http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sincover_985.jpg

''[=SiN=]'' is a FirstPersonShooter action game for the PC developed by Ritual Entertainment and published by {{Activision}} in 1998.

Set in 2037, the games follow Colonel John Blade, the commander of an elite private security force, [=HardCorps=], in the fictional Freeport City. A number of private security forces have taken the place of traditional police - one of these being [=SinTEK=], a biotechnology firm owned by [[TheBaroness Elexis Sinclaire]], a [[TheVamp charismatic]] and dangerous leader who plans to reinvent mankind in her own image using mutated humans. The original game begins with Blade investigating reports of a robbery at the Freeport City Bank. As he digs deeper into the case, she soon discovers that Sinclaire will stop at nothing to carry out her plan, and that he is the only person standing between her and global domination...

Throughout the game, Blade is aided via radio link by a computer hacker at [=HardCorps=] named JC, who assists him with hacking networks and discovering more information. To survive in his quest, Blade must travel through a wide variety of levels, battling [=SinTEK=] forces and scavenging health packs and [[BodyArmorAsHitPoints armor]] off their bodies as he progresses, along with collecting a [[StandardFPSGuns variety of weapons]].

Currently, the ''[=SiN=]'' universe includes the original game (released in 1998), an expansion park called ''[=SiN=]: Wages of Sin'' (which introduced a mob boss villain named Gianni Manero, who is attempting to produce genetically-mutated creatures under secret supervision) and the first installment of a currently-defunct episodic series, ''[=SiN=] Episodes: Emergence'', which sees Blade once again take on Sinclaire after she returns to continue her plans of domination.

The original game (which was released in the wake of ''HalfLife'') was criticized for buggy and somewhat generic gameplay, but sold well enough to receive several follow-ups, including the aforementioned ''[=SiN Episodes=]''. An anime film titled ''[=SiN=]: The Movie'' was also released in 2000, and contained several changes from the original game. It was intended to be a sequel (until ''Emergence'' was released, leading to the film's CanonDiscontinuity status).

