It's a blast

If you can look beyond the triple-A releases each year, you'll find plenty of quality games that get very little consumer recognition, even if reviewers are happy to hand out 9s and 10s. In Singularity's case, perhaps the blame can be put on the publisher, Activision. The same company who'd put their heart and soul (and cash) into promoting a piece of Modern Warfare 2 DLC, but put very little effort into spreading the word on a fully blown quality first-person shooter such as this. Still, they were wise enough to back the game in the first place, and as it turns out Singularity is worthy enough to warrant the big push it didn't get.

It's clear that the developer, Raven Software, has looked at just about every other FPS in existence (including some of their own back catalogue) for inspiration on Singularity, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. If a game can take certain elements from other successful titles (BioShock, F.E.A.R., Half Life 2) and fuse them together with solid shooting to provide 10 hours of entertainment, then that's achievement unlocked. Singularity will not blow your mind, but you'll find yourself drawn into its story and feel compelled to get through to the conclusion, and have fun blasting foes and manipulating time in the process.

You play as Nate Renko, a US Special Ops soldier sent to investigate the Russian island of Katorga-12. During the Cold War, a horrific tragedy occurred on the island, forcing it to be abandoned for 50 years. Turns out scientists were experimenting with a mysterious substance called E99. With the aid of the Time Manipulation Device, Renko must travel between the present day and 50 years prior, take on Russian soldiers and hordes of monsters, and uncover the truth behind the device, while making sure he doesn't screw up time completely.

Much like BioShock, the story is told through frequent tape recordings, propaganda videos and notes left over by the old occupants. It gives a convincing feel of previous life on the derelict island in exactly the same way BioShock does to Rapture. The story isn't going to win any accolades, but it does more than enough to keep you engaged, which is fine if your main concern is quality gun play and smart time manipulation.

At first, Singularity take the Half Life 2 route by giving you very little to do for a while. Like Valve's masterpiece, Singularity succeeds in drawing you into its world, and creating suspense by using the gloomy atmosphere and eerie sounds and notes. Before you know it, mutants and Russians are in your face and you're equipping various types of weaponry to blast them back to 1950.

Pistol, machine gun, shotgun, sniper, all the usual favourites are present with some explosive additions. There's the Spikeshot, which is an advanced rail gun type, or the Seeker, which fires E99 bullets, ageing the enemy. Once the trigger has been pulled, it's up to you to control it to its target. Each weapon can be upgraded, making them more powerful, with faster reload and a bigger clip. This is just some of the arsenal on offer, along with the melee option and the star of the show, the TMD.

The TMD (Time Manipulation Device) is a glove which does exactly what it says on the tin. Certain objects / areas can be manipulated by the device to restore or age them. It can restore broken old staircases back to how they were before disrepair, giving you a clear path in your progress. Alternatively, you can transform a brand new safe into an old decaying safe, making it easy to steal the loot. You can do the same with the enemies too, reducing them to dust, or even turning Russians into mutants and making attack their own men. It's fun to play with, albeit a little limited in what you can actually manipulate.

The TMD glove can also be upgraded throughout the game, giving the ability to perform other tasks. This includes a Gravity Gun, which draws in objects and allows you to shoot them. Your best friends on this occasion are the frequently placed explosive barrels, which dispense a crowd into flames in seconds. There's also the Impulse, which generates a large dome shaped force field, forcing everything inside to remain still and life-less. Perfect for taking out bigger foes, and a crowd of annoying ant type creatures, very easily indeed.

Sure, it's just like the plasmids from BioShock, but we love Plasmids, and the TMD powers are more than welcome to mix up the combat, and let us have fun kicking ass. Scattered around the game there's also blueprints which can be turned into perks, again making your character the ultimate badass. This does make the latter stages of the game a lot easier, but that's why difficulty settings were invented.

The single player campaign is a lot of fun, but it's far from perfect. So often the same puzzle is used, which is finding an old decayed box, using the gravity gun to move it under a slightly opened gate, then restoring the box so it pushes the gate up more, allowing you to pass through. The game also can be frustrating at times with endless strong enemies constantly appearing from behind, as well as numerous irritating little monsters that come at you in packs and explode. Naturally, if you learn the techniques then these may not be a problem to you. The 8-or-so hour campaign does become repetitive, and with that it gets tiresome. It seems so many quality borrowed ideas couldn't be worked into sustaining a lengthy and consistent game, but it still manages to be fun mainly due to the competent combat system.

Once you've blasted and time manipulated your way through the single player campaign, there's still the multiplayer aspect. Here teams take it in turns to play as soldiers and the mutants from the main game. It's when playing as mutants that the multiplayer feels most worthwhile. You can control standard humanoid types, giant beasts with lasers, or even little things that can possess the bodies of the enemy. It's nothing spectacular, but it's fun if you're willing to give it a chance and not dismiss it as half-hearted tack on.

Any first-person shooter fan shouldn't instantly dismiss Singularity as generic garbage. Beyond the lacklustre marketing campaign and average box art is a very worthy shooter - one that doesn't produce originality, but takes existing ideas and packs them together to make one heck of a fun game. It has ace weapons, grotesque looking monsters, gore, a fantastic atmosphere, some excellent gadgets and an intriguing story. Sure, the ideas run thin in the last quarter of the game, and it does get repetitive, but it does provide 10 hours of shooting fun, and for that reason Singularity deserves a chance.

• Great shooting action
• TMD is fun
• Great atmosphere
• Quality weapons and upgrades
• Intriguing story

• Becomes repetitive
• Lacks puzzle variety
• Not ground breaking

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