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Singularity


Badnik Mechanic

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We did have a topic on this, but search is showing nothing so....

Singularity is a first person shooter that puts you in the shoes of... a man from a US Special Forces team, during a satilite sweap over a Russia island named Katorga-12 there is a massive blackout from radiation, with the Russians keeping quiet and fearing a nuclear disaster you are sent in to find out whats going on. On the way there is a massive energy surge and your helicopter crash lands. As you progress through the initial part of the game, more energy surges occur, this time they give you halucinations and at one point you travel back in time to the 1950s were you see Russian scientists and soldiers amidst a disaster.

Suddenly your thrown back to present day, things look the same but they've changed, Russia is now the world government and communism has spread. Basically on the island they were conductive experiements with a new element called E-99, the hope for a clean super powerful unlimited energy source by manipulating space and time. However, there was a disaster and the ripples have affected all time. But, the radiation has had a harmful effect on the people that lived and worked on the island, it's changed them in all manner of ways.

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Been playing the game for around 3 hours now and I'm pretty impressed with it so far. The initial stages are quite amazing, for the first half hour you don't have a gun or even shoot things, yet it's just breathtaking taking in the erie atmosphere of the former soviet base now in ruin, everything about it creeps you out, from the dropped dolls and teddy bears as panicked children attempted to evacuate the schools, from a simple wire hitting a flagpole, you want to explore this place before shooting it to bits.

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I've always said that Bioshock isn't a great FPS, but it's a great game for creating an atmosphere, there are times when playing Singularity when I'm thinking, it's here, it's got the atmosphere and it's a better first person shooter too! So why is nobody going ape for it? Sadly what singularity lacks is an iconic monster or something to make it clearly stand out, Bioshock has the big daddys and sisters, Singularity has monsters, they're great monsters, but they could easilly be from any FPS in all honesty. However, Singularity does create a great atmosphere, it's constantly raining, the water effects are great, then suddenly when theres an 'event' the whole environment turns to fire, theres a constant sense of "It might happen now" as you play.

There are some truely shocking moments very early on which add to the atmosphere and give you a constant feeling of doom and dread. For instance, theres a scene were you enter a classroom and a flashback shows ghostly images of children and a teacher, suddenly alarms ring theres a bright light, the kids scream and hide under their desks, then the screen goes white, your now back in the present day and you see the classroom with tiny human remains under each of the desks. Another example is in the apartments, you read a note about how "Daddy has a mark on his back, and mummy screamed" then you see a flashback of daddy looking at babys cot, not nice.

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When it comes to the monsters, I'm having a lot of fun, they're very clevery designed and seem to behave differently, you can blast off a limb or two, some will curl up in pain, others will crawl at you, some will just drop dead. But it's not just monsters, theres also Russian Special Forces running around too.

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Also, a departure from a lot of first person games, you have a health bar and med packs are back, not since Bioshock brought them back have I seen a FPS with a med pack, quite suprising since this is an Activision game eh?

Oh yes, Activision, Activision has borrowed a lot from Call of Duty in this game, even down to the "Saving" icon, the games crouch prompt, even the oppening FMV looks like it's from Call of Duty 4! Seriously, it's the exact same intro except for theres no cargo ship! As is the pause menu it's the exact same menu. But that said, whilst it's borrowed the odd thing here and there, it should not be compared to COD at all, it's a very different game. For one thing, unlike COD and even Bioshock, theres moments in the game where you can explore rooms and depart from the 'path' sometimes it's not obvious where you need to go and this opens the world up for some exploring, and you will want to explore this world.

The time manipulation... well... been playing for 3 hours... still don't have the device... close to it though, lol in fact on my pause screeen it's in the next room.

I would seriously pick up this game because it's very very good so far and it has a great atmosphere.

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I'm interested in the concept, but I hear it's short and a lot of people say it loses steam halfway through and has poor multiplayer and replay value. I don't like to rent games, because I usually end up wanting to play them again after I give them back, but I'm probably going to wait at least until the price falls.

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So I finished the game this afternoon. It's not a short game, I just couldn't put it down. After I picked up the time manipulation device the whole game changes, whilst a few of the uses for it are a bit 'meh' like repair the stairs so you can keep going or age the lock on the door. There are some great puzzles that use it.