----
!!The original game and ''Emergence'' include examples of:
* AbsurdlySpaciousSewer: In the original, Freeport's sewer system not only has a long network of interconnected rooms, but pipes and passageways wide enough for a large man to swim through comfortably.
* AchillesHeel: On the backs of smaller mutants in ''Emergence'', although this is a substitute for making head shots on normal mooks.
* ActionGirl: Jessica in ''Emergence'', who (despite being a [[EnsignNewbie rookie]]) assaults the [=SinTEK=] offices in the beginning of the game by herself to rescue Blade, and proves to be a very capable fighter.
* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: Blade. In spades.
* BadassNormal: Blade is capable of sustaining multiple gunshot wounds and injuries (which would kill any other person in the game), and is not opposed to swimming in sewers, engaging attack helicopters and going hand-to-hand with massive monsters. He even handles [[TransformationSequence his own transformation into a brute]] with relative nonchalance!
* BagOfSpilling: An in-game example. At several points in the original, Blade will start a series of missions without bringing over the ammo and weapons from the previous levels. Most notable when Blade goes from [=HardCorps=] HQ to the [=SinTEK=] offices wielding nothing more than his handgun and fists (even though the previous level had him using four different weapons).
* BankRobbery: Elexis was upset that it became a full-scale bank heist rather than just grabbing a single deposit box, because the full robbery was taking too long.
* BarbieDollAnatomy: Averted with the endboss, the mutated [[spoiler: Thrall Sinclair]]. If you look closely there are clear signs his genitals were surgically excised (''ouch!'').
* BareYourMidriff: Whatever Elexis wears will usually be a two-piece outfit that emphasizes her toned stomach.
* BodyHorror: The test subjects in Xenomorphic Laboratory levels from the original: one arm longer than the other, pale skin, mutated features and a disturbing battle cry.
* BondVillainStupidity: Elexis captures Blade at two different points (both in the original and ''Emergence''). In the first instance, she leads him into a trap and assumes that [[spoiler:her genetically-mutated father]] will finish Blade off (which doesn't work). In the second instance, she captures Blade at the beginning of ''Emergence'', and attempts to change him into a mutated brute. (Elexis' accomplice Radek lampshades this, [[WhyDontYaJustShootHim asking why they couldn't just kill him in the first place]].)
* BraidsOfAction: Blade is one of the few (and perhaps the only) male video game characters to have his hair done in braids (as seen in the cutscenes during the original).
* CanonImmigrant: Jessica Cannon in ''Emergence'' is very similar to Jennifer Carmack from the ''Sin: the Movie'' anime. Not a 100% direct version, but pretty close.
* CherryTapping: In ''Emergence'', you can kill [=SinTEK=] troops by pistol-whipping them in the face.
* CollectionSidequest: In the original, Blade can collect pieces for a Quantum Destablizer that can rip through any enemy in the game. The only downside is that the final piece is only found in the fourth-to-last level in the game.
* ControllableHelplessness: The opening of ''Emergence'', seen through Blade's perspective as he's strapped to a table in a [=SinTEK=] office.
* CoolBike: In the Mountain Gorge level of the original, Blade must use an incredibly fast motorbike to traverse broken roads and bridges while lava floods the region.
* CriticalExistenceFailure: You can be knocked down to a couple hitpoints of health and still run and move just as well as if you were still at full strength.
* DisconnectedSideArea: In one of the strangest applications of this trope, it's possible to find (via searching in some levels) areas that appear to be part of the level, but are actually a sneak preview of a level later on in the game.
* DistractedByTheSexy: Plot-relevant in the original. In the final cutscene, Blade is distracted long enough by Elexis making sexually suggestive movements that she manages to escape using a hidden trigger-button in her chair.
* DualBoss: The finale of ''Emergence''.
* DynamicDifficulty: The Personal Challenge System in ''Emergence'' is designed to adapt itself to the player's skill level and varies the numbers and [[RubberBandAI toughness]] of enemies faced in accordance with the player's performance.
* EasterEgg: Tons, especially in the first level where you can find a quarter in a fountain and call various humorous other soundclips on the payphones.
* ElaborateUndergroundBase: There is an entire complex located underneath Elexis' house in the original (which is only accessible from an elevator in her main living room).
* EmergencyWeapon: Blade's fists, should you run out of ammo for all your weapons.
* EnemyChatter: The [=SinTek=] troops in ''Emergence'' will call out orders to each other as you engage them, and will noticably freak out (to the point of calling in reports that they're taking heavy casualties) when you kill many of them.
* ExposedToTheElements: Blade goes swimming at several points in the game (including deep below the sea, where temperatures drop rapidly) in nothing more than a standard-issue Hardcorps Police uniform. Later on, he can stand directly beside a pool of lava without being burned in any way (jumping into lava will cause smoke to rise and the player to start shouting, along with a decrease in health, but this is played as a temporary inconvenience).
* FateWorseThanDeath: In the original, Blade finds a homeless man being [[ICannotSelfTerminate tied down and experimented on]] in Elexis' secret research laboratory. The player can either give him medicine to stop the pain or [[MercyKilling end his suffering]].
* GagBoobs: Elexis' boobs are just so silly in their size.
* GameBreakingBug: Many players were never able to see an extra level accessed through the Freeport Dam, as the game would automatically crash if the player happened to just ''walk'' down the only hallway leading to the alternate exit in the level.
* GameplayAndStorySegregation: In the original, Blade is a beast during regular gameplay, mowing down enemies with all sorts of insane weapons. This doesn't extend to the cutscenes, where he gets knocked out by a single blow to the back of the head from a mook. Also qualifies as CutsceneIncompetence.
* HalfHumanHybrid
* HeroicMime: Averted and played straight. Blade is a chatterbox in the original and the expansion pack, but is practically silent in ''Emergence'' (speaking only when acknowledging the comm radio request).
* HyperspaceArsenal: Blade can carry several different weapons, hundreds of rounds of ammo and several miscellaneous items on him at any one time. At one point, Blade (who has been turned into a brute) undergoes a painful transformation process that reverts back to his human form, and he immediately gets his armor, weapons and ammo back (even though he was previously seen having nothing on him but a pair of shorts)!
* IncompetenceInc: In several points of the game, important security computers are locked by passwords. To crack them, you need only find the really big computer and type in the name of the guy whose password you want. And this big computer, housing every password and controlling every camera, alarm, and security system in a whole level? It has no password.
