Video Game Review: Singularity

Nowadays, it seems like shoot-em-up games come a dime-a-dozen, but most of them try to stand apart with some clever trick or gimmick.  In Singularity, the gimmick is that you have an experimental device that manipulates time and allows you to use it as a weapon.  Imagine being able to aim at a broken ladder, and reversing time on it, so that it bends and folds back into a usable shape.  Or, aim it at a box to age it instantly, causing it to collapse into a rusted old heap.  Better yet, aim it at a hapless Soviet bad guy, and watch him age into a skeleton, just like that guy from the ending of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.  Isn't that cool, or what?

The game is pretty darn fun.  It is pretty much more of the same by shooting game standards: you crawl through a handful of levels, confronting some waves of bad guys and creepy monsters.  You do get a unique assortment of weapons, including some fancy variants on rail guns, rocket launchers, and sniper rifles, all of which allow you to guide your projectiles to their targets.  The most unique thing is the fancy device that controls time, allowing you to send things and bad guys forward or backward in time.  The game is short (perhaps too short), it runs fast, and it's not too frustrating overall.

The story is pretty neat; you basically play a special forces dude who explores a lost island with the ruins of an old Soviet research station.  The story takes some pretty interesting twists and turns, as you constantly flip back and forth between the past and present to alter the future.  Time paradoxes occur constantly, but the game never really addresses the issue.  The story overall presents a pretty sobering theme that the more you mess with the timeline, the more hopeless things become.  You do get to chose between three different endings at the end, all of which presents a fascinating alternate-history scenario.  Still, the game doesn't offer much character development or that much of a thoughtful plot.

It is a neat-looking game with solid graphics quality.  Textures and renderings are a little rough around the edges, but still have some great-looking parts.  Level designs are pretty decent.  It can take a little bit of a learning curve to master the time-controlling mechanism and all its firing modes, especially when using it in tandem with your standard weapons (some of which are a little unwieldy as well), but once you get the hang of it, the controls are okay.  This game uses pretty stereotypical and over-the-top voice-work and writing.  Most settings, props, characters, creatures, and weapons look great.  Music is alright too.

There's nothing ground-breaking about this game, and it is pretty short, but it is a blast and it does have a few cool ideas.  For anybody who likes shooter games with a twist, this should be worth renting.

4/5 (Entertainment:  Very Good | Story:  Pretty Good | Game:  Pretty Good)