Prototype Review (Written by Tyler Parry)

It seems this generation has it's share of great games. Graphically awesome, increasingly complex gameplay, unique experiences, and unforgettable characters. But this generation also lacks something that I remember very well about past generations, mindless fun. Prototype is a game that is both awful and brilliant, yet manages to keep me playing somehow.

The game is set in New York city, where a viral infection has spread all over the citizens, and buildings, turning them into mindless killing machines, and spawning zones for mindless killing machines, respectively. You play as Alex Mercer, a man who seems to have a different strain of the infection, allowing him to form different parts of his body into weapons of extreme violence, enhanced speed and agility, as well as consume others to use them as disguises and gain health. Unfortunately, he can't remember how he became this hooded piece of awesome.

The story is rather dull and tired, but I found some plot twists quite interesting and fresh. The revealing of Alex's story was also fresh, as I felt compelled to hunt down targets from the "Web of Intrigue", people who were involved someway in how you became a hacking, slashing, smashing, devouring monster. The main story progression is somewhat lackluster I found, as I had no idea who the hell half the characters were and I felt like they weren't important. An example would be a twist between Mercer's wife and a man hunting Mercer. When it was revealed what she did, I really couldn't care less, and Mercer's dismay and sudden anger did nothing to upset me even the slightest. The emotional contact to any of the characters is not there. By the way, what happened to Dana?? I don't remember seeing her again..

The storyline was also quite misleading to me. I felt like the game was making Elizabeth Greene the main enemy of the game, after all she did. Obviously those who played the game know that she definitely isn't the boss. I was quite disappointed how that branch of the game was so easily complete. It felt like the writers had all these ideas of how the virus was started, but didn't want to part ways with any of their ideas and so threw them together into one big mess of story arcs.

With so many games setting the bar for graphical quality this generation, Prototype's graphics are totally inexcusable. Nothing in this game looks good. Even the prerendered cutscenes look shoddy compared to other mediocre games. I would have settled for just the models looking primo and everything else looking like total ass. At least I could have said "Damn that looked awesome when Mercer went armored and slashed up those tanks!" But no, instead I look at graphics that literally look last gen. It is atrocious. The characters are bland and blotchy, the landscapes are half decent at a distance, there is quite a bit of texture popping in some spots, explosions are downright unbearable, and the colours are very dull. This is not what New York is meant to look like. In an open world game like Prototype, the city, especially a well known one like New York, should be as much a character in the game as Alex is.

To me, sound is one of the most important aspects of the game, almost even more so than graphics. I remember playing the first Call of Duty with a nice pair of surround headphones and just being totally blown away by the sounds of mortar fire all around, Germans screaming to flank me, gunfire being heard everywhere, and me just sitting their with sweaty hands trying not to become another casualty. Unfortunately that's exactly what the sound in Prototype has become. Just about everything, save for the decent but profane voice acting, is mediocre at best. There are no unique sounds anywhere, an explosion sounds like an explosion, a blade sounds like a blade, a tank sounds like a tank, etc. Don't expect your 5.1 surround system to get a workout from Prototype.

And now, onto the gameplay. The one saving grace of this entire game. Do you remember Spiderman 2? You remember how awesome that was? Well Prototype grants you that feeling of awesomeness once more. There are so many things wrong with the gameplay, yet so many things right. To fully understand we'll have to go through certain things individually, starting with the upgrade system.

Much like Spiderman, you obtain upgrades and moves to make Alex Mercer a total badass capable of stopping anything. Of course, you don't just start off with every move-oh wait...Well after that part, you must go through the game and rack up as much EP as you can to purchase abilities like the whip, which turns Alex's arm into a long reaching claw that is capable of disabling choppers, or unlucky civilians. Think of it as Stretch Armstrong with more claw, and less bean leakage. There are also upgrades that allow you to run faster and jump higher, which is hella fun I must say. Zipping around the city and gliding is a joy in this game, if only the city looked as appealing as the running, jumping, and gliding animations. In fact, all the animations are pretty damn solid. You feel pretty badass the first time you jump 100 feet in the air and drop down onto a tank with the hammer upgrade, and then zip away to run up a building and do it again.

The game also allows you to destroy enemy hives and military bases. Of course, once you destroy them you're rewarded with a beautiful display of a building collapsing that is not unlike a gingerbread house falling apart. It's abysmal to watch, and quite laughable. You can also infiltrate military bases, which can hold soldiers which, when consumed, grant you things like weapon proficiency upgrades, and artillery strikes. Though I never, even for a second, preferred to have a terrible looking barrage of artillery fire over 30 tendrils massacring everything around me. But the option is always there. Though it was too easy, it was a lot of fun using "stealth", and by those quotes I mean you can consume a guy safely as long as there isn't someone looking DIRECTLY at you. There were too many moments where I'd consume a dude and say "How the fuck did he not see me? These are THE worst marines ever."

Also scattered around the city, a la Crackdown, are orbs that give you hints, and orbs that are on "landmarks". I didn't know the top of an apartment was a New York landmark. These also grant you EP that increases as you collect more. Only thing is, I always made tons more EP from everything else in the game, I didn't need the measly 10000 or so the orbs offered. Still, I took them when I saw them, which was only when they were directly around me.

You may read this review and think a few things, like "This review sucks," or "wow, this sounds like a shitty game." And you're right, on both parts. The thing is, I still had a blast playing it. Prototype is a game that feels completely unfinished and unpolished, with just a spark of what could have been a really amazing game. Luckily, that shimmer we get to play is the gameplay itself.

Gameplay: 7.5
"It really is fun to play. The city roaming is a fun, and it is just a blast to use different abilities on the endless amounts of enemies. Unfortunately, that is kind of a downside, things get a little to hectic at times."

Graphics: 4
"If slicing an enemy in half, squishing them to a pulp, or whipping them around wasn't so smooth, this game would be impossible to look at."

Sound: 5
"So ridiculously meh."

Overall: 7
"It's not a bad game. It's not a good game either."

This is my first ever review. Expect more to come, as well as some articles. Please leave some comments, and be constructive, not a dick.