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"THFC"
Regular
on 16/06/2009 at 10:43:26AM
Total Posts: 2971 |
[GAME] Xbox 360 – Prototype
You are Alex Mercer, with no memories of your past you must find out what is happening to the city of New York and what has happened to you, by any means necessary. All you know is that you woke up in a morgue and within 5 minutes of coming back to life you are America’s Most Wanted Terrorist.
But the game does not actually start here, you get a mini-tutorial where you have full control over Alex and his powers. You can jump skyscrapers and smash tanks with ease. Once you have run about for 15 minutes getting used to the basics, you cut back to the start. Quite a common trend of late to do this, the whole game runs from a discussion Alex is having with a mysterious man on a rooftop you meet at the end of the tutorial. So the missions and cut scenes that you see for the majority of the game are all leading up to the point where you turned the game on.
That’s a nice little sum up of the game’s plot but for those of you wanting a bit more detail, read on……
New York City is infected with a deadly strand of a virus that Genteck (a large genetic company) have been working on, testing on human victims has lead to them to turn into vicious creates that are destroying the city. Some are like Zombies but then there are more than enough larger infected to keep Alex busy, Hunter’s make an appearance and are as tough as we have ever seen. While all this is bad enough, Alex Mercer can’t remember what has happened, he has been infected and has the ability to jump, glide and destroy almost everything. But all Alex has on his mind is revenge, he has to find the people who have done this to him and the city and make them pay, the only way he can get his memories back and find the people responsible are to absorb them, taking their memories and piecing together his life.
So that’s the game’s plot and you will be running, jumping and punching your way through infected to find the people you need to absorb. I think the best way to describe the game for those of you who have not seen anything about it – imagine Grand Theft Auto but with more gore and a much darker plot. You are free to explore the whole of NYC and must go to the required places to start missions, but there are also plenty of side quests for you to do, like racing or killing people. Doing these side quests and the story ones will earn you EP for how well you do. With this EP you can level up Alex, make him run faster, jump higher or gain new abilities. Such as the ability to send giant spikes through the ground to impale your victims, or have a shield to prevent you getting hurt while you run. All these are essential for Alex to get to the bottom of all this and let him solve this puzzle.
While the EP side of things is important, the main focus is around the “web of intrigue” which allows you to view the memories of the people you absorb, the memories are link to one another and will help everything make sense for Alex so he can get the revenge he seeks. While there is plenty to do in the sense of missions and levelling up to become stronger. It can get a bit repetitive absorbing people, then fighting a few then running away back to your hideout. Well I found it to get a bit tedious if I was playing for long durations, but for shorter bursts of intense gaming I found this one if the most enjoyable games of the year so far. The action is never far away and the story is well thought out and deep.
With games like this the controls or graphics can often suffer as the developers focus on making the playable environment too large, but Prototype has done exceptionally well in making New York City a very fun playground for you and Alex to race around and kill in. The cut-scenes look great on my non HD-TV so to those of you with the High Def, you would be in for a real treat with this game.
For me this is a great genre of game and one which holds my interest for a long time. It has a great story, RPG elements with levelling up and side quests which you get ranked from Bronze to Gold in, so you are constantly trying to go back and better yourself. Earning more EP to get Harder, Stronger, Better, Faster (couldn’t resist – sorry)
That said the game can appear shallow game play wise, as you are constantly absorbing someone to see the memories, then running off killing people. The missions do vary in a sense and the further you get then the better it gets in my opinion. At a first glance you don’t see some of the great little features they have thrown in for you, but for instance, if you absorb a person with the ability to drive Tanks, you can then do so, and by absorbing more you get better at it. So you can also drive a range of vehicles and also become more proficient with different weapons. So it is far from a basic hack and slash which from a lot of the videos I saw before playing I thought it was.
Hopefully this has given you a good idea of Prototype and the sort of game you can expect to buy. I for one had to get this game and paid £40 for it, but I am sure the price will drop within little time and I would have to suggest picking this one up if you have gained a little bit of interest from this. While it is not perfect and you have by now read a few of the negatives I put, it is still a great game that plays well and looks awesome.
