Singularity is an fps game from raven and activision . Its not easy releasing a new ip these days, and this game flew under my radar at the time. Having only played it recently, it really surprised me how much I enjoyed the game. It oozes Bioshock. It has a similiar style and atmosphere of an ideal utopia fallen into disaster and mutated horror. This is hardly a bad thing, as the setting is haunting and the atmosphere is really enjoyable if you like these kind of games.
The game revolves around a weapon which allows manipulation of time and time travel. This adds some interesting story arcs involving changing events in time and consequences of that. The time manipulation device itself is a weapon as cool as the gravity gun in half-life. You can age enemy soldiers to dust, alter the environment and other cool abilities can be unlocked. The other weapons in the game are also great fun, though they do tend to be situational against some enemy types. Speaking of enemy types, there are a large variety of enemies in this game. You will face modern russian soldiers, 1950's russian soldiers, and a plethora of monsters.
The graphics are a mixed bag, with some texture pop in and undetailed surfaces but the game has a great asthetic. The buildings look dark and foreboding in the rain, the industrial complex feels like it has a history and the water looks great. The enemy designs are equally creative and at times provide for some genuine jumps.
I tried the multiplayer but it seemed difficult to get a match so I cant really comment on that overall. The music is fairly dull and unmemorable, but voice acting was generally good, with yet another nolan north appearance. The presentation made up for any shortcomings from the music, as the island the game is set on makes for a great haunted house, with some genuinely jumpy parts of the game and some haunting flash back scenes.
While overall the game does not provide a compelling story nor a stand out shooter. What it does give is a great location, interesting premise, fun combat and powers and a strong single player campaign which is well worth playing over a weekend. The game can also be gotten for a cheap price at the moment, I picked up my copy for 8 euro. If Raven had had more resources to make this game, Im sure it would have reached its full potential, but as it is I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this game.
Pros: great atmosphere
fun powers and weapons for combat
very good variety of enemies
Cons: graphics are not up to the standards of top games
whole game occurs in very similiar environments
characters are not particularly well developed
multiplayer seems to be defunct
wtf: Nolan North gets shot in the face
Score:
- 5/10