Singularity sets out to bend the rules of physics and bend time itself in this sci-fi first-person shooter. It also boasts Communists and monsters.

Singularity was developed by Raven Software, published by Activision and was released on June 29, 2010. Singularity was released for PC, Xbox 360 and PS3.

You’re strapped into the boots of U.S. Captain Nathaniel Renko. Renko is called out with some of his fellow comrades to the isolated island off the coast of Russia, Katorga-12. The reason for this mission came about when an American spy satellite was damaged while above the island. Without giving too much away, your helicopter crashes and the mission takes a quick turn for the worse.

The island once housed an old Soviet base where people conducted research and harvested a new element called E-99. E-99 was once a promising tool for the Soviets, but it never came to its intended fruition. The island is now abandoned, and you start to experience flashbacks to 1959, when the operation on Katorga-12 was still well under way. The story starts out remarkably campy, but strong nonetheless.

Visuals:

Singularity was developed with the Unreal 3 engine. Singularity looks crisp; there’s not too many jaggies to report here. With that being said, the visuals look good technically, but they’re fairly bland on the whole. Character models are designed well enough, but they are forgettable.

Singularity isn’t a bad looking game; it’s just not something for the highlight reel.

Audio:

Singularity fares well in the listening sector. The musical score is appropriate and the weapons sound pretty good. One problem I had was that every time someone would open a dialogue with me, I had to jack up the audio, and with no subtitle option, this was a large problem for me.

I don’t know why, but the people who were in charge of voice actors thought it would be a great idea to use these terrible Russian accents. They are bad, and you hear them constantly throughout the game.

Gameplay:

Singularity isn’t your typical FPS, although it does tend to borrow some attributes from other games.

The shining light in Singularity is the Time Manipulation Device, or TMD. You get the TMD early on in the game and it is attached to your left hand. The TMD will allow you to age and de-age enemies and items.

It’s pretty cool to use the TMD on an enemy and watch him rapidly age into dust. On the other hand, you use your TMD to rebuild bridges, boxes and health caches. One downside is that you are very limited as to what items are age-able via your TMD.

You will be required to use your TMD to solve mini puzzles on several occasions. These puzzles are very easy and can be accomplished with little thinking. Most of these puzzles are solved the exact same way, and it doesn’t seem that there was much thought put into them.

Singularity gives you the opportunity to use a sizable arsenal to take on your foes. These weapons range from the typical shotgun all the way to a rifle that shoots guidable explosive rounds.

Throughout the game, you will have the opportunity to upgrade your weapons and your TMD, and give yourself perks. Some of these upgrades include larger capacity magazines, a gravity lift for your TMD and a larger health pack capacity perk. Upgrading your attributes is fun, but by the end of the campaign you are so overpowered that there’s not much of a challenge.

Singularity uses a health pack system. This is something first person shooters have been drifting away from for years, but in Singularity, it works well.

Singularity has a good number of cool set pieces, like a tanker that is quickly ageing and sinking as you fight your way off of it.

There are a few boss battles which are fun enough. Singularity has three endings. Each ending is triggered by your choice at the very end. The people at Raven were nice enough to set up the last checkpoint right before you make the game-ending decision, and it’s worth reloading to explore each possible ending.

There are two online multiplayer modes. The first is a team deathmatch mode; the other is a team-based territory mode. I played over Xbox LIVE, and it was pretty difficult to find a match. Singularity currently has a very small community following that won’t keep your attention for too long.

Round Up:

Singularity isn’t a bad game by any stretch of the definition; it just isn’t an exceptionally good game. The eight to 10 hour campaign is fun, but not worth replaying. The multiplayer portion is lacking, and probably won’t grab your attention for long. Singularity is a good game to play on a rainy day when you’ve exhausted your collection of first-person shooters. Singularity shouldn’t be at the top of your list, but it shouldn’t be exempt from it.