Activision hopes you'll have time for its upcoming first-person shooter Singularity. Developed by Raven Software (Quake 4, Soldier of Fortune), the game puts you in the shoes of a nameless soldier who crash lands on a mysterious island called Katorga-12. It turns out that the Russians run experiments there, all of them somehow tied into the Cold War. When you wake up, you find a device strapped to your arm and receive a simple hint: "Don't fight it, use it."
That device, the Time Manipulation Device or TMD looks like an advanced version of Nintendo's old Power Glove, complete with a foldout gauge that hangs beneath your fingers. However, this is no ordinary weapon. It's your key to finding out what's going on around the island, and possibly who gave you the TMD.
So far, we're aware of four functions you'll use with the TMD. The first and most convenient is the Pulse. Similar to Half-Life 2's Gravity Gun, it lets you pick up an enemy or object and then hurling it away. This comes in handy when surrounded by foes, as you can pick one up and launch the poor sap into his colleagues.
Next up is the Stasis. This allows you to pull an object towards you and freeze it in time. If an enemy hurls a grenade at you, your Stasis lets you hold it in place to prevent it from exploding. When you feel like dropping or hurling it back, you can easily kill your attackers.
Then comes the third feature, Rewind. You pick a particular object or enemy and rewind them back in time. Say there's a part of the level with a broken bridge, and you're unable to access the other side. No problem. Point the TMD at the bridge, hit Rewind and it rebuilds itself. In addition, you can take smashed up barrels and return them to their original state, filled with oil. These come in handy when you want to blow stuff up, such as doors or large groups of enemies. The time effect also lets you watch empty spaces fill with buildings, only to watch them crumble away.
Finally, Age is our favorite. By grappling an enemy or an object, you rapidly make time progress faster around them. For objects, you turn strong wood beams rotten, or make iron fences rust so you can get through them. The real guilty pleasure, however, comes from grabbing an enemy and making them age so fast that they become piles of bone and dust. It's creepy to watch, while at the same time a little satisfying.
All of these abilities are upgradeable. Over the course of the game, you'll power up your TMD's features to make you more efficient. Rewind becomes faster, aging goes quicker, Stasis lets you pick up heavier objects and Pulse lets you kill weak enemies almost instantly. You'll need all of these upgrades, as the game's later levels require them. One stage even pits you against a monster nearly one hundred times your size.
So far, Singularity looks like a winner. The game uses the Unreal Engine 3 technology and Raven Software put a lot of work into the game's design. The levels are great thus far, with lots of terrain to play around in.
Singularity is shaping up to be a smart, inventive shooter, and we cannot wait to invest some serious time playing it.
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