‘Singularity” is a thrilling, provocative, yet oddly familiar journey through the fabric of time. In this alternate take on historical events, Joseph Stalin’s role in the Cold War is heightened when Russian scientists discover a new element on the island of Katorga-12. This element holds untold power, and even though it’s unstable, Stalin accelerates the experiments. Death, contamination, and unexplainable phenomena are all Russia has to show for its efforts. Katorga-12 is quarantined and forgotten. History stays the course until you arrive on the island in 2010.

Katorga-12 is a place of scientific wonder and supernatural horror. Rather than letting players free fall down this rabbit hole, Raven Software sends them down in a bathysphere. Katorga-12 is bathed in Russian colors and propaganda, but the architectural design feels like it was stripped from the notebook of “BioShock’s” Andrew Ryan. This Russian base has an amusement park feel to it, and just like “Ryan’s Rapture,” its history is detailed in audio recordings, video reels, scientist notes and hastily written wall messages. The guiding voice even bears a physical resemblance to Andrew Ryan, who (surprise, surprise) tries to blow your mind in a similar way to Ryan’s “would you kindly” reveal.

Raven doesn’t hide the fact that “Singularity” is heavily influenced by “BioShock.” Rather, the developer uses this familiar design to paint a unique picture. Sure, I found myself thinking about Ayn Rand’s objectivism at certain points, but this story’s most intriguing moments are tied to the greed of an empire and the conflicting voices within it. Raven does a phenomenal job delivering the fiction. The experiments, and people conducting them, are fascinating and believable. This tale runs out of magic roughly halfway through the game, but it picks up in the later stages and concludes with three satisfying alternate endings. The good ending, if it can be called that, made me do something I never thought I would in a game — a powerful moment, to say the least.

“Singularity’s” gameplay starts strong and ramps up as the adventure ages. Thanks to a time manipulation device, your protagonist can degenerate or revitalize the age of an object. This device can revert war-torn staircases and rusted electrical boxes to as-good-as-new states. A handful of great puzzles are attached to environmental repair, but these opportunities are surprisingly rare. When they pop up, Raven recycles the same techniques used in previous puzzles.

Most of the time powers are reserved for combat. “Singularity” makes you feel like a badass with its excellently crafted gunplay. Throwing time manipulation into the arsenal makes you feel like an unstoppable god. Pointing a finger at a Russian soldier can lead to his body aging a thousand years in a second. Highly agile enemies that bounce off of the walls and cloak on the ground can be frozen in a temporal distortion bubble. As they sit there in a helpless state, you can fill their bodies with as many bullets as you want. I rarely died in “Singularity,” but that doesn’t mean it lacks challenge or excitement. New enemy types, powers and weapons are doled out all the way up to the final conflict.

I jokingly told my co-workers that “Singularity” is more “BioShock 2” than “BioShock 2.” While meant as a subtle jab at “Singularity’s” “borrowed” designs, this statement relates to finding a gaming experience that transports players to a new world filled with discovery and the unexpected.

‘Singularity’

8.5 (out of 10)

PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360

Activision, Raven Software

ESRB rating: M for Mature

Top 10

Across the board

The editors of Game Informer Magazine rank the top 10 games for July:

1. “NCAA Football 11” (PS3, X360)

2. “Limbo” (X360)

3. “Red Dead Redemption” (PS3, X360)

4. “Super Mario Galaxy 2” (Wii)

5. “Singularity” (PS3, X360)

6. “Transformers: War for Cybertron” (PS3, X360)

7. “Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11” (PS3, X360, Wii)

8. “Toy Story 3” (PS3, X360)

9. “Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker” (PSP)

10. “Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies” (DS)

McClatchy-Tribune News Service

Weekly download

‘Puzzle Quest 2′

Reviewed for: Xbox 360 Live Arcade

Also available for: Nintendo DS

From: Infinite Interactive/D3Publisher of America

ESRB Rating: Everyone 10+

Price: $15

After 2007’s “Puzzle Quest” surprised just about everybody by taking “Bejeweled” and using it as a means of battle in a story-driven role-playing game, a handful of weird offshoots tried and mostly failed to take the idea to new avenues. So it’s no surprise to finally see “Puzzle Quest 2,” which brings the idea back to its roots and simply gets to tweaking from there. The net worth of those tweaks will certainly vary to players of different disciplines. The story is thin to the point of being boilerplate, and instead of capturing cities and managing armies, players rarely do more than move from fight to fight. But while “PQ2’s” outer shell feels dumbed down, the battles themselves are improved. “PQ2” mixes in the occasional mini-game for variety’s sake, but the fight system evolves enough to carry the surprisingly lengthy single-player campaign. Naturally, players who want some human competition can find it via the game’s two-player local and online (X360 only) multiplayer, which function exactly as one hopes and expects they would.

— Billy O’Keefe, McClatchy-Tribune News Service

New game releases

The following titles were scheduled for release the week of July 11:

• “Deadliest Warrior: The Game” (X360)

• “DeathSpank” (X360, PS3)

• “The Bachelor” (DS, Wii)

• “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” (DS)

• “Little League World Series: Double Play” (Wii, DS)

• “NCAA Football 11” (PS3, PS2, X360)

• “Animal Planet: Vet Collection” (DS)

• “Little League World Series Baseball 2010” (X360, PS3)

• “Landit Bandit” (PS3)

• “Dungeon Raiders” (DS)

• “Pop Island – Paperfield” (DS)

• “Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies” (DS)

• “Chuck E. Cheese’s Party Games” (DS)

• “Mystery Stories” (DS)

— Gamespot.com