Singularity

Time manipulation and video games isn't a marriage without complications. Games like Blinx and Timeshift have shown that although great in theory, time manipulation doesn't always prove fun when put in practise. This was the first thing that had me worried about Singularity. Then it was delayed 8 months in order to avoid competing with the likes of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 during the holiday rush and this was followed by almost absolute silence from the publisher leading up to the release. I did not have a lot of faith in the game at the time of release. The lone positive thing, was that developers Raven seldom make less than competent games. Even if last year's Wolfenstein failed to set the world on fire, it still did a lot of things right.

Then reviews hit and they were much more positive than what I would have thought. Could it be the sleeper hit of the summer? Well, non-existent marketing in a overcrowded genre meant it sold almost nothing, and you won't find a lot of people populating the multiplayer servers, but what about the single player and what did reviewers find interesting about this rather average looking shooter.

First of all, Raven have gotten one key thing right, and this is the way in which they constantly add new gameplay mechanics to keep our interest. Whether it's something new you can do with the Time Manipulation Device - TMD from now on, or a new weapon (there aren't an awful lot, but they are all meaningful), new enemies or the occasional puzzle. At its core it's still very much a Raven game, as my girlfriend noted from the sideline as I was playing it, "it makes me think of Quake". And certainly as you fire up the Auto Cannon and mow down waves of mutated or reverted as they are called, it takes me back to the beginnings of the genre.

Now, if you knew nothing about Singularity you are probably a bit confused. TMD, reverts, Auto Cannon - what's going on? Well, apparently Soviet scientist discover an element they call E-99 back during the early days of the cold war. They found it on a distant island called Katorga-12, and started researching its properties. However, things went sour and an enormous explosion that killed thousands resulted in the Soviets shutting the project down. Fast forward to our time, and an American infiltration team that arrives on Katorga-12 to find out what's been going on. Well, it seems this E-99 thing is capable of creating rifts in time, and as we stumble into the terrible accident in 1955 we accidently save a man, who in a parallel reality rises to become ruler of the world thanks to the power of E-99. Time to set things straight, and you will stumble upon allies and equipment powered by E-99 along your way.

Personally, I didn't find the plot all that engaging, but it is nice to see how the developers have layered it allowing you to pretty much sail through the game without knowing too much about what's going on, or if you are into it you can watch films, listen to tapes, read notes and graffiti to find out more. It's a bit like Dead Space and Bioshock in this way, but with even more stuff to find out. There is a lot of humour added in to the propaganda films, and the notes where you can read that the children didn't much appreciate the new orange milk they were being served in the cafeteria. There is a lot more attention to detail in this game that I was expecting.

Katorga-12 is far from deserted, and apart from the few survivors, and Soviet soldiers from an alternate future, you are also going to encounter "reverts" or mutated humans and creatures than you will be able to blow the limbs off (it's Raven after all). Your arsenal consists of E-99 enhanced weapons ranging from your standard pistol, shotgun, and machine gun to a sniper rifle that allows you to slow down time as you line up for that crucial head shot and a weapon called the Seeker that allows you to direct the bullet as it leaves the muzzle. Hitting an enemy with a bullet from the Seeker means that they will age instantly and turn into dust.

Singularity is a nice mix of the old fundamentals of the shooter genre, and some new sensibilities that games like Half-Life 2 and Bioshock have added. Singularity also manages to do the time manipulation part some justice, even if time manipulation inevitably leads to a story as contrived as the Terminator timeline. But like I said, I didn't worry too much about the story, as I enjoyed the ride.

From a technical point of view Singularity looks like something that has walked through a time rift to the past with low resolution texture and fairly confined spaces. To a certain degree it feels almost in tune with the setting, but Singularity looks a couple of years behind the best old in terms of graphics. I'm also not overly impressed by the soundscape, predictably mediocre Russian accents, and an in your face soundtrack does the job, but leaves no lasting impressions.

While Singularity does a lot of things right, such as the pacing, variation and intensity of the experience, it never really grabbed me in the same way a game like Bioshock did. Maybe the fiction didn't speak to me, maybe the setting just didn't manage to appeal as much to me, but regardless of that Singularity is a very solid piece of work that deserved more of a push from Activision at the time of release. Given the sad state of things, Singularity will be available in a bargain bin near you soon, and if you happen to come across it, by all means pick it up.