Singularity

*250 word review submitted for Xbox 360 Gamer Magazines review section. Future reviews will be rather more detailed.*

The TMD aging process.

The first thing you’re bound to notice as you drudge through the abandoned hallways of research facility ‘Katorga 12’ is the odd sense of familiarity that grips you around 10 minutes in to the game. By the time you’ve reached the hour mark you start to wonder whether ‘Katorga 12’ was really intended to research the effects of newly discovered mineral ‘E99’ or was it investigating the effects of rehashed FPS mechanics on impatient gamers. The Cold War paranoia of Call of Duty, the vent crawling of Half Life, the audio logs and general atmosphere of Bioshock is all here and despite its slight unoriginality it does make for an enjoyable experience.

The weapons are your standard assault rifle, pistol, shotgun etc. which are all fun to use but Singularity’s main innovation is the ‘Time Manipulation Device’ or TMD. With it you can age enemies and objects, or reinvigorate destroyed objects, that are rife with E99 energy. Watching stairs and archways decay and rebuild before your eyes is very intriguing and the TMD does make for some fun (though often overused) puzzles. All men are created equal but those with time manipulating wrist watches are obviously more equal than others.

The story revolves around the time travelling exploits of US Air Force Pilot, Nate Renko, who is dropped into ‘Katorga 12’ following a downed American satellite. The often very engaging story that unfolds coupled with the fun mechanics make this a very worthwhile pick up, especially for its current low price.


Despite its slight unoriginality it’s very easy to become gripped by its story and is definitely worth the £10-15 asking price.


Verdict: 3/5

Format: Xbox 360, PS3, PC
Developer:  Raven Software

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