Prototype
Prototype Review
by Rob Suski - June 24th, 2009
“Putting the ‘Fun’ back in Needlessly Mindless Violence” Sandbox gamers have had it good lately. From THQ’s destroy-thon, better known as Red Faction Guerrilla, to Sucker Punch’s electrical punch-out, Infamous. Another sandbox superhero game has come out for the system, and that would be Radical Entertainment’s Prototype.
General Review
In Prototype, players take the role of Alex Mercer, a Manhattan resident who awakens in a morgue in the middle of a viral outbreak where infected citizens are turned into ravaging zombies, and the military have quarantined the island. Alex awakens to find out he has no memory of his past, how he got to the morgue, and, to top it off, he finds out that he’s being hunted by a shadowy government organization known only as Blackwatch.
However, all is not lost for our anti-hero, as it seems the going rate for memories is on the up as Alex soon finds out that, in exchange for the acute amnesia, he has now become a shape-shifter; he can turn parts of his body into weapons, such as claws that would make Wolverine blush, and a giant blade arm that can slice tanks and soldiers in two. He can ‘grow’ a shield capable of mowing down would be citizens or shift into an armor form that turns his whole body into a running bulldozer. If combat isn’t the player’s fancy, Alex can also consume the citizens of New York city to not only gain health, but also to take on the consumed person’s identity, letting Alex hide in plain sight, Also taking on the person’s appearances and, in some cases, gaining specific skills, Alex gains the memories of those he consumes; those memories make up the back story of Prototype known as the Web of Intrigue. There are over a hundred Web targets in Manhattan, some are needed to progress through the story while the rest are littered around Manhattan and offered the back story of Prototype from who Alex Mercer is to why he’s being hunted – and the interesting but not shocking back story of the virus that’s plaguing New York and the military’s involvement.
Early impressions of Prototype have had it compared to various games, from Crackdown, to even Hulk: Ultimate Destruction, straight from Radical Entertainment’s own portfolio. Yet the most recent comparison that people have been making on websites has been comparing the game to Infamous. Given the fact that both games were released within weeks of each other and both have been hyped up, it’s impossible not to make comparisons. So how do the two games stand against each other?
Storyline, Characters And Graphics
In terms of storylines – while neither game’s story will be winning a Pulitzer, Infamous works well with its storyline by using the comic panels to progress the story; Prototype tries to go for the conspiracy theory movie method, but the conspiracies have been heard and done. The Web of Intrigue offers interesting bits of story (including revealing a potential major character in a sequel) but it’s not going to turn heads.
In terms of character development – Cole McGrath of Infamous actually has to make moral choices in the game that can affect the story, Alex is on a more of a one track mind of “Kill person X, then kill person Y.” It doesn’t matter if you kill one innocent person or a thousand, it doesn’t affect the story and it doesn’t affect Alex in any way.
And then there’s graphics. Infamous has Prototype beat in the detail department, but it’s not necessarily a bad thing. Although, Prototype’s graphics, while not outstanding aren’t horrid and with the slight drop in graphics comes an increase in what’s happening on screen, simply put if you like having Armageddon taking place on screen where soldiers, tanks, and helicopters are battling hordes of infected, you won’t mind much.
Unique Features
So what’s Prototype’s ace in the hole; its saving grace? Ironically, it’s Alex Mercer, not so much as to who Alex is but what he can do. Along with his shape shifting abilities, he’s super strong and super fast, he also can (apologies for the cliché) leap buildings in a single bound and glide about the city when not outrunning apache helicopters. Players truly feel like they can do anything they want in Alex’s shoes. Once players have fully upgraded Alex, nothing can stop them; not the infected, not even the military. Players can also unlock various combos that go with Alex’s shape shifting abilities, some are simple and fun such as increasing Alex’s muscle mass to the point where punching someone causes them to explode, others are quite ‘devastating’ to say the least such as shooting hundreds of tendrils from Alex’s body that take out everything in the area. One last comparison is that while Infamous falls into the category of “I’m glad I played that,” Prototype falls into what can only be called the “Hell yeah!” category. Though its story isn’t as deep and Alex certainly isn’t the most developed of characters, the mindless violence and carnage that you get to unleash on the city is an immediate return of investment. The final thought: For all of Prototype’s faults with its story, character development and graphics, one thing that it does do right is the main thing; you’re an unstoppable force, the island of Manhattan is your playground, and you have plenty of options on how to raise hell. In short, it’s a wild ride out to cure the summer doldrums. You may not reminisce on the story or the characters but you will certainly enjoy the ride. If you like this review, Digg it above
Play Prototype for up to 14 days free with a rent trial.
GameAccess (US/Canada)
GameFly (US)
UK/Europe coming soon
Related Links
Game
Cheats
Console:
PlayStation 3
Release Date:
09/06/2009
Genre:
Action-Adventure
Developer:
Radical Entertainment
Publisher:
Activision
ESRB Rating:
M — Mature
Multiplayer:
No
Online:
No
Rank:
139 of 454
Rank on PS3:
125 of 405
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