Prototype 2 Dev Video Explores the New Role of Alex Mercer

Scott Bullock

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Prototype 2 Dev Video Explores the New Role of Alex Mercer

The Radical Entertainment team has released a video going in-depth on Alex Mercer, his role in Prototype 2, and his relationship with the new protagonist.

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The kindly developers of the upcoming Prototype 2 have finally bent under the collective curiosity of the fanbase and given us all a brief summary of what in hell Alex Mercer, the protagonist from the first game, will be doing this second time around. Apparently, he'll be filling the role of black-hearted, evil antagonist.

The hero of the new game will be James Heller (who seems to share Mercer's penchant for wearing hoodies beneath leather jackets), a man whose family was killed by the Blacklight virus that terrorized New York in the first game. This immediately puts him at odds with Mercer, who unleashed the virus. As if that weren't enough, Mercer goes out of his way to infect Heller with the same virus, which proceeds to give Heller similar powers to Mercer. Heller then sets off to "destroy his maker", as the devs put it, comparing the face off between maker and make-ee to the struggle between Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader, or the showdown between David and Goliath (which actually makes no sense, but Radical makes good games, so I'll forgive them that).

Part of their reasoning behind switching protagonists, the devs say, was that you had just spent the first game building Mercer up into a god-mode killing machine, so there's not much ground left to cover with him. What if instead you had to build someone else up to be powerful enough to take down the ultra-powerful Mercer? That sounds like a worthy sequel.

What's interesting is that even though Mercer is the antagonist in the game, that doesn't necessarily mean he's a bad guy. Mercer's motivations aside, Heller has more than enough reason to want to pummel Mercer into a smear on the wall to avenge the death of his family, so we could be looking at a battle between two super-powered shades of grey then a clear cut black-and-white battle between good and evil. Of course, Mercer certainly could have become a rainbow-hating, baby-scaring baddy since the last game, but we'll have to wait for the game to come out to find out whether-or-not that's the case.

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Woodsey

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"What's interesting is that even though Mercer is the antagonist in the game, that doesn't necessarily mean he's a bad guy."

Well he was - to put it gently - a fucking arse hole in the first one, so now that he's actually fulfilling the antagonistic role I don't see why they can't just make him an official baddie.
 

Just_A_Glitch

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I fucking loved Prototype. I have never had more fun with a sandbox game. The gameplay was really solid. The story, while not told the best way, was alright, and Mercer was a fun homicidal maniac to just go berserk with.

I don't like the idea of having to kill him though. I just don't think its possible. Regardless, I'll buy and play the hell out of this game.
 

Archemetis

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Aug 13, 2008
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So, Mercer becomes the villain, the first thing he decides to do with his god-like powers is give the 'baby' form of the exact same powers to someone who I'm guessing clearly hates him...

And then Heller will inevitably proceed to upgrade these powers to have a show down with Mercer all while more than likely being chased down by the military whilst mowing down civilians with his giant blade hands...

Right... No sorry, Prototype one was a good game and all, but this sequel will more than likely only make strained sense at best.
 

IceStar100

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I feel odd like in golden sun
You end up leaving this hero you built up
I grew to like Alex
or what was Alex anyway
Sign well I'll give it a chance but I'll miss my boy I just hope they tie up lose end. Like that stuff with his sister.
 

LTK_70

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Prototype's story is one of the best cases of applied moral ambiguity in my opinion, with the desire for self-preservation being integral to Alex's actions later in the game, which everyone else understandably perceives as horribly evil. As for the sequel... it makes sense to turn Alex into the antagonist, but I'm not sure that a protagonist with nothing but revenge as his motivation is as good a decision. I want to have faith in the developers making sense of it like in the previous game, but we'll just have to see how it turns out.
 

Knight Templar

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I don't want to kill Mercer. He isn't going to run off and start another outbreak, so I'll need something more before killing god becomes a good idea.
 

Darth IB

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I liked Alex Mercer - sure, he wasn't the nicest protagonist in the drawer, but he never pretended to be either.

Also, as some have said, the plot for Prototype 2 doesn't make sense - why the hell would Mercer infect another person(unwilling at that)?

So yeah... I really enjoyed the first Prototype, so I'll probably get this one too, but right now I don't have very high hopes.
But who knows, maybe there will be a