Weekend Reading: Singularity Shows that Solid Is No Longer Enough

Once upon a time, a first person shooter needed just a solid array of weapons for the player, some health packs scattered around and a host of enemies with some clever moves to in order to succeed in the marketplace. The technical capabilities of consoles and PCs were evolving quite rapidly and better graphics, bigger explosions and smarter opposition were expected from any new shooter.

Now, the technology is no longer moving as fast as that, the explosions have become pretty similar on all big franchises and the developers appear to have drained the well for new weapon ideas. It seems the only real way shooting bad creatures in the face can again capture the imagination and open gamers’ wallets is to include some big idea the shooting is linked with.

Unfortunately, the great idea that Singularity (follow the link for the full review), the latest project from Raven Software and Activision, is trying to push is not fully formed. BioShock has the city of Rapture and the discussion about how ideology and philosophy can shape society and man. Modern Warfare has the talk about how war changes individuals and the shock value of a nuclear death or of the “No Russian” level. The hook for STALKER has long been the loneliness and changes to humanity linked to the Zone and its peculiarities.

Singularity is aiming to tell the player something about how reality is built from clearly defined time and space coordinates and about how gaining the power to bend them to our will can change us for the worse. It's an interesting concept and paired with solid gun fights and some decent scares. The problem is that the big idea is not pushed center stage and has not managed to generate too much of a discussion in the gaming world.

The developer and publisher launched a whole marketing campaign built around Katorga and MIR-12; unfortunately, it was timed for fall 2009 even though the game was delayed. Without the big idea and the conversation about it, Singularity is a perfect example of how a solid first person shooter can quickly slide into gaming oblivion.