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.

Of course, these effects are limited to small areas and objects. If you really want to unlock the powers of the TMD, you’ll have to find amplifiers dotted around the facility that boost the device’s capabilities. One flavor lets you create a rift in time — a portal through which you can view the area as it was in the alternate time period. If you make drastic enough changes in the 1950s, they may remain and alter the environment around you in 2010, and the portal also allows you to instantly pass between the two eras. Amps also let you use TMD powers on much larger objects. In one section of the level, if you get juice flowing, you can turn it on the conspicuous gap in the dock that in the 1950s was filled by an enormous freight ship: The Pearl. During an impressive cutscene, The Pearl rises from the salty brine and reconstructs itself.

Exploring the vessel would be pointless without some wrinkles thrown in to challenge you, though, and Singularity has a couple of doozies. The first becomes clear when a huge shipping container launches from the deck. Something’s come through time along with The Pearl, and it’s not just big, but angry, too. (Our money’s on it being a Time-osaurus Rex.) The second problem is that in Singularity, big things moved to the wrong time period will very quickly return to their correct age. This means that as you battle through the narrow corridors, the entire place is rusting and falling to pieces. It’s a remarkable effect watching the brown spread as the hulk becomes derelict again.

Sound interesting? Raven has a reputation for churning out solid shooters, and offering the choice between traditional run-and-gun play and some crafty time-manipulation options should give combat a bit of spice. Whether it’s a coherent and satisfying time-twister or just a horrible mess of gimmicks, it’ll certainly be unique, and we’re all for more of that.