Sin: Episodes

Valve Software's other claim to fame (after that little game called Half Life) is it's online content delivery software called Steam. Steam enables the delivery of game content with customers needing to go to stores and worrying about CD/DVD compatibility problems or worrying about discs getting lost, stolen or damaged. Steam keeps track of a customer's purchases and allows them to load any purchase on any machine they own now or in the future (so long as the software isn't running at the same time on two computers simultaneously). Steam is also being used to delivery smaller games and allow the customers' feed back to be incorporated into future games. The first such game to follow this model is Sin: Episodes. For $20.00 you get the first chapter.

Sin 

On the surface this seems like a good business model. The games can be tailored to feedback received, presumably making for a better end product. If the developers miss the mark on the first chapter they should be able to make it better on the next chapter. Contrast this with the idea of dropping $50-60 on a full 5 or 6 chapter game that you know after playing the first chapter was a waste of money. You can see where there is room to make gamers happier and at least feel like they aren't as likely to waste their hard earned money using the episode model.

The first chapter of Sin Episodes is called Emergence. You play the part of a cop named John Blade and you are chasing your nemesis Alexis around. The game looks terrific and the scripted story sequences play out like a movie.

The enemy AI is adequate and the game tracks how well or poorly you are playing and adjusts on the fly in an attempt to keep you challenged to the level you asked for when you started the game. After about 6-10 hours of game play, you are done. The chapter is over and you are presented with a teaser as to how the story will progress in the next chapter.


Jessica 

As much as this game is not ground breaking or special in game play, it was enjoyable and presented enough of a challenge to keep things interesting. But was it worth the $20.00?

Without multiplayer and with under 10 hours of game play, my vote is "No". This site leads us to believe that there will be 9 chapters. (I have read that multiplayer will eventually be included.) So that means I will be spending $180 to see this whole story. So far there isn't any multiplayer and there isn't anything innovative to warrant a premium price. I just can't recommend that kind of investment. I could stomach a $10 per episode price tag. I'd still be paying more than if they released the game all at once but if they truly were tweaking the game and implementing feedback into future chapters then I might be able to justify the extra cash.

I really like the model that Valve & Ritual have come up with here but I think they need to tweak the value for the consumer dollar.

Oblivion

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is the latest role playing game (RPG) from Bethesda Softworks. The Elder Scrolls series began in 1994. You can read a history of the games here.

Although I haven't played any of the other games, I am really enjoying Oblivion. I'm not much of an RPG gamer as I rarely get absorbed enough into the game to finish them. But Oblivion has kept my interest. Oblivion is visually gorgeous and the gameplay is wide open. You can follow the story and complete missions or you can just explore the huge area where the story takes place and do as you please. I have already spent over 80 hours playing and I am probably only half to two-thirds of the way through the main story line. In addition to the main story-line there are many many side quests.

From a hardware perspective, the game is very demanding. Only a powerful gaming machine will be able to run this with all the eye-candy turned on. However, you can turn a lot of option off and still play the game.

If you like RPG games then you probably already have this one. If you are more of a casual RPG player (like myself) and you have a hefty enough computer, you ought to get this one. It is worth the coin.