* InVehicleInvulnerability: In ''Emergence'', there's a section where you take fire while in a car. You can lean out to attack, but there's no purpose to leave the invincible vehicle's protection.
* ItsUpToYou
* JigglePhysics
* LimitedWardrobe: Blade has worn the exact same uniform throughout the entire game series. The only costume change he has is when he dons a worker disguise to infiltrate the [=SinTEK=] offices (which is just put over his uniform) in the original.
* MagicPants: What the transfomed Blade has to wear during the laboratory missions in the original. The pants disappear when he's transformed back into a regular human.
* MaleGaze
* MegaCorp: [=SinTEK=] Enterprises, run by Elexis Sinclaire.
* NoGearLevel: Blade has to do this in one level (with an additional secret level) in the original because he's been transformed into a monster. However, Blade immediately gets his entire inventory back (along with his clothing) the moment you change back into your human form.
* NoOneCouldSurviveThat: What Blade says at the end of the game after the missile launch (supposedly containing Sinclaire's transported body) is aborted.
* NoOSHACompliance: The Jungle and Mountain Gorge levels in the original are all subject to this.
* OffscreenStartBonus: There's an EasterEgg ATM located just back from the start point of the bank level in the original game that (if you obtain the codes later in the level) allows you to transfer Elexis' ''entire savings account'' to Blade, thus making him a very rich man. It's not even apparent that you can access the machine until you stand directly in front of it.
* OneManArmy: By the time any of the games (or the anime film) ends, Blade will have killed several dozen (or several hundred) [=SinTEK=] {{Mooks}} by himself.
* OneWingedAngel: [[spoiler:Thrall Sinclaire]] in the original game. This instance is unique, as he is in that form when you reach him (meaning that he either experimented on himself beforehand, causing the transformation, or [[spoiler:his own daughter]] experimented on him without his permission).
* OxygenMeter: Added in ''Emergence''.
* PlayingPossum: [[spoiler:Thrall]] does this after you beat him in his first form.
* PlethoraOfMistakes: Mancini royally botches the opening bank robbery in the original game. The police surround the bank after the alarm is tripped (forcing him to stall for time), it takes much longer than he expected to get into the bank's vault, and when he does get in, ''he doesn't even find what he's looking for''!
* RailShooter: In the original, the opening bank assault level, where Blade must sit in an attack helicopter and shoot the mooks on the roof of the Freeport Bank and several adjoining buildings.
* SecretLevel: Several in the original game, including the Silo and several extra Jungle stages (to wit; the player can complete only one, or journey through three extra jungle-themed levels if they get caught in an undercurrent during the beginning of the first stage).
* ShootingGallery: There are four shooting galleries in the original game's training stage: a sniper range, a skeet range, and the lineup and city ranges found in ''Hogan's Alley''. However, the skeet range uses an inaccurate shotgun, and the lineup shooting range used a slow-firing pistol when you needed to hit three targets quickly. Reaching the [[{{Cap}} score limit]] wraps the score to zero.
* SinisterSubway: The fourth level of the original game, set in an abandoned subway featuring flickering lights, cracking floors, thugs that try to kill you and a ''monstrous, mutated brute that stalks you throughout the level''.
* SpyCatsuit: Jessica wears this throughout ''Emergence''.
* StealthBasedMission: The [=SinTEK=] office in the original game. Note that being spotted will not result in a game over, but it will make the level (and the ones after it) much more difficult.
* StopHelpingMe: Jessica has a tendency to attract gunfire from enemies without any provocation from the player.
* StormingTheCastle: Done unwittingly by Blade in the original. He doesn't realize he's reached her base until he's within sight of it, and by that point, there's no going back.
* StoryDrivenInvulnerability: It is possible (if you're quick enough) to shoot Mancini during several points in the initial levels of the original. Of course, he won't die until he gets into the abandoned subway station to transform.
* SuperNotDrowningSkills: Blade carries a Rebreather in the first game that allows him to swim ad infinitum without the need to breathe.
* SupervillainLair: Estate Sinclaire/Munt Phoenix, which is so big that it takes three separate levels to explore.
* SuspiciousVideogameGenerosity: In the final level of the original, you'll be dumped from a meat cart into a seemingly empty level featuring a giant cache of ammo, weapons and health packs...then you walk outside and see [[spoiler:Elexis Sinclair's several-foot high mutated father stalking towards you with a tri-projectile rocket launcher]], and you'll suddenly realize ''[[OhCrap the door to the supply room just locked behind you]]''.
* TheDevTeamThinksOfEverything: Taking the time to swim against a current of water during the underwater level (something which most players are unwilling to try) will lead you into a secret room filled with inactive submarines and a message telling you that you're not supposed to be there, along with the advice underneath to start playing the game again.
** In Elexis' estate, it's possible to find a secret janitor closet that has a camera feed showing Elexis sitting in a hottub (which wouldn't be glimpsed until the next level). Although it's impossible to see what she's doing normally in regular gameplay, clipping out of the level will allow you to find the jacuzzi area before you exit, and you'll subsequently realize that the developers put a ''[[ADateWithRosiePalms very]]'' special animation of Elexis (fully animated and all) for those who discover it.
* ThemeSongReveal: In ''Emergence'', variants of the main characters' themes will play shortly before they appear.
* ThereWasADoor: The mini-Manumut found in the Estate Sinclaire level bursts through a thick wall right after you enter a large testing area.
* TransformationSequence: Mancini's transformation into a brute in a cutscene during the original game.
* UnderTheSea: A long level in the original takes place as Blade swims from the underwater research facility beneath an oilrig to a secret jungle facility.
* VideogameCrueltyPotential: In the original, you could shoot, cripple and/or kill hostages and ''homeless people''.
* VoiceWithAnInternetConnection: JC.
* WhatTheHellPlayer: Staring at Jessica's...assets will cause her to chastize you for ogling.
* YouALLLookFamiliar: There are only a handful of enemy types in the game, and you'll often end up fighting many mook soldiers who have the exact same facial pattern.
* YouHaveFailedMe: Elexis says this to Mancini in the original when he screws up the opening bank robbery and gets Blade on his trail. She then douses him with a chemical that transforms him into a nightmarish monster.

