Singularity (Gameplay #3) - A Bridge Too Far
0Singularity is the "lost" FPS of 2010 which garnered a lot of positive attention from the mainstream press during the post-E3 lull in June and July of last year, but was quickly relegated to the bargain bins (both real and digital ones). I've been meaning to pick the game up for quite some time and finally did so during a weekend sale on Steam a few weeks ago.
Raven Software are obviously veterans of the shooter genre with an extensive ludography which most developers would kill for, but you do get the feeling nowadays that the studio is languishing in obscurity compared with the glory days of Heretic, Hexen or even Star Trek: Elite Force. Wolfenstein was a passable shooter but as with Quake 4 (and presumably also Modern Warfare 3, which they're allegedly somewhat involved with) it gave the impression of merely being a viable way to pay the bills rather than a unique and exciting creative endeavour for the studio.
With this in mind, it's almost heart-warming to play a shooter by Raven which involves a completely original IP rather than reiterating on someone else's cash cow. Singularity has a fun and predictably mind-boggling time travel-based premise backed up by unique object manipulation abilities which are somewhat reminiscent of the "destroy and rebuild" elements of the recently released Red Faction: Armageddon (but much more wacky, in a good way). Beyond that, Raven's game features very solid shooter mechanics with a selection of fairly satisfying weapons. The drab rundown science facilities may not be worthy of any art or level design awards, but the atmosphere is reasonably good and the actual time travelling help mix things up a bit. Overall, from the hours I've played of the game so far I'd say Singularity is well worth checking out at the discounted price it should undoubtedly be available for at this point.