Singularity – The MMOMFG Review
Justified or unjustified, Activision and Raven Software’s Singularity is probably a game that was hardly a bleep on everyone’s radar prior to its release. The game didn’t receive the typical pre-release buzz that most FPS games are accustomed to. And when there’s no buzz floating around, that is typically bad news bears for the respective title, which often leads to a flop of a game. If I weren’t in the business of Games Writing, I don’t even know if I would have recognized the title on release day. Sometimes though, a game that slips under the radar turns out to be a massive hit, garnering something of a cult following for those brave enough to take a chance on a title that is anything but original and stayed relatively quiet leading up to its release. Where does Singularity fall on this paradigm between flop and stellar title? Read on to find out.
What’s Good
Pace yourself – Singularity starts out slow. Almost painfully slow. You start your adventure as Special Forces agent Nathaniel Renko sent in to explore the source of an unusual radiation surge off the coast of Russia. After a vicious shockwave leaves you stranded from your party on Katorga-12, the adventure really starts as you are welcomed to your own personal hell. With no weapons and no idea what the hell just knocked you out of the sky you set out to meet up with the one squad-mate who has managed to survive. I’d venture to say for a good 10-20 minutes you wander around an abandoned facility of K-12 with no real clue of what you are doing, again with no weapons or enemies encroaching. Rest easy, this type of build up is not often seen in FPS games, and before you know it you will have mutant freaks of all sorts crawling up your ass. Even when you start receiving weapons, the game feels a bit slow, enemies feel overwhelming, and you start to wonder why you’re trudging through. The mystery and intrigue of K-12 is that little piece of pie that keeps us going though, and before you know it the introduction of the Time Manipulation Device (TMD) saves us from what would otherwise be a bland and fairly boring FPS. Upon receiving the TMD the story and gameplay really open up and there’s no looking back. While the slow paced start may turn off a few people, the type of progression seen in Singularity is crucial not only to the gameplay but the story as well, and looking back really made for one of the best campaigns I have played through in some time.
Put your hiking boots on – One of the great things you will find in Singularity is the encouragement of exploration. I would argue that you could just nickel and dime your way through the campaign in roughly 6 hours, but if you take the scenic route you’ll end up with a much more impressive and comprehensive 8-9 hour campaign. Don’t get me confused though, Singularity, like most FPS, is relatively linear, but there are a number of treasures hidden in large rooms, secret air ducts, and other crevices to explore. What you will find, should you take the time, are a plethora of notes, voice recordings, diagrammed chalkboards, and short movie clips left behind by the victims of K-12 that provide a much larger scope on what happened and why the Singularity is so dangerous. Oh, and you will unearth more than enough Element-99 (E-99 allows you to upgrade the TMD) and weapon upgrades that will allow you to get the most out of your weapons and the TMD. All in all, if you want a more comprehensive and more fulfilling campaign I thoroughly recommend taking the time to stop and smell the decayed roses.
Hide and Seek – It’s been a good couple of weeks for gun fanatics. Just the other week, Transformers delivered some impressive adaptations on familiar weapons, and now Singularity puts those to dust. You have the typical run of the mill FPS guns such as the assault rifle, shotgun, and revolver, and though they may not be all that impressive firepower wise, theses E-99 enhanced weapons sure are pretty to look at. Things really get exciting when you first take up arms with the Seeker and start laying waste to your enemies via user guided exploding bullets. I was amazed and all too satisfied to discover the ease of maneuverability of the user controlled bullets and was the most fun I’ve had taking down enemies since ripping Locusts in half with chainsaws. The RLS-7 Rocket Launcher uses a similar technique allowing users to guide missiles via crosshair, a comparable yet not quite as satisfying a feature as actually controlling a bullet via third person camera. The Dethex Explosive launcher is also a fun little carnage toy. You can use it as a conventional grenade launcher, or you can be more crafty in your havoc wreaking by holding the left trigger and firing which issues a steerable grenade. Consider it a little RC-car of disastrous proportions.
We obviously can’t forget about the TMD, a weapon in and of itself. Use the TMD to capture rockets and thrown grenades and sling them back to whence they came to your enemies’ displeasure. Perhaps the most enjoyable use of the TMD is aging Reverts and turning them into a walking bomb. Or, even more gratifying is reverting a soldier (turning him into a Revert) then aging him (turning him into a walking bomb) where he will run right dab smack in the middle of other soldiers effectively ridding any threat as chunks fly about the air.
What’s Bad
Multiple endings – User controlled endings can be effective and I usually enjoy them, for the most part. However, I find it extremely difficult to get even remotely excited about multiple endings in a straight up FPS game. For the entire campaign you are being directed in a certain way, your every move and choice pretty much laid out for you. Then you get to the end and you all of a sudden have options. I was tremendously confused by the route the developers took with the ending of the game, and as a result I spent more time trying to figure out how I wanted the game to end rather than simply enjoying the ending to a pretty stellar campaign. Granted, once you finally choose an ending you can go back to a save point and find out the other two. But, once I chose my ending, which I won’t spoil, I found I really didn’t care what the other two endings were.
Flings aren’t just for summer – The multiplayer portion behind Singularity may be recognized by some as extremely familiar to Left 4 Dead 2 wherein one side controls human and the opposing side controls mutant. Regardless of the similarity, stepping into the shoes, or feet, or claws of the enemy is always a fun bout. Fun as it may be to be a giant Radion or exploding barrel throwing Zek, with only one game mode (territory/turf war battle royale), I don’t see this fling lasting for any extended period of time.
Worth Remembering
All the fun you had disposing of those enemies, whether it be at the mercy of your firearms or TMD. The creativity and options of how to go about taking down enemies is endless, and if you give it a chance you will revel in the possibilities. Some pretty epic boss battles were also a nice surprise, pending you don’t poo yourself upon seeing them.
Worth Forgetting
The limited multiplayer options. As word gets out about how great of a game Singularity is I imagine (hope) developers will look to DLC as a means to beef up the multiplayer modes. I’m keeping my fingers crossed!
Singularity is by no means a unique gaming experience, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. It is a finely blended collection of multiple games that we have all come to know and love: namely an upgrade/ability system similar to Bioshock, gunplay reminiscent of the Call of Duty franchise, and a multiplayer element that is straight out of Left 4 Dead 2. Even the story itself is a bit of a hodge-podge, containing elements of horror spicing atop a bed of really tasty sci-fi and historical fiction. You will be hard-pressed to find a better FPS that has launched this year, and Singularity is the perfect summertime thriller for those looking to escape the heat.
* MMOMFG was provided a review copy of Singularity for the Xbox 360
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Nice one.
