Singularity

It must be so hard for developers to create truly original games in the 21st century, given that so many games have gone before, and you could glibly describe Singularity as a mutant hybrid of Half-Life 2 and BioShock. After all, it combines Half-Life 2's gravity gun with time-slowing/speeding powers that are reminiscent of BioShock, and has a very Steampunk, 1950s-meets-2010 visual style. At first, it tests your patience, too, limping through a horribly slow, scene-setting period in which the gameplay seems horribly bog-standard.

But it's worth persevering with, as it improves dramatically about three-quarters of an hour in, when the threads of the preposterous story finally congeal, in such a way that some decent and, indeed, often original gameplay can be generated. The action is set on a fictional Russian island called Katorga-12, in which, in the 1950s, a new element (presumably radioactive) called E-99 was found. A research institute discovered that it was devastatingly powerful, but a cataclysmic event destroyed the island and turned its inhabitants into mutants. It's up to you to time-travel (aided by a scientist who can flit between 1950 and 2010), overcome all manner of enemies and solve puzzles, in order to save the world (which was taken over by the crazed Katorga-12 commander after he discovered the devastation an E-99 bomb could wreak).

The key object you have to help you in your quest is a Time Manipulation Device (TMD), which ages or renews objects that contain E-99 – thus, you can restore crumpled, rusted crates to their former glory, or crumple them up again, in order to solve accessibility puzzles. The TMD also lets you grab objects and fire them, just like Half-Life 2's gravity gun and, as it upgrades, fire Deadlocks – blue domes in which time slows down for a while. Useful for taking out enemies that tend to disappear and teleport around the room, or just buying time for a reload.

The weaponry, in what is essentially a first-person shooter, is pretty decent. You can carry two guns, and alter your load-out, plus upgrade weapons at weapons lockers. An E-99 gun called the Seeker lets you steer bullets in mid-air. You can also upgrade abilities by collecting E-99 technology and blueprints – again reminiscent of BioShock, plus perhaps a whiff of Fallout 3.

The gameplay is pleasantly diverse and nicely paced, with frenetic periods taking on bosses who require a strategic approach interspersed with puzzle-solving sequences and more conventional shooting, against both humans and mutants. There is even a stealth sequence, as you traverse tunnels full of blind mutants, without any ammo.

You could say Singularity is somewhat old-fashioned: it's linear, adopts a well-worn shooting-and-puzzle-solving format, although it does have a multiplayer side. But it's storyline, which just seems annoyingly ludicrous at first, does at least generate some compelling and absorbing gameplay, which feels surprisingly fresh. As such, it will appeal to those who enjoyed games like Half-Life.