Singularity

     Why do spouses cheat on each other? Because there's nothing fun about the same ol' thing, and that rule holds true throughout the single player campaign of Singularity. But I'm getting ahead of myself, first some story. Singularity starts off with some extremely general background on the Cold War and quickly plops you into the shoes of an Air Force pilot named Nate in a helicopter off the coast of an island near Russia. After a mysterious explosion of light grounds your helicopter, you quickly discover the island is a research facility based around Element 99, a new element capable of immense power. During the course of research on this Element 99, the Soviets have managed to cook up all kinds of cool technology and get themselves mutated into various kinds of monsters at the same time. Oh, and did I mention your 50 years in the future all of a sudden? After you realize this, a woman appears and helps you get the Time Manipulation Device (TMD), a gauntlet on your left hand that allows you to manipulate time around specific objects infused with Element 99 among other abilities. From there on, your a dude with guns and a guantlet doing what two random people tell you to do where they tell you to do it.
     Which brings me to gameplay. First of all, the TMD. The TMD allows you multiple powers including the power to either age or reverse-age certain objects or enemies with the press of a button. One press, aged. One press, un-aged. It also has a Force Push-esque melee blast attack, can shoot a bubble shield that slows time within the bubble, and allows you to pick up any small object Half Life style. These powers can be used at any time as long as you have enough TMD energy, which is collected like ammo. There are various mini puzzles (I use the word puzzle in the loosest possible way, no puzzle takes more than a few seconds) to be solved using the TMD, and most involve un-aging stairs so you can walk up them or a box so you can stand on it. Beyond the TMD, Singularity is an FPS, and really doesn't veer away from the formula. You'll be following a linear path, occasionally checking side rooms for weapon and TMD upgrades, shooting various Soviet soldiers and monsters in the head. The upgrades you pick up can be used to upgrade any of your various weapons, including some futuristic Element 99 ones, and the TMD has various upgrade perks and abilities. In addition,  you have a health bar, which can be replenished with health packs you pick up and carry with you, and you have a limited sprint.
     Overall, Singularity has the foundation of a solid game. But that foundation has been layed so many times in so many other games, it's past the point of stale and smells a little rotten. Poke around the corner, shoot the guys in the head, run to the next area. Oh look, a room full of ammo and health. Could there be a boss in the next area? Shoot the glowing orange weak points, run to the next area. Oh no, a room full of mutants! Shoot the red barrel, boom, run to the next area. The generic FPS foundation is there, and the TMD and various Element 99 weapons are meant to build onto that experience. But generally, I found most of the Element 99 weapons were boring to use, and the first gun you get (a futuristic AK47) works just fine for mowing down enemies with little thought and no sights necessary. And the TMD. Disappointingly the TMD is pretty much really, really, really futuristic Duct Tape. It can fix anything that's broken, which is usually stairs or boxes, and is worthless in combat thanks to a lack of ammo and weak abilities. And even with limitless ammo, it's either aim and press right trigger to shoot a bullet or aim and press another trigger to age an enemy with the TMD, and the bullets are faster.  In other words, all the extra stuff beyond point and shoot is either worthless or pointless to use.
     Generally, Singularity just offers nothing new. So even with a previously successful FPS formula, and I can't stress enough how generic this games gameplay formula is, it's just...boring. Even for a die hard FPS fan, there is little strategy or thought to the shooting. No cover necessary, and any enemy whose not a mutant goes down in one or two shots compared to the dozens needed to kill you the player. I can't even see serious potential in the powers of the TMD or the Element 99 technology because Raven implemented them in such limited ways. The game also takes some scary monster cues from the F.E.A.R series and makes a few attempts at MW2 style cinematic action, but even these feel hollow shoved in between running from room to room holding down the right trigger. Nate the Air Force pilot with mysteriously Black Ops skills should put that TMD to some good use by going back and convincing Activision that this game is a serious waste of Time. 
     
I'd give the graphics and sound an 8/10. Textures look dated, but a real solid frame rate and good weapon/character/environment models make for a good looking game.
 
 Please don't misinterpret my references to so many other games as skewing my opinion. I'm just comparing to give the reader a good idea of the generic experience Singularity offers, this is an un-bias review. It's also my first review, so any feedback would be appreciated :P