Allow me to give you a little background information on [PROTOTYPE]. Basically, you play as Alex Mercer, a scientist infected with a disease manufactured by a biological warfare syndicate.
Immediately, Alex finds himself trapped in New York City, with Blackwatch, a specialised unit designed to fight his kind, troops quarantining the city. He begins a quest to find out who he really is, who turned him into what he is, and why they did it.
When you start a new game, you?re faced with the prologue, which is set at the end of the game. This cyclical narrative continues through the story. As soon as you finish the tutorial, you?re thrown back in time to see Alex?s initial escape from his holding cells, and after a short mission, you?re given an entire city to play in.
Yes. [PROTOTYPE] is free-roam from the get-go. If that wasn?t already a phrase, it is now.
However, you probably won?t want to sit around and just throw cars at people. Working your way through the story missions can be rewarding as it is frustrating. Time only progresses as the story does, and as the days pass by, the city?s infection levels rise, from a primarily military occupation to a full blown warzone. And the AI makes this possible. Should you steal a helicopter, and fly over the city, you?ll see tanks moving through the streets, mowing down the infected, and watch as diseased monstrosities throw cars at helicopters to bring them down.
One of the highlights of this game is the freedom of choice. Since the military want you dead, and the infected just like to eat things, it?s only natural to interfere with an epic battle, if only to make a mess of the combatants.
The unique thing about Alex?s strain of the infection means that he can change his body to suit the situation, and the game does well to integrate this into combat. In fact, combat seems to encourage continually switching between powers, and provides the player with a simple and easy to use interface, which can be navigated with the right analogue stick, and conveniently slows down time to let you choose your power unimpeded.
There are five attack powers in total, and each serves a different purpose. There?s the one for chopping up lots of enemies in a short time, there?s one for bashing vehicles and buildings, one for precision hits, one for high damage, and one for extra strength. There?s two vision powers, both entirely pointless. You get thermal vision, which isn?t really useful, since you don?t ever fight in areas that might impair your vision. And you get infected vision, which lets you detect strains of the infection. This second one is only really useful for a story mission, and maybe tracking down infected water towers for that achievement.
There are the two defence powers, and once you get the second, the first becomes obsolete.
Then there?s the disguises. You have your Alex Mercer form, who, despite the numerous wanted posters and advertisements, can easily blend in with the crowds.
?Consuming? a person not only regains your health, it also takes their form. You can take a Civilian disguise, which is easy to find, as the streets are often full of the panicked little people. Civilian disguises are good only to hide from the military.
The other disguise is the Military. This will give you access to certain powers, and to military bases.
Of course, Alex isn?t restricted to his powers in combat. Tanks, APCs, helicopters and guns are all there for using at your leisure. Guns are surprisingly effective. For example, say you have a large group of soldiers opening fire on you. Rather than scattering them and chasing them down one by one with your claws, you can take an assault rifle, and with a short burst, mow the entire squad down. It?s that easy, and it?s that satisfying.
To increase your effectiveness with your available powers, or gain new ones, you access the Upgrades screen. Available at any time, you can purchase new upgrades with Evolution Points, which you gain from completing story missions, Events, finding landmark collectibles and hints, or from destroying vehicles and buildings. The system is simple in its style, so if you devote enough time and hard work to destroying everything you can find, the better upgrades fall at your feet.
Speaking of feet, Alex Mercer is pretty damn good on his. Holding the right trigger and moving will cause him to Sprint. Here, you can just stop paying attention to all the little details. If traffic gets in his way, he?ll jump, flip and roll to get past it, and if a building dare try to stop him, he?ll sprint straight up the side. The physics of [PROTOTYPE] are fun, and there are few, if any, glitches.
The main complaints about this game usually revolve around the AI and the graphics. I admit, the graphics are worthy of a PlayStation 2-era game, but they suit the style. It?s not pretty, but it is functional. And as for the AI, well, they?re not very clever. The military will immediately pick up on you using a power, but charging past them bearing a truck on your shoulders won?t bother them, and it?s clearly the norm in NYC to leap over a building without so much as spraining your ankle.
Well, I guess New York City earned its reputation for being hard.
This review is a lot shorter than the usual, given that the game lacks a multiplayer mode, and any DLC. Really, that?s all there is to it, yet I?ll still give the game a relatively high score. It?s fun. It?s simple, it?s easy, and it?s honestly fun. Gore may be for thirteen year olds, and I?m happy to be immature. Just for this game.
