Because I like talking about things that have already been overly discussed, I figured I'd throw in my two cents on Prototype vs Infamous. I know I'm a little late to the party, but better late then never.
Months before Prototype came out, I bought into the hype. I actually held off on getting inFamous because of Prototype. I eventually played both (I finished inFamous within the hour of writing this) and while both games are fun, I enjoyed inFamous quite a bit more.
Ultimately, inFamous felt more like a conventional sandbox game. Empire City felt a lot like the city in Crackdown with a dash of Grand Theft Auto. I really felt like I was a part of the city and enjoyed roaming and scaling buildings. Even though this phrase bugs the hell out of me, Empire City felt more alive. In the case of Prototype, while I can appreciate trying to recreate New York City, I spent most of my time running up buildings and gliding from rooftop to rooftop to the designated point of my mini map. The city never felt big or very real as the only time I went down in the streets was when a mission required me to or when I was nabbing a Web of Intrigue target.
I also felt more of an attachment to the characters in inFamous. While I totally think Alex could kick Cole's ass, Cole seemed more human to me. The supporting cast in inFamous was more developed as well. I'm still wondering what the hell happened to Alex's sister after I dropped her off with the doctor - I can only assume she's still in a coma. Although the morality choices in inFamous were very in your face, I totally didn't mind them.
The one thing I liked quite a bit more about Prototype was the combat. It was really satisfying to elbow drop a tank from 500 feet in the air. The hand to hand combat felt very hack n' slash which I dug. The combat with inFamous was okay at best. I felt like most of the time I was zapping dudes which seemed to take forever, or throwing grenades. I also really noticed a difference when I upgraded powers in Prototype as opposed to inFamous – upgrades in Prototype really felt like upgrades.
When I was initially scoring Prototype, I had to remove my let down from the hype. I initially settled on 4/5 stars. After playing inFamous, which feels more polished then Prototype, I'd also give it 4/5 stars and probably bump down Prototype to a 3/5. Infamous is easily the best PS3 game I've played this year and is the most I've played my PS3 since Little Big Planet.
Ultimately the real winner is the PS3 owner (for once) as they can play both of these great games. The most confusing thing to me around the time of the Prototype launch was the PS3 enthusiasts just ripping in Prototype which to me was like cutting off your nose to spite your face. The more appropriate rip would have been how 360 owners can't play inFamous.
Moral of the story: I liked inFamous quite a bit more then Prototype but if you have the chance to play both - do it.
Posted 4 months, 3 weeks ago
