Prototype

I'm 12 hours into Prototype and I just can't put my controller down. Even though the game is clearly a bit rough around the edges and the lead character isn't exactly Mr. Nice, I still find myself coming back again and again to the streets of Prototype's New York. There's just some sort of intangible joy to be had from Prototype's mix of parkour and powers that brings back the sense of fun found in the likes of Crackdown.

So let's start from the beginning shall we. Prototype ramps up the action right from the start by placing you in the shoes of Alex Mercer and letting you rip through a tutorial where you're slicing and dicing zombies, elbow dropping on tanks from the top of skyscrapers and karate kicking helicopters into next week. Just as you're smiling from ear to ear at the sight of all the carnage you've just caused, you're cruelly whipped back to a point 18 days in the past where the story actually starts with you waking up in a morgue and fighting your way out of a genetics lab and finding that you have somehow gained superpowers which allow you to transform yourself and consume the people around you. Unable to remember what happened to you or how you came to be, here you start trying to track down the who and the why of how this happened to you. Soon you come to see that you're caught in the middle of a battle between the Army and hordes of infected from some sort of biological accident, but you only begin to learn more about it as you progress through the story.

From here on out you've got the run of New York city in a style reminiscent of GTA or crackdown in that you are free to pick and choose exactly what you want to do next with markers on your map representing the main storyline missions, side missions to earn Evolution Points (the levelling up currency of Prototype), or targets for you to consume to learn more about the back story that's represented by the Web of Intrigue. The Web of Intrigue is an inter-connected web of people that each holds some key memory that sheds light on the overarching story. The short story sequences that play upon successfully consuming each target are quite well done albeit a bit short and throw-away on the odd occasion.

The main missions follow the usual recipe of protecting other characters, killing specific enemies or chasing enemies through New York. They're also interspersed with the odd boss fight to liven up matters so there's plenty of time to be sunk into playing your way through the story with 10 to 15 hours of missions to be had. Where most of your time will go otherwise is in the hundreds of side missions that consist of foot races, gliding events, consume events, mass fights and warfare events. Each of these events awards you with a gold, silver or bronze medal depending how well you do in the event and completionists will spend ages trying to gold in all the events. Add in hint and landmark orbs scattered throughout New York and you can wile away most of your time in Prototype without even touching the story missions.

Enough of boring missions though, as the main joy in Prototype comes from the selection of powers at your disposal, with Alex Mercer having the ability to transform his arms into razor sharp claws, giant hammers, a blade or an extendable whip. Evolution Points, mentioned earlier, allow you to purchase or upgrade powers. You might think that with Evolution Points (EP) coming thick and fast for almost everything you do in the game it would be easy as pie to max out your powers early on in the game, but you'd be wrong. There are so many powers with some screens containing up to 20 separate upgrades, as well as the fact that many of your best powers are locked till certain points in the story, that you'll spend most of the game buying additional powers. That's not to say all of them are useful though, as you'll soon find your ideal group of powers and stick to them for most of the game. Probably the most entertaining power you'll get first is the ability to glide and this brings me to Prototype's greatest strength - moving through the city. Using the right trigger Alex will sprint over cars, through people and up the sides of buildings with no problem. Add in his ability to jump like some sort of Superman and you've got one heck of a way to travel the streets of New York. Most of my time so far has been spent gliding around New York and high jumping between skyscrapers searching for collectible orbs in a way that only Crackdown managed to hook me.

There are quite a few bad points in the game though, which do manage to tarnish an otherwise fun experience. The combat system is fun and easy to use but some enemies seem to enjoy spamming you with unblockable attacks and it also doesn't help that Alex Mercer cannot block attacks, but either has to run away, or dodge frantically in the hopes of avoiding getting hit. Graphically the game is also a bit average with buildings and character models that don't really manage to stand out amongst the crowd. Thankfully though it's more than compensated for by the lack of any lag even when you're in the middle of a fight involving hundreds of enemies, and as you'll be running full pelt for most of the game there's not much of an opportunity for sightseeing. The character of Alex Mercer is also very hard to sympathise with as he seems more than willing to murder hundreds of thousands of innocent bystanders by driving over them in tanks using area attacks to annihilate them, or to just plain consume them for a slight health boost, without the slightest tinge of remorse. Like I said at the start of the review though, Prototype manages to stand out above these problems though. For each complaint you might have about the game, there are several good points that manage to more than make up for it.

So after all that, how good is Prototype? Well, I think the most reliable factor in determining how good a game is comes from the amount of fun it gives you as the player. In Prototype's case I have had nothing but fun. Yes, there has been the odd occasion where I've cursed and sworn at my Xbox, but overall I've had a great time traversing New York and fighting the good fight with Alex Mercer. So if you're looking for an action game that casts you as a powerful superhuman character, then Prototype should fill that void perfectly.

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