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I haven't reviewed a game in a while, but Singularity really made me feel like I had to. Especially considering there are only two other reviews here as I write.
First, the most important thing. Singularity gets the basics absolutely right. Character movement is fluid, the controls are easy to learn, and there are no lurching mini-loads.
The environments and graphics are top-notch. From the moment you "arrive" on the island, you know it's going to look good, and it does throughout.
Gameplay is also great fun. I've heard a lot of comparisons to Bioshock, which I didn't play but watched my roommate play. I suppose there are similarities, but Singularity offers it's own take on survivor horror FPS.
The storyline is excellent. Playing with time often causes a muddled story, but here we have a great altered past/present that must be fixed, and the history of the island's downfall is well detailed in notes and recordings you find. Get all of them. Also, the climax is a big moment for your character.
Your time-altering abilities are great fun to use. Power them up as soon as you can, especially the one that creates a sphere of frozen time. This is extremely useful in taking out multiple enemies. It's fun to age a soldier to dust, turn "tics" against each other, and age/renew countless items. See a crushed, rusted crate? Renew it and inside could be E-99 (your upgrade juice), med packs and ammo. Sometimes this is imperative to continue, sometimes you just find more juice under a big branch you just "de-aged."
Happily, Singularity lacks any glaring flaws. If you find something you don't like, it's often down to personal preference. Health, for example, is (yes!) a good old-fashioned bar. You have to use health packs to regenerate. The encroaching red haze, once a good thing but abused to the point of annoying overkill in some games (the latest COD) stays away until you're nearly dead.
It's not quite as OMG-THIS-IS-AWESOME as the first time through Dead Space, an astoundingly good game, but has it's share of pleasant surprises. For example, I shot a soldier in the leg with my shotgun, which blew it off below the knee. He hopped a few times, clutching his thigh and yelling, then fell and squirmed in agony until I finished him off. That's a nice touch in enemy construction.
I apologize if this sounds too positive. There's always a risk of coming off as fake or easily impressed. But sitting here I can't really think of anything they did "wrong." It's a fully developed, greatly conceived and polished horror FPS.
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My review of SingularityI haven't really written a review for a game in a long while, but I felt Singularity deserved one. Not many people have played this game, period, let alone on the PS3. It deserves so much more than that, so here is my two-cents.
First off, the story: This game is set in 2010, when American special-ops go in to investigate radiation spikes on a seemingly uninhabited island near Russia's coastland. After an EMPlike blast forces our hero, Captain Nate Reinko, onto the ground of Katorga-12, the mysterious island locale of the game, things go the way of epic Sci-Fi. The island is the site of a previously unknown element called E-99, and the Soviet Union devoted huge resources to research of E-99 in the 1940's and 1950's so that they could establish themselves as THEE world power. E-99 is exponentially more powerful than atomic energy AND has trippy time-altering effects. Needless to say, disaster befell them long ago and you're left to figure out what went wrong and how to fix a new problem in the timeline. Singularity's story dabbles heavily in time-travel and alternate-timelines via "Back to the Future" ish story twists. Most stories that attempt to tackle the time-traveling mechanic beast end up muddled and confusing as a result. Singularity does not suffer this fate. The story is actually quite fantastic for what it is, and make no mistake, it is very campy in parts. That's part of its charm. I found myself in awe of just how well implemented time travel and alternate timeline related plot twists are used in the story. I for one am very big on good story in games, and this one does not in any way disappoint. The characters are pretty interesting, the setting and locale are compelling, and the endings are very impactful.
The gameplay is solid throughout. All of the mechanics established in the FPS genre are here and implemented well and feel natural. The weapons are very fun to use and are interesting. Using a sniper rifle that can slow down time is awesome, and so is rolling a grenade on the ground into wherever you want. The other, more usual weapons like the assault rifle and shotgun are fun to use as well. The enemy AI is great, and so is their behavior. They act very lifelike, and I found that to be a nice touch. The mutant enemies are both scary and a blast to play with. The real treat is the Time-Manipulation Device, which allows you to do incredible stuff like freeze a giant bubble of time. That way, you can leisurely walk up to your enemies, casually pop off a round, rinse-and-repeat with the others, and when the bubble dissipates, they all fall down. This game really makes you feel like a bad@$$, and that is in large part due to the ridiculously awesome gameplay devices you're generously given.
