Why I Enjoyed...Singularity

 Singularity was released in 2010 and was developed by Raven Software. The game was published by Activision and released for PC, Ps3 and Xbox 360 and was the final original IP that Raven software ever worked on. I wouldn't be surprised if you'd never heard of Singularity much less actually played the thing but I'm here to tell you that you should think about picking it up. Here's why I actually quite liked Singularity.

  A first person shooter with some interesting timey wimey mechanics and a decidedly cheesy military sci-fi theme Singularity might, upon first impressions, seem very run of the mill and in fact it is. The gun play is average but competent, the weapon selection is average but competent, the graphics are aver... You get the drift. I realise I'm not selling this particularly well BUT as someone who loves story driven single player experiences the STORY is the main draw here. This game suffers from what I like to call the "Spec Ops: The Line" syndrome; An average game-play loop but with a very intriguing tale to tell. That's not to say that Singularity shares much story wise with Spec Ops: The Line because it doesn't but what it does have is an excellent eye for environmental storytelling and a main story so bonkers that it actually becomes entertaining.

 You play as American army man person named Renko and you're sent along with your team consisting of Nathan Drake and some unimportant non Nolan North characters to the Russian owned Island of Katorga-12. Some exposition is given through cut-scene at the start indicating that a new resource had been found on the island, the Russians did some bad shit yada yada and so here you are to clean up the mess for some reason. Your arrival on the island is made messy when a giant pulse of energy wipes your chopper out and kills most of your team, you wake up alone on a dock and thus Singularity begins.

 First off the sounds design is incredible. From the first second stood on the dock the chills are real, the creepy night shrouded island given extra weight with an eerie, minimal soundtrack and some genuinely spooky ambient sound. As you explore the island you uncover some of the horrifying events that took place there leading up to your arrival and this is where environmental storytelling comes in. If you like Bioshock then you'll enjoy this, audio tapes, letters and video projectors galore reveal some well written and voice acted titbits from Katorga-12s inhabitants. You'll hear from scientists, soldiers and even the civilians who made the island their home as you traverse the ominous abandoned streets and buildings, the tensions rise quickly way before the first enemy is even encountered and as you listen to the panicked whimpers of a civilian running from some unknown horror on an audio log you can't help but to just allow the tiniest bit of poo out.

 I won't go into detail about the larger story-line and enemies as it would spoil the fun and hopefully you'll go play this for yourself! However I can talk about the time travel mechanics. Introduced a bit later into the game, your character gains the ability to manipulate time in some interesting ways courtesy of a device called the (pictured below) TMD or Time Manipulation Device (imaginative). You can rapidly age enemies so drastically that they turn into dust, you can point at some rubble blocking your path and reverse time to move it out of your way, you can send out a pulse of energy that will stun or knock back enemies amongst other more elaborate uses. The TMD is a great addition to the game and it gives slightly stale FPS mechanics just enough oomph to remain fun later into the game. I'm pretty sure in fact that the TMD directly inspired a certain level in the awesome campaign of Titanfall 2, so you know it's a good addition.

  All in all, Singularity was a depressingly under advertised and criminally underhyped game that Activision didn't seem too bothered about. The game undersold (surprise surprise) and Raven Software never made an original game again, instead being shifted to work with other developers on future Call Of Duty titles. Singularity was never going to be revolutionary, it was never going to define a genre or tread new ground, it was never going to sell millions of copies or break records but it was a damn fun game with an excellent atmosphere.
Available on Steam, Xbox 360 and PS3

(Also it had multiplayer but the less said about that the better)

First Impressions: No Mans Sky

 I was recently wandering around the high street with my fiancee when we meandered into a local money traders store. For those not in the know Money Traders is a second hand electronic goods store in the UK that sells and buys everything from microwaves to video games, the latter of course interests me so I found myself leafing casually through the stacks of games in a stuffy little corner of the shop. I found myself perusing the PlayStation 4 section and came across 3 copies of No Mans Sky on the shelf, usually that's not an odd thing I mean, these shops tend to come into multiple copies of the same game but what really caught my eye this time was the price. I was and am aware of the turbulent launch of No Mans Sky, a much hyped product with a spectacular fall from grace when it finally hit stores in 2016. I don't think I'd ever seen such a ferocious backlash nor so many undelivered promises at launch so needless to say I avoided that game like the plague.