Immediately, Alex finds himself trapped in New York City, with Blackwatch, a specialised unit designed to fight his kind, troops quarantining the city. He begins a quest to find out who he really is, who turned him into what he is, and why they did it.
When you start a new game, you?re faced with the prologue, which is set at the end of the game. This cyclical narrative continues through the story. As soon as you finish the tutorial, you?re thrown back in time to see Alex?s initial escape from his holding cells, and after a short mission, you?re given an entire city to play in.
Yes. [PROTOTYPE] is free-roam from the get-go. If that wasn?t already a phrase, it is now.
However, you probably won?t want to sit around and just throw cars at people. Working your way through the story missions can be rewarding as it is frustrating. Time only progresses as the story does, and as the days pass by, the city?s infection levels rise, from a primarily military occupation to a full blown warzone. And the AI makes this possible. Should you steal a helicopter, and fly over the city, you?ll see tanks moving through the streets, mowing down the infected, and watch as diseased monstrosities throw cars at helicopters to bring them down.
One of the highlights of this game is the freedom of choice. Since the military want you dead, and the infected just like to eat things, it?s only natural to interfere with an epic battle, if only to make a mess of the combatants.
The unique thing about Alex?s strain of the infection means that he can change his body to suit the situation, and the game does well to integrate this into combat. In fact, combat seems to encourage continually switching between powers, and provides the player with a simple and easy to use interface, which can be navigated with the right analogue stick, and conveniently slows down time to let you choose your power unimpeded.
There are five attack powers in total, and each serves a different purpose. There?s the one for chopping up lots of enemies in a short time, there?s one for bashing vehicles and buildings, one for precision hits, one for high damage, and one for extra strength. There?s two vision powers, both entirely pointless. You get thermal vision, which isn?t really useful, since you don?t ever fight in areas that might impair your vision. And you get infected vision, which lets you detect strains of the infection. This second one is only really useful for a story mission, and maybe tracking down infected water towers for that achievement.
There are the two defence powers, and once you get the second, the first becomes obsolete.
Then there?s the disguises. You have your Alex Mercer form, who, despite the numerous wanted posters and advertisements, can easily blend in with the crowds.
?Consuming? a person not only regains your health, it also takes their form. You can take a Civilian disguise, which is easy to find, as the streets are often full of the panicked little people. Civilian disguises are good only to hide from the military.
The other disguise is the Military. This will give you access to certain powers, and to military bases.
Of course, Alex isn?t restricted to his powers in combat. Tanks, APCs, helicopters and guns are all there for using at your leisure. Guns are surprisingly effective. For example, say you have a large group of soldiers opening fire on you. Rather than scattering them and chasing them down one by one with your claws, you can take an assault rifle, and with a short burst, mow the entire squad down. It?s that easy, and it?s that satisfying.
To increase your effectiveness with your available powers, or gain new ones, you access the Upgrades screen. Available at any time, you can purchase new upgrades with Evolution Points, which you gain from completing story missions, Events, finding landmark collectibles and hints, or from destroying vehicles and buildings. The system is simple in its style, so if you devote enough time and hard work to destroying everything you can find, the better upgrades fall at your feet.
Speaking of feet, Alex Mercer is pretty damn good on his. Holding the right trigger and moving will cause him to Sprint. Here, you can just stop paying attention to all the little details. If traffic gets in his way, he?ll jump, flip and roll to get past it, and if a building dare try to stop him, he?ll sprint straight up the side. The physics of [PROTOTYPE] are fun, and there are few, if any, glitches.
The main complaints about this game usually revolve around the AI and the graphics. I admit, the graphics are worthy of a PlayStation 2-era game, but they suit the style. It?s not pretty, but it is functional. And as for the AI, well, they?re not very clever. The military will immediately pick up on you using a power, but charging past them bearing a truck on your shoulders won?t bother them, and it?s clearly the norm in NYC to leap over a building without so much as spraining your ankle.
Well, I guess New York City earned its reputation for being hard.
This review is a lot shorter than the usual, given that the game lacks a multiplayer mode, and any DLC. Really, that?s all there is to it, yet I?ll still give the game a relatively high score. It?s fun. It?s simple, it?s easy, and it?s honestly fun. Gore may be for thirteen year olds, and I?m happy to be immature. Just for this game.
