Singularity

Singularity is a first-person shooter with horror elements. A main gameplay device is an artifact known as the Time Manipulation Device (TMD). The TMD is powered by an E-99 core, and can manipulate time. The TMD can move an object backwards or forwards in time, attract objects and hold them indefinitely, however it only affects living beings or objects that have been in contact with E-99. It is used often to solve puzzles such as aging and de-aging boxes to open gates and in combat by creating energy pulses that can stun or kill enemies.

While the story is mostly linear without any choices that affect the narrative, the ending leaves the player with a choice that just affects the ending cutscene.

The game begins when an electromagnetic surge from an uninhabited island called Katorga-12, once held by the Soviet Union, damages an American spy satellite. S. Recon Marines, which includes protagonist Captain Nathaniel Renko, goes to investigate. Another surge disables the unit's helicopter, and it crashlands on Katorga-12.

Following the crash, Renko begins to phase between the present and 1955, the date of a catastrophic accident on the island. He arrives in 1955 just in time to save a scientist named Nikolai Demichev from dying in a fire.

Singularity's concept was based on Brian and Steve Raffel's memories of the Cold War era and exploration of old abandoned buildings, including a World War II military base in the vicinity of Madison, Wisconsin. Some aspects of the game, especially the 1950s sections were inspired by pulp sci-fi movies.

According to Keith Fuller from Raven Software the game had a troubled development and was almost cancelled by publisher Activision. The number of development teams at Raven was reduced to one after more layoffs in October 2010, after delays with Singularity; as many as 40 staff were released. Following the layoffs, Raven has been focused on assisting with the Call of Duty series ever since.

Singularity received "generally favorable reviews" on all platforms according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. Activision was disappointed with Singularity's sales, which came out under 400,000.

Destructoid praised the Xbox 360 version, stating that "Singularity is a game that manages to feel like its own thing despite being pieced together from previous FPS games, and if you want a great Summer shooter full of violent toys and silly super powers, then you won't get much better than this. Quite possibly the best new FPS of the year so far." IGN was not so enthusiastic, and said that while "the gunplay is solid and there are a few memorable set pieces", the game is "ultimately limited by a lack of imagination where a neat time-manipulation idea is handcuffed to a by-the-numbers first-person shooter". Some reviewers criticized the game for similarities to other games, such as BioShock. In Japan, where the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions were ported and published by Square Enix on September 22, 2010, Famitsu gave both console versions each a score of 29 out of 40, while Famitsu Xbox 360 gave its Xbox 360 version a score of one eight, one seven, and two eights for a total of 31 out of 40.