Singularity Review

Nice one. Thank you Activision. As captain Nate Renko, you are in a mission to investigate the secret Russian island Katorga 12, since an American satellite went down trying to survey the island. The chopper crashes due to an electromagnetic explosion trapping Renko and a mate on the island (Devlin or something). As the story follows, the game teleports Renko through time back to 1955 when russians in a race for weapon domination, discovered a new element, E99, only found on Katorga 12. Renko gets to save an officer named Demichev in the past, which becomes the most powerful dictator in the world, thus changing the normal course of history. Back in the present, Demichev captures Renko, kills Devlin, Renko escapes and allies with Kathryn, which is a MIR 12 organization that wants to stop Demichev. Renko gets the upgradable TMD glove device, which controls time on objects and other stuff, like aging or renewing objects and creatures/soldiers. There are several weapons here, specially modified for the game, like 6 or 7. Some weapons have the ability to control the projectile's direction. Renko travels back in time to save Dr. Barisov by killing Demichev, but Demichev survives. Get a E99 bomb, charge it with E99 energy, blow up the energy tower, kill some mutant humanoid creatures, listen to records of people that lived in those times, read some notes of the same people, kill some more soldiers of Demichev, kill a really big creature, renew a big ship, named The Pearl, renew a big train, a big bridge, and you're done. Not in that specific order. Keep your eyes open for upgrades and E99 tech, along with ammo, health packs, and stimpacks. At thirst the game is really scary, in the village, because you don't know what to expect, then it becomes obvious as the enemies become more diverse and easier to kill. Control Some local time stopping bubble called Deadlock to stop time in a limited area, to kill enemies or to pass through. Lift and throw objects like in Half Life 2. Renew writings on the wall and hidden clues left by Ranco which will make sense at the end of the game. In the end we have 3 endings:
1. Good ending, kill Demichev, travel back in time and kill yourself, not Demichev again, cause it doesn't change nothing - the result is that Renko finds himself at the beginning of the mission, but the statue changed - now is Dr Barisov with TMD device on his hand, and surprise, your mission is canceled;
2. Bad ending - kill Barisov, and Renko will dominate the world through wars and terror, using special weapons and the creatures by his side. Soon the dominance of Renko will rival the dominance of Demichev, thus rising one against the other with a new war.
3. Not so bad ending - kill both, Renko disappears, Russia is divided, war begins between nations,MIR 12 will become strong and try to stop him, a new leader rises in America that has special abilities and will dominate.
Surprise for all, Kathryn survived, and she is stuck in 1955, but is fatally wounded, with her last breath she writes about Renko and his mission in some book, thus noting the beginning of MIR 12. I have to say, it reminds of Wolfenstein, but since that game is long forgotten, it reminds me more of the notable Half Life 2 and I do wonder when and how the third and final episode is going to show up, or is totally canceled or something. Other recognizable elements I saw in Doom 3 or something, or in F.E.A.R, but that could be just me.         



SCORES

Graphics - 9 (Nvidia 3D Vision - good)

Gameplay - 9

Feeling - 9

Story - 9

Size - 1 dvd-dl - 7gb

TOTAL 9 (clean 9)

Status: buy it, play it, shoot some monsters, get drunk with E99, then borrow it to your girlfriend/boyfriend or to your father in law, adding it to the horror collection is an option, it's not a must. Oh gee, I don't really know if it's going to be a second Singularity, they seemed to tie all the loose nods when they made this, except for the bad endings. 10x Activision, definitely worth a try in a Sunday afternoon.