Video games tend to evolve and grow with time, while this means bigger budgets and ultimately better games, it also means that creativity and unique titles don’t get a chance to shine much, unless they are lower budget titles. Most game companies are too large, and games are too expensive to risk anything that isn’t proven. So it came as a surprise that Activision allowed Raven Software to create a FPS that wasn’t Call of Duty: 5 Modern Warfare 3, World War 2: The second day from the eyes of a post man working in France (Special Edition) Remake. As much as I would love to play the role of a postman during WW2, I’m glad they took a chance on a new IP and gave us Singularity, available for the PS3, PC and Xbox 360.

The setting and story remind me of a mix between BioShock, TimeShift and Wolfenstein, but instead of the Nazi, you are hunting down time traveling Russians. Seems a program in the Russian government was in the works to utilize a substance called E99 found in Katorga-12, located only on a tiny island in the mother land. This allows them to do some crazy stuff, like build amazing weapons and torture children. However research was halted when one of the top scientists was forced by Stalin to jump start the E99 device and things went poorly, the whole island “went away” and we jump to the present day, where you play the role of Captain Nathaniel Renko investigating an unusual radiation surge where the island used to be. Crash landing on the island after a powerful shock wave, you realize something is wrong and the adventure begins.

As you progress through the game, you discover many interesting and dark secrets about the Russian program, oddly told over notes, tape recorders and these strange time flashes that allow you to see ghostly visions from the past. It’s a strange blend of the Atlas Shrugged Futuristic Elite society where science and power rules and morals are thrown right out the window. The experiments in this island twisted man and time, into strange beasts and unpredictable forces, and the typical Russian themes of “everything is fine, don’t worry about it” comes off wonderfully in flash backs and corny promotional videos. This whimsical nature bounces off the spooky horror themes that drench this title in countless disturbing images, strange events and down right scary scenes. I jumped a few times playing this, and not just from cheap sudden noise scares.

The game mixes the slower paces survival horror themes with frantic action, the kind you would expect from Raven Software. Wild gun fights erupt with powerful weapons and gory explosions. Very few developers get gunplay right, but Raven Software is down right magical when it comes to making weapons feel right and fun to use. The enemies also respond properly to weapons, with missing limbs, exploded heads, stumbling around after flesh wounds, crawling away from serious injuries and all sorts of great animations. It’s a welcomed change from shooting helium filled balloon people with the ragdoll deaths most games use these days. You get some solid standard weapons, but the real fun comes from the E99 powered special weapons that let you control bullets from their point of view, move around bombs remotely or launch a never ending wave of bullets from the autocannon.

No! Not my grandpa!

Aside from weapons, you also get the time powers and RPG lite hero perks. The time powers allow you to manipulate time on E99 infused objects, aging or returning them to their normal state allowing you to solve some creative puzzles, along with a few standard “button pushing” uses. The game uses these powers wisely and makes you think of something else besides, flip this switch or find this key. The puzzles are never too complex, but never boring either. The main uses of the time element in this game come from the story based flash backs (and forwards I suppose) and the combat abilities like slowing time, aging enemies to dust and somehow using the gun to move things and shove people… with time I guess. Raven doesn’t bother explaining much of the technicals, which is nice, they basically just give you things because it sounds like fun to use, and it is for the most part.

Gosh, this review is getting long for a game that is not that complicated. Let me sum up a few things about this title.

1. You get to kill Russians, the evil kind.
2. Time traveling is complicated, just get in the Delorean with Doc Brown and enjoy it
3. The weapons are very satisfying and brutal
4. The game is spooky, funny and lush with details and sub stories
5. Raven makes fun games, this is their first chance in a long time to just focus on making a game they want, without making it meet any marketing criteria. This is a labor of love and it shows.
6. The multiplayer is fully fleshed out, allowing you to use all the weapons and powers, as well as play all the monsters and character classes. The multiplayer is nearly worth purchase price alone.
7. The game is fun, not complicated and keeps you engaged the entire time. It’s a great value and I would like to see more titles try new stuff like this, and less sequels.

So check out Singularity, but at least play until you start getting your powers and can customize your character a bit. The start is slow, but the game really picks up and you get into some crazy battles across time and space, fighting giant monsters on a train as it falls apart, raising a battleship and exploring it’s sunken halls and of course, spending hours looking for ammo, E99 upgrade points and hidden jokes. Singularity has it all.

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