Prototype

Alex Mercer wakes up in a morgue, not even able blink before men with automatic weapons begin shooting and hunting him. As far as I knows a virus have been released in New York, himself at the epicenter, granted super natural powers. Seeking his sister he begins a quest to understand, to remember who he was, his role then and now. Sounds good, huh?

The mechanics of the game consists of a insane mix of different types and pacing: super power combat, gun play, stealth (not unlike Hitman), vehicle combat, free roaming in New York city.

Each of these elements are pretty well made: there are so many different powers to explore and use that its hard to get bored of being able to slice tanks or throw helicopters at other helicopters (which is fund, I might add). While there are weapons in the game, there are only three: a machine gun, a missile launcher, a grenade launcher. Of the same logic there are as few vehicles: two helicopters, two tanks. However, regardless of the type of combat, you use a lock-on system to target your enemy, flicking through all the targets with the right stick of your controller.

To evolve the story you go through missions (of GTA legacy), however you are free to roam the city of the New York picking up side missions which essentially are challenges - sprint fast, jump high, look mean, kill people etc. More interesting is what is called "Web of Intrigue" where you are able to "consume" people to learn more about the back drop of Prototype and of the story itself.

As I wrote, all the individual elements of Prototype are pretty well made, but they do not blend. I have pondered how to go about the business of giving a fair review of this game while being honest that I think it is a frustratingly, unfair, unbalanced and at times a horribly difficult game - and I will really try, so be patient and read on.

So how could a game that let's you "...do a karate kick on a helicopter." be bad? It boils down to the fact that it falls under the weight of all the things it tries to accomplish. If the elements of combat could have been focused to super powers, I am sure the experience would have been smoother and more refined. Instead, the game throws hordes of re-spawning, cheap-shooting enemies at you, which forces you to adopt a specific strategy for each mission - seldom giving you the implicit power to make your way that the developers had in mind. Indeed, you will go on getting killed and reloading from the checkpoints in the game until you find the specific strategy (often tanks or helicopters) to do the job. This negates the whole point of having awesome super powers since it relies on specific design theory. For example - to be able to charge attacks (as you often need to) you need to pause for a moment. Later in the game this means you are dead. Even the most powerful attacks in the game - Devastators - you need to stand still, making you a prime target.

This doesn't even raise the point of how unbalanced enemies are. Tanks and helicopters will hunt you for kilometers, and they need only one lucky shot to nail you down and then finish you. Even worse are the Hunters - big, nasty, jumping mutants who will, if you try to initiate a combo on them, begin a series of combos of their own which you can't escape. This leads me on to controls.

While I think I understand the rationale of placing controls as they are, when you are trying as much as you are, the dodge system (there is one actually) doesn't work well being placed on the same stick as the one you flick targets with. So more often then not you end up switching targets then evading an attack. Also, the point of a dodge system is that attacks are dodgeable - which Prototype neglects to have in the flurry of homing missiles, re-spawning Hunters and massive AOE attacks.

I believe the game had enormous potential to fuse many different types of gameplay and I must say it is insanely satisfying to drop down from a building, slicing a tank in two and go to work on the battalion of soldiers who are unfortunate enough to be there. However, I can not neglect how frustrating it is to die because of a stray missile, or being gang raped by Hunters - unable to escape from their combo attacks. I can without doubt understand Brads inclination to throw his controller, as I myself sat and beat forehead with it in frustration. In the end I can not rate this game on how much potential it has, since it falls under it. I honestly enjoyed separate bits and pieces of the game but I honestly also hate it for what it does.

Bad camera and controls, constantly re-spawning enemies that it just throws at you, unable to fuse the same design elements the game itself stands on, difficulty spikes and how the forces you to choose a specific strategy, inspire of the freedom it touts makes this game unbearable for me.

Beyond this, It's very hard for me to boil down all my complaints and all my highlights of this game into a sensible series of sentences since there is so much. Instead I will end the triage there and let it stand as it is, however, a last question is prompted:

Should you get it? Rent it for heavens sake before committing... Maybe you will also understand why it is hard to be fair to a game like this.