Singularity

Forgoing flying DeLoreans and chrono-suits, Singularity doesn’t simply rip off bullet-time like so many other shooters; it approaches the idea of time travel from a completely different direction. The temporal aspect pervades every element of the game, so much so that developer Raven Software has designed many of the environments twice, in two completely different time periods.

The story kicks off in 2010, as you pilot a small U.S. reconnaissance military plane flying over a remote Russian island. For reasons unknown, your plane is downed, forcing you to eject and, it seems, knocking you unconscious. When you awake on the island, your co-pilot is missing and you have no choice but to venture into the mysterious derelict facility to look for him and, hopefully, make your escape. As you explore the outpost, you’ll discover that the research being performed was linked to the manipulation of the space-time continuum, and that a benevolent scientist — trapped in “timegatory” (one of many hilarious time-related terms coined by Raven) — is attempting to send you helpful hints from “elsewhen.”

It turns out that researchers at the facility had been experimenting with a substance named Element-99, which has time-manipulating properties. Early in our demo our guide encountered bizarre translucent-orange organic growth — Element-99 bonding with plant matter. Unfortunately, this lethal tripwire obstacle needed negotiation, which is where Singularity’s hand-worn Time Manipulation Device makes its glorious debut. Much of the installation is decrepit, and several crumpled and rusted barrels litter the immediate area. The device has several functions, including the ability to lift objects à la Half-Life 2’s gravity gun. Initially, this might seem uninspiring, but while you’ve got an object in your grip, you can move it backward and forward in time. In a brief moment, the barrel had been returned to 1950s newness — all the bent edges had pinged back into shape and the rust was replaced by bright red paint. And because the incontrovertible rules of the universe demand that every red barrel contains an explosive substance of some sort, we could now lob it at the Element-99 growth and blow it up.

The TMD’s 4D functionality can be used on all sorts of items in the world, too. Find a padlock on a door? Simply age it until it crumples into rust. Stuck for a door combination? Try reversing the effects of time on a blackboard and you may find that someone scrawled the passcode on the board at some point. Naturally, combat possibilities abound. If you’re faced with riot-shield guards, use the TMD to grab and launch the shields into the soldiers’ faces, or better yet, age the shields until they become useless. If you’re feeling particularly brutal, though, you can apply the TMD’s power directly to the enemy himself, aging him until his bones turn to dust.

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