AWKWARD ZOMBIE

Publisher: Activision
Developer: Raven Software
Genre: Sci-Fi; First-Person Shooter
Released: June 26th, 2010 (PAL), June 30th, 2010 (NTSC)
ESRB Rating: M - Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language
PEGI Rating: 18+ - Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language
Platform(s): PC, XBox 360, PlayStation 3
Review Score Average (Metacritic): 80/100

Synopsis:

In the 1950s, Soviet research teams discovered a powerful new element on Katorga-12, a relatively small island off the coast of mainland Russia. The element, designated E-99, had greater energy output potential than all of the United States' atomic bombs combined.

Joseph Stalin ordered unlimited funding for research into E-99, and a military research outpost was established on Katorga-12 for further study. Incredible technologies were developed around temporal science, and life on the island seemed to flourish until the E-99 reactor, called the Singularity, exploded.

It is now 2010. A United States spy sattelite was blinded by a massive surge of radiation off the coast of Russia. Despite the risk of an international incident, the military sends in two helicopters for close-range reconnaissance.
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I've played the campaign for a few hours, and so far, it's pretty good. It's like BioShock meets Half-Life 2 with time travel thrown in. If I had to rate it based on my experience, I'd give it an 8.5. Definitely worth a look.

I'll probably stream this later today, or something.

Maybe do a Let's Play episode of it. That'd be nice.

I'm not big into Let's Plays. I'm more of a "while it happens" kind of guy.

this game was really really awesome. bout as long as bioshock and looks a good bit like it too in the way it handles and plays, with a splash of F.E.A.R in it. it does add its own element tho an all and all i thought the story and game play was quite good

i highly recommend it

I didn't really pick up on any similarities to F.E.A.R., other than the whole "experimenting on children" bit. Feels much more Half-Life 2 to me.

Seems interesting. I may get this if I have cheddar leftover after my birthday.

the whole BOO factor is what i was refering to, trying to shock you

F.E.A.R. was more of a psychological horror. You never really knew whether Alma was real or something you were imagining. Singularity is more of a startle-type scare, and everything is tangible.

let me be further specific then. the 2nd fear which had almost no suspense or horror at all, just shock

I'm not italicizing the game titles to put emphasis on them. I just do it because it's proper.

Anyway, yeah, now I see where you're coming from.

Lol I wasn't doin italics to make fun of it, I do it to emphasize.


Regardless, how's the MP? I didn't try it

Regret not seeing this on steam

I haven't played it either. However, I will do it soon.

WARNING: SOME VERY MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD

I played it and I must say it's definitely in my 'Good Shooters'-list.

However, the time manipulation aspect, one of the biggest selling points, felt kinda limited and gimmicky to me. It mostly involves fixing stairs, age an explosive barrel before picking it up so a runaway bullet won't make it go off in your face, and revert it just before you throw it. And of course there are a few places where you get to stand on something called an 'amplifier' and you can fix something bigger, like a bridge, or a boat. Those moments belong to the few you really feel like you're wielding a powerful tool, that tool being the Time Manipulation Device, or TMD.

Fortunately, the game doesn't stand and fall by the time manipulation. The night-time levels have a very great atmosphere (less so in the day-time levels), and the storyline was interesting (time-travel always makes for interesting stories).

For the most part, the similarities with Bioshock were indeed there. You have a health bar and an energy bar that you can recharge with medkits and energy packs (which are kinda like EVE Hypos, only they're sorta needless because energy slowly recharges). In order to improve your abilities and buy upgrades such as extra health, you collect E99 Tech rather than ADAM (although E99 Tech is simply spread throughout the levels in small quantities rather than acquired from little girls protected by huge monsters), and though the game does reward exploration, it felt much more linear. I was also kinda disappointed that upgrading your weapons does not change their models, like in Bioshock. There were a few weapons with nice abilities though, like the sniper rifle that can slow down time, the grenade launcher that can launch a grenade you can steer before setting it off, and the Seeker, a large rifle that slows down time after you fire it in zoomed mode, and then allows you to slightly adjust the course of the bullet (well, slightly is not the right word, you can manipulate the trajectory pretty far, with some experience even taking a 180° turn or more is not impossible), making you feel like you're in The Matrix or something.

The weapon carrying system is unusual as well; you can have only two weapons with you at once, and there are two weapons that you can't have with you at all times but instead are picked up when you find them, and dropped again when you want to use another weapon. It's more realistic than carrying a whole army's weapon variety with you, but I usually stuck with the rifle and the shotgun, because the few times you can actually use a sniper rifle there's bound to be one lying around (pro tip: if you see a sniper rifle, pick it up, prepare for a scene with lots of combat, and ditch it first chance after that scene).

So, Bioshock meets Half-Life 2? That's a good way to describe Singularity, but the game deserves more than being dissected into game archetypes. I strongly recommend everyone to play it, even if it's only to experience the joy of having control of the course of a bullet. I, too, would give it an 8.5; not perfect, but very good.

8.5 seems to be the general consensus right now. Also, slightly adjust the course of the Seeker bullets? Man, I wrapped one of those around two corners.

The best combo was seeker/deadlock. It slowed them down as well and u could do loops with it lol