You are Alex Mercer, a shape-shifter filled with abilities and a strong desire to seek out exactly what's happened to New York City, marred by an ongoing war following the outbreak of a deadly virus. Alex is somewhat blessed with extraordinary powers as he begins the chase to find his family, his memory, and the solution to his problem before it's too late.
Awaking on a table at the morgue under the eyes of military personnel, Alex quickly escapes before he can figure out what's going on. Upon emerging in the city, he discovers that the aftermath of the viral outbreak has drastically changed his entire body system. He can leap great distances, throw vehicles and sprint directly up the face of a building, he can also transform his limbs into weaponry -- but most importantly -- Alex can consume anyone and their memories, which includes their health and any special skills they may know.
Alex's ability to consume anything with genes essentially turns every individual into a walking health pack. The story progresses both through mission completion and absorbing the memories of specific individuals who know about what's going on, which all accumulates through the Web of Intrigue. Like human collectibles, the Web of Intrigue tells the beginning of the story through key figures as you learn how and why the outbreak happened, and plans to stop it. This helps Alex regain his memory and unravel key moments that fit together his past and finally unveil the Prototype conspiracy.
Simply getting around New York City with Alex is a rewarding adventure. His parkour-like movement coupled with the unlockable air dash and glide moves allow total free-flowing exploration. Prototype utilizes this and offers side-events such as a target mode where you'll need to glide Alex to the center for maximum EP, checkpoint races across buildings and racing across the city to consume Web of Intrigue targets. While the EP rewards are far from as generous as they are for story completion, an extra platinum medal mode becomes available when you can do no better.
Prototype rewards extremely well for mission completion and wants you to fully experience everything Alex has to offer. The amount of EP given is very generous and right from the get-go Alex can be powered up to combat a full-force military strike team. Each of the eight powers can be bolstered extensively, Alex won't finish maxed out on your first play through. On the other hand, Alex can be upgraded with stealth abilities to help prevention of unwanted conflicts and fights; you choose the way you complete missions.
One of the downsides to being a badass is that there are simply too many powers. You may possess all the upgrades in the world, but pumping Alex with literally hundreds of moves becomes a problem during the more important battles. It's easy to lose track of what you're trying to accomplish and before long, you end up dead due to picking the wrong ability, thanks to the sketchy power wheel. The controls for movement are fine -- however the practically limitless potential Alex has stored up can rarely be unleashed whilst fighting off hordes of Infected.
Another problem that took me by surprise was the simple task of hi-jacking vehicles. In order to gain entry to a vehicle, you first have to button-mash your way to the entrance and then you have to perform the same mini-game again to gain access. During this, you're completely vulnerable to all attacks and left defenseless whilst Alex gets thrown around by rockets and mutants. It's a cheap way to immerse you in the open-world feel that Prototype runs on, and simply put: you won't be feeling any more engrossed following them. There's no doubt you'll end up in a situation where you will simply need to take over a vehicle to survive, only to be blasted off the roof a second or so from entry.
Prototype is a title that sets out to offer it all as a package -- but falls short on a couple of points resulting in a seemingly half-baked experience. The movement is fluid and smooth and combat can be extremely fun at times. Unfortunately however, the control scheme becomes problematic and the difficulty level varies drastically, resulting in a more frustrating than expected affair. Prototype is no genre-defining game, but the satisfaction is there when necessary.
Awaking on a table at the morgue under the eyes of military personnel, Alex quickly escapes before he can figure out what's going on. Upon emerging in the city, he discovers that the aftermath of the viral outbreak has drastically changed his entire body system. He can leap great distances, throw vehicles and sprint directly up the face of a building, he can also transform his limbs into weaponry -- but most importantly -- Alex can consume anyone and their memories, which includes their health and any special skills they may know.
Alex's ability to consume anything with genes essentially turns every individual into a walking health pack. The story progresses both through mission completion and absorbing the memories of specific individuals who know about what's going on, which all accumulates through the Web of Intrigue. Like human collectibles, the Web of Intrigue tells the beginning of the story through key figures as you learn how and why the outbreak happened, and plans to stop it. This helps Alex regain his memory and unravel key moments that fit together his past and finally unveil the Prototype conspiracy.
Simply getting around New York City with Alex is a rewarding adventure. His parkour-like movement coupled with the unlockable air dash and glide moves allow total free-flowing exploration. Prototype utilizes this and offers side-events such as a target mode where you'll need to glide Alex to the center for maximum EP, checkpoint races across buildings and racing across the city to consume Web of Intrigue targets. While the EP rewards are far from as generous as they are for story completion, an extra platinum medal mode becomes available when you can do no better.
Prototype rewards extremely well for mission completion and wants you to fully experience everything Alex has to offer. The amount of EP given is very generous and right from the get-go Alex can be powered up to combat a full-force military strike team. Each of the eight powers can be bolstered extensively, Alex won't finish maxed out on your first play through. On the other hand, Alex can be upgraded with stealth abilities to help prevention of unwanted conflicts and fights; you choose the way you complete missions.
One of the downsides to being a badass is that there are simply too many powers. You may possess all the upgrades in the world, but pumping Alex with literally hundreds of moves becomes a problem during the more important battles. It's easy to lose track of what you're trying to accomplish and before long, you end up dead due to picking the wrong ability, thanks to the sketchy power wheel. The controls for movement are fine -- however the practically limitless potential Alex has stored up can rarely be unleashed whilst fighting off hordes of Infected.
Another problem that took me by surprise was the simple task of hi-jacking vehicles. In order to gain entry to a vehicle, you first have to button-mash your way to the entrance and then you have to perform the same mini-game again to gain access. During this, you're completely vulnerable to all attacks and left defenseless whilst Alex gets thrown around by rockets and mutants. It's a cheap way to immerse you in the open-world feel that Prototype runs on, and simply put: you won't be feeling any more engrossed following them. There's no doubt you'll end up in a situation where you will simply need to take over a vehicle to survive, only to be blasted off the roof a second or so from entry.
Prototype is a title that sets out to offer it all as a package -- but falls short on a couple of points resulting in a seemingly half-baked experience. The movement is fluid and smooth and combat can be extremely fun at times. Unfortunately however, the control scheme becomes problematic and the difficulty level varies drastically, resulting in a more frustrating than expected affair. Prototype is no genre-defining game, but the satisfaction is there when necessary.
