Singularity

This is your teammate "Devlin", voiced by the infamous Nolan North.

Singularity has one of the best endings I've ever witnessed in a video game. Technically the game has 3 endings, but either way I was in no way ready for any of them when I finished the game. The two choices in front of me were obvious, but I ended up going with the third by complete accident (at the time I finished the game I wasn't even aware of the multiple endings).
The rest of the game is pretty damn good too.
Singularity places you in the boots of Captain Renko, a member of the USMC reconnaissance team dubbed "Spartans", who are sent to investigate an island off the coast of the old Soviet Union called Katorga-12. As you make your approach, your helicopter is hit by what appears to be an EMP blast. You wake up on the island docks and soon find yourself lost in the ruins of a long abandoned 1950's era Soviet science facility.

The Singularity.

The story revolves around the idea that back in the 1930's-1940's, Soviet scientist discovered a new element called E99. This new element is rich with possibilities and the facility is built to unlock all of it's potential. Eventually time manipulation is achieved, ultimately leading to the creation of a singularity that destroys the whole facility. As you progress through the game you will constantly come across pieces of E99 technology that can be used for upgrades.

This is what you use for upgrades.

Singularity definitely takes inspiration from Bioshock, but it also has it's own unique persona that helps it shine brighter than it's inspiration in many areas. The biggest of these being the Time Manipulation Device, or the "TMD". The TMD is a device that fits around your left hand allowing you to do things like rebuild an old bridge allowing you to cross or age enemy soldiers until they are dust. Other abilities include being able to move objects around the same way you would using the Gravity Gun in Half-Life 2. At certain times it can be used to open portals to different time periods, but these are story specific and not something you can do at your leisure.

Occasionally you'll come across these ghostly scenes.

The guns are really cool and interesting in Singularity in that they are alternate reality guns, meaning that while they are based on guns that we know, they look and sometimes function very differently. There are "special" weapons that your not allowed to keep in your arsenal, but only use at certain points in the game. All of the "normal" weapons can be upgraded to improve things like clip size and damage. My favorite of the "normal" weapons was the "Autocannon", which is basically a gatling gun. My favorite "special" weapon was the "Seeker", a rifle that fires E99 rounds that once fired can be guided to their target.

This is the AutoCannon. And that's Kathryn.

I thought that the graphics were really good, although not really anything special. The game runs on Unreal Engine 3 and the usual traits like texture pop-in show up occasionally, though not very often. I was more impressed with the art direction than the actual graphics. Raven did a wonderful job of really capturing the vibe of an abandoned Soviet science facility from the 1950's, or at least what I think one would be like. The game also has really great atmosphere, and a few parts even made me jump from being startled. The game also manages to keep the gameplay fresh with things like underwater areas, frantic escapes, and traversing an area filled with toxic gas while wearing a gas mask. And those are just a few of the cool gameplay twists.

This is Deadlock, it launches a bubble that slows down time for all objects inside of it.

The only thing I felt was really lacking were the character designs. You spend the game fighting either Soviet soldiers or mutants and neither are very interesting enemies to look at or fight. Most of the mutants just run at you while you gun them down, while some phase in and out while still running at you. The human soldiers manage to show some intellect in the form of taking cover, but ultimately they just felt like mindless targets. It's not a big enough deal to do any major damage to the experience, but it would have been nice to see more variety in the enemy types and more personality as well.

This is one of the games boss enemies.

I really enjoyed Singularity and already started a new game on the hard difficulty, which says alot coming from someone who doesn't usually have the time to play a game more than once. Playing through the game was great fun, but for me the ending really sealed the deal. I was so caught off guard by the ending that me and my son were both sitting there with our jaws on the ground after it happened. I really feel like the way the ending went down for me was so random and unique, that I'll definitely remember it for a very long time.

The gunplay is pretty bloody in Singularity.

Singularity is a game that most people will probably overlook, but they definitely shouldn't. I would recommend this game to anyone who likes first person shooters, and specifically Bioshock.