[PROTOTYPE] - Throw Momma from the Roof

[Occulus]

Alex Mercer, bursting with joy

Alex Mercer needs your help. He woke up on a slab in a morgue, in the heart of a genetic engineering laboratory. He has lost his memory, he's infected with a virus that has altered his body, and that infection is spreading throughout New York City.

Welcome to Prototype.

Prototype begins in an infected New York, eighteen days after the infection first began to spread. The entire introduction to the game places you in the person of Alex Mercer, in full possession of his abilities. This gives you the opportunity to taste what the game has to offer before you ever earn the abilities exhibited in the introduction.

Following this, you are back into Alex's life immediately after he wakes up, apparently dead, in the Gentek morgue. This is where the game actually begins. The concepts of "dead" and "alive" no longer apply to Alex- he's capable of scaling buildings, Spider-Man style, gliding through the air, drop from the top of the Chrysler Building to street level, and emerge completely unscathed, and (most notably) absorbing the biomass of passersby and incorporate it into himself.

This latter ability is key to your character's survival: Alex has the ability to absorb the biomass of any normal human; in doing so, he both recovers his health and at the same time is given the potential to unleash what are termed "devastator attacks" (one of which is pictured in the photo above).



Alex wants to feel you from the inside

One of the major elements of Prototype is called the "Web of Intrigue". Several people throughout New York City hold key elements of Alex's story, history, and the reason for the spreading infection. Absorbing these people triggers a short cutscene, in which is revealed particular, critical elements of the plot. These can be discovered in any order, which lends a certain disjointed authenticity to the recovery of Alex's memories. Additionally, some people Alex absorbs have key information that help Alex learn more about his abilities, or enable him to operate machinery or vehicles by absorbing their knowledge.



I am hard to kill. I know. I've tried.

Alex also has the ability to take on the form of those he absorbs. This is very useful in evading military strike forces, invading military bases, and in generally staying out of the way. Among his other abilities, Alex can create spikes from his own biomass that tunnel through the grounds and spear upward around him, whip enemies to death with an extended tentacle arm, drop from the sky at terminal velocity and kill with the shockwave, and generally just fuck everyone up.

As to gameplay, Prototype plays very much like Grand Theft Auto or similar sandbox games. The whole of New York City is realized in loving detail, including most of the city's known landmarks- as well as some lesser-known locations (for example, I stood Alex on top of 55 Central Park West, which was Dana Barrett's apartment building in the movie "Ghostbusters"). Both the Chrysler Building and the Empire State Building are in the game, as well as Central Park, Times Square, the Gridiron Building, and other locations.

All in all, Prototype is well worth the money. Go forth, kill... and help Alex remember.

[Ohio Joe]

1. Sweet

I did not realize this was set in NYC, that makes me want it even more. I'm pretty familiar with NYC (Though it has been a few years since I've been there) and look forward to re-visiting some old haunts :D

[moggie]

2. I'm having fun with this at the moment

I've just passed the stage where I can hijack helicopters in mid-air, which makes a change from destroying them with flying kicks or hurling roof furniture at them. Mess up an army base by throwing trucks around, wait for them to call a strike team, run up the nearest building, hijack one of the choppers which have arrived to kill you, and use its weapons to waste the others... there's a guilty pleasure to being this bad-ass.

[Ohio Joe]

3. OK, I picked this up last night

I'm only a little bit in (on easy, heh, I'm a wuss) but holy crap, this game is awesome :D I've probably spent an hour easily just walking down the street killing random people to see the different animations... and I only have a few powers so far. oh man, it is so freaking funny taking over people. First you kill them in a gruesome fashion, then absorb them and take over their appearance... Then the best part, your new appearance still walks just like you, head all hunched down, shoulders up, bwahahahahahaha, it's too funny. Sprinting down a crowded (and I mean crowded, makes GTA seem almost barren) sidewalk knocking everyone down... Picking up a car and throwing it into a crowd... Grabbing a pedestrian and running along while holding him by the throat... ahhh, good times, heh. You can wreak serious havoc in this game, more then any I've seen before.

The story seems pretty cool so far. It starts with a short intro where you have all of your powers and the city is completely full of infected people. Complete chaos everywhere but just to give you a taste. You complete a few minor things then the game goes back to the start of the story and you have to start discovering and buying your powers. There are certain people that when you absorb them they give you parts of the story and you can go back and view things whenever you want, done in a very cool way to.

Controls... ugh, I suck when it comes to lots of buttons being used and this game uses them all. At least it introduces things slow enough for people like me to get the hang of what I've got before giving me something else. A little practice and it will be fine.

Extra stuff to do - There looks to be lots of non-story related things to do in the game also. Challenges, rampages, secret stuff to find. I also get the idea that doing some things at different points in the game might make them either easier or harder to do as the people of the city become more and more infected.

Looks - This game is beautiful. Running at 780p there is no pop-up, no slowdown (unless it is intentional, like so you see a kill better) and you can see forever. Running up the side of the Empire State, looking around then jumping down to the street just... it is dizzying but soooo cool.

Mature - Perhaps the most graphic game I've ever seen. It also has a lot of adult language, definitely not for the kids but wicked fun for us adults :D

Bottom Line, I could not agree with Occulus more, this game is a must have.