Ah, yes. So this game's official release was today in NA. I have been waiting for this game for a while, but recently put it on the back-burner in my mind. I guess it's been getting relatively decent scores all-around but I eagerly await what the GB crews have to say, as my tastes match with theirs more often than not, before I drop the cash for it. Anyone else have their eye on this game?
Singularity
Game » consists of 11 releases. Released Jun 29, 2010
Singularity is Raven Software's alternate history shooter, where the player is given the ability of time manipulation.
Waiting patiently for the GB review
I've played the game a bit. It's perfectly competent and has a nice atmosphere, but don't expect much from the time manipulation. The hud just lights up when you can manipulate time, you press a button, and BAM, puzzle solved. Pretty disappointing in that regard.
" Apparently giant audio recordings were a dime a dozen and any little thought you had got its own giant recorder. There are more subtle ways to go about it is all Im sayin. "Like what?
What's your brilliant suggestion?
" Apparently giant audio recordings were a dime a dozen and any little thought you had got its own giant recorder. There are more subtle ways to go about it is all Im sayin. "I love all the staples they borrowed from Bioshock and the one thing they left out was audio journals you have to stand by. Nothing ruins the atmosphere of a game more than having to stop mid game to listen to a journal, especially when it's in a moment of urgency.
" @ryanwho said:Yes, but levels would have to be designed with extra special care when you get the freedom to move with the recordings. Otherwise the recordings would be constantly cut off by important story info, cutscenes, etc." Apparently giant audio recordings were a dime a dozen and any little thought you had got its own giant recorder. There are more subtle ways to go about it is all Im sayin. "I love all the staples they borrowed from Bioshock and the one thing they left out was audio journals you have to stand by. Nothing ruins the atmosphere of a game more than having to stop mid game to listen to a journal, especially when it's in a moment of urgency. "
Every time I think about the complexities of game design, my mind almost explodes. I salute modern game developers.
What are you on the staff? Take a vicadin real quick and chill out. So I'll start with the obvious. Bioshock didn't have goofy giant audio recorders everywhere and this game is clearly a "me too" reaction to Bioshock. And now for the common sense portion. 50 years ago, well gee I suppose back then everyone was writing. So he could find notes that when read would qeue up the audio of the person who wrote the letter reading it. And if that idea seems asinine, tell that to the hundreds of movies including many classics that have done such a thing. Again, this is after like 5 seconds of mulling it over. Both make more sense than the idea that giant audio recordings are scattered in the air ducts and work after 50 years." @ryanwho said:
" Apparently giant audio recordings were a dime a dozen and any little thought you had got its own giant recorder. There are more subtle ways to go about it is all Im sayin. "Like what? What's your brilliant suggestion? "
Just from the few minutes of watching the quick look I was reminded of a lot of different games... Fear (ghosts in a hallway,) Fallout (projector's artwork, stimpacks), Bioshock (general look of game, how everything important glows), Dead Space (look of the monsters.) It seems to have all come together in a great way, so I'm looking forward to picking this one up on the cheap in a few months.
" @ryanwho said:If you already have random time-magic visual flashbacks going on, then there's no reason they couldn't just have staticy (so you know it's time-magic) audio flashbacks in the appropriate places. For a game that's trying to be immersive, those massive recorders lying around all over the place are a bit ridiculous." Apparently giant audio recordings were a dime a dozen and any little thought you had got its own giant recorder. There are more subtle ways to go about it is all Im sayin. "Like what? What's your brilliant suggestion? "
Ditto the "You are crouched!" and "Reload!" HUD items right in the middle of the screen. Amazingly, I can tell that I'm crouched by the way the camera is about a foot off the ground, and yeah I know I should reload because I just fired the gun. Gaming has developed some really silly habits.
Audio logs are okay... much better than text logs that you have to read. But, how many years has it been since Half-Life 2? That game unfolded a narrative so seamlessly and efficiently. Just tell your story as your levels play out, don't make your players listen to half-baked dialog or read eye-destroying pages of ugly text.
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