The first puzzle is genius, it really is, when I figured out the solution and saw the world manipulate I thought "No way! Thats genius!" sadly it's so genius they decide to use it again and again and again.but the next puzzle is also genius! But then they do it again... and again...

But that said, some of the one shot puzzle rooms are again, quite amazing. Theres one stage that has you in a gas mask, your vision is slightly obscured and you are running out of air. So when you reach this puzzle room you have to really use your old noodle and use it quick, again the solution is really clever, it has you traveling back and forward in time to solve, a very clever idea.

As you go through the game your time device gets new abilities such as the ability to slow down time, age enemies and create fields where time is totally slowed down but around it everything is at normal pace. There really is more than one aproach to dealing with foes and obstructions.

Howeve, what could and should have been the next big FPS has a problem, remember that atmosphere I told you about? Well it's gone, buy the time you get the time device it just looks like any other FPS. But that said there are some great moments, at one point you raise a sunken ship, however as you explore it, the effects of your device start to wear off and it starts to rust before your eyes, it's really cool to watch.

Multiplayer, well theres an issue with the matchmaking, but theres an odd fix, if you can't get into a game, just keep exiting the matchmaking message and then pick public match again, chances are you'll be put into a game much quicker. otherwise it's quite fun, mainly I've been playing a capture the areas mode, one team defends the other captures, the maps are ok, but you can be who you like and each character has a special ability or power that helps and makes the battle interesting.

I would definately give this one a try, it's quite a clever game and the plot is pretty decent for a new IP. Not such a bad little title, if it does feel a bit like Modern Warfare at times.

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When I first saw the game case in my local ASDA, I thought it was a game about being single :lol: then I looked at the back of the case and it looks pretty interesting, but like Timeshift, it isn't getting the attention it deserves. :o

Nowadays, FPS's are getting treated like the music industry, no matter how talented you are, you'll never get noticed as much as you should unless your part of the big names out there. :angry:

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Yeah, I've seen quite a bit about this game and have been interested, but I think I'll wait for the price to drop a bit first. I do like my atmopheric games (my love of RE, Silent Hill, Condemned and BioShock, amongst others, should see to that), so this might have to be worth a shot at some point.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I 'discovered' this game earlier today, I actually can't wait to check it out because the only FPS games I play are Half-Life 2, Bioshock, Quantum of Solace and The Conduit on Wii, as everything else I can get on PS3 seems to be the same Call of Duty rubbish (or a Call of Duty type game dressed up as an alien-shooter, where you're still standing behind cover and picking enemies off from miles away for ages before moving on and doing more of the same... where's the fun in this?), so when I stumbled on this I was definitely pleased and excited. Also the fact that it's by Raven software is a good thing, I loved Heretic/Hexen and Quake 4.

Thanks for posting your write-up about it! It's very helpful and has made me want the game more. :)

Edited by DistantJ
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If you decide to go and play the online mode (for trophies mainly, theres no other reason to play it) and you have problems finding games, let me know because theres a number of things you can do to 'fix that.'

Oh yes, and there is a very easy way to do the tick section when you fall through the roof... trust me you'll know it when you get there.

But as for your issues with FPS clones.

Most of the time the fighting is very close quarters, the monsters especially are all close fighting. Even if you spot them at range, some monsters have the ability to phase out of time, effectively become invincible, this allows them to get very close to you.

But even the soldiers, you'll often turn the corner and bump right into one or two, making cover very hard to find. Not to mention that cover isn't that much use in the game, the first time you go back to 1955 you're fighting soliders in a corridor (you will die on this bit), there is some cover, but it won't help you, not really.

Edited by Gnasher
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  • 3 weeks later...

That's great to know, thanks! :)

I really miss close-quarters FPS games, it seems they're just not cool anymore or something because nobody is making them. :(

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There are a number of 'light gun' (on-rails shooter) games lined up for PlayStation Move, I know 'The Shoot' and 'Time Crisis' are in there, and Dead Space 2 for PS3 includes a PS Move-enabled port-up of Dead Space Extraction.

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