SiN: Episode One is titled Emergence. The sequel begins with familiar characters reprising their roles. You get to play as Colonel John R. Blade and you are joined by hacker extraordinaire, JC and newcomer, Jessica. That's the good news - unfortunately, you later discover you've been injected with a cocktail of drugs, rendering you almost helpless as you find yourself fading in and out of consciousness. Luckily, Jessica is on hand to save the day.

The rest of the story picks up pace as you and your buddies soon realise that the only way to save your life is to get hold of an antidote. The antidote of course, is sitting in the hands of one Victor Radek, the local crime boss and Elexis Sinclair's partner in crime. The rest of the game looks set out before you - get the antidote, defeat the bad guys (in other words, kill everything in sight), and with a bit of luck, win the day.

The game plays out in and around the city of Freeport. The graphics engine used in this expansion is one of the most significant changes to the game worth mentioning, and boy, is it worth mentioning. Making use of Half Life 2's Source engine technology (the previous game utilised the Quake 2 engine), the graphics in SiN Episode One: Emergence are nothing short of eye-popping. Detailed animation and texturing bring the characters to life with environments and shading to die for. It's easy to see just how much technology has improved our overall gaming experience in the space of seven years.

Graphics aside, SiN Episode One: Emergence has one disappointment: length. For an expansion, Emergence is pretty short. It could take the average gamer less than six to eight hours and hardcore gamers anywhere between three to six hours tops to complete. The weapons are also quite limited but the map variety is decent and keeps things ticking along nicely. The AI in Emergence is pretty challenging, but if you really want to push yourself hard, you can toggle the difficulty level at any time.

The stats screen in Emergence is a nice little treat for all those stat-hungry gamers that like to see their kills (and deaths) in one easy to access area. You can tell how many kills you have made, how many missed targets and also how many deaths you have had.

Be prepared for the unwelcome fact that in SiN Episode One: Emergence, there is no multiplayer option. We sincerely hope and pray that this changes with the next instalment of SiN, but we're not holding our breath. As an expansion, Emergence definitely does the job, but without multiplayer capabilities, it comes off a little limited, especially for an FPS.

The characters in SiN are likeable and it's always great to see good characters come back for more in an expansion. JC is handy as the techno-savvy hacker and Jessica is also a useful aid during some of the nastier fire fights in the game. You can never have too many guns in a shootout.

The idea of episodic gameplay has the capability to work well if the episodes flow like chapters in a book. We won't be able to make a comparison until the second episode of SiN is released but as far as episode one goes, things look positive from where we sit.

Although the story line may be a little on the weak side, SiN Episode One: Emergence has some pretty good things going for it. The graphics are by far one of the redeeming features of this expansion. And after seven years, it's probably fair to say that gamers may have forgotten all about SiN. Multiplayer functionality and perhaps a more engaging story line just might make the next episode of SiN something to keep an eye out for.