Singularity (Xbox 360) Review
Posted by Adam Larck on 07.30.2010
Can Activision’s summer shooter tide you over until the fall? Find out inside.
Title: Singularity
Publisher: Activision
Developer: Raven Software
Genre: FPS
Players: 1 (2-12 Online)
Rated: M for Mature
While Activision released a big name title this summer with Transformers: War for Cybertron, they let Singularity slide under the radar. However, Singularity brings a solid shooter to the table, even if you have seen a lot of the mechanics in the game before.
Let me expand on what I said above. Almost every mechanic in this game has been in previous games. The biggest contributor to the game is BioShock. The environment feels the same, just out of water, the Time Manipulation Device takes the place of Plasmids and there’s even audio recordings and some videos to watch while going through the game.
Half-Life 2’s gravity manipulation is also borrowed by the TMD, which is the game’s biggest selling point. However, the TMD does more than just manipulate gravity on certain items. It can age and renew objects and enemies, replaces your melee, creates deadlocks that slow down time in an area, change enemies into mutants and more. Most of these functions use up energy, but does replenish over time or a vial can be used to replenish it fully, much like Eve in BioShock. Towards the end of the game an upgrade also gives you unlimited TMD use.
Singularity has players controlling Nate Renko as he and other American soldiers go to Katorga-12 in Russia to find out why activity has picked back up there. Katorga-12 uses E-99 instead of other nuclear materials, and the substance has transformed many people living there into mutants.
When you first get to the area, you have a flashback soon after that has you changing the past and affecting the future drastically. While I won’t say what the change is, you spend most of the rest of the game trying to correct the mistake and stop Russia, which has become the world ruler.
You will travel to the past more as you go through the game, to change events or try to save people. Sometimes it will change the look of things in the present, while other times it will help keep a person alive you need to help you later on.
Besides using the TMD, players can carry two guns. The game has the standard fare of guns, such as the pistol, assault rifle, shotgun, sniper (which can slow down time for a short amount of time) and more. The guns can be switched out at weapon storage areas that store most guns you’ve picked up, or can be picked up off the ground. The weapon storage areas will also let you upgrade guns with Weapon Tech you can find or buy at Augmenters.
Some guns, like the Seeker, can’t be stored and are only picked up for short periods of time. The Seeker allows you to zoom in and fire the gun, but then slows down time and allows you to control the bullet to place it where you want it to hit before it explodes. As long as it hits an enemy, it’s an instant kill.
The Augmenter allows you to upgrade yourself with E-99 tech you find laying around in chests or on the ground in the fairly linear areas. You can unlock more upgrades by finding bio-formulas and blueprints lying around. They allow you to upgrade how many health packs you can hold, your health, picking up more E-99, recovering TMD and more. Once again, this felt very similar to upgrading with Adam in BioShock.
The last things I want to focus on in the single player are the mutants, which, besides the Spetsnaz soldiers, are the only enemies you’ll run into. At first, they just run at you and sometimes lunge at you. Later on, though, Zeks will teleport around at you, and some variants of the Zeks will be seen as well. Reverts will also be found that are blind and can be avoided by sneaking if you don’t want to fight them.
The mutants are also normally the bosses you fight towards the end of each area, which really helps to break up the gameplay from just normal running and gunning. Once again, though, these mutants reminded me of Splicers from BioShock, except for the boss battles.
With all these comparisons to other games, it may seem like this game doesn’t have a lot of redeeming qualities. That’s not true, though. Singularity takes these mechanics and combines them together without losing anything in transition. The game offers a solid single player experience, and even a fun multiplayer, even if the balancing isn’t there.
The multiplayer has you controlling either soldiers or mutants in two different modes. In Creatures vs. Soldiers, it’s just a standard team deathmatch, while Extermination has the Soldiers trying to capture beacons and the mutants trying to stop them.
Each side has four different classes that can do different things to help teams out. Probably the class I had the most fun with on the mutant side was the Phase Tick, which can take control of enemies if you can latch onto them and take them over without getting killed. Besides the classes, each side has various weapons and perk choices that can be made as well.
The multiplayer is fun, but the mutants can seem overpowered at times. A lot of times I would spawn in as a soldier to proximity mined areas or mutants standing right outside the spawns.
Overall, the graphics look good, but hallways can look similar to many other hallways you pass in the game. The graphics do a good job showing different phase areas, flashback of past events and where a gravity puzzle will take place.
The sound is also well done for the various characters you run into. Sound cues are also used for the various mutants to give you a hint on when you may run into a Revert or Phase Tick. Plus, the audio recordings can give insight into what happened in the past, along with enemies you may run into later in the game.
Pros
The TMD is a great device that’s fun to use.
Game gives a solid single player shooter.
Fun to be the various mutants in multiplayer.
Cons
You’ve seen most of the mechanics in the game in other games.
Multiplayer does have balancing issues.
Environments look the same when inside buildings.
The 411:
Singularity offers a good shooter for people that want a single player shooter to go through. The multiplayer is fun as well, but balancing issues can make the mutants be too powerful in many matches. While many elements in the game have been seen before, Singularity manages to tie them together and produce an enjoyable experience. This shooter is one of the better summer titles this year, and shooter fans should give this a try.
Graphics
7.5
The environments look good, but can seem a bit repetitive inside of buildings. Putting the environments aside, though, the enemies look good, and the TMD can really produce some nice aging effects.
Gameplay
8.5
Whether its BioShock, Half Life or other games, you’ve seen the mechanics this game has to offer. However, Singularity puts the mechanics together great and really makes a fun shooter to play.
Sound
8.0
The voice acting is well done, and background can be given on events through audio recordings and videos. Plus, the sound can be used to give warnings about what type of mutants lie ahead.
Lasting Appeal
7.5
The single player offers around eight hours to play, plus a fun multiplayer to try out as well. But, unless the multiplayer grabs your attention, there won’t be much for you to do after beating the game.
Fun Factor
8.5
The TMD offered the most fun here, whether it was being used to solve puzzles, age enemies or transform them into mutants. Shooter fans will have a great time with this game while going through Katorga-12.
