Prototype

"Finally my life's dream, to be able to grow claws from my hands."

This brings us to an epic tale of Prototype and how a man decides it's time to screw up New York. Alex Mercer is his name and killing people is his game. This game takes sandbox violence and cracks it up to the next level.

Story-
The story of Prototype is cliche, but at the same time interesting. From the git-go the story falls flat on it's face by having Alex Mercer wake up with amnesia. (Way too overdone by now) The story kicks off by Alex finding out he has mutant powers when he survives a barrage of bullets and then easily jumps away from his attackers. From there Alex realizes that he can consume his enemies and through consumption he gains their memories, skills..etc. He then goes on a murderous plot to find out what happened to him and to make them pay.

The presentation of the story via cutscenes is very poor as Alex usually says a few words and leaves to accomplish his mission. The story is instead presented in using the consumption mechanic. Alex can consume those who hold memories of his past and by consuming enough, you will soon being to realize what Alex's past really is. The plot is actually pretty interesting and the twist at the end is fairly good. Just don't expect Silent Hill 2 when looking into the story.

Graphics-
The graphics in this game are not amazing. Hell, they aren't even great. They are sub-par. Simply put, the city is exactly how you would think it would be. Central Park is green. The city is gray almost everywhere. The infected are a sickly orange and grotesque looking as you would assume. Instead of making the graphics absolutely fantastic the develops took the immersion route.

At any given time you can see hundreds of things happening on screen. The military is at a constant war with the infected and the civilians are just trying to get away. You'll see the military often try to attack infected areas and you can watch innocent people flee in a terror. It's truly amazing how much activity is on the screen at once and I never experienced any slow down while playing the game. Alex's animation also looks very similar to something out of an action as you run around the city. Alex will automatically jump over obstacles as you sprint along. This gives the game a very badass feel to it as you can easily front flip over an AC, jump and then slam, leg first, into a helicopter to take it out.

Gameplay-
Like stated earlier, Alex will automatically get around objects in the way regardless of what they are. He'll push people out of his way forcefully and jump around or over anything in the way. This gives the parkour in the game a very fast paced feel and allows you to easily do whatever you want. Alex can literally sprint up the side of buildings and glide on the air.

Alex also has many abilities. His arsenal consists of; claws, hammerfists, increasing his muscle mass, whipfist and blade. He can also use any military vehicle or weapon he can get his hands on. All these things can be used to wipe out whoever you want to. You can go on killing rampages on the civilians, the military and the infected. The people doesn't offer any resistance to your attacks and the military is only a pain in the ass with strike teams. The infected are the challenge in this game as they are mutated similarly to Alex, they can put up some tough fights.

Re playability-
The game has 31 missions from start to finish. It also has a handful of minigame, but they only encompass killing, which Alex does plenty of on the story missions. Though the game runs great as a sandbox. It's very entertaining to run around the city and glide from building to building. There are so many options in the messing around area. You can simply go on bloody rampages, you can disguise and mess with the military. The city will be a never-ending war between the two sides the entire game.

The game also comes with 3 separate difficulties and hard is aptly named. The game will intentionally own you if you mess up on some of the later missions in the game. Even on Normal, I had a big difficulty with beating some of the later missions. This is also a double-edged sword, because the game tends to become very annoying when it takes 1 hour to defeat a boss, because they gave said boss too much freaking health. If you a sadistic, brooding anti-hero type this game will suit you very well as you can mow down hundreds of innocents, but overall do it for it for the greater good!

Buy Or Rent-
This game is very short for 31 missions. The missions are usually the same, kill this, escort this..etc. The minigames may keep you entertained, they may not. If you are truly skeptical about buying this, I suggest renting it. You may even be able to beat the game within the renting period. Otherwise this title is a fun game.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 06/30/09

Game Release: Prototype (US, 06/09/09)