----
!!The film includes examples of:
* BadassLongcoat
* CanonDiscontinuity: The release of ''Emergence'' makes the film an AlternateContinuity to the series.
* DeathCourse: The assault on the [=SinTEK=] plays out like this, as JC and Blade are dropped midway up the tower, and have to fight their way through floor after floor of enemies (and a miniboss).
* EvilTowerOfOminousness: The [=SinTEK=] tower, used as Elexis' base of operations.
* InTheirOwnImage: Elexis' plan is to turn her army of mutated creatures into the dominant lifeform on the planet, with her being the leader.
* LimitedWardrobe: Much like the game series, Blade's police uniform is the only thing he wears.
* MercyKill: Blade does this to JC after he begins his monstrous transformation.
* StartOfDarkness: Turns out Elexis was actually a pretty normal, well-adjusted girl until she witnessed her family gunned down by government-sponsored mobsters right in front of her.
* SuddenSequelDeathSyndrome: JC, the most prominent supporting character from the original game and Blade's right-hand man, is killed off minutes into the film when he touches an unknown substance and begins transforming into a mindless abomination, which leads to Blade having to put him down for good.
* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: After JC dies, his sister Jennifer (who is also nicknamed JC, and wears similar glasses as her brother) joins the Hardcorps police force in order to find out who killed her brother.
* WeCanRebuildHim: In a flashback, Blade [[spoiler:and his father]] are gunned down, and he's barely holding on after sustaining serious injuries. He ends up being rebuilt with cybernetic parts.
* VillainExitStageLeft: Averted. Unlike in the game, Elexis receives a throughly well-deserved death at the end of the film. Sure, it's a DisneyVillainDeath, but this is anime and such deaths are usually definitively fatal.