At first glance I was ready to write-off Prototype as just another ultraviolent open-world action game in the same vein as inFAMOUS and Crackdown. Activision's newest game features a comic book-style protaganist who can leap buildings with a single bound, cut enemies in half with his blades-for-hands and has enough superpowers to make even Superman a bit jealous. Given all this information, it's easy to make the connection between this and those games put out by Sony and Microsoft. But Prototype isn't an inFAMOUS clone. Instead it's more of a remake to another Activision game - Spider-man: Web of Shadows.
I can see your face, you're dumbstruck by what sounds like an outlandish comparison. After all, this is a game about ripping people limb from limb and literally consuming innocent people for health. But look closer, because these two games are practically identical. They take place in the same part of New York City, feature conflicted characters that are prone to dip into their darker side to get the job done, and both games have practically the same storyline. Heck, Prototype even offers something called the "Web of Intrigue."
As I played through the game's convoluted story, I couldn't help but see the connections between the two games. It's not just the small things, either. About of quarter of the way through the game I couldn't take it anymore, I actually got up to double check the developer of the two games. I was genuinely surprised when I discovered that the two games were developed by different companies. I fully expected this to be by the same game makers, not a completely different team. It's not that Prototype is similar to Web of Shadows, it's that it's almost exactly the same. Only this time around you don't have to listen to Peter Parker whine for ten hours. Oh, and Prototype has blood. Lots and lots of blood.
Now don't get me wrong, when I compare the game to Web of Shadows that is not intended to be a knock against the game's quality. The truth is, I had a great deal of fun with last year's Spider-Man game (as you can see from my original review). I loved the fact that this new Spider-Man was darker and more brooding. I loved the open world aspect, complete with fun mini-games and rewards for finding every nook and cranny in the sandbox world. Prototype is a better game, featuring a strong story, better acting, more variety of attacks and less technical problems. But make no mistake about it, outside of the extreme gore, this might as well be the Web of Shadows sequel Spider-Man fans have been waiting for.
The game has an intriguing story from the get-go, showing you a world torn apart by nasty mutant monsters and a killer virus that seems to be ripping Manhattan Island to shreds. But this isn't your present. This virus plagued cityscape is your future. The game starts a couple of weeks earlier, just as the virus was starting to rear its ugly head and take hold of the city. You play Alex Mercer, a hooded badass who wakes up not knowing what happened to him. Was he experimented on? Is he still human? These are the questions that he's trying to answer. All he knows is that he is now able to morph into the characters he consumes, withstand bullets and turn his hands into giant weapons. And did I mention that he can run up walls, throw cars and glide around the city like a super hero? Well, he can do all of that ... and more.
He's aided in his quest by his sister and a couple of other close friends. Together the team comes up with a game plan that involves Alex killing tens of thousands of people, consuming high level military Generals and taking out gigantic bosses that seem to be wreaking havoc on the city he once loved. All he knows is that somebody has the answers, and he's not going to stop until he learns what happened to him. Even if that means he has to kill every single person in Manhattan, he's going to figure it out.
In a stroke of genius, the game gives you control over what he learns and when. The back story is revealed in flashback sequences that are triggered when you consume the right people. Sometimes you have to trigger these events to keep the story moving, but there are a lot of extra flashbacks that are completely optional. You witness these by consuming specially marked people on the street or finding yourself in one of those familiar deja vu moments. The more important people you consume, the more back story is revealed. Until ultimately you know exactly what's going on ... or, at least you think you do.
What makes Alex Mercer different from all of the other superheroes is that he's capable of changing his hands into a full assortment of cool weapons. In a lot of ways this character feels like Terminator 2: Judgment Day's T-1000, the liquid metal villain played by Robert Patrick. You start out with the ability to turn your hands into large devastating claws, ripping through the enemies much like Wolverine does in the comic books. Before long you are given a few different weapons to play around with, including a large dual-edged spike weapon, a long range whip-like weapon and even big fists that resemble something that the Incredible Hulk might use. Each weapon has its purpose, so you might use your large fists to take out a tank and your claws to cut regular soldiers in half. It's worth mentioning that you can also use the experience points you gain to pick up new abilities, which make your weapons even more useful.
On top of being able to morph your arms into cool weapons, you can use your special powers to literally transform into the last person you consumed. You'll find that in quite a few missions you will have to consume somebody specific just so you can gain access into highly protected army facilities. This power is also useful for evading whoever is after you. When the army comes chasing after you, you'll be able to duck into an alley and change shapes, allowing you to instantly blend into the crowd. It is here that Prototype is at its best.
