Prey’s story is arguably one of the strongest features of the game. The plot primarily centres around main character Tommy, a Native American mechanic that despises his Cherokee heritage and yearns to leave it all behind and move away with his girlfriend, Jen. He's a reluctant hero, but as you soon discover, more than willing to fight to defend those he loves. The game itself is presented in real-time, meaning there’s no lengthy cutscenes to sit through, with everything done in-game (ala Half Life) and viewed through the eyes of Tommy from start to finish. It means you're never taken out of the character, with the game doing a great job of reminding you that you're playing as Tommy and not The kind of faceless marine other FPS titles have you controlling. For example, you’ll frequently hear Tommy react to the surrounding environment with almost Duke Nukem-style soundbytes, while the game actually starts with you looking into a bathroom mirror, and thus seeing Tommy’s reflection. It's a simple but clever touch.
The toilet is just through there, Mr. Alien.
The game chucks you in at the deep end from almost the start, equipping you with the first of Prey’[i]s impressive weaponry selection: the Sniper Rifle. Like all the guns in the game, the Sniper Rifle has two functions. Its normal fire shoots in machine gun-like bursts, but holding the L trigger activates the scope, transforming it into a fully-fledged Sniper Rifle. Other weapons are equally as useful, including the [i]Unreal Tournament-inspired Flak Cannon/Machine Gun and Bio Rifle, along with a Rocket Launcher with built-in shield. Probably your most valuable weapon is the Leech Gun. This allows you to draw different types of energy from surrounding pods, completely changing the ammo. A red charge, for example, produces a high firing rate Plasma Gun, but a white charge offers a high powered Lightning Blast. In terms of numbers, the actual selection of weapons isn’t exactly vast, and in most games where weapons get progressively powerful this could hurt the game, but the fact that they all remain useful throughout the game means you’ve always got a good selection of options at your disposal.
And a good selection of weapons is exactly what's needed when facing some of Prey’s gruesome foes, especially given that some are immune/weaker to certain ones. For example, there’s one enemy that carries the Rocket Launcher which has a protective shield as its secondary function. This shield protects from all explosive ammo like grenades and rockets, but plasma based weapons will tear right through it. The Bio Rifle used on one of the flying based enemies has equally devastating effects. Now is as good a time as any to praise the smooth control Prey possesses. For what's primarily a PC game, it’s nice to find that it’s never anything less than comfortable on a joypad. Aiming is smooth, the triggers typically fire your main and alternate ammo, and the shoulder buttons allow you to cycle quickly through your weaponry.
Everything so far sounds pretty much like your typical FPS, but Prey does actually introduce a few new ideas into the genre. The biggest selling point of the game has to be its use of portals. These are exactly what they sound like; doorways to other rooms/areas that transport you instantly. While not used to quite the extent they maybe could have been, far too often they merely serve to take you to a new environment, but do provide some interesting level design that often makes you think in order to progress.
Gravity plays a big part throughout Prey, too. Not only does being able to walk up walls and along ceilings add a new twist to general combat, but it also provides the base for some clever puzzles. By shooting specific gravity pads, you can turn a room completely upside down, allowing you to walk under obstacles that were previously too high to climb over for example. Combine this with the Spirit Walk, an ability that allows you to leave your body and walk through certain walls/hazards in a ghost-like state, and you often come across some genuinely original and clever puzzles. It’s just a shame they're not a bit more adventurous, as more often than not progression is little more than finding a switch and when you can’t find that switch it’s usually only a matter of using the Spirit Walk or shooting a gravity pad and you’ll quickly find your way. For every clever puzzle like the ‘cube’ section late in the game, there’s about five locked doors hidden behind a window that you simply need to Spirit Walk though to activate. While it’s initially a clever device to disguise simple switch-finding, it soon wears thin.
Hmm, looks like my old Geography teacher.
The use of vehicles help break things up a bit and, unlike in say Perfect Dark Zero or Quake 4, they don’t actually feel disjointed from the game. Controlled using both sticks to move and aim, these flying vehicles pop up throughout your journey. No vehicle would be complete without some weapons, so as well as a mounted cannon you also have a tractor beam that comes in handy for certain sections where debris just happens to be blocking the path ahead. Defending yourself is of high importance as your ship cannot take a lot of punishment, and you’ll soon die if you’re not quick on the trigger finger.
Not that dying in Prey is much of an issue as, well, you can't die. Instead, when you die the game takes you to a spirit world where you need to kill some spirits with your bow to recharge your life. Once you do that, the game places you right where you left off. Add in the fact that the game is only around eight hours long, and there’s not much in the way of challenge here. In fact, not only is it rather short, but it’s also technically impossible not to finish, due to the fact you cannot die. The likes of Halo and Call of Duty in recent years are ideal examples of how to perfectly place checkpoints throughout levels, and while it’s nice to see something new being tried, it'd be a lie to say it was a success.
The same could be said for the multiplayer too. While it plays like something reminiscent of Unreal Tournament, with portal chaos and gravity fun thrown in, it has some major flaws that spoil things completely. Its biggest problem is the netcode, which is quite frankly abysmal and nowhere near smooth enough for a game of this type. Every other FPS on the 360, barring the equally laggy Far Cry, can handle at least eight players with ease. Here, things can get messy with anything more than four. To top it off, there's only six maps and a paltry two modes (Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch), resulting in a package that’s a waste of time.
The gravity rails are the source of much enjoyment.
Visually the game is rather impressive in places; far more so than other games using the same engine, like Doom 3 and Quake 4. The bulk of the game takes place on an alien ship known as ‘The Sphere’, an appealing mix of organic, fleshy walls and mechanical, futuristic corridors which provide a backdrop far more interesting than in either of the aforementioned games, especially due to the vast size of the thing. For the most part however, the enemies are a little on the forgettable side. Some of the bigger foes are quite impressive, but more variety and a few more enemies on a larger scale would have been nice to break things up between the usual blend of foot soldiers and genetically modified beasts.
On the plus side, the frame rate is suitably smooth, and each of the weapons are wonderfully imaginative and creatively animated, complete with all kinds of bright lights and flashy effects when used. Prey will also give your sound system a good workout, with some superbly atmospheric sound effects and ambient sounds, while the soundtrack, provided by Jeremy Soule (who worked on the aurally unforgettable Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion), contains a handful of memorable themes. The voice-acting isn’t half bad either, certainly high up the scale compared to other FPSs.
In summary, Prey is certainly one of the better single player games so far on the Xbox 360. It controls well, features an enjoyable selection of weaponry and has some wonderfully unique level design that the likes of Doom 3 could only dream about. The plot, which we've intentionally avoided going into so as not to spoil it, is much more interesting than your average FPS too. Its relatively short length, lack of challenge and uninspiring multiplayer mean that it doesn’t quite fall under the ‘must own’ category, but if you’re looking for something to entertain you during this quiet time of the year, Prey is well worth a look.
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