Have you ever played a game and felt like, “Wow this game would make a perfect fucking movie!” or “The story is just what I want in my games!”, and then had to get subjected to a faulty reality? Well that’s how I felt when I played Prototype.
So here’s the low down. You the player get to control Alex Mercer, our protagonist (or anti-hero as you’ll quickly learn), who has been stricken by the story tellers ultimate resource, amnesia. Alex awakens to the sight of two doctors ready to open his presumably dead corpse in a morgue located in the basement of the genetic engineering company GENTEK. After a clumsy escape by the reawakened Mercer, he quickly finds that his body isn’t truly his own. A virus that was released in Penn Station had infected his body, giving Mercer the ability to leap tall buildings, run faster then cars, strength that rivals the strongest tanks and the ability to shapeshift into any human he consumes. This virus, later called Blacklight, is now infecting all of New York City, and it’s up to Mercer to both find his origins and to stop anyone who gets in his way.
Alex Mercer is the true bad ass of all anti-heroes. Think if Spawn was remade today and Mercer would still kick his ass! Standing between the military forces trying to control the infected and the infection that’s trying to spread, Mercer fights for whatever force will give him more answers. There are levels in which you’ll disguise as a soldier and control tanks, helicopters, or just carry a gun and will need to kill the infected targets, while other situations will call for Mercer to sneak into a military base, destroy a certain weapon, or just kill a group of military forces alongside some infected. It helps that Mercer has all of New York City as his playground. Abilities like his air dash and glide make traveling over buildings a breeze, and his previously mentioned speed and jumping abilities help to get Mercer out of any situation. There is just something special about being able to run up the side of a building only to leap miles into the air and fly off into a new direction. It’s probably one of the most enjoyable parts of the game. But of course that’s not all! For whatever reason, the infection has given Mercer the ability to parkour like a master! What is parkour? Parkour is a discipline with the aim of moving from one point to another as smoothly, efficiently and quickly as possible using principally the abilities of the human body. (Thanks wikipedia o_o) So you have a few taxis in your way? Well Mercer will just smoothly skip over those like they’re nothing! It really makes getting around much easier as well as making enemy encounters a lot more maneuverable.
So what goes on in the actual gameplay? Well like any sandbox game, you get choices. Do you want to go straight through the main story and beat the game right away? Or do you want to play one of the many mini-games scattered throughout NYC and earn Evolution Points to beef up your character? EP is gained through mostly anything that you could think of. Killing a soldier, consuming a civilian, blowing up a building, completing a mission, blah blah blah. All these points begin to add up and can be used in the upgrade tab to give Mercer new abilities. Been looking at the hook shot arm? Well just need a few more EP! Want that new dive bomb technique to take down anyone in your way? Almost enough! You’ll quickly see that you really need to earn that EP, as the cost of most moves begin to skyrocket in the later parts of the game. The mini-games often revolve around kill so many enemies in such such amount of time, or reach all these checkpoints in this amount of time and are rated by bronze, silver, and gold. Gold of course giving the most EP out. What about the main story though? Well…I want to get into a little bit of why I sorta don’t like it…
Alright, so Mercer doesn’t know who he is, but he can find people that do…right? Yep! That’s just about the general point of the game. You see scattered throughout the game are civilians that are part of the Web of Intrigue. These people are highlighted when spotted by a red head symbol, and when they are consumed a short (highly detailed) cut scene is shown revealing some part of how these people are involved with Alex Mercer or the infection. This is great and all, and I love how it mixes gameplay with real life photos, but it also takes away from the main story telling. I really like when developers take a chance on things like this, but not when it takes away from the main storyline. Every time I went for a new mission I felt like it was just some minor character like Dana A. Mercer (Alex’s younger sister) or Dr. Bradley Raglan telling me what new task I have to complete and then off I go to kill hundreds of people just to do it again when I have to start the next mission. The only real change was the few boss battles that occurred throughout the game (I believe it was three), and those often just involved finding a pattern in which you could defeat the boss without getting completely frustrated. Seriously though, what’s up with the character’s AI? They just find ways to completely piss off the characters. It’s either they won’t stop cheaply hitting you (I’m talking to you four legged infected hunter things!) or that they react in the oddest ways and point you out in a crowd. I found times where tanks would blast me with their cannons even through I was still disgused and wasn’t spotted at all. Also on the combat note, why is it that I can’t defend myself at all? Mercer gets two upgrades throughout the game, a defensive shield that only comes up when he’s running, and a full body armor that makes him literally unable to navigate around anything but halves the damage of most attacks. Why can’t Mercer just throw up his arms and defend himself? At most you get the ability to duck to the side. Yeah that doesn’t work very well when the guy attacking you affects the entire area around you. Also what’s with the weak ass special powers? Sure the claws are great, the hammer arms are bulky and slow but powerful, and the hookshot is great for long distance…but the muscle arms are completely worthless and the blade that is showcased everywhere (look at the game’s cover!) isn’t given to the player until the end. Weren’t we suppose to be given hundreds of powers or something?
What I would have liked to have seen is an option that reveals Mercer’s entire ability and gives the player control of at least 50 abilities that could be mixed and matched so that each Alex Mercer didn’t just feel like a clone to everyone. If I want two long blades on each arm, BAM! That’s what I get (with a limit of course as to how much can be added.) What about if I wanted to launch out multiple tentacles in a wide range? Great! But it’ll cost you energy or something. I’d just like to see this kind of option in the next Prototype…and with EA you know that’s going to come sooner or later. I don’t want to end on a bad note, I just wanted to exclaim my distaste for certain decisions in thie game. Battle can be hectic but tamed with some experience. You get the story you want even if it’s not completely how I would have liked it. Your powers are enough to show your a badass, but never makes Mercer feel like he’s yours. Is Prototype a great game? Definitely.
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Rating: 4/5
Pros: Amazing detail to NYC. Parkour is stylish. Alex Mercer is such a fun character. Great story hiding in the brains of every civilian.
Cons: Often too hectic battles. Main campaign never feels like it’s really telling the story. Enemy AI is frustrating. Cutscenes are amazingly detailed…but in game graphics not so much.
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