There seem to be two types of FPS available to play. There are the ones that try to take real world events and real weapons and make a statement, and there are the ones that are as mental as the Mad Hatter after he’s had a sharp blow to the head. Singularity falls into the second camp and after I tell you the story you’ll know why.
Set on a Russian island called Katorga-12, you play as an American soldier who crash lands after an EMP downs your helicopter. Unfortunately for you it’s also the site of lots of experiments which has turned people into monsters. Luckily, they were also experimenting with time travel and lots of new gadgets and gizmos which you get to play with, with rather enjoyable results.
Straight away you’ll think you’re playing Bioshock. The environments and characters all have a similar look right down to the glowing pick-ups and audio tapes scattered all over the place which give extra info about where you are. Of course, that’s not a bad thing if you happen to love Bioshock. Then there are the weapons. There are the normal guns such as pistols, shotguns and rifles but also sniper rifles that can slow down time and then some handy things to play with once you start jumping around through time.
The first thing you’ll get is the TMD or Time Manipulation Device which attaches to your arm and lets you age or regress objects and people. Point it at objects to repair staircases or age safes to get into their contents or even at people to age them into skeletons. There’s also a weapon called the seeker which fires bullets round corners Redeemer-style and takes enemies’ heads off in gory slow-motion.
There’s nothing here to really suck you into the game or engage you in the story, although travelling through time to change history can be quite intriguing. What’s really fun about his game is it doesn’t actually take itself too seriously and is just a lot of fun to play as you fight monsters and Ruskies and generally have fun playing about with experimental weapons.
If you like first-person shooters and are aching to shoot things in the face over the summer then Singularity isn’t a bad choice at all. It gets a very good 7 out of 10.
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Related: Bioshock, Far Cry 2 review, Singularity review on Youtube
