Prey

"One of the most average/unique games I've ever played."

Prey is a fairly unique first-person shooter. Unlike most shooters, you aren't a soldier, or even in a war. Instead you are an everyday mechanic who is swept up into conflict against his will. Well, instead of giving away everything in an intro, let me break it down into my usual categories:

Story: 8/10

Prey features Tommy, a Native American who works as a mechanic on a reservation. He has a grandpa who keeps hounding him about getting in touch with his heritage, something Tommy really doesn't care about. All he wants to do is to leave the reservation with his girlfriend Jenny, a bartender who wants to stay with her people. Things soon get weird after a bar-fight, as the entire place is sucked up by an alien ship. Soon after that you horrifically witness the aliens processing the many humans that they have gathered until a malfunction frees you from your bonds. This is how Tommy finds himself on an alien craft armed with only a wrench and needing to find and save his grandfather and Jenn.

Alien abduction.... Not really my thing, but it is told well (with the whole idea as humans being prey), and it definitely makes the game unique. The story not only focuses on Tommy's search for Jenn, but also on Tommy accepting who he is as well. I also liked Tommy's interaction with the alien lifeforms as you progress through the story. Another thing that I liked was that things often don't go your way, no matter how hard you may try. Overall, Prey has a pretty good story, somewhere between Doom and Half-life.

Gameplay: 7/10

Most first-person shooters aren't very inventive. Sure, most of them try to be unique by making unique weapons (they like to include alternate firing methods in almost every game as well), and one or two gameplay quirks, but that's about it. Prey falls into this category. You have most of your standard shooter weapons: melee, dependable rifle, grenade, rocket launcher, shotgun, etc. Of course, these standards are all altered in Prey. For example, the rifle seems to fire what appears to be rebar, your grenades are little alien animals that explode somehow, and your shotgun shoots a green acid/slime substance. This is all because all Tommy brought on board with him was a wrench, so all these weapons are of alien origin, so getting used to some of them can be a real challenge. You also don't have too much ammo, meaning that you'll be cycling through your weapons quite often. Most of Tommy's weapons do have an alternate fire method, but there's only really one useful one (the rifle's zooming function). The others don't do too much for you and will probably be ignored.

Eventually Tommy learns how to use his native spirit powers to overcome otherwise impossible tasks, such as opening up laser doors so he can proceed. To do so, you have to get in a safe place and than activate it. Once you do this you will leave your body and be able to roam around without attracting enemies attention (you can even go look at your own body). You can even fight a bit in this form, though it is mostly used to advance in the level. Another thing to note is the presence of portals that Tommy can move between (they look exactly like the portals from, gasp!, Portal). You are also apparently immortal, because once you die your spirit goes to an otherworld plane where you shoot ghosts to come back to life. Overall, the gameplay is decent in Prey. I think the weapons are pretty bland and they added in some needless and unimaginative concepts (the spirit form and ridiculous mini-game death system). Also, the enemies seem to have the uncanny ability to always be able to snipe you from far away, dead on every time (this can be very frustrating). Another average shooter, gameplay wise.

Graphics: 8/10

The graphics in Prey look pretty good, about the same quality as Doom 3. The environments are rather dark and incorporate several alien concepts rather well. There aren't very many humans throughout the game, but the few that are there are designed well and move smoothly. The aliens are also designed fairly well but are heavily overused. The weapons are pretty neat, even if some of them feel useless, but since they are alien in nature there are a couple of moving, living parts incorporated into them which are pretty cool. There are even some pretty cool shots from space. Overall, things look really good in Prey, but they really don't affect the mood of the game. They don't make use of lighting effects very often and some of the environments can be a bit repetitive, but things look good and move smoothly as you progress through the game.

Music / Sound Effects: 8/10

The music really doesn't stand out in Prey, mostly consisting of background noises and sound effects, though there are some dramatic moments accompanied by some great mood pieces (think drastic blasts of orchestral music). There is one great, great exception though, in the beginning of the game. You see, there is a jukebox in the bar that you can play with, letting you listen to several modern-day tracks (even if I don't recognize most of them). And arguably the greatest moment in the game, when the bar gets sucked up into the alien ship, is mad much more awesome by having Blue Oyster Cult's "Don't fear the Reaper" playing in the background. Pure awesome, even if the music becomes nothing but background noise for the rest of the game.

The sound effects are also fairly standard, though since the weapons are alien-made you'll hear some sounds that you're probably not use to hearing while playing a FPS. The ship also picks up some of Earth's radio waves, so you'll get to hear a lively radio show where callers are reporting in UFO sitings (a little too late to help you though, huh?). The voice acting in the game is top-notch though, I really enjoyed the 4-5 different major voice actors, especially Tommy.

Re-playability: 7/10

The main game has a few difficulties to choose from, though it really doesn't matter since you can't die and once you're done with the story that';s all there is to it. There is still "multiprey" (a clever name for multi player) to do, though I would imagine any FPS fan would have a better time with another shooter for their multi player needs. Overall, exactly what you would expect fro a shooter nowadays.

Overall: 8/10

Overall, fairly average in most regards but unique and fun enough for me to recommend to any FPS fan. I would also recommend it because Prey is so cheap. I managed to find a limited collectors edition brand new at Walmart for $5, making this a great modern-day budget title. Have fun and keep playing!

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 11/18/08

Game Release: Prey (Collector's Edition) (US, 07/11/06)