Singularity

Moby ID: 47109
Windows Specs
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Description official descriptions

Feeling threatened by the USA and their nuclear bomb, the Russians had to look for uranium themselves after World War II ended. However, instead of uranium, they found something else on a small island off the east coast of Russia, now called Katorga-12. This something turned out to be E99 - the most powerful energy source known to man. Stalin immediately realized the scope of this discovery and pumped as many funds as possible into researching its military potential.

The scientists were forced to conduct their research at maximal speed, notwithstanding the possible dangers.Eventually, in 1955 an unknown and inexplicable disaster occurred, apparently killing everyone on the island and forcing the leaders to terminate the project. However, in 2010 an American spy satellite picks up radiation over the island, putting the government at high alert because of the fear of another Chernobyl disaster. To find out what is going on, they send the Black-Ops-team Spartan-21 to investigate. A sudden electromagnetic surge makes their helicopter crash. One of the few survivors, Nathaniel Renko, is left with the mission of uncovering the mystery of Katorga-12.

Singularity is a linear first-person shooter inspired by BioShock. Much of the story is uncovered by reading notes and hearing audio messages left by the inhabitants of the island before the catastrophe occurred. The weaponry includes a pistol, a shotgun, as well as more unusual firearms such as the Seeker which shoots E99-enriched bullets controlled by the player. Each weapon can be upgraded several times, increasing the size of the magazine or its strength. These upgrades, as well as swapping weapons and buying additional ammunition, are performed at weapon lockers scattered around the levels. In order to do an upgrade however, the player needs to find hidden caches containing weapons technology and collect the E99-technology lying around.

The distinguishing gameplay elements revolve around the Time Manipulation Device (TMD) the player finds early in the game. Wrapped around his left arm and constantly being upgraded during the course of the game, this device allows Nathaniel to manipulate space and time both in combat and for solving puzzles. Using the TMD on human targets like the Russian soldiers will result in them dying from old age within seconds. The monsters (mostly former humans hit by the Singularity) may react differently - e.g. some explode after a few seconds. Later in the game, the player can even turn a human soldier into a monster which will fight for a certain amount of time on his side.

Thanks to the ability of the TMD to manipulate the age of an item, it is also used for puzzle-solving purposes. This way the player can age a crate until it collapses, use the TMD like the Gravity Gun from Half-Life 2 to place the remains under an almost closed rolling gate, and then return the crate to its original state, which pushes the gate open. In addition to the automatic upgrades granted throughout the game and abilities like a time-ball which freezes everything inside it in place, the player will also find formulas during his journey, using them (in addition to E99-technology) at specific upgrade stations to further increase the powers of the device. Finding the TMD also allows the protagonist to travel back in time to 1955 at certain points in the game, where he will have to alter the course of events, similarly to flashback sequences of Cryostasis. While the player's choices are pre-defined there, a choice during the final part of the game will branch the storyline into three different endings.

The game also features multiplayer for up to 12 players in the two team-based modes "Creatures vs. Soldiers" and "Extermination". While the latter is simply Team Deathmatch, "Creature vs. Soldiers" requires the soldiers to capture beacons on the map and defend them for a certain amount of time in order for the next one to become available, while the creatures do everything in their power to prevent that. In both modes, players can choose from four different classes on each team and can customize them to a certain degree, choosing which weapon and TMD-power the player uses as a soldier. While the soldier classes are rather straightforward, the four creatures are all unique, each having their own special abilities to compensate for the soldiers' access to the powerful TMD. These abilities include seeing enemies through walls or turning into a soldier for a short time.

Spellings

  • シンギュラリティ - Japanese spelling

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Credits (Windows version)

794 People (633 developers, 161 thanks) · View all

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Average score: 75% (based on 35 ratings)

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Average score: 3.7 out of 5 (based on 33 ratings with 0 reviews)

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Discussion

Subject By Date
He wants us to move Katorga-12 Slug Camargo (583) Jul 21, 2011
What games are time game mechanics from? hribek (28) Jun 27, 2011
This game is crazy fun! Unicorn Lynx (181780) Aug 20, 2010

Trivia

Development

The game was canceled after 2 years of development only to be given a 10 month reprieve. In an article by developer Kevin Fuller, he admits that his team did borrow some ideas from Bioshock such as the audio recordings.

German version

In the German version, gore effects were removed and blood effects were toned down. Both differences only apply to human enemies. A detailed list of changes can be found on schnittberichte.com (German).

References

In the final level, after you get the last upgrade for the TMD, you can smash a vent in that very room, go down a ladder, and you'll find yourself at a narrow room, at the end of which there's a crack in the wall that lets in a bright light, and has a large donkey wheel wedged in. This is a clear wink at fans of the TV show Lost: A wheel, very much like this one down to the room it's located in and the way to access it, played a major part in the ending of season 4.

The entire thing can be seen in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdWxZy8NlBs

In the Xbox 360 version of the game you get an achievement for finding this.

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Sicarius.

Additional contributors: Jeanne, Slug Camargo, Sciere, Scott Monster, Kabushi, Patrick Bregger.

Game added July 21, 2010. Last modified January 27, 2024.