Singularity Review

 **Be sure to check out the video review!**  

So today I'm reviewing a shooter from Activision that isn't something from the Call of Duty series. I know what you're thinking, but apparently they do publish something else. Go figure.

This particular title is known as Singularity - actually developed by Raven Software, and only published by Activision. So there is at least the possibility that it won't suck harder than those pleasant individuals working the street corner exactly 2.7 miles from my house, that I've, um, never visited with before. Right, moving on.

Singularity is set on Kortoga-12, an island that functioned as a top secret Soviet research facility with a goal akin to the Manhattan Project, but has long since been abandoned. You are Capt. Renko, a member of the U.S. military, and are headed to Kortoga-12 as part of a team with the goal of investigating some of the stranger happenings on the island. Of course, during the opening scene, your helicopter goes down during a massive explosion, and you are immediately separated from your team.

Cue generic shooter intro.

Disoriented, hurt, and unarmed, you stumble into one of the buildings on this doomsday island. Notes and recordings, which scatter the island and are a useful tool for additional information, indicate that an accident occurred, and from that point on, Kortoga-12 began dieing. Which is all well and good, considering the goal of the place.

Unfortunately, unless of course you want to actually have a game to play, you manage to change things, when you come across the first of many time skips in the game, one that sends you back to 1955. Apparently you've walked into said accident, and you save the one person you should, because you can't leave well enough alone. Upon returning to 2010, all the notes/recordings speak of a stranger saving one Nikolai Demichev, and how things have been on the up for the island since then. Also the statue in the room you return to switches from Stalin to Demichev, so I guess he ends up being a big deal.

What did your mother tell you about going back in time and changing people's fate?

Quickly you learn just how bad you've screwed things up. See, after he survived, Demichev helped destroy the U.S., with a single E-99 bomb, crafted from material found on the island. Now he is the supreme ruler of the world, and he thinks you have the only item that could challenge him, the Time Manipulation Device, or TMD for people who hate to type/speak several unnecessary words.

The TMD plays a key role in the game, and is part of what gives it such a unique feel. It's got, to be completely honest, a certain Bioshock feel to it, in that you can alternate between a traditional weapon, or the special powers of the TMD. Those special powers include: allowing you to travel between 2010 and 1955 at certain point in the game; changing the age of a large amount objects, which is the key way puzzles are addressed in the game; aging enemies to dust; converting soldiers into particularly nasty mutants that will go after other soldiers; creating a dome that nearly freezes time inside it; grabbing/manipulating objects; changing the phase of certain enemies or pulling objects from other times into the current one; and replacing your standard issue knife with a powerful area attack.

Suck on that, Indiana Jones!

While the TMD is the tool that you use to advance through the game, the way you'll deal with most everything else is by shooting it, probably repeatedly. The standard weapons are all there - pistol, assault rifle, shotgun, minigun, sniper, railgun, grenade launcher, and rocket launcher - but some have particular twists. The sniper rifle, for example, which has a special function when you zoom in that allows you to dilate time, causing everything to slow down - you can actually see some bullets zoom by your face - and line up that perfect shot. It's got a limited duration, but its still a nice feature that differentiates it from the standard "hold breath." Or you could try this game's grenade launcher, where the secondary function fires a grenade you can control, rolling it around, jumping it up over ledges, and generally tearing around like some kind of RC car, until you can set up just the right explosion.

However, the coolest weapon in the game is something quite different. Called the seeker, when zoomed in it fires a single bullet you can steer, as time is slowed down. Yeah, you can fire this baby from around a corner, make a right turn through a door, scout out a room, and then turn around and get that pesky guy hiding behind a crate, all in about the time it takes the enemy to get off a half dozen shots. Awesome. Unfortunately, this isn't a weapon you can haul around the whole game. Instead it only appears in certain spots, and as soon as you switch weapons, such as when you are out of ammo, you drop it back on the ground. Not awesome.

As if it wasn't awesome enough, bullets explode on impact.

Your main weapons, those you can actually keep on you, are stored in a weapons locker, which allows you to switch out with anything you've previously acquired when you chance upon one. Additionally, you can also upgrade weapons, if you find a kit, in one of three categories - damage, reload, and clip size. This is actually an area where Raven failed to capitalize on a great idea. Each gun could have used unique upgrades, a la Bioshock, such as increased explosive radius on the grenade launcher, or increased knockback on the shotgun, and so forth. Luckily they did better on some of the other things you can upgrade about your character, such as a permanent increase to the number of health packs you can carry, or augmentations that make it so you regain TMD power upon killing an enemy. These options are gained by finding blueprints or formulae hidden in the game, and are purchased with E-99, a fictional currency you'll be picking up while you're out hunting ammo, health kits, and TMD energy packs.

What good are all these tools if you don't have a reason to put them to use? Well, you find motivation in that the world has gone to hell, and it is all your fault. So you set out on a quest, traveling between times as necessary, to try and set things straight. You're helped out by an organization that claims to know the truth about the way the world is supposed to be, and one doctor Barisov, the creator of the TMD you've got there.

Did anyone ever stop to ask why a Brit is lurking around a super secret Soviet facility?

Along your way, you'll encounter a variety of enemies. In 1955 you'll face Soviet soldiers, but when you're in 2010, those will be the least of your worries. Apparently the island's inhabitants, both human and non human, have been mutated as a result of some of the other experiments at the island. From your typical creepy crawly, to enemies that can phase in and out of our plane and thus teleport all over, to small critters that attack in swarms and explode, revealing that size doesn't always matter, you can easily bite off more than you can chew. Throw in some bosses, and the mix of techniques required to take down the dozen or so different baddies you'll encounter keeps this game from feeling like you're just killing generic terrorist #2048.

Talk about a face(s?) only a mother could love.

Overall, Singularity is a generally very good game, and while I can honestly believe the creators where fans of Bioshock and Half-Life 2, that in no way detracts from the enjoyment. There are downsides, because nothing is ever perfect, such as some of the games interface choices when interacting with weapons lockers (you have to use the arrow keys), or the limitation to carrying no more than 2 weapons at a time, and not being able to take the most awesome gun in the game with you at all, they really aren't too bad. Unfortunately, the game only took me 7 hours or so to complete on normally, and while size isn't everything, the same can't be said for duration. Multiplayer is there if you truly want more, but that's beyond the scope of what I normally review.

I rate this game a solid 8 - a very ambitious game, and with some pretty cool features and weapons, it makes for an enjoyable experience, albeit not the longest. I believe I picked this up off of Steam in June 2011 for approximately $10, and I wouldn't recommend spending too much more than that, but if you do see it in the neighborhood, and you're a fan of shooters, don't hesitate to pick it up, you won't be disappointed.

So, the final breakdown:

Score: 8/10

Suggested Price: $10