When Prototype was released I admit that I had high hopes that this game would rock. The concept of running around consuming people, using my powers to kick ass, or changing into another person sounded awesome. But due to financial reason I was not able to pick up the game the day or even week it came out. So as I normally do I went to Justin.tv to watch someone else play.
Upon first finding a cast that was playing it one of the first things I noticed was the way you “climb” buildings in Prototype. Instead of climbing them (well you can climb, but it is much slower) you instead just run straight up them. In my mind I was imagining playing and it just seemed like the game was all about running up and down buildings fighting the military. I had watched a bit of Swiftor playing as well as 4Player Podcast’s Brad play and just had decided that it was not a game for me.
Fast forward to two days ago (Jun 29th) when my son was at the store with his Grandparents. As always my son being the spoiled kid he is he came home with a game. What game you may ask (as if the title of this post or the first paragraph isn’t enough to give it away)? None other than Prototype. (For another topic or discussion. Yes my son plays games some may feel he shouldn’t). I thought oh boy, why in the world did he get this, but I also figured I would give it a try.
So that night after my son had stopped playing and went to bed I decided to start a new game and give it a go. Going into it I still had the prejudgments I had made based upon my only watching the game be played by others. I felt like I knew it was going to suck, but I figured I could earn some easy Achievement points.
After starting the game and watching opening sequence I began to feel slightly different and thought that maybe my notions may be wrong and the game may be better than how it appeared. After the start you are thrust in to a tutorial of sorts which is actually supposed to be happening on Day 18 and you learn all the abilities that will be available too you. From the moment I started running I knew then that I could actually get some enjoyment from this game.
After the initial tutorial of you learning how to play you are thrust back into Day 1 as Alex Mercer (the main character) is talking to someone about what had lead up to Day 18. On Day 1 you find yourself with limited powers and you now must earn Evolution Points and purchase them yourself. The game world is open and you can run anywhere and do “side” missions/objectives to earn points or you can jump right in doing missions. I decided to jump in and do my first mission.
Upon starting the missions and playing through you learn that you can consume certain people and “learn” what they have to do with the story. When you consume them it goes into a sort of flashback sequence where it shows you what they have seen and talked about with others. One of the objects on the way to beat the game is to piece together the puzzle by consuming people and tying together these memory bits.
You also learn that you can consume people to learn new and improved skills. You can learn how to use the rifles/weapons better, how to drive the heavy tanks, how to fly a helicopter (later on in the story) and how to call in air strikes. I enjoyed doing this along with roaming around looking for people that knew things about the story so I could consume them.
The design of the game is well done in my opinion. The flashback’s or views of what the people you consume have seen is done really well. Along with that you are able to go back later and watch them in any order you’d like. One of the other things I really liked, which isn’t a big deal but impressed me, is that when I go into a cut scene after disguising myself as some random woman walking down the street, I appear in the cut scene as that woman. Omg, such a tiny little feature but so many games skip out on it. Most games if I am dressed one way I may have something different on during the cut scene, which totally kills it for me. The way Prototype has done it helps me to feel like I am the character.
Overall I’ve played for about 5 hours or so and feel I am pretty far (Day 11). I’ve mostly been sticking straight to doing missions and only doing the side stuff here and there. So far I am really enjoying the game play and all the action I get. Unlike what I watched where it seemed like everything was none stop, I’ve been able to spend a lot of my time not running from or killing the military. The game also in my opinion does offer a challenge for those gamers that are looking for one. I am playing on normal difficulty and still find myself dying a time or two on some bosses/fights.
So my final thoughts on it are words that I’ve heard many times. “Never judge a book by it’s cover”, or in my case never judge a game by only what I’ve seen watching others play.
Alan
I’d say it is definitely worth a rent and a buy if you think you could find yourself going back and finishing all the side achievements/objectives.