All of this works because of the large amount of things you can do at any one time. Tired of running? Then ambush your enemies and chop them into little pieces. Or how about climbing a large building (which is as easy as holding the run button) and then raining death from above? Or better yet, hijack an airborne helicopter and fire homing missiles at your foes. It all works because it's so easy to pull off. The variety definitely keeps the game fresh, even after you've killed thousands of people.
As you progress through the game you will discover that it's not just you against a military you feel infected you. Instead you will have to worry about a third side, a group of mutated animals who are larger and stronger than anything the military has been able to throw at you. At this point the three sides are as confused as they will ever be, not sure who to go after first. The game is at its most exciting when you're in a small area battling both the mutants and the military at the same time. These are chaotic battles, especially since the military can't figure out who is a greater threat (and just for the record, if you play the game correctly, YOU are the greater threat). My only real complaint is that you can never convince either side that you're on their side, so you're always forced to stay on your toes and avoid fire from all sides. I say that when the military seems me killing a much larger mutant monster, they should stop targeting me and focus their fire on the more destructive force.
While the core gameplay is definitely fun, the game isn't without a few problems. For one thing, the missions aren't as diverse as I would like them to be. Too often I found myself doing the same sorts of events over and over, most of which require me to kill a certain amount of enemies in an enclosed space. There are a few exciting missions that actually require a lot of skill, but they are few and far between. Given the game's potential, it would have been nice to see my powers used for more than just killing thousands of soldiers.
Also disappointing is the lack of indoor battles. That's not to say that you are never inside, but it's generally in a large warehouse that does nothing more than act as a way to limit your movements. How could would it have been to rush through the corridors of an office building fighting in cramped locations that keep you from climbing to great heights and using some of your other powers? The indoor locations that you do end up fighting in are usually pretty dull and always look the same.
But my main problem with the game is how you are forced to switch between weapons. I know this will sound petty to anybody that hasn't played the game, but there's no way to push a button and switch between your various powers. Instead you have to hold down the left bumper button to bring up an incredibly inaccurate ability wheel. You then use the right analog stick to pick what ability you want, which never seems to work as fast as you would like it to. Worse yet, this ability wheel doesn't stop time (though it does slow down time for a short amount of time), so you'll end up getting hit a few times while changing the to attack you want. This may not be that big of a deal early in the game, but when things are at their most hectic (and you need to switch from attack to attack), you'll quickly discover that the wheel just doesn't get the job done. It would have saved a lot of frustration if you could simply push a button and change between weapon modes, even if you have to go through several before finding the right one. And don't even get me started on how you'll sometimes not change into the weapon you want for whatever reason, it all feels so random and irritating.
Another big problem is the aiming, which can't seem to keep up with the rest of the action. You aim with the left trigger button, but it's rare that the game will actually target what you're looking at. You can change between targets, but even that takes too long, especially given how fast paced everything in is the game. Things go from bad to worse when you pick up the enemy's guns. Not only do you have to contend with terrible aiming, but you also have to remember that you don't pull the right trigger button to shoot. After being trained to do this in literally hundreds of other tames, I found myself having an extremely hard time breaking myself of this habit. You shoot with the blue "X" button, something that never felt comfortable to me. Too often I would accidentally throw the gun to the side or not use it at all because of the crazy button configuration.
There are a few other minor gripes, such as a city that never really sets itself apart from the other open world action games and how there only seem to be a few enemies that you kill over and over. Throw in some wildly inconsistent graphics and a story whose final act doesn't seem to match the intensity of the rest of the experience, and you have a solid game that is brought down by a bunch of small complaints that quickly add up. And while I'm complaining, I should also point out that this game would have been greatly improved with some sort of multiplayer option. As it is once the story mode is done there's very little reason for you to go to the city (unless you want to play through the game again, this time using all of the weapons and abilities you've unlocked).
Like any good open-world sandbox game, Prototype gives you a few mini games to play in between the heavy handed missions. These mini games will have you racing to collect orbs, battling on the side of the mutants to kill the evil military and even performing rampage-style missions where you have to kill a certain amount of infected characters using a specific weapon. For my money, the best mini game has you using your gliding ability to land on specific targets. This mode reminded me of the skydiving levels in Nintendo's Pilotwings series, a strange connection given this game's ultraviolent action elements. Sadly there aren't enough of these mini games, hopefully Activision will patch more in through downloadable content (though I'm not holding my breath).
Prototype is a solid action game, even if the game's story never matches the potential the action is occasionally hard to control. This is full of high energy and is, for better or worse, one of the most violent games of the year. Prototype is one of the few games that makes you feel like a superhero, which is one of the highest compliments you can give this style of game. Still, I can't help but feel like there were some corners cut in order to get the game out. Activision's newest action game is far from perfect, but if you're looking for an exciting superhero romp with a lot of gameplay choices, then this game is definitely worth picking up.
