Sin And Punishment

Robots are, at the moment, stupid. We've watched the odd episode of Tomorrow's World and it has become clear to us that mankind's attempts at building "real" AIs (that's Artificial Intelligences for those who aren't sci-fi freaks) have, so far, been disappointing. The best we can currently hope for, it seems, is a robot that resembles a ping-pong table, luthering around, managing not to bump into anything, and then being surrounded by boffins who witter on about servos, gears and the like. In other words, robots are currently fairly dull and pretty limited. Robot Wars is almost a step in the right direction, but once you've seen a Flymo-powered chainsaw made out of eggboxes failing to cut through a sheet of tinfoil, that show starts to lose its appeal too.

The Japanese have the right idea. It seems our raw-fish-guzzling friends have decided that in the future, a worldwide police superstate will be controlled using a combination of awesome military hardware and vast robotic insects. This, I think you'll agree, is a little bit more 'rock'n'roll' than Peter Snow waddling on about a small pile of scrap iron on castors (which – he assures us – is almost as intelligent as a wasp, if only it would work). The world of the future, according to Sin and Punishment from Treasure, is a nasty, violent place... sounds like fun to us!

Happiness Is A Warm Gun

In Sin and Punishment, you control Saki, a young girl plagued by vivid dreams and premonitions who is visited from time to time by a sort of 'spirit guide'. Saki's ethereal know-it-all tells her that she must save the world from the totalitarian establishment who, as she has seen in her visions, will eventually come and kill her and her friends – bummer! Saki has no option therefore, but to take to the streets and tackle the oppressive government forces, in the hope that she can alter the future and avert the disaster! Essentially then, Saki has to wander around the city she lives in, wiping out hordes of crack troops with her massive gun. This is easier said than done though, as the police and the army have some pretty impressive pieces of kit at their disposal too!

What the game boils down to is a frenetic, non-stop gunfight, during which you have to take out all sorts of enemies. Everything from missile-toting attack helicopters to giant robotic dragons that breathe lasers! The action (and, believe me, there's a lot of it) takes place in a gorgeously-rendered 3D world, which is viewed from a third-person perspective.

The first thing that hits you as you switch on the console (after the lovely intro, but more of that later) is the standard and clarity of the visuals. They are a total revelation, and wouldn't look at all out of place on a Gamecube. Not only are all the characters, backdrops and textures flawless, but the graphics are all the more impressive because of the sheer amount of action taking place at any one time on-screen. All the weapons have realistic muzzle-flashes and vapour trails when you fire them and some of the boss characters are HUGE. Despite this though, there is no slow-down whatsoever, thanks to a very high frame rate. Normally, when this much attention has been paid to the main 'boss' graphics, small visual details are omitted to save space. In the case of Sin and Punishment though, Treasure has not taken any of the detail and clarity out of the backgrounds or less important graphics, making the game an absolute dream to look at. Sin and Punishment has arguably the best graphics of any game on the N64 – it's as simple as that!

Complementing the graphics, the game also has some nice animation touches that really add to the whole experience – like the way the ground shakes when a particularly big object, for example a door or a bridge, explodes. The first time this happened, I could have sworn that the telly had broken! Other visual effects, like the way that all the explosions send out tiny shockwaves, add to the overall atmosphere of the game, making it very distinctive and extremely original.

Boom Shake The Room!

But that's enough about the graphics – one look at the screenshots in this review will tell you what kind of standard the visuals have reached. "What about sound, or, more importantly, playability?" I hear you cry. Well, thankfully, the sound is another area where Sin and Punishment excels. Because of the manic nature of the blasting action, the in-game music is more often than not drowned out by all manner of blasts, booms and zaps. As the pace of the game increases, the noise of the guns, rockets and missiles becomes music to your ears, and it soon becomes clear that Treasure has obviously set out with the intention of literally overwhelming the player's senses in Sin and Punishment. It's a great idea, because having to concentrate on what you're shooting at, and cope with what the enemy are throwing at you, makes the game extremely absorbing and boosts the number of times you'll come back for more.

