As a fan of the original game, I was curious about Sin: The Movie. The original PC game was no masterpiece but it had fun level design, good FPS action and a kick-ass wisecracking hero in John Blade. Reading some of the reviews and ratings from other fans, I was cautious about watching this one. The series has been dead in the water since 2006 when the sequel series ‘Sin: Episodes’ was cancelled. Other than those two games (and a planned remaster coming later this year from Nightdive), this is the only other piece of media in the series available to fans. So, I decided to check it out regardless and see what the fuss (or hate in this instance) was all about.

This only resembles the original game in three departments: the character designs, names and the fact that Sinclair is the main villain. As a result, it’d be easy to constantly scrutinize the differences and compare it negatively with the source material. I decided to just see it as its own ‘thing’ and try to appreciate it based on its own merits. Well based on what I watched, Sin: The Movie has nothing particularly awful about it. At the same time, there’s nothing particularly good about it either. The plot, characters, animation etc. are all painfully average. ‘Forgettable’ is the word I’d use to describe it all.

Beginning with the plot, we have an evil corporation that wants to mess with human DNA and create monsters, so a badass cop with a personal vendetta has to take them down. Its been done too many times before to count, and nothing new is brought to the table. The plot at least makes sense and the character intentions are made clear to us. John Blade is your usual silent (badass) character, and sadly the other characters are stock too. Elexis Sinclaire, the main villain, is somewhat interesting at the start (mainly due to her viciousness) but quickly becomes boring. The art and animation aren’t awful, but for a OVA released in the early 2000's they’re barely average.

The one thing I do want to praise is the soundtrack which is shockingly good. It was performed by the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, who’ve also been on the soundtracks for series such as Cowboy Bebop and Hellsing Ultimate. That’s quite the resumé. It’s the highlight of the OVA, and often I would zone out and focus on the music instead of what was happening on the screen because it was more interesting. The soundtrack made every scene better, but sadly it couldn't make the OVA itself good enough to recommend.

Give the soundtrack a listen, but fans of the game can skip this one and Cyberpunk fans are better off watching one of the many better OVA’s available such as Cyber City Oedo 808.