Singularity Review

I remember seeing early footage of a game called Singularity two years ago at a pre-E3 Activision event held in a Los Angeles church.  As your brain tries to process that statement, let me catch you up on the story of Singularity.

 

Singularity takes place in present day with the supposition that the Russians, during the ramp-up to the Cold War, uncovered a special and new element for the periodic table called Element 99.  This new element had the power to manipulate time and space, but as the Russians found out, it also had the power to alter quite a bit more.  Anyone in contact with the element was mutated into horrible shells of their former selves, and continued use of the element caused rifts in time and various other side effects.  Five years into the project the Russians ordered an E99 bomb to be tested, but that test was met with catastrophic results.  The project was scrapped and the island of Katorga-12 was essentially written out of history.  However with present day technology very little remains buried for long, and soon a massive radiation spike is detected from this little island.  U.S. Special Forces are dispatched to the island of Katorga-12 to determine what exactly caused the radiation wave, as well as if there is any threat.  As the team approaches the island by helicopter a massive shockwave hits their chopper, forcing them down into the heart of the island.  While we

Not too long into the story, our protagonist quickly discovers that not all is as it seems on the island of Katorga-12.  Miniature rifts in time carry him into the past where he saves a man from a horrible death, thus setting in motion incredible and terrible changes in the future.  Your job is to determine the extent of the damage, travel backwards in time again, and somehow set things right.

 

The guys at Raven Studios have licensed the Unreal Engine 3 to build Singularity and it shows.  The game is beautiful to behold and will immediately call to mind such games as Bioshock, Gears of War, and others.  There is a great deal of debris and foliage covering the more devastated parts of the island, and the game does a decent job in terms of scale.  The engine really shines when you start manipulating time to repair or destroy objects.  Stairs will re-form, pulling themselves into proper position and ridding themselves of rust and age.  Similarly, you can cause some objects to age which will crush and tear them apart.  Some ammunition boxes are just smashed shells of their original form, but with a little manipulation can be made new and whole.  It

In terms of storyline, the game never really takes itself seriously and that

A good chunk of the way through the game you

Combat in Singularity is no joke.  These guys are not rejects from the Stormtrooper school of soldiering, and they will gun you down in a heartbeat if you aren

On the multiplayer side of the coin there are two modes entitled

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