User Review : Singularity

Singularity

Review by ChronoJoe

Singularity is a video game developed by Activisions own, Raven Software. Singularity finds itself largely derivative, taking elements from, Time Splitters, Halo, Bioshock, Portal, Shadowrun, Left for Dead, and Ravens own previous titles. What sets this game apparent from Raven softwares previous titles, is that it's there first game in Unreal engine 3 (I believe).

The singleplayer starts with US forces finding a radiation spike, on a Russian Island, fearing another Chernobyl, you and Nathan Drake... uh, I mean a character who's vocals are performed by Nolan North, are dropped in to find out what's going on. Quickly things take a turn for the worst, and you find that this place is the location Russia have discovered, and been experimenting on a new element called 'E99' which posses time manipulation properties.

It's clear that things quickly took a turn for the worst, and whilst the Island is still under the control of US forces... it's initial residents have been transformed by the radioactive effects of an E99 blast. Quickly you find your place on the island, and essentially realise you need to save the world from these Russians who intend to conquer the world with E99.

I won't say much more on the story, as I found it pretty interesting, watching it unfold. In fact there was a fair bit I didn't keep up with, so I really need to play it again to fully understand everything.

Liked in singleplayer
Great atmosphere
Nice art direction, looks good most of the time
Unique, interesting story
Great gameplay, the FPS mechanics are much more fluid and generally fun than Bioshocks
Fun weapons, I say fun because they're not that unqiue, but they all handle beutifully. Reload animations look sweet, and the effects of the weapons on enemies are ever satisfying. Remember bioshock where to grab stuff with telekenisis, you have to have the telekenisis power out? all you need to do is press R3. This keeps means telekenisis can remain a fluid, fun part of combat, alongside standard FPS mechanics and time manipulation.
Great pacing, throughout the campaign I never found myself bored. The game constantly introduces new mechanics, weapons, or enemies which keep things interesting.
Epic bosses, the game does include a set of cool bosses, there are one or two of the extremely large variety, and other small ones that are just fun to kill.
Effects of time manipulation, as well as the time manipulation you can conduct yourself, the enviroment often ages, or transports you through time... this can create some real epic effects, like rooms that were empty suddenly full of Russians from the future, or seeing a enemy chase a ghost back in time, but then suddenly switching back and having that enemy now chasing you!
Linearity, unlike bioshock, the singleplayer is streamlined, and there's essentially no 'freeroaming', there's plenty opportunity to explore the section you're in So I felt the exploration and discovery elements were retained whilst not forcing players to backtrack. There's plenty to find, augmentation bluprints, weapon upgrades, notes, inscriptions, videos
Multiple endings, that are actually very, very different. One thing I hate about a lot of games is how they advertise multiple endings, but the endings are all pretty much the same. In singularity the ending you choose, the path you take, will have huge, unique impact on the entire world.

Disliked in Singleplayer
Time powers were kind of limited, the only slow down effect you have takes a 'bubble' form which isn't fantastically combat effective. I think it'd have been more fun, to have universal slow down effect, but maybe that'd have been overpowered. It is still great fun to play with though.
Unreal engine typical texture popin, not much of an annoyance but if you don't install the game it's more noticable. The games install is optional but it reminds you at the start that if you don't install, the game won't be running at it's best
Mediocre AI, they're not terrible, but there not great either. The monster AI is very compotent, but the Russians won't do much more than shoot at you. They won't flank you, sometimes they'll rush you. It's not terrible, I mean - it's better than games like Call of Duty.

All in all the singleplayer was a lot of fun. The gameplay was fun and endgadging throughout, and I was very happy with the story and how it concluded. I rarely finish a game then want to start it up, all over again, but because at it's heart Singularity is extremly fun to play - I did. In case your interested, the singleplayer lasts about 8-10hours. I didn't find that to be too long, or too short. It was just about right for the game.

Now as well as multiplayer, singularity offers a fully fledged, and unique multiplayer experience. Actually this might be something you've seen before with Left for Dead, but it's definitely going to be a unique experience to PS3 only players, and it's a lot of fun. It's essentially Super Powered humans, vs Monsters, the Humans have powers such as teleportation, shielding themself, reflecting damage, and healing other teammates.

Liked in Multiplayer
Fresh, I've only played something like this once before. Left for Dead, and even this was very different to that. So it was fun.
Balanced, even though the two teams are so far apart in terms of ability, they're pretty balanced
Fun abilities, from being a paracite that can burrow into enemies head, to being a human that can teleport through walls. Each class or monster is a lot of fun to play

Disliked in Multiplayer
No depth, whilst the game features perks, and numerous weapons. These are all unlocked at the start, nothing is left to unlock. That's fine I suppose. I mean you do rank up and there are badge type things to earn, for killstreaks and whatnot.
Only two modes, the only two modes present are extermination (objective based) and Humans vs Creatures, which is just TDM. It's probably a good thing though considering this game won't have a massive online population, so with just two modes it's easy to find a game rather than difficult to find a game across say, 10 playlists.

Overall, I admired how unique the multiplayer mode was, and found it did a much better job than Bioshock 2 did with it's multiplayer. It's a blast to play, maybe doesn't have the staying power of other FPS, but it's nice it's there to add a decent amount of lifespan to the title.

Summary

Singularity is lots of fun. What more is there to say. The multiplayer has a good story, which is great for scififans. Great gameplay, and good variety of weapons and enemies. There's little more you could ask for, honestly. Singularity is a loveletter to FPS fans everywhere, even bringing back a little nostalgia for me, from titles liKe Goldeneye and Wolfenstein. It might be derivative, but what it takes from other games, it improves upon and makes it's own.