I just have to mention to anyone thinking of playing this game, you pick up an achievement for killing under 10 civillians during the whole game, if you have the will power to do this, then well done. But I personally spent about 20 minutes picking people up, running to the top of a building and then throwing them off (this is the kind of mindless fun you can have with this type of game, the ability to free roam is really nice and lets you take a break from the story and missions)
All that said and done, I have to give this game;
8.9 / 10
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motomoto
"The Killer Techie"
Staff Moderator
Send a message
on 21/06/2009 at 2:02:42PM
Total Posts: 254
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Just started playing this one, and I'm really enjoying it so far. I'm playing it on the PC, and even with the graphics settings turned up as high as they allow, the graphics really are nothing special on this game. To be honest you could compare it graphically to games that came out 5 years ago...
Tiny bit repetitive, but I'm not bored of it yet. Not sure if its made by the same people, but to me it looks like the same engine as the spiderman games... :/
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spoonbeast
"eat toast!"
Regular
on 18/06/2009 at 10:05:59PM
Total Posts: 938
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It would have been great if there was someway the game could implement different missions that was a way from the main story like in GTA. But the question is how.
How would a terrorist wearing a hoody with an angst problem actually join forces with anyone. Well, maybe his sister, that doctor guy or a defector but other then that i see little chance. A shame.
Perhaps a few viglante missions. Absorb this guy jump into tank and do the odd mission. Which would be deteramental to you...
Bah. Prototype had so much potential but blows it somehow. Maybe multiple factions or a sort of Just cause warzone idea. Then again, how the hell would that work?
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Emmie87
"THFC"
Regular
on 18/06/2009 at 9:50:42PM
Total Posts: 2971
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Thanks mate - well to be honest your main missions will revolve around you running across the city, getting to said location and then aborbing a character to then have a bit of a scrap. Gain some EP and level up to do it again, so it does get repetitive but in short bursts because it is mindless fun and you can chain combos to fight your own way and have fun that way.
Then the side quests will be things like racing to waypoints to gain as much EP as possible, or having to use a certain power to kill as many infected as possible. So there is a small amount of variety on the side missions and there are 200 locations orbs to find and 50 hint orbs. Along with all the extra people you can absorb to gian your full memory. So plenty to do if you like that kind of thing, not really my style to get all the orbs etc so i do get bored of it but there is a charm that keeps drawing me back!!
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spoonbeast
"eat toast!"
Regular
on 18/06/2009 at 7:10:33PM
Total Posts: 938
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I want to get this game, but something bugs me.
Isn't this game a little repetitive? Unlike GTA series you havea wide variety of things you can do (races, collect ems, car stealing, target practice, side missions, viglante misions, killing sprees etc).
I get the impression that Prototype doesn't have that much. Another concern is how long . Yeah theres hard mode unlocks etc, but does that mean the game isn't that long?
I'll probably get this for the pc. If assuming the bugs get ironed out.
Still an excellent review.
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Emmie87
"THFC"
Regular
on 17/06/2009 at 9:16:29AM
Total Posts: 2971
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Well i have consumed more than 10 : (
There is an achievement for consuming over 200 people, which i will work on soon.
But one of the best upgrades i got was the running grab, so with the speed upgrade you can run along, nab an unsuspecting victim and leg it to the top of a building, hurl them as far as you can and watch them smack into something lol
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hippyman
"Proud Gashead!"
Regular
on 17/06/2009 at 8:24:40AM
Total Posts: 2721
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Great review, can almost agree with you entirely (sometimes it gets a bit repetitive, but in short hourly bursts it is fun).
I think the achievement you are talking about is consuming civilians. I think you can unlock it if you kill them, but not if you consume them. Well I hope that is the case! And I must try flinging people from the top of a skyscraper - it sounds pretty good fun!
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Emmie87
"THFC"
Regular
on 16/06/2009 at 12:49:57PM
Total Posts: 2971
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8.9 is because it should be a 9 - but it can get tedious for some people (i was trying to be neutral on reviewing, with my style of gaming and genre's that i like it would have been a 9)
It is great fun and thanks for all the posative comments! I am sure it will come down in price pretty quick pb, or check CEX because you can normally trade new games in at good prices as you know and you would be able to do a straight swap pretty much.
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pb
"Shoryuken!"
Moderator
on 16/06/2009 at 12:26:51PM
Total Posts: 10397
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Nice review.
It sounds really fun to play and I'll probably try to get this after Infamous (may have to wait till my Birthday in July though, no chance of getting any games at the moment).
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pete_21
Regular
on 16/06/2009 at 12:09:40PM
Total Posts: 1931
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Nice review Emmie.