Lastly, the graphics and sound are very well done. The music is moody, while not being overbearing. Each setting achieves its goal of atmosphere, from the clean, distinctly Soviet-communist factory/lab environments of the past to the dilapidated, depressing current state of the island. Some of the native, mutated life of the island really reminded me of the Metroid Prime games, and so did the music. A nice comparison, if you ask me. One thing I really liked about the game was that the atmosphere always reached its goal of making me feel tense and cautious about what may or may not be around the corner. This suspense and dread is rarely executed well in games, and I have to give credit to Raven Software for doing just that.
One thing I must point out that bugged me a little bit was the Russian language implementation. I LOVED the signs that were in full Russian. I didn't like substituting Russian letters into the English text simply because the letters are similar looking. Backwards N's and R's are abundant and it struck me as simultaneously unique and cheesy all at once. I have to point out that I speak a little Russian and that's probably why some of it gets to me a little. I mean, we're going to an island where everybody is a NATIVE Russian speaker, and yet they record their audio diaries in English with a heavy Russian accent? Gimme' a break. Most wouldn't find fault with that, as they don't know Russian at all, but I found it a little jarring. That's about my only jab I can think of for the artistic direction of the game.
Singularity cannot be discussed without mentioning Bioshock. Similarities to Bioshock are EVERYWHERE in Singularity, from the audio tapes that flesh out the backstory of major and minor characters alike, to the art-design of, well, everything in the game, to the plasmidlike abilities you get, to the upgrades you make to your character and his tools/weapons, even the main supporting characters and the roles they play to you and the overall plot is eerily similar to Bioshock (including a "would you kindly?" moment, making for one of the most impactful "good guy" conclusions I've ever come across in a game). They are ALL taken from Bioshock's textbook. Singularity pulls almost all of them off flawlessly, and this ends up being a big plus from me, as I really loved Bioshock. HOWEVER, I must say that Singularity's story seems much more focused on being a fun, "cool" sci-fi blockbuster adventure than the deeply philosophical, incredibly tragic tales that Bioshock and Bioshock 2 were. I don't say this as a negative, but it is worth noting that there is a big difference in tone and focus. Singularity's "tragedies" never touched my heart or got me thinking as deeply and so profoundly the way Rapture's sad tale did, not even close, DESPITE Katorga-12 being presented as a place befallen by tragedy and philosophy gone awry. Atlas Shrugged, this is not.
Since it was developed by Raven Studio, the developers behind the masterpieces X-men Legends, X-men Legends II: Rise of the Apocalypse, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast, and Star Wars Jedi Knight III: Jedi Academy, I already knew the game would be another worthy installment, and now they have another game to add to an already impressive list of great games. It's so cheap now that I would say definitely BUY it NEW! We should be encouraging the publishers and developers to make these kinds of games. With its ridiculously fun and well implemented gameplay, its incredible, immersive atmosphere, to its very well-written and executed story, Singularity is a game worth playing. So for the sake of the motherland, buy it, teleport yourself into it, love it!
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I'm convinced that Raven is going to continue to create and publish great games. I bought this and 2009s Wolfenstein (I've also reviewed this game) at the same time as a chance to see their more modern works. Here are my thoughts...I'll start by agreeing with a previous comment on the control schematics. It is a bit odd using R1 to fire rather than R2 without the ability to change the layout, but fortunately I had been playing the Killzone series and had just been using the same configuration. That's really it for a "negative" although that's a rather harsh way to look at it.
The story was outstanding. Yes, it is only original to an extent as the whole time warp/change history has been done in games and movies a million times over. At first I was constantly reminded of "The Butterfly Effect" but quickly got absorbed into the story enough to look at it as its own title. I love war games, but I also appreciate breaking away from the same story line (CoD) and making a new twist on reality and different timelines. It's also nice to have another Russian installment for a lesser utilized environment/people.
Graphically this game is up there with the best of its time. It makes excellent use of the Unreal Engine 3. Characters, weapons, and environments are well textured, with details and shadowing accurate to lighting, firing, etc.
