Review: Singularity

I’m not sure who it was that coined the term “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery,” but perhaps no one has embraced the term better in the video game industry better than Raven Software, makers of “Singularity.” Imitation is an important word to remember in terms of Singularity. While the game doesn’t necessarily introduce any new ideas to the first person shooter genre, it borrows ideas from a number of other successful shooters and puts them together in such a way that it becomes just as fun as the games it imitates.

Singularity is set on the island of Katorga-12, 1950s Cold War Russia discover a powerful new element dubbed E99. This element is as powerful as it is unstable and eventually a catastrophe, caused by an accelerated testing process, forces the entire island to be evacuated and abandoned. Fast forward to present day. While in orbit, an American satellite picks up a massive radiation spike from a seemingly empty spot on the map in Russian territory and sends the player in with a team of specialists to investigate. As you could probably guess, before your helicopter even touches down things go awry, separating you from your team and leaving you alone to discover the mysteries surrounding Katorga-12.

Though you can pick from any number of FPSes and draw comparisons between them and Singularity, its biggest inspiration is BioShock. Both games find a lone protagonist exploring a previously unknown location, using incredible powers to fend off strange monsters where all is not as it seems. Singularity, however, ups the ante by introducing time-shifting events that constantly seem to be changing the direction of the story and keeping the player wondering about just who he can trust.

The beginning of the game, before you get your hands on the Time-Manipulation Device (or TMD), is admittedly pretty boring. It serves its purpose, though, by introducing players to the dreary, run-down island of Katorga-12 and its equally strange inhabitants. Once you find the TMD, in an oddly functioning laboratory deep below the surface, Singularity really begins to shine. Apparently, E99 has some pretty strange effects on the time-space continuum and the island is constantly shifting between the 1950s and present day. The TMD is capable of time-shifting objects and enemies as well as being able to slow down time, pick up and throw objects and create a concussive blast that replaces your melee attack. The TMD is also used to repair destroyed objects in the environment. Whether its reconstructing a crumbled set of stairs or making an ammo box available to you, the TMD is useful outside of combat as well. Without burdening the player with a menu to select the device’s various functions, Singularity incorporates each function into different buttons on the controller. It’s a good thing the TMD is fun to use and easily incorporated into combat because the selection of traditional weapons is standard FPS fare at best.

While the weapon selection may be a bit lacking in variety, the enemies you’ll find on Katorga-12 are anything but. Though plenty of sections will find you battling against soldiers, most encounters will be against E99 mutated beasts of all shapes and sizes. Not only are they hideous to look at but, with the infusion of E99, incredibly deadly. Many monsters use the time-fluctuating properties of E99 to their advantage, phasing in and out of view and attacking in groups.

Speaking of the monsters, the multiplayer of Singularity actually highlights them. Taking a page from Left 4 Dead, Singularity pits soldiers against the island’s horrors for some interspecies deathmatches. Though it isn’t as fun as Left 4 Dead (not much is), it is an interesting twist on what could’ve been a standard, after-thought of a multiplayer mode.

While I am enjoying Singularity and it definitely feels like it’s being overlooked by pretty much everyone (did you see any ads for it anywhere? I didn’t), it’s nothing you haven’t played before. Though it takes and makes use of excellent mechanics from other top tier games, it doesn’t do anything particularly new enough to step out of the shadows of the games it emulates. I’d suggest waiting for it to drop in price or renting it for a weekend before unlocking the secrets of Katorga-12.