Very specific score you've given there mate.Were you an figure skating judge in a previous life ? :)
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Emmie87
"THFC"
Regular
on 16/06/2009 at 10:43:26AM
Total Posts: 2971
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[GAME] Xbox 360 – Prototype
You are Alex Mercer, with no memories of your past you must find out what is happening to the city of New York and what has happened to you, by any means necessary. All you know is that you woke up in a morgue and within 5 minutes of coming back to life you are America’s Most Wanted Terrorist.
But the game does not actually start here, you get a mini-tutorial where you have full control over Alex and his powers. You can jump skyscrapers and smash tanks with ease. Once you have run about for 15 minutes getting used to the basics, you cut back to the start. Quite a common trend of late to do this, the whole game runs from a discussion Alex is having with a mysterious man on a rooftop you meet at the end of the tutorial. So the missions and cut scenes that you see for the majority of the game are all leading up to the point where you turned the game on.
That’s a nice little sum up of the game’s plot but for those of you wanting a bit more detail, read on……
New York City is infected with a deadly strand of a virus that Genteck (a large genetic company) have been working on, testing on human victims has lead to them to turn into vicious creates that are destroying the city. Some are like Zombies but then there are more than enough larger infected to keep Alex busy, Hunter’s make an appearance and are as tough as we have ever seen. While all this is bad enough, Alex Mercer can’t remember what has happened, he has been infected and has the ability to jump, glide and destroy almost everything. But all Alex has on his mind is revenge, he has to find the people who have done this to him and the city and make them pay, the only way he can get his memories back and find the people responsible are to absorb them, taking their memories and piecing together his life.
So that’s the game’s plot and you will be running, jumping and punching your way through infected to find the people you need to absorb. I think the best way to describe the game for those of you who have not seen anything about it – imagine Grand Theft Auto but with more gore and a much darker plot. You are free to explore the whole of NYC and must go to the required places to start missions, but there are also plenty of side quests for you to do, like racing or killing people. Doing these side quests and the story ones will earn you EP for how well you do. With this EP you can level up Alex, make him run faster, jump higher or gain new abilities. Such as the ability to send giant spikes through the ground to impale your victims, or have a shield to prevent you getting hurt while you run. All these are essential for Alex to get to the bottom of all this and let him solve this puzzle.
While the EP side of things is important, the main focus is around the “web of intrigue” which allows you to view the memories of the people you absorb, the memories are link to one another and will help everything make sense for Alex so he can get the revenge he seeks. While there is plenty to do in the sense of missions and levelling up to become stronger. It can get a bit repetitive absorbing people, then fighting a few then running away back to your hideout. Well I found it to get a bit tedious if I was playing for long durations, but for shorter bursts of intense gaming I found this one if the most enjoyable games of the year so far. The action is never far away and the story is well thought out and deep.
With games like this the controls or graphics can often suffer as the developers focus on making the playable environment too large, but Prototype has done exceptionally well in making New York City a very fun playground for you and Alex to race around and kill in. The cut-scenes look great on my non HD-TV so to those of you with the High Def, you would be in for a real treat with this game.
For me this is a great genre of game and one which holds my interest for a long time. It has a great story, RPG elements with levelling up and side quests which you get ranked from Bronze to Gold in, so you are constantly trying to go back and better yourself. Earning more EP to get Harder, Stronger, Better, Faster (couldn’t resist – sorry)
That said the game can appear shallow game play wise, as you are constantly absorbing someone to see the memories, then running off killing people. The missions do vary in a sense and the further you get then the better it gets in my opinion. At a first glance you don’t see some of the great little features they have thrown in for you, but for instance, if you absorb a person with the ability to drive Tanks, you can then do so, and by absorbing more you get better at it. So you can also drive a range of vehicles and also become more proficient with different weapons. So it is far from a basic hack and slash which from a lot of the videos I saw before playing I thought it was.
Hopefully this has given you a good idea of Prototype and the sort of game you can expect to buy. I for one had to get this game and paid £40 for it, but I am sure the price will drop within little time and I would have to suggest picking this one up if you have gained a little bit of interest from this. While it is not perfect and you have by now read a few of the negatives I put, it is still a great game that plays well and looks awesome.
I just have to mention to anyone thinking of playing this game, you pick up an achievement for killing under 10 civillians during the whole game, if you have the will power to do this, then well done. But I personally spent about 20 minutes picking people up, running to the top of a building and then throwing them off (this is the kind of mindless fun you can have with this type of game, the ability to free roam is really nice and lets you take a break from the story and missions)
All that said and done, I have to give this game;
8.9 / 10
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