  No Mans Sky is such a marmite game even now as Hello Games appear to have affected a monumental turnaround in the intervening time, churning out free updates at a rapid pace adding the once promised features to the game leaving many players finally satisfied with their space exploration experience, though with equal number voicing their displeasure, claiming that these features should still have been available from the start. I of course had watched from a distance, feeling sympathy for the players that had bought in to the lies but at the same time careless, as I was quite disconnected from it all.

  So here I stand, in Money Traders, looking at 3 separate copies of the same game with an ever furrowing brow of confusion. You see, 2 of the copies were priced at a hefty £28 (I could only assume an inflated price due to the games 'second coming') but the 3rd copy astonished me as I flipped it over and read the price tag. £7. Just £7...

"Huh" I said to nobody in particular.

  I'd heard the good things about the game in the past few months so I though hell, why not? I quickly went to the till and purchased the game before any of the staff could notice the price tag discrepancy and thought nothing more of it as I went about my day. Indeed it wasn't until after Christmas that I finally ended up powering on my console and starting the game up.

  As the music kicked in my excitement levels rose, the ambient and dynamic soundtrack of the game is certainly impressive, kicking in at just the right time to make otherwise dull times traversing the environment a wondrous and beautiful experience. My game juddered violently as I loaded into the universe, the frames lagged and stuttered and then suddenly there I was. My character awoke in a snowy clearing surrounded by huge thick trees. The wind blew through the leaves and battered my ears. I noticed a beeping and a robotic voice telling me that my thermal protection was failing. I begin to panic as the sides of my visor freeze up. Am I going to die straight away? I desperately follow the instructions in a small text box on the bottom right of the screen and fix my scanner and with the scanner I find the resources I need to recharge my thermal protection. "Phew". Panic over. My introduction to No Mans Sky is relatively quick and easy, I sort my life support systems out, I find my ship and am shown how to repair it and within about an hour of starting out I'm in space more or less free to explore.

  The game is certainly pretty although the occasional frame rate issues do sap a bit of the immersion away and the tutorial system seems to be robust enough to assist a new player. I'm not sure how things have changed from launch but a strong opening was just what this game needed, I'm off and to the next planet as soon as possible. I'm learning how to find and gather resources, how to craft, how to build things. There's a really cool photo mode that lets you freeze time and free-cam around the get some nice selfies and the ability to go from first to third person mode on the fly is a nice addition.

 I played for about 3 hours and haven't had the chance to try anything multiplayer related yet but between the robotic sentinels, passive and hostile flora and fauna and the occasional ship flying overhead as you explore a planet it never quite feels as empty as it could. My only real gripe came towards the end of my play time where the endless hunt for resources became something of a chore but in a few hour burst I had a blast and will probably do so again next time I play.

  In this experience I can see a really good, promising and robust survival exploration game with plenty to do but I can't help but feel kind of sad when I play it. I was lucky enough to get hands on with No Mans Sky over 2 years after release, when it was in a far better state than it launched in and playing with all the new features and goodies made me feel awful for the players who paid full price for what was an extremely bare bones product at launch. Yes it is good that Hello Games admitted their errors and made the effort to turn it around but why was there ever a mistake to correct in the first place? No Mans Sky is a fun experience but also a dour monument to what could have been, what should have been. You can almost hear the angry and disappointed cries of let down players but in space, no-one can hear you scream.

