GAMETIME - Prototype

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GAMETIME - Prototype

Post by CoFree »

GAMETIME - Prototype
By Cody Webb
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Lately, it seems as if good games with original ideas are becoming harder and harder to find. Don't get me wrong, there have been a few original games out there, like Mirror's Edge, for instance. Now another original game seeks to consume your time, and fortunately, this one seems to be worth it. This game would be Prototype, brought to you by the folks over at Radical Entertainment. You may remember them from their 2005 hit, The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction.

Prototype is rated M for Mature, and with good reason. There are gallons of gore and extreme amounts of violence involved in this game. Remember, this definitely isn't one for people with weak stomachs or for the kids. It's available for the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and for Windows computers; and, as usual, I have played the 360 version.

First things first, the player controls a man named Alex Mercer who wakes up in the morgue of a research facility in the middle of New York City and ends up having to fight his way out. Upon escaping, he realizes he can't remember anything that has happened, but he does learn that he now has crazy shapeshifting powers. He also finds himself being hunted by a mysterious and violent military group calling themselves Blackwatch while a mutating virus is infecting the population of NYC. Alex must figure out what exactly happened to him before the city falls to the Infection.

After an awesome tutorial, the game starts you off with a couple of powers and sets you free on New York. Players will get to use many different powers, from a giant blade arm that lets you chop through enemies, to body armor made out of black biomass that slows you down, but makes you extremely hard to kill. As if you really needed any more defense, at the beginning Alex is nigh unstoppable, but towards the end the difficulty ramps up quite a bit. It's not a horrible thing, but it's definitely noticeable when you're fighting three to four tanks at a time.

If charging in and mauling everyone doesn't sound like your type of thing, there is a very neat stealth aspect to Prototype. Alex has the ability to consume people, which is where he absorbs them and makes them part of himself. You'll use this to gather the memories you need to piece together your past, but another side effect of consuming somebody is that you can turn into the last person you consumed. This allows you to consume a military person, assume their form and then sneak into a military base! Then you're free to stealthily consume the other personnel inside, then sneak out with no one the wiser.

The New York that you'll be running around in looks fantastic, and is made even more fun by how easily you can move through it. Alex has infinite sprint, which means he can run for as long as you hold the respective button down. Sprinting at a building causes him to start running up the side of it, and holding down the jump button charges your jump so you can go even further. To top all of this, later on in the game you get a Glide ability, which adds even more distance to your jumps and looks amazing. You'll find yourself perched on top of the Empire State Building and other buildings within seconds, looking down on the city and its inhabitants.

Prototype's a good game, but that's not to say it doesn't have its flaws. Sometimes the controls can be a bit touchy, especially when running up or along certain buildings. The few vehicles you can control are a little hard to master, but these issues are relatively minor. It even extends itself past the story a little with mini-objectives and the option to clean up or further infect the city by helping either the Infected or military. You can even finish hunting down the people with key memories that you need to finish piecing together the story.

So would I recommend you buy it? Certainly, it's nice to see an original game that doesn't muck up what it has going for it. It's a fast-paced action game with the option to allow stealth, but it doesn't force it upon you save for a couple of missions. I'll give it a B, and try not to let Alex Mercer consume you.
"FIGHTING TYRANNY in a TECHNOLOGICAL NOTTINGHAM"
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