Mini Review – Singularity

FPS

I explode like a bomb, no one is spared, my power is my mass times the speed of light squared.

Jason

Singularity is an FPS.  Groan, right? Well initially yeah. It starts with your American two man team investigating an abandoned Russian research island after a radiation spike.

The initial sections play a bit like an above-ground Rapture with ruin and death everywhere. After an hour or two of shooting mutated humans, you’ll find the TMD (Time Manipulation Device) which allows you to age, blast and throw things at your enemies (and the environment). This is easily the stand out feature of the game.

Another 'destined for the 4 for £20' Gamestation sale in 2011.

The exploration and puzzles are well executed, it avoids the oppressive linearity of a game like Modern Warfare 2 by having lots of interesting dead ends. If you go off the beaten path you might find a room with an audio log or see a ghostly scene. It might show how the three corpses by the door ended up in their positions. Sure sometimes it’s just a box with ammo, upgrade resources or a health pack . Rewarding for exploration is something I think a lot of games just straight miss and Singularity nails it.

The bad? Well I suppose it’s a bit short at maybe six hours, but to me it never outstayed its welcome. The multiplayer has a ‘Creatures Vs. Soldiers’ mode which is entertaining, particularly when playing as a bug creature that can pounce on a human and take control of them, but it does feel tacked-on.

Singularity is a game that is pretty derivative. At times you feel like it’s aping Bioshock‘s atmospheric destroyed environments then it’s Half-Life‘s environment puzzles with the TMD working like a souped-up gravity gun. The way TMD features are unlocked throughout Singularity keep it fresh right up till the end. You’ve got room in your heart for one more FPS eh comrade?

7/10