Console: PlayStation 3 / Xbox 360 / PC
Developers: Raven Software
Players: Offline Single Player / Online Multiplayer
We’re not joking when we say we were up all night playing ‘Singularity’ (on hard mode by the way!) and admittedly we’re a little jump…y…Shhhh what was that noise…sorry for a second there we were convinced that a mutant with the ability to disappear in time was outside.
Now we already covered ‘Singularity’ with a preview, we checked out screenshots, read blog posts and did our homework to bring you the best article we could but we failed you entirely, ‘Singularity’ is so much cooler than we could have ever anticipated (resisting the urge to stop writing and going back to play some more) and we’ve a long list of reasons why you have to go out and buy yourself a copy right now!
‘Singularity’ is the brainchild of Raven Software and published by Activision and is Raven’s second game to be based on the Unreal Engine 3. When a US spy satellite is blinded by massive radiation peaks, a team are sent in to investigate and you must take on the role of Black Op’s soldier Nate Renko given the mission to explore the island called ‘Katorga-12’. After a crash landing, your investigations bring you upon a strange phenomenon and suddenly you are in the past, just in time to save a man from a burning building – unaware that by saving him, the future as you know it is now altered and the man you saved has begun a campaign of total domination. Only by finding the TMD (Time Manipulation Device) and the man who created it, Dr. Barislov, can you hope to restore the timeline and stop Demechev from destroying the world.
So that’s the story summed up in a nice little time nutshell…
A great plot is only part of what makes this game so enjoyable – the real strengths of ‘Singularity’ lie in the gameplay and small details.
The suspense generated both by the haunting music will have you on the edge of your seat and only increases the impact your surroundings have on you – twisted rotting corpses are scattered everywhere on the island, the decayed ruins and rusting buildings all tower around you trapping you inside a world filled with revolting creatures and dangerous soldiers – turning a corner is just as nerve wracking as facing an onslaught of mutants which brings us to our next point.
The creatures and enemies you face on the island are fantastically hideous, with exquisite details on the mutated islanders, plant life and animals – keep an eye on where you shoot and kill your target, a head shot will lead to huge amounts of blood spraying the room, a fatal abdomen wound will leave guts and entrails hanging outside the corpse – the game isn’t for the squeamish but lovers of gore are in for a real treat.
Gameplay is really simple and pretty straightforward – press R Trigger at anything that has more than one head and keep pressing it until the creature doesn’t get up! The real treat about ‘Singularity’ is the TMD – the device gives you the ability to alter time itself, we talked about these abilities in our preview but we really didn’t think they would be this cool. We’ve only played with two so far – Age Revert and Deadlock (there are also the Impulse, Gravity and Chronolight abilities to play with) Age Revert is definitely our favourite of the two – the TMD releases a burst of energy that can alter the age of any item imbued with the mysterious element E99 – crumbling obstacles in your path, reverting broken stairwells so they can be used and even repairing broken power boards. It never grows old (time puns are fun) watching something crumble with time or revert back to its original state – this allows works as a nifty weapon against enemies both human and mutant alike. Deadlock allows you to freeze things in time – stopping enemies about to attack or freezing an explosive before it blows up in your face.
In Multiplayer mode you may choose to play as either human or mutant and together with your fellow players fight against the opposing faction for control of territories/maps. Anyone familiar with the Left 4 Dead series will see the similarities in the gameplay of multiplayer mode – both races have different soldier units – each with their own abilities and specialities.
Ok so if we haven’t convinced you by now then the only thing we can really say is that we haven’t played a game like ‘Singularity’ that had us scared to open a door or continue onwards because we’re running low on medical kits and ammo, since Resident Evil on the original PlayStation. The gang over at Raven have done their job and done it well, and ‘Singularity’ has earned its place in the First Person Shooter Hall of Awesomeness.
Rent or Buy: If you haven’t bought it already…get to your nearest game store and buy it!
Rating: 9.5/10
