Prey

"Shoot'em Up Worth the Time"

I gotta get the hell outta here. - Tommy

From a man looking to leave his Indian Reservation to a man shooting up aliens, Tommy was a great character to play through the eyes of through Prey. The Gameplay, Sounds and Story all caught my attention heavily throughout the game and I figured it deserved a review.

Gameplay:

The gameplay of Prey is really just a regular old FPS where you blow crap up with big guns because it's fun with some very innovative additions such as the Wall Walking, Gravity Shifting, Machine Flying and Spirit Walking.

Being able to be an Arrow shooting Spirit helps a lot when Tommy is stuck behind a blasted energy door and in Battle Strategy it helps because those arrows are fairly strong and if your low on life, ur spirit can't really die so using it to kill or weaken enemies while you're behind doors is cool... but that's about the extent of its usefulness.

The Wall Walking and Gravity Shifting really becomes a lot of fun. Every good FPS has it's share of puzzles and these two things with a little mixture of the Spirit Walking, are the puzzles and they're a lot of fun and were very well implemented into the Gameplay of Prey.

The Machine Flying has it's ups and downs... UPS: It's fun to do and leads to a few awesome levels... and tractor beam can grab people and throw them (good relief from being bombarded by arbitrarily spawning hunters)...DOWNS: Those awesome levels are riddled with flying aliens that kick the hell out of your ship and it's weak shields. So you'll be dying a few times and in places it can get boring.

The main problem with the gameplay is the fact that the random teleportation of the monsters become very predictable. I found myself doing something then subconsciously readying myself for battle in a room that I just came from and emptied of all monsters in order to kill more randomly spawned monsters... the game is very predictable which takes away from game quality heavily.

Sounds:

The music was great and included, humorously, some old school music on the Jukebox in the beginning-- primarily Blue Oyster Cults "Don't Fear the Reaper"-- the music made for the game specifically though is great and sets the mood for killing aliens that "surprise" you.

The environmental sounds are great and sound good but at times become kinda bothersome because you'll go through 15 minutes of a level hearing what seems to be a huge machine and you'll never find a huge machine... and if you do... the sound was still annoying after 15 minutes.

The voice acting was great. Tommy pretty much says what you're thinking... like "Damnit not these things again..."... it's pretty cool when Tommy talks, but he uses heavy profanity... realistic for his situation. Also, the radio show that you hear throughout the game is really funny and original... a huge relief from alien ambushes.

Story:

The Story was pretty good... kinda like a deeper Half-Life 1.

Whereas HL1 was, "Get out..." Prey is, "Save your Girlfriend, then get out."

There's a bit more depth in regards to why what is happening is actually happening and it isn't anything to get excited over but about what you can expect out of a FPS-- the story and implementation was pretty different but could have been far better... play it and you'll understand.

The game is pretty short but it's def worth playing. I hate Console FPS's, but if you like 'em rent it rather than buy it... for PC if you really are itchin for a new FPS then buy it otherwise wait for a price drop.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 08/23/06