The screenshots give a fairly good idea of the level of activity on-screen, even in the early levels, but what these shots don't convey, is the sheer panic caused by seeing yet another wave of baddies looming over the horizon while you're still recovering from the last lot! The gameplay is designed to be fast, aggressive and frenetic, because all great shoot-'em-ups of the past (right back to Defender and Robotron 2084, as featured last issue) were made that way. Sin and Punishment also owes a large chunk of its gameplay-style to one of the few half-decent games on the Sega Saturn, Panzer Dragoon. Anyone who has played that game (yes, all 20 of you) will know that the graphical style of Sin is fairly similar to that of Panzer, but that is where the similarity ends. There are also aspects of Space Harrier here, but again, the similarity is only a small one – that of Sin and Space Harrier using virtually the same viewpoint. Sin is arguably the best arcade-style shoot-'em-up on the N64, mainly because the programmers have obviously put a bit of thought into trying to improve on the format, instead of producing a clone of a different game.

I Shot The Sheriff

What sets Sin and Punishment apart from a great many shoot-'em-ups is the control system. The N64's D-pad, it has to be said, is less regularly used than Factor 5 in the Arctic (actually you need to use a lot of sun cream in the Arctic, because the skies are generally clear, and the sun reflects off the snow! – Roy), but there is the option to use it in this game. However, because everyone in the known world is used to using the C buttons these days, you'll probably end up bashing those instead. Whichever way you go about it, the point is that Sin is one of a rare breed of games that forces you to use both the D-pad (or C buttons) and the analogue stick for directional control at the same time. Even though this system is used in games like GoldenEye 007 to some degree, it still takes a little getting used to. We guarantee that you'll be waggling the analogue stick around, wondering why on Earth the character won't move for the first few minutes. Once you get used to it though, this control system proves to be the most flexible, accurate control method for this game. You quickly realise that, with the sheer number of enemies you have to dispose of, it's the only system that works effectively. Also, there's a handy 'lock-on' function, useful for when you're battering really huge enemies, such as the bosses.

What really strikes us about Sin and Punishment is the way that the game mixes old and new shoot-'em-up elements so well. For example, we're all familiar with getting to the end of (or halfway through) a level, and facing a boss, but in Sin and Punishment, it's not just a case of shooting everything on a level individually to progress. The game's advanced graphics mean that it's possible to destroy scenery and make it fall on a bunch of baddies, killing them! Mastering this technique is vital in the later levels, as to take out each of the troops individually would take far too long, and you'd be worm food in seconds! This aspect of the game adds a small element of strategy to what would otherwise require no brainpower at all. True, Sin and Punishment is definitely a part of the 'never take your finger off the trigger' school of gameplay, but the few elements of strategic blasting really improve and enhance the game as a whole.

A Shot In The Dark

It seems strange that, the machine having been around for five fairly successful years now, nothing like Sin and Punishment has been released on the N64 until now. The Nintendo's 3D graphics capabilities really lend themselves to this style of game, and there really is very little that can be said against it! The graphics, sound, playability and lasting challenge are all absolutely first-class. There are no real flaws, and several areas of the game are so good, they even surprised seasoned gamers like our team! The only real problems with Sin and Punishment is the fact that it's an import title, and hence we're not sure whether or not it will ever appear here in good old Blighty. Sin and Punishment is still a great piece of work, though, and there's no reason why you shouldn't buy a copy if it comes out over here!

If you're feeling extremely rich of course, you could buy it for around £80 on import, in which case the best way to get hold of a copy is to club together with a few of your mates. Trust us, you won't regret it!

Overall, Sin and Punishment has redefined what can be achieved with the supposedly past-it N64. At a time when the Dreamcast and (permit yourselves a snigger) the PlayStation 2 are rapidly superceding our little console and the Gamecube is on the way, it's nice to see respectable software houses like Treasure still trying to push the N64 to its limits. The result is what can only be described as a truly fantastic game – well done Treasure!

The excellent Japanese developer Treasure (Gunstar Heroes, Mischief Makers) is finally back on the N64, doing this interesting shooter for Nintendo due October. From what we played at Space World, Sin and Punishment feels similar to other action/shooters like Star Fox and Panzer Dragoon: You control your character (left right and jump) with the D-pad as she runs into the screen, aiming a crosshair with the analog stick to take out huge swarms of enemies and giant bosses. Two players can also play simultaneously, with one controlling the character and the other where she aims and fires. S&P looked great, with great style and intense action, and no slowdown--the N64 needs more games like this!