SiN Reloaded A 90s shooter, back and loud

You play Colonel John R. Blade, a security consultant who has made a religion out of fighting crime. His target is Elexis Sinclaire, CEO of SinTEK Industries, who is flooding the streets with a DNA-altering drug and an army of genetically engineered mutants to go with it. At your side is JC, your hacker and guy-in-the-chair, and the banter between the two carries the campaign. Blade fires off action-hero lines, JC pokes fun at him and cheers when something explodes. The cutscenes and performances are staged like the B-movie the whole thing wants to be, and the plot runs from a botched bank heist to Elexis herself.

SiN was ahead of its time on one thing: your actions have consequences. Flipping every switch on a whim can fail an objective, and what you do or miss in one level can change another. Some scenes and conversations are entirely missable, which gives the campaign real replay value. The remaster even adds a level select where you can tweak variables and unlocks, a neat way to see how many branches you walked past the first time.

The gunplay is fast and arcade-tight, with headshots as the reliable answer and an arsenal that runs from dual magnums to a nuke weapon that feels exactly as unreasonable as it sounds. You can shoot weapons out of enemies' hands, and they can hit specific parts of your body, so aiming for the head cuts both ways. Between firefights the interactivity kicks in: hack computer terminals with DOS-style code, turn elevators and security cameras to your advantage, and take the wheel of a forklift, a patrol boat or a helicopter. Movement is quick, and the remaster makes it feel more controllable than the original ever did.