“Prototype”

It’s been a while since developers have given us the chance to play as a badass super powered anti hero, but recently gamers have had both INFAMOUS and PROTOTYPE  to flex their mutated muscles in. Both of these titles offer gamers the chance to indulge in fantasies of super strength and unbelievable powers, let loose in an open world setting, however only Prototype lets you do it in such a destructive, action packed way.

Prototype has been developed by the same team that brought us Spiderman II and more recently Hulk: Ultimate Destruction and that lineage really shows. Running around Manhattan as a biological super weapon quickly becomes reminiscent of both these previous Activsion titles which may not necessarily be a good thing. On first look Prototype really does feel like the lovechild of these two games, with much of the movement within the game looking and feeling like the web slingers last gen outing. Luckily for Prototype it does just enough to make it stand above its mediocre parents.

The game tells the Story of Alex Mercer, a victim of amnesia who wakes up in a morgue to find he’s imbued with superhuman abilities and a bad attitude. Cue government conspiracies, shady cover ups, and legions of infected zombies that Alex must battle through in order to discover the truth about his past. Whilst the story may be pretty standard videogame stuff it’s presented stylishly, through well scripted cut scenes and the “web of intrigue,” which sees Alex consuming those with knowledge of his past in order to gain their memories.

Which brings us on to Alex’s powers, along with the usual abilities of super strength and speed, the hooded antihero`s occupation of biological weapon allows for some rather unique and devastating abilities. These include being able to morph his body into a variety of death dealing instruments such as claws and the long range whip fist, which can bring down helicopters with ease. The most critical of these abilities, however, is the “CONSUME” which, as mentioned earlier, allows Alex to morph himself into other characters and gain their abilities. This gameplay mechanic creates a multitude of ways for the player to approach the games missions. Do you assault a military base head on in a stolen tank, or do you disguise yourself as a high ranking officer to make your move from the inside? Destruction will obviously be the popular option, but it’s nice to have the choice.  

Presentation is immediately one of Prototypes’ downfalls. The game plays out much like any other sandbox title, with a tried and true mini-map, guiding the player around the city and its vast array of challenges. However movement around the city is spoiled by some really terrible pop-up which at times can ruin game play, it’s difficult to run away from a strike team of attack choppers when you keep knocking into invisible buildings after all. Graphically the game also suffers as much of the city and it inhabitants look bland and uninspired, which really takes some of the shine off of Prototype, when the game is primarily style over substance.

Challenges themselves quickly become one of the most entertaining aspects of the game and can range from racing around Manhattan, to timed slaughter of a couple of hundred zombies Unfortunately, what makes these challenges so fun, is the fact that the games main missions are not. They quickly descend into formulaic “Get to A, Crush A, Escape to B,” style missions which would remain fun for a longer period of time if it wasn’t for the games steep learning curve. It’s difficult to pull off a lot of Alex`s more effective moves because of poor button placement, which, when coupled with a high difficulty level and the stress of a rocket barrage, makes getting through the games missions more infuriating than rewarding.

Overall Prototype is not a bad game, just one that could have benefitted from a couple more months in development and a little more originality to do its concept justice. Prototype is a fun way to pass a couple of hours, however most hardcore gamers will quickly find themselves bored and in familiar sandbox territory. There’s a lot of fun to be had throwing tanks around and blowing up buildings, however when the experience is so bland and repetitive, it’s not long before you`ll start asking yourself “How many more times can I throw a tank before I get bored?” You’ll be surprised to find the answer is a lot less than you might think .

Overall rating: 7/10 : Not a bad way to spend a weekend but a lot more could have been done with the idea.