Singularity – Aiming for BioShock, Becoming Hexen

After trying to immerse myself as much as possible into the atmosphere of Singularity, sitting in a narrow corridor and listening to a man as he talks about the E99-powered apocalypse happening all around the island of Katorga-12, the game has a very BioShock-like vibe going on but the structure does not allow it to have the same depth and beauty as the underwater world of Rapture, where the splicers and Jack Ryan managed to capture the imagination of so many.

Singularity has much smaller levels and they feel more cramped than the ones in BioShock. The 2K made game had significant sections where the player had to backtrack in order to retrieve an object and the regular boss fights with the Big Daddies offered a kind of nexus that players chose when and how to approach. Here, the visible or invisible walls of the level always seem to be very close, even in those sections, which take place outside.

There are barriers and fences all over the place and there's a lack not only of freedom (which is never unlimited in video games) but also of the feeling that exploration and snooping around are worth anything than getting a few health packs.

Singularity manages to offer more of a sense of place, in a weird twist, when the fire fights have humans for opponents. Raven creates weapons that pack punch and, more importantly, the enemies, although lacking any individuality and any sense of place, evoke the oppression of the totalitarian system present throughout the videogame.

It would have been interesting to see how the game would have turned out if Raven had taken more time to explore some of the effects of politics on individuals and had added some personality to the mindless grunts by altering their behavior based on how the politics played out.

This is a game diary. A full review of Singularity is also available on Softpedia.