Review: Sin Gold

Reviewed By: Kirk Hiner

Review Date: December 22, 2000

Genre: First person shooter

Format: CD

Developer: Ritual Entertainment (Wages of Sin add-on developed by 2015 Interactive)

Mac Port: Contraband Entertainment

Publisher: MacPlay

Minimum Requirements: 233 MHz PowerPC, Mac OS 8.6, 64 MB RAM, CD-ROM

3D Support: Yes

Multiplayer Support: TCP/IP, AppleTalk, LAN

Price: $29.99

Availability: Now

ESRB Rating: Mature

Back in college, I worked the front desk of the student union. I can remember leaning over the counter one time as a couple of my friends...well, not so much friends, but more like freaks whose names I knew...were talking about "travelling." I'm a little hazy on the details of "travelling," but it seems these people were talking about leaving their physical bodies and zooming off mentally to parts unknown. One girl was talking about trying to "travel" to San Francisco, but something (or someone) was blocking her. No matter how hard she tried, this entity would not allow her to travel to San Francisco.

"I think it hates me," she told her friend.

"It doesn't hate you, it hates travellers," her friend explained.

At this point, another guy who was listening to all of this innocently asked, "What's so great about San Francisco?"

I laughed for four days. Here they were talking about mystic entities blocking mind travel, and this guy was only concerned about the vacation benefits of San Francisco. That conversation will forever stand in my mind as the quintessential example of someone missing the point.

I tell that story because, if you miss the point of Sin Gold, you'll be calling your congressman or congresswoman, and I don't want to see that happen.

Sin Gold is one of the first releases from the reborn MacPlay. It's a first person shooter based on the Quake 2 engine, and it...well...I can only compare it to a Sam Peckinpah movie without the charm. You also get the sequel, Wages of Sin, that basically adds more levels, more weapons, and more freaky mutants.

I mentioned that Sin Gold is based on the Quake 2 engine, but I honestly can't remember Quake 2 ever looking this good. The colors are surprisingly bright and cheerful on some levels, and the animation was exceptionally smooth on my G4/450 with the benefit of an ATI Radeon 3D card. Although I wasn't able to test it on one, MacPlay claims the game runs well even on old iMacs with the Rage Pro card installed. This sounds reasonable as the Quake 2 engine doesn't demand much (although 90 MB or RAM is suggested).

The sound effects are fantastic, and the dialogue is crisp, although the acting is somewhat wooden. Before playing Sin Gold, I made the mistake of watching the anime based on the game. I therefore grew accustomed to the voices of the anime characters and I could never get used to those in the game. It's as if some high school drama coach told these actors, "If you're not sure of your character's motivation, just add more attitude and the audience won't care."

Sin Gold is set in the city of Freeport where--surprise, surprise--crime has gotten out of control. Helping to combat the forces of evil is the city's most brutal security force, HARDCORPS, led by you, Col. John R. Blade. Blade was doomed to this sort of work since birth, because men named Blade cannot become botanists or figure skaters. Blade carries very big guns and says clever things such as "That's gotta hurt" and "I'm gonna make you my b***c" when he kills people, because he's named Blade, and that's what guys named Blade do.

Young punks named J.C., however, watch guys named Blade on their surveillance equipment and offer some good-natured ribbing along with advice on how to get form point A to point B taking the fewest bullets. The Blades take the insults from the J.C.s because they have a mutual respect for one another and because they're both realistic enough to know they'd have no friends if it weren't for each other.

The plot of Sin Gold revolves around SinTek Corporation, led by one Ms. Elexis Sinclair. With a name like that, you know she has to be really hot and really evil. Although actually, really hot is a matter of opinion here. She wears far too much makeup for my tastes, and navel piercings are creepy. Why can't video game villainesses look like Jennifer Connelly or Minnie Driver? I mean, those thigh-high leather boots can't be comfortable when fighting, can they?

Anyway, Sintek is creating mutants, and you have to fight many of them to finish the game. The further in you get, the bigger the mutants. But don't fear, your guns get bigger as well. Not that you need them. Blade apparently has one heck of a punch. In one early level, Blade has to knock out a secretary (or at least I think she's a secretary...in a white miniskirt and thigh highs, red pumps and a push-up bra, she may have been a nurse from a hard core porn movie). This is all well and good...equality for the sexes, you know. But holy cow! One punch and she was a bloody heap on the floor. I'd like to think I just knocked her out, you know? Left her there with just a bit of a headache. But no. Sin Gold doesn't play that way.

So yes, just about everything about this game is an adolescent male cliche. The action, the plot, the characters...all seem to have been derived from the study hall fantasies of a teenaged kid who spends far too much time at the local comic book store. But do you know what? Sin Gold works.

I believe this is because Sin Gold is so unabashedly over-the-top that it's hard to not have fun with it. When one of my victims shouted out, "Those are my guts!" as he died, I couldn't help but laugh. I hope that, should I ever get shot repeatedly in the stomach, I'll have the wits about me to cry out, "Those are my guts!"

I also enjoyed Sin because of the references splattered throughout the game. If you pay attention between shootouts, you can find references to Army of Darkness, Monty Python, South Park, Pulp Fiction, and countless others. There are even a few copies of Quake strewn about, and countless President Clinton jokes. It's quite obvious that the developers were having fun with this one, and that they were making the type of game they like to play.

And there it is, actually. If you enjoy the furious action of first person shooters and can deal with hard core (or HARDCORPS, I guess) violence in a calm, "I won't try this at home" way, then Sin Gold will undoubtedly keep you entertained. But if you've ever once uttered the phrase, "That offends me," for any reason whatsoever, please stay away from this game. You're not its target audience, and you're not going to get it. Instead, why not visit San Francisco? I hear it's a great place to travel.

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