Last time I didn’t play any good games, since Wlodar’s X360 failed due to RROD (while playing Resident Evil 5 COOP), so I thought that I’ll try new game from Radical Entertainment called Prototype. Prototype is action-smashing game and it’s a sandbox. Yeah, yeah I know lately we got like thousands of those games right after GTA IV and Saint’s Row on the top. Being honest ain’t fan of sandboxes since they run boring after short while and story isn’t being told in the way I like it, but Prototype is something different. In game we play as Alex Mercer and he isn’t ordinary one, believe me. Due to unfortunate experiment (or fortunate I don’t want to spoil too much) Alex has outstanding abilities. For example? He can consume enemy and turn into his body or turn his bare hands into blades and it’s just getting started! I’d say he’s rather walking doom bringer than super hero, since he doesn’t bother to kill innocent people (you don’t even need to push a button, he simply smash through them while running…).
So you need to find out why city has been infected and what’s more important who stands behind it, but don’t get me wrong Alex isn’t a babysitter, he kills everyone to find out what happened to him in the end. Action takes place through 18 days of “infection” and as story follows we find more clues etc. via WEI (Web of Intrigue). As I said before one of Alex’s major abilities is “body consumption” thanks to it he obtains victims abilities and “skin” (yeah like Winamp), while consuming targets marked with WEI marker, Alex reads victims memories and what’s more they’re displayed as a short movie! After catching few WEI targets you want to find out more and more, it’s really great idea for discovering story step by step and involving game play into it.
There are story line missions to follow (you know that from other sandboxes) which push story forward, but there are also great side objectives. There are 3-4 types of them basically: running, flying, destroying and war. While playing them you can check how good you’re for real. You can obtain bronze, silver and gold medal. Of course each medal = exp points. You need them to buy new upgrades and skills, for example higher jump or special combos. So here we are - combos! Prototype has on of the best fighting systems I’ve ever seen! It’s simple and intuitive but what’s most important it’s fun. On the beginning you can fly, throw cars into choppers etc. But as you progress and get more exp points you learn new techniques which make you real horror for enemies. For example you can dive roll in the air and bring down chopper with one hit, or turn ground into a field of thorns which nail all enemies around.
Someone asked me “hey it must be boring to kill guys all the time”, well in most of cases it’s but not in Prototype. More you play, more you kill and then it becomes fun (I know, I know it sounds scarry). What’s most important, each enemy requires different strategy to beat him down. You can’t fight tank as ordinary soldier etc. After few hours of gameplay you get used to all game’s mechanics and then fun begins.
Visual setting seems to be a little bit outdated but thanks to it game runs without slowdowns on consoles, everything is very fluent. Sound effects and music are just fine but nothing more than that. So as you can see this game simply rocks by it’s gameplay. Game took 20h away from my life but I’m glad I spent them with it. My rate? 4+/5 (there’ll be Prototype 2 believe me…).
