Singularity

Singularity for PC, X360 and PS3 is a first-person action game created by Raven Software – a developer popular for the Soldier of Fortune series, Star Wars Jedi Knight, the fourth installment in the Quake series, and Wolfenstein.

Plot

The player assumes the role of an American soldier belonging to special forces. The protagonist was sent on a mission to gather data on a mysterious, post-Soviet island. After an unfortunate landing, the protagonist discovers that the place is ruled by strange forces capable of traveling in time to the 1960s and back. The player's goal is to solve the mystery behind an unsuccessful experiment, which allegedly had a huge impact on the course of the Cold War. Also, the player has to deal with opposition trying to seize control over the powerful properties of Element 99.

Mechanics

In Singularity for PC, X360 and PS3, the key gameplay element is the Time Manipulation Device, which is given to the player at the beginning. Using it, the player is capable of altering the age of objects and enemies. This piece of incredible technology can restore a rusty bridge or a barrel to its former “glory” within just a second, or make an enemy grow older suddenly for instance. The Time Manipulation Device allows the player to solve plenty of interesting puzzles and scope out information left in the written form in many places. By making the time go back, the player listens to cassettes or reads damaged documents for example.

Apart from that, the player stumbles on time portals many times during the mission. These take him back to the 1960s. Thus, more than once, the player has to perform a given task in the past in order to change the future and unlock further passage or find another solution. Many other technologies are present on the island, such as Deadlock, which stops the passage of time in the vicinity of its user. The player encounters weird-looking creatures and mutants as well, which manifests the creators' specific approach to the gameplay formula present in this game; They were created as a result of space-time anomalies and are usually very dangerous. Some of them, called apparitions and phantoms are the echoes of past events and deliver certain clues from time to time to the player.

Technical aspects

Singularity for PC, X360 and PS3 utilizes the efficient Unreal Engine 3.0, which makes use of many advanced special effects. It is definitely worth mentioning a visible aesthetic difference that exists between the two timelines that make up the story.

Last updated on 14 June 2010