with the flow of the levels. Here's what I like about it.
*SiN's level of ambition
*It fuses the level design aesthetics of Duke3D with aspects of a multi-story RPG
*There are many things to uncover that could change the outcome of the game or the context of the story
*Causing headshots with Blade's pistol
*Blade's personality
*JC, which reminded me of Alex Jacobson from Deus Ex
*The first stealth level in SiN
*Its melodramatic over the top action cop/sci-fi horror story
*The military base level
*The design for Eon and Peon, as well as the boss fight
*Some of the scripted sequences
*Elexis' over-the-top personality and character
*The security camera in Elexis' retreat.
*The Thrall boss and level, which pays homage to both Doom's and Duke3D's bosses.
What I don't like:
*There are still lingering bugs in the map design which messes with where you need to go
*The later levels are ridiculously hard and time-consuming
*Despite the brightness options, most of the levels are very dark and hard to see through (flares hardly help)
*Level design can be very confusing, and hard to navigate
*The shielded turrets in the latter levels.
*The snipers
*Rats (similar to Kingpin's rats, they're the most annoying small enemies)
*I've had to cheat first in order to figure out what I had to do before doing it right
*It still has the feeling of being unfinished, both in story and level design.
I only just realized from a walkthrough the true identity of Thrall, which wasn't obvious in the game's story (though it would explain the empty envelope found in the bank safe drawer which Elexis wanted).
There are a lot of really good ideas in SiN. I think that if the game had more time, it would've been even better. I know you'll hate me for this, but I still prefer Half-Life 1 to SiN, but both games remain a part of my list of major gaming influences.
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Meanwhile, SiN is still groundbreaking by 2015 standards.
Not quite according to 2015 standards.
Have You Played... Sin?
Interestingly, if Half-Life had been released prematurely during its alpha, and SiN had been properly completed, then SiN might have overshadowed Half-Life. This article shows what Half-Life originally looked like before Valve had to rework it.
Timey Wimey: Lots of Footage of Half-Life Alpha
I get what you mean. Few games these days have the same level of ambition as SiN, let alone Half-Life or Deus Ex. I was saddened when SiN Episodes was canceled, because I felt it had a lot of potential. Emergence didn't quite fulfill the ambition Ritual initially promised (like having your actions affect the events in later episodes), but it was fun. It still weirds me out that Mumbo Jumbo bought Ritual out only to make casual games. At least Valve promoted SiN Episodes, since they themselves were SiN fans.
I'd like to see some SiN inspired mods for Eduke, Half-Life, Deus Ex, or Unreal. Why don't you do mod inspired by SiN, Person of Color? You understand what makes SiN really great, that I bet you can make something really inspired in SiN's vein.