Singularity reviews are in — and positive

Singularity ships Tuesday in the US, but it actually shipped in Europe and the UK on Friday, so many media outlets have had time to dig in and come to a conclusion on Raven’s time-twisted shooter. You shoot bullets, sure, but you also age objects backward and forward in time, solving puzzles and tearing holes in the fabric of reality. You even also time-manipulate people, turning them into horrible zombies or reducing them to dust. It’s fun. Check the videos for an overview of what kind of havoc you can cause.

Singularity manipulates time differently than other games you may have played. Sadly, the title Chrono Trigger was already taken.

Singularity was delayed for a few months (I had Singularity’s senior producer Jeff Poffenbarger on the podcast this past week to discuss that delay and what life is like at Raven) and as a result, the title sort of went “dark” for a while — not much was shown to the media while it underwent its upgrade, which helped preserve the surprise. The press is definitely getting more than they expected so far. Among the highlights:

Eurogamer
“Singularity is a straightforward, frivolous game where something new and entertaining is always just around the corner, whether it’s a sniper rifle with a slow-motion zoom function, or a gaggle of giant mutant komodo dragons that shoot rockets from their eyes…First-person shooters are always silly! Well done to Raven for making one that likes being silly.” (8 out of 10)

Yahoo Games UK & Ireland
“With the majority of recent first-person-shooters falling over themselves to appear so realistic, ‘Singularity’ says to hell with it, and brings back such favourites as colossal end-of-level boss creatures that make you freeze in your chair…’Singularity’ may not have the sophistication of ‘Halo’ or the lore of ‘Gears of War’ and ‘Killzone’, but it could teach all of them a thing or two about how to have some real fun.” (4 out of 5)

PlanetXbox360
“Singularity doesn’t try to do anything spectacular with being able to rewind/fast forward/pause time; it simply uses time manipulation in a focused manner which works better than anticipated…Singularity pulled the carpet from underneath my feet, and maybe that’s why I had so much fun with it. I went in expecting a mediocre FPS and came out feeling lot I got a lot more.” (8.5 out of 10)

GamesRadar
“It’s fantastic, inventive, refreshing, brutal, and frankly, the most fun I’ve had with an FPS in a long time…Singularity is the first non-Valve FPS in years that has come close to evoking that particular brand of clever, inventive, fast-flowing brutality known as ‘Going Gordon Freeman on someone’s ass’…It’s an absolute stormer and you need to give it your time.”

So far, so good — and it’s not too late to pre-order. Amazon is offering a free graphic novel with pre-orders and GameStop has been offering the Red Zek skin for multiplayer matches as its bonus. He’s the charming fellow there to the right who looks like he wants to eat your larynx.

Also, Xbox 360 gamers get a perk in the form of an in-box voucher for a free copy of Prototype, which is one of those “while supplies last/limited time offer” deals. (Sorry, Sony fans — I don’t rightly know why it’s 360 only.)

I’ll be digging into multiplayer and will host a few online sessions soon. Hope you get the game and join me!