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Singularity Updated Impressions

By Brian Ekberg

You can't turn enemies into babies, but your time-bending powers in Raven's upcoming sci-fi shooter are impressive nonetheless.

Wouldn't the process of time reversal, when used as a weapon against an enemy, simply revert him or her back to an infant? It's a question that Raven Soft, the developers behind the upcoming sci-fi first-person shooter Singularity, might have considered at one point in the game's production. As it stands, using the time manipulation device (TMD) against an enemy will simply cause him to revert and eventually evaporate into dust. As we found out during our most recent look at Singularity at Activision's recent pre-E3 press briefing, your control over the time stream will result in encounters that are unlike most FPS fights.

The level on display during the demo featured the downed USAF pilot Nate Renko--the hero of the story--exploring the mysterious Russian island that has been infected by the element E-99, which is the source of the time-twisting narrative. Your goal is to find your crashed plane and obtain the black box; to help you along, you're being guided through the island's dangers by Yuri, an old Russian soldier.

The TMD is the game's chrono-twisting heart, and as you explore the area, you'll need it as a weapon, as a means to solve puzzles, and simply to stock up on ammo. For instance, you might reverse-age a barrel, restoring it to its former explosive self, and then toss it at an enemy. Or you might reverse-age an empty ammo case so it ends up filled with a stockpile of ammo to replenish your supplies.

The TMD isn't just useful on objects; it's also a deadly weapon. You can use it directly on enemies, as mentioned above. Furthermore, you can use it to catch rockets or grenades in midair and fire them back at opponents. You'll also earn new gadgets as you go, such as a chronolight, which lets you easily find objects that can be manipulated with the TMD.

The highlight of the Singularity demo featured a chaotic firefight in which you have to use every TMD trick in the book to defeat enemies, including creating temporary time-stasis bubbles that can protect you from bullets. Enemies come in several varieties, and in addition to standard gun-toting baddies, you'll periodically run into Zecks, which are monstrosities that have a degree of temporal control themselves. Zecks can teleport from one spot to the next, which makes them tough to spot, and they can even briefly phase out of time, essentially making them impervious to harm for a brief moment.

Between echo events--ghostly replays of traumatic events that occurred on the island during the 1950s--and using your TMD to completely restore the facade of a ruined building (with the help of a handy electrical boost), the game's notion of flexible time seems to be a central theme that will hopefully keep its first-person shooter mechanics feeling fresh. We'll have more on Singularity throughout the rest of the year, and be sure to check out the game during GameSpot's complete coverage of E3 2009.

By Brian Ekberg

25 Comments

  • SolidTy

    Posted Dec 1, 2010 3:00 am GMT


    I like this game, as I own it!

  • sithwarrior2003

    Posted Jun 29, 2010 6:17 am GMT

    Actually guys, I bet you all it's rated M. Blood gushes out of enemies, their heads actually detach from their bodies. This game is literally a mix of Half-Life and F.E.A.R. Why (or how), you ask? Simple, that device you see is more like a gravity gun. You can move many objects (like in Half Life). The portals you see aren't as common as you think, and you cannot create them (like you can in Portal). You can stop time, but only in certain objects, or in bubbles.

    This game is also like F.E.A.R. in that there are sections that you have combat (which might be a bit scary, but not really) and then you have the scary parts, which don't have you do anything but be freaked out (like in FEAR). I give this game an easy 9 out of 10 and I assume Gamespot will likely rate this at LEAST a 8.5 (if not higher). This game is beautiful and a fun play with a good plot.

  • Conduras

    Posted Jun 24, 2010 12:33 pm GMT

    @ thunderhorse55 actually you can blow their heads off

  • SplahhMonkey

    Posted Jun 15, 2010 11:50 pm GMT

    I love any game based in a Russian area lol i loved the stalker series

  • SplahhMonkey

    Posted Jun 15, 2010 11:49 pm GMT

    @SSBFan12 Why pass on this game? It looks spectacular! Why not get this and the other games?

  • andrew_ribbons

    Posted Jun 13, 2010 5:03 pm GMT

    Looks good! I love Raven, Wolfenstein gave me thrills :3

  • Wannie_The_Sane

    Posted Jun 2, 2010 9:10 pm GMT

    @Lswgamer: They kinda reminded me of the portals from Prey.

  • thunderhorse55

    Posted Jul 14, 2009 7:48 pm GMT

    wow. this sounds really interesting and unique. i hope its rated T, and not M. i cant imagine there would be any blood, its not like your gonna be impaling enemies and shooting things

  • SQUALL20XX Site Greeter

    Posted Jun 9, 2009 1:34 pm GMT

    Amazing game

  • SSBFan12

    Posted Jun 6, 2009 5:49 pm GMT

    I might pass on this game cause there are alot of other games that I am going to get.

  • Lswgamer

    Posted Jun 4, 2009 11:30 am GMT

    those time bubbles, seem strangely familiar... maybe from portal? anyway it looks awesome, though it seems easy. just target an enemy and vaporize him.I hope they tough up things a little before lauching, but overall seems cool.

  • DarkNeoBahamut

    Posted Jun 3, 2009 1:48 pm GMT

    ..mmmmmkay

  • pakhair

    Posted Jun 3, 2009 6:39 am GMT

    Still Confused about this game...............

  • Junior_AIN

    Posted Jun 2, 2009 10:14 pm GMT

    Could turn out good, I'll check back.

  • dual_barrel

    Posted Jun 2, 2009 2:58 pm GMT

    What's this? Timeshift meets Doom meets Raven Soft?

  • gmax Site Greeter

    Posted Jun 2, 2009 2:24 pm GMT

    Might be a disorienting mechanic at first.

  • CyberAltair5

    Posted Jun 2, 2009 11:52 am GMT

    This can't come fast enough.

  • foojam

    Posted Jun 2, 2009 11:33 am GMT

    It reminds me of Timeshift. I trust Raven, so this is going to rock.