Typically, a game lacking in promotion and preview opportunities is being sent out to the pasture due to the lack of our favorite word that begins with F. Fun. When I pressed start on Singularity, I expected another shallow time-manipulation shooter ala TimeShift. I also expected all emotions of joy to be sucked from my fingertips, up until the last keystroke involved with delivering a review (Sorry Raven). My early perception of the game was quickly and swiftly shattered as I found that Singularity had plenty of good times to be had, especially with the single-player experience. The premise of Singularity revolves around Nate Renko, Air Force extraordinaire who crash lands on the island known only as Katorga-12. The island previously housed dark Russian experimentation in the 50’s, and recent happenings have led the Pentagon to believe that trouble is afoot once again. Nate finds a device known as the TMD or Time Manipulation Device and must stop the Russians efforts in using the island to rewrite history. It sounds wild, confusing and most likely convoluted but there is actually a decent story told for an FPS. Nate is a silent protagonist, hence you really don’t learn to love or hate him which negates the intended emotional impact of some events in the game. At the same time, you can’t really hate Nate since he can’t talk. Enough with the plot progression as the real star of the show is the gameplay.
Singularity doesn’t try to do anything spectacular with being able to rewind/fast forward/pause time; it simply uses time manipulation in a focused manner which works better than anticipated. You start out by being able to perform actions such as aging enemies to death or reverting a set of stairs back into a useable manner. As the game progresses and you utilize some of the upgrade stations found throughout, the TMD gains new abilities that can be mixed and matched to eliminate foes or solve a puzzle, which brings me to a piece of praise as well as a complaint. The puzzles throughout the game start off nicely and grow in difficulty ever so slightly, never reaching a point where they become frustrating. This is great, but my complaint is that the TMD seems as though it could be host to a bevy of different puzzles but for the most part they all involve using a box or crate to reach a means of progression. This is one of the major pieces of the game where originality is lacking, but other components have tweaks that make them feel fresh. That’s not to say that Singularity doesn’t take a lot from other successful shooters such as Bioshock and Half-Life, but fortunately they stray from ever reaching a point where the game becomes a blatant rip-off.
The TMD can be used as a means of attack against almost all enemies, with its effects being different for each species or strain some of these effects being positive, some negative but each can be used for your benefit if utilized in the right environment. The firepower Nate finds throughout is hit and miss, with a few guns that feel ripped out of “Joe FPS” whereas others provide for gory entertainment, especially the sniper rifle that lets you control its rounds typically ends with your targets limbs becoming detached from his/it’s torso. AMAZING. You’ll have a wide variety of people and creepy-crawlies who try to prevent Nate from doing the Time Warp. You’ll also have plenty of Element 99 or “E99” to collect in order to supply yourself with upgrades as well as audio logs and notes hidden throughout. The downside to the logs and notes is that they aren’t actually logged into a database or menu of any sort, so you can’t go back and listen to them without another play through of the game. This was a bad decision. On top of this, there are no subtitles in the game. Period. Not a big deal, but when there is a plethora of audio logs to be found and each is recorded by someone speaking in English with a Soviet accent, subtitles would have been a tad bit appreciated. Singularity doesn’t quite achieve any visual awards, with its environments and character models not being particularly stunning, and its style being pulled from Bioshock but not quite as attractive as the former.
Not to say that it’s a visual failure, as some of aesthetic feel lifted from Bioshock is turned into a different kind of monster, fresh and appealing at times. What FPS is complete without some form of multiplayer? Not a one. Singularity features a few different multiplayer modes, with the best being the Creatures vs. Soldiers mode. CvS allows players to on each respective team to spawn as one of the games many monsters or soldiers imbued with a specific power of the TMD. While frantic and fun, it strays from being a multiplayer that will be played for long. It’s a fresh mode, but it just doesn’t carry that feeling associated with a mode that could be played on repeat for months. Singularity pulled the carpet from underneath my feet, and maybe that’s why I had so much fun with it. I went in expecting a mediocre FPS and came out feeling lot I got a lot more. The campaign has plenty of aspects that aren’t necessarily original, but are manipulated in a manner that make them feel fresh, especially with some of the powers of the TMD. This is a time-travelling FPS done right and it’s too bad that the game lacks any sort of hype, as it is a much stronger showing than a lot of recently released FPS titles, multiplayer aside. If you like guns, Soviet world domination, and a time-hopping protagonist, then I would recommend taking a peek at the game. Hell, if you like games that ask you to shoot something do Raven a solid and give Singularity a chance. It deserves a much better launch than the one it’s being set up for.
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