Now, after more than a year of hard work – not to mention those new offices -- Ritual is ready to unleash Sin, a game some insiders consider the real make-it-or-break-it product for Ritual. Sporting a well fleshed out story and the promise of a fully interactive environment, Sin is the subject of a huge marketing push, in part due to knee-deep competition from two other huge 3D games due this Spring: Epic MegaGames’ Unreal, and Valve’s Half Life. How will it stack up? Although Ritual and Activision refused to show us the actual game, we did have a chance to talk with Ritual about what they feel are going to be the defining points of their first triple-A title. Sin tells the story of a half-black hero with dreadlocks, trying to rid the futuristic world of the seven deadly sins championed by a minx-like fiend named Elexis Sinclair. As Michael Hadwin explains, "What do you expect when the only things that excite us are girls and guns?"

Exclusive Screenshot: The Action begins with troops on foot. (Click to Expand)

 

Back to the Future

Exclusive Screenshot: On-Guard at the Base (Click to Expand)

Even when I spoke with Ritual during the development days on Scourge of Armagon, it was evident that this team was eager to show gamers what jiggy additions they could make to the 3D first-person shooter genre. One thing was for certain: A story and well-developed characters would be the vital element of their plan to nudge into a market niche. After tossing around numerous ideas during the design phase of their Quake Add-on Pack, Ritual finally came up with Sin’s futuristic concept, then laced it with interactive ambience. In the 21^st century, 2097 to be exact, crime is so rampant on the streets that the government can no longer afford to use their police forces to contain uprisings. Rather, corporations manage to turn a tidy profit by forming elite protection units, funded by the city. As Col. John R. Blade, you command one of these protection units, codename HARDCORPS. In addition, there’s a new drug on the street, Dyforsanide (U4), which must be contained. At the heart of this tale is an evil biochemist, Elexis Sinclair – we thought they all looked like Bill Nye until we saw her -- who wreaks havoc and applauds the continual sins of society. As Blade, sin is your worst enemy, and don’t let Elexis’ pixel-beauty fool you – She’s your worst nightmare.

The Ritual crew all sitting around for the "Game End" meeting (Click to Expand)

Continue with our story and see more screenshots of the game and learn about the Quake 2 technology on page 4