Puzzle Solved
The puzzle aspect in Singularity revolves around the TMD, though it is not as imaginative as you might think. At first, you will be repairing stairs and metal boxes to reach higher plateaus, and later you will be repairing stairs and metal boxes to reach higher plateaus. My point, it is repetitive. The first few times you will love the innovative feel, however, continuing to do so through the entire game feels lazy. It’s not just repairing stairs, you will also use the time bubble to slow giant fan blades a dozen times, or rebuild a broken crate to open a garage door. These “tricks” are fine in all, but all of them are repeated, losing its pizzazz. If Raven could have cooked up a few more variations with more time pulling of objects, Singularity would have really been cooking. Unfortunately, that is not the case and the puzzle solving with the TMD seems more like a gimmick than anything else.

Fighting without the TMD
The TMD is the icing on the cake, but we still have the cake to talk about, and in Singularity’s case, it is the combat. Directly in comparison Singularity feels like a diversification on Raven’s last title Wolfenstein. The mechanics are very arcadish and the enemies combative imminence is agressive, these guys will take you down in a heartbeat. To combat the opposing forces that mainly consist of foot soldiers, blue mutants, and little 'Half-Life' crabs, you will have a few man-stopping toys at your disposal. In this list, you will see a standard pistol, machine gun, and chiangun, along with a few innovative twists on familiar weapons like the built-in slow motion Sniper Rife, a controllable Grenade and Rocket Launcher. Each weapon does their part, and thanks to the handy upgrading stations conveniently placed around the map, you will be upgrading your weapon stats, improving their stopping power as you go.

Shooting
Without the puzzles and brief slow down “let me explain the story" side-stops, Singularity is a straight-up first-person shooter, and that is fine with me. The environments are extremely linear and if you manage to get turned around, you can use a ‘Chrono Ping’ to find the direction you should proceed. Mini-objectives are always clearly stated and no one should have any trouble blazing through Singularity. The game should last in average of 10hrs give or take with a nice surprise for the player at the end... three multiple endings that can exploited by loading your last save. I’m not going to spoil anything, but let’s say, the game is wide open for Raven to formulate a significant sequel.

Multiplayer
Included in the package are two multiplayer modes called ‘Extermination’ and ‘Creatures vs. Soldiers.’ The extermination mode is a capture defend scenario with the solders activating beacons and the monsters defending, and the other, ‘Creatures vs. Soldiers’ is a six-on-six Deathmatch with class based creatures and monsters. Each class has unique traits on both sides making this mode a little more interesting then your standard Deathmatch. Of course, most gamers will be loving the fact that you can play as the bad guys, but in my experience online, they are both respectably balanced. Even with the two substantial multiplayer modes, Singularity feels more like your traditional FPS with multiplayer tacked on. I was surprised I didn’t have more fun online. Maybe it’s the lack of TMD, or maybe its the lack of modes, but Singularity’s multiplayer portion is slightly disappointing.

Singularity isn’t going to blow your socks off, but it's not going to bore you to death either. The campaign takes awhile to get rolling, but once the first few chapters are over, you are good to go. The concept and delivery is what matters, and for a straight-up action oriented first-person shooter, this one runs like clockwork. Raven might not be the same ingenious masterminds from the past, but Singularity proves they still have some magic left. If you are a fan of first-person shooters, Singularity is worth look.

Reviewed by Downtown Jimmy | 07.21.10

		Unexpected horror element Quick paced shooter Timeline manipulation makes the game Fun- inventive weapons TMD Powers are a blast (literally) Upgradable weapons and TMD abilities Interesting monsters vs. human multiplayer Multiple endings are a nice surprise
		Too many environmental restrictions Lots of cheap scares Repetitive puzzles Needed more boss battles Monsters are more silly than scary

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