Most well known for their valiant efforts last generation with Hulk: Ultimate Destruction, Radical Entertainment are back with another sandbox game with a whole new character to use. The game begins when the protagonist Alex Mercer wakes up in a morgue, about to be dissected. As he’s on the run from his pursuers, he discovers that he has some incredible powers: super human strength, super speed, and the ability to shape shift. He has no clue why or how he got them, but he makes it his top priority to find out what’s been done to him, and what is happening to the city around him. Prototype does a solid job in offering a pretty good story, which is all about the truth behind Alex Mercer’s life, and a virus that’s spreading across the city, infecting people and turning them into mindless monsters. There are a few holes here and there, where some characters just seem to disappear off the map almost entirely, but it’s a story that will keep its claws dug into you until the very end.
ANNNGEERRR FISSSTT
But honestly, it’s not the story that’s going to keep you going in Prototype, it’s the powers and gameplay. To say Alex Mercer is overpowered is frankly an understatement, as his level of power is so ridiculously high that you really have to witness it first hand to believe it. As a shapeshifter, Alex can consume and become anyone he wants in the city, which is useful to gain more story tidbits through the Web of Intrigue, sneak through military bases unnoticed and also learn new abilities if he consumes certain people. Though the disguising of oneself does work in the game and is useful in some areas, you’ll mainly be focusing on the combat aspect of the game, which is where Alex can literally run head on into a battalion of tanks and come out unscathed if played right. Your movement is quick and nimble, allowing you to run up walls, leap several hundred feet up into the air, dash across the street at breakneck speed, and even glide. All of it is upgradeable too so by the time you’ve maxed out your abilities, you’re virtually unstoppable. Fighting is varied and can be done in many different ways too. You can throw cars at people, headbutt an apache into oblivion, body slam tanks, use your hand as a whip to slice people in half, hijack tanks, run up a wall while throwing a car at a tank... There’s an enormous amount of variety in play style and all are equally as fun as the next, and the game is open to experiment. It’s what makes Prototype such an utter blast to play, though before the fun begins you’ll probably be focusing on getting used to the controls, which are a little sloppy to be frank. Targeting and switching between targets while dashing across the city and up walls can be quite tricky to get a handle on at first, as the camera also swerves around a bit giving you a little disorientation. Once you’ve got the gist of things however, everything just seems to blend together into a seamless and chaotic experience.
In fact, we’re going out on a limb (hah) here and claiming that Prototype is the most chaotic game on the market right now. Hundreds of people, whether it be military, civilian or infected, litter the screen at all times and run amok, being blown to pieces by incoming military fire and explosions of cars crashing into things. You’ve also got smoke from fires simmering throughout the city, Apache’s covering the air, limbs being thrown about... yeah it’s crazy, and incredibly gory. In fact it’s probably one of the goriest games available, with people literally exploding into a gooey mess. Alex Mercer is also a total jerk, and encourages players into playing like a reckless jerk, killing everything in sight, so parents beware, there is a very good reason this game is an MA+15 and something kids should be steered clear of.
Ah yes, the tentacle attack, a common weapon used in the modern age.
Once you’re done with the story missions, you have quite a few side missions to complete as well, all of which earn you Evolution Points so you can upgrade your abilities even further. Though quite a few of the missions (including story) feel a little cookie-cutter and shallow, the game’s entire point is mainly to emphasise the chaos and frenetic pace, which those missions manage to express extremely well. So with the great power you wield, you also have some great replay value to go with it, which is always a good thing.
But what Prototype excels in, it lacks in other areas. In this case, the visuals. Though the animation of Alex Mercer and the amount of things going on at once is relatively impressive, the texture work and overall look of the game is a little dull. Textures are fairly bland and low res, and character models seem a little low in the polygon count, and have a strange amount of shine on their bodies too as if they’ve just been in an oil spill. But it seems that the visuals were a necessary sacrifice, as the frame rate remains absolutely rock solid regardless of how much is going on, so in some ways, it’s redeemable. We admit though, it has some pretty good use of lighting and shadows, so that also makes up for the muddiness of textures
Aurally, Prototype actually sounds quite good, with Dolby Digital Surround used to full effect, making the billions of explosions and cries of terror going off at once sound a whole lot nicer, further immersing you into the game’s world. The voice acting is quite well done as well, with Alex Mercer sounding exactly as you’d imagine him: sinister, angry and a complete jerk. But we like it. And finally, the music is great. Heart pounding and fast paced, it goes well with the combat and makes it feel a lot more epic than normal. For sound junkies, Prototype does a good enough job and will satisfy most.
Explosions and limbs. Lots of it.
Prototype is basically a game that you can pick up and play, have an absolute blast with, then walk away barely understanding what just happened. The chaos that ensues within the city is immense and often times damn near overwhelming, making you feel the aftershock after you’ve done it all, with a sudden familiar sound you know called silence. It’s a title that, while holding a decent story, is ultimately an arcade styled game, where you don’t really have to think much, just destroy, consume and move on. Among all the story driven titles with complex plots, deep character development and thought provoking gameplay, Prototype tends to just push itself away from all that, say “screw it”, and proceeds to eat human beings and kill everything else. It’s exactly what a Hollywood blockbuster film is; a little dumb, but incredibly entertaining. Recommended.
), so looking forward to this game to be more over the top fun. I agree with a couple of the earlier posts, games that are great fun while not being as pretty (Saints Row 2) still win hands down in my book.
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