The game does borrow heavily from BioShock in some areas from weapons stations allowing you to upgrade weapons, little video clips upon unlocking new abilities with your singularity device, and the use of e99 and weapons tech cases as a form of currency. However, as a fan of BioShock, I found this familiar and welcomed.
Although it is a linear game there are a few points where it takes ingenuity to get to areas that appear to be locked and off-limits. I'm thinking of an area on a large ship where you can see a weapons tech behind a sealed door in particular, but there are a few others as well.
Overall, I played this game through all 3 endings and still haven't really had enough. I'd love to have a Singularity 2, but I'm not holding my breath. Much as Wolfenstein (2009) was an excellent game with subpar sales, Singularity experienced the same unfortunate fate. To add to the doubt of a second, the fact that there are 3 endings would make it difficult to build a second game. Too bad...While I haven't played a lot of games by Raven Software, they are fast becoming one of my favorite game developers. Way back in the day when everyone was crazy for Doom, I played the shareware levels of Raven and id's Heretic. I pretty much just thought it was okay. While I enjoy fantasy, the setting of Heretic didn't really work for me in the same way that Doom's sci-fi locales and Wolfenstein 3-D's WWII-era trappings did. Aside from that and a little bit of the demo for Hexen II, I didn't play another Raven game until 2009's Wolfenstein. Long story short, I loved it.
I'd wanted to check out Singularity after seeing positive reviews on Gamespot and IGN, and that interest was compounded when I started seeing it show up on game critics' year-end lists. (For instance, Games Radar named it one of the best overlooked games of 2010.) I decided to wait until the price had dropped a bit, and once it did, I snatched it up.
So now that I've played it, what do I think? I'll start with the negatives. First, I wish it were possible to use alternate button mapping. I'm really used to using R2 rather than R1 to fire. When I played Killzone 2, I was at least given the option for a different control scheme, but Singularity doesn't allow this at all. This unfortunately led to me accidentally trying to knife an enemy from across the room during the first few levels. I eventually got used to it, but I don't understand why they didn't even offer me a choice.
Second, the best boss battle comes at nearly the two-thirds mark, and there really isn't one at the climax of the game. Truth be told, the ending feels a little anti-climactic. That said, I liked the fact that they tried to make the final level feel driven by story more so than action.
Last, but not least, the game feels too short. If I had to estimate, I'd say I finished it in about eight hours. Quite honestly, though, this and the previous complaints are more nitpicks, really. This is a solid ride throughout with a compelling story, some nifty enemies and even niftier weapons.
I may have made a minor gripe about Singularity's button assignment, but that aside, I loved its control layout. Like Wolfenstein (2009), it uses a shoulder button to aim. I've never really cared for using R3 to aim because I like being able to get back to regular viewing mode by releasing a button I'd been holding. While you're usually given the option to hold in R3 rather than clicking to toggle, I find that I have difficulty continuing to hold it in while moving the right analog stick to adjust my aim. Using the shoulder button to aim just feels so much more intuitive, and I feel like my accuracy is much higher.
I know a lot has been made of the fact that the game borrows pretty heavily--some might say "steals"--from BioShock. My initial reaction to that was, "Okay, sign me up! I love BioShock!" Admittedly, I was a bit taken aback by just how much it does take from that modern classic, right down to the kitschy period-appropriate film strips. Once I got past that, though, I was really able to get into the story and enjoy its time-altering craziness.
It's probably too much to hope for a sequel, since this one didn't exactly become a blockbuster, but each of the game's multiple endings leaves things open for further stories in this universe. That said, each ending would make for a drastically different story, so unless they just decide to pick one and make it the "official" ending, I think it'd be pretty difficult to make a direct follow-up to this story. (Of course, given the fact that only one ending features a full motion video sequence while the others are mostly still images and narration, I wouldn't be surprised if it's considered the official, developer-approved ending.)
So if you like first-person shooters with sci-fi and horror elements, I would definitely recommend this. It may not be the most original thing you'll play, but it's quite a blast for its duration.
Note: I haven't tried the multiplayer, and I don't really intend to.
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