Singularity is the first person shooter title for the PS3, Xbox 360 and PC developed by Raven Software and published by Activision. The game uses Epic Games’ Unreal Engine 3 and throws players into a zone battered by “time waves”, “time flashes” or whatever you want to call them. Players use, what is referred to as a Time Manipulation Device or TMD to alter the state of objects and beings in the world, while trying to unravel a conspiracy fused with the very essence of time. The science fiction title has folklore surrounding a mysterious mineral named E99, and adds in just enough of everything to keep gamers engrossed.
Right from the instant you boot up the game you will start to make comparisons to BioShock. But if you are able to forgive these similarities and push on, you will be rewarded with a much more engrossing, satisfying experience, one which drops you into a world shrouded in mystery and Russian science in the 1950s. And what timeline-altering scheme would be complete without a smidgen of world domination? Singularity gives you a wide variety of options with which to dismember your enemies. The minimal HUD lets the game’s marvelous presentation shine through the conspiracy, the time-paradoxes, and the perfectly-timed, scary-as-hell audio effects. But what’s this? No flamethrower? We would have loved to see some of those horribly disfigured necromorphic monsters fry.
The story in Singularity is captivating and even if you decide to go back for another round, there will still likely be many nagging, half-answered questions. Dropped onto Katorga-12 by an electromagnetic anomaly, Captain Renko time hops to change history in this fascinating title. The consequences of your decisions and actions in a 1950s time reflect marvelously when you jump back to the present. The game story itself is a bit difficult to wrap your mind around, and begs you to ask how this all came about in the first place, how something like this is even possible and how you got entwined in this. Story gets a well-deserved 9.5 out of ten.
What highlights the Singularity experience the most, besides its deep, enthralling story is its sound. The game’s audio captures you, and actually makes your time on and around Katorga-12 so much more memorable than you might realize. Blasting packs of zomboid creatures back into coherence would have been so routine and unfulfilling if not for the audio which makes you jump right out of your skin. The game’s audio fades away to a blip and alternatively screams at you at just the right moments giving you a deeper, more intuitive experience, one that will stare at you like a deer in the headlights long after you’re done with the game. Game audio also receives 9.5 out of ten for the eerie feel it helps promote.
Environments also help the little island of Katorga-12, under Russian control, fix your place in a time-twisted pretzel some 55 years in the making. They capture the sentiments of the game’s story and fully express them to the gamer. From the construction of elaborate locations to the phase tick hives to the various weapons you can carry, the level of detail is impressive. The game’s environments are nothing short of brilliant. They manage to do what very few other games are able to, encapsulate the gamer in a world which will be remembered long after playing. What the environments lack is the feeling of real interactivity, although this is present to a small degree. Even so, a score of 9 out of ten suits game environments in Singularity.
Gameplay is rather innovative, even though it may draw up similarities to that of BioShock. You can only carry two weapons at a time which is why you must select the right weapon strategy. The shotgun was our favourite and demands you wait for the enemy to get really close before blasting away. A good weapon against the game’s creatures, but you will need to employ longer-range weapons against the Russian Spetnaz soldiers and agents, and some of the more dangerous E99-mutated creatures. Movement may be cumbersome, but the flow from high-octane battles to heart-pounding moments like inching forward silently in order to avoid blind creatures, and even the game’s few and relevant cut-scenes give a continuous fluid feel. Gameplay is extremely realistic and rightly garners 9.7 out of ten.
The few fast paced blazing action sequences in the game keep you wanting more. And at the same time the quiet, almost spine-chilling moments don’t at all make Singularity boring. They keep you on your toes, in constant fear of the mutated creatures which inhabit Katorga-12. The game can be criticized for few real gunfights. But story is what Singularity is all about and it definitely delivers in that department. Throughout the course of the game, you are accompanied by a nagging feeling like something is out of place. Danger lurks around every corner of the island and creatures jump through time to torment you. What the game seems to lack in originality at first, it certainly makes up for in eeriness.
The Final Word: Singularity might start off seeming a little too much like BioShock in terms of player movement, item pick-ups and the audio recordings scattered all over the place, but it gets much deeper if you press on. The story is so twisted in a normal way that you will consider having another go at the singularity, just to sort out the dilemma in your mind and to try and change it once more. And a harder difficulty level provides good replay value for a game with elements of practically everything to keep you occupied.
Graphics: 9.0/10.
Gameplay: 9.7/10.
Story: 9.5/10.
Environments: 9.0/10.
Sound: 9.5/10.
Replay Value: 8.0/10.
Overall (not an average): 9.5/10.