I got around to finishing Singularity with a final time of 5 1/2 hours and I think I'm generally positive on the whole thing. If nothing else, its very messy, cobbled-together state means it's never not moving. It doesn't quite matter that no part of it is exemplary or super memorable because the shooting feels good and it never lingers on any one sequence too long. Admittedly, you can definitely tell whatever game Raven wanted to make probably had a lot more going on, but for something I paid like $5 I cannot complain. I spent more time playing Hunted the Demon's Forge and I *still* haven't finished it.
It's probably the best "meat and potatoes" game I've played for this feature thus far, but I'd still call it dubious. Maybe not the one I'd recommend others seek out (C&C Renegade is weird and novel, Turok 3 is stupidly ambitious, and Daikatana is a notable disaster) but absolutely another example of why a studio of Raven's pedigree deserved better than to be "The Warzone Team."
I freaking love Singularity. Also, can't believe I actually finished DNF. All I remember about that game is the objectively horrific beginning with the girl gagging on Duke's dick which is a sentence I wish that I had never written.
...yeah that sure is how that game starts, huh. like actually kind of absurd how long it takes for you to actually engage in shooting in DNF
I finally rebought Singularity from a Steam sale earlier this year (having first played it at launch on a PS3) and my feelings are pretty similar. Really hated the lack of subtitles.
Reading these posts almost makes me want to pull out my PS3 to play Resistance 3. Not that it was dubious, but just a shooter from a decade ago that I’d like to replay.
If I did want dubious, I’d go for Gunman Chronicles or Will Rock.
I believe @justin258 played Resistance 3 fairly recently and still enjoyed it. Like a lot of late-model 360/PS3 games, it's probably not gonna *run* super well, but hey that's what emulation is for.
Resistance 2 might be a future Dubious pick though, and I thank you for your recommendations. I've never even heard of Gunman Chronicles! It looks bad!
You know what could've made Duke Nukem Forever an okay product? Developer commentary.
Would absolutely kill for a Valve-style commentary for DNF where it's just George Broussard going "so you see, the joke is that Duke is a really cool guy, and he doesn't need Halo power armor. So of course the line was going to be about how Power Armor is for Pussies, because that's what Duke would say"
I remember liking Singularity. I suspect it was the inspiration for that Titanfall time-travel level, which is all it needs to be to be remembered fondly!
That's probably a good point. I think Titanfall 2 (and Dishonored 2's time shenanigans level) probably do that stuff better than all of Singularity, but I could see it being an influence!
@apewins: If the game gets canceled the studio either gets disbanded or becomes a support studio anyway. They had major layoffs related to the delay in Singularity so it getting canceled could have been the death knell.
Activision under Bobby Kotick has always operated in this way. Look at Neversoft. They create the massive hit Tony Hawk franchise, take over Guitar Hero and run it into the ground because Activision is releasing multiple games a year, and then get made a COD support studio and get disbanded.
Or Vicarious Visions. They pump out a bunch of Skylanders, make two very highly regarded remakes of classic games, now a Blizzard support studio.
Activision only cares about massive multi-game franchises, preferably loaded with microtransactions on an annual release schedule.
There's no room for a company like the old Raven there. At least the remaining devs didn't lose their jobs and those who didn't want to create Call of Duty maps until that thing eventually falls apart were presumably able to move to different jobs somewhere else.
Don't really have anything to add other than "I agree with you" and "They should work out whatever legal issues Activision has with id so that Heretic 2 can get re-released." That game is in third person!
Log in to comment