By Dan A. Fox

Games I'm most Looking Forward To In 2019

  2018 was a somewhat quiet year for games, at least for me. The only games I picked up that were actually released in 2018 were Red Dead Redemption 2, WEE 2K19 and Kingdom Come: Deliverance. I dabbled in others like Sea Of Thieves but found myself pretty underwhelmed with the years offerings. I was immersed by the worlds of RDR 2 and Kingdom Come respectively but never found the IT game, something that excited me to my core. Maybe 2019 can shake me from my melancholy, with a bevy of hyped titles on the horizon maybe it will be the year that a slew of new games find their way into my catalogue again. Here's a list of a few that are piquing my personal interest early on...

#1 Resident Evil 2 Remake

  A game due out in early 2019 (this month, in fact), the Resident Evil 2 remake is looking pretty damn good. I'm not usually one for "scary" games but even I can't deny that it's looking promising, fully updated visuals, a third person camera and tighter controls could be yet another step in the right direction for the veteran franchise after the amazing Resident Evil 7. The footage we've seen so far has already made me salivate with delight. Watch out for this on PS4, Xbox One and PC on January 25th.

#2 Metro Exodus

  Metro is a franchise that holds a special place in my heart. I loved the intense, desperate stealth oriented adventure of the first game and the frantic, terrifying shootouts of the second game and can only hope for more of the same from the beautiful in engine trailers we've already seen at E3. With the promise of beautiful visuals, more open world game-play and a continuation of Artyoms struggle in the Russian post apocalypse you can bet your arse Metro Exodus will be one to watch out for when it hits stores on February 15th. (PS4, Xbox One, PC)

#3 Total War: Three Kingdoms

  

  I've got to be honest, when the Creative Assembly announced their next historical title I wasn't too impressed. Don't get me wrong, I love (and I mean LOVE) Total War and was really impressed by their recent Warhammer offerings but the lacklustre Britannia title and the prospect of a historical period I wasn't familiar with really didn't fill me with excitement. However recent videos from the Total War YouTube channel have changed my opinion in a major way. The studio appears to be implementing HUGE changes to the political system (YESSS) which makes Total War: Three Kingdoms a much more promising prospect. All I know is that I'm now reading up on my Chinese history in preparation for the March 7th release. (PC)

#4 Crash Team Racing Nitro Fuelled

  I'm really excited for this. After the stellar work of remastering the first 3 Crash games last year I was pining for one thing. "PLEASE remaster Crash Team Racing" and here it is! The revamped kart racing game makes my list as I'll most likely play this a lot with my partner and I can already see the hours of enjoyment and frustration we'll get out of this. A purely fun experience at it's heart full of nostalgia, I can't wait to pick this up. Coming to PS4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch on June 21st.

#5 Gears Of War 5

 The opinions of many die hard Gears Of War fans were mixed upon the release of the 4th instalment of the franchise but I really enjoyed it. The story was interesting (if a little contrived) and the visuals and gun play were as slick as ever. I didn't really play much of the online with the exception of horde mode but found the whole experience at once familiar and refreshing. Gears of War 4 was an old friend with a new haircut so to speak and the ending of 4 (no spoilers!) left me howling at the screen demanding answers. I will almost certainly be chainsawing creatures into puddles of filth and gore when Gears of War 5 releases some time this year. Coming to Xbox One and PC (no exact release date yet).

So there we have it! Just a few of the games I'm looking forward to this year, there are of course others, I'm eagerly awaiting a release date for Cyberpunk 2077 like a drug addict awaiting his next fix but I can't see it being this year. I am also eagerly awaiting more the Last Of Us 2 news with baited breath. 2019 is shaping up to be a promising year for games, providing we can survive the inevitable onslaught or pre order bonuses, locked content, micro transactions and lootboxes without drowning in the monsoon of video game executives' anticipatory saliva as they imagine all the ways that they can fuck their consumers. Goodbye!

Written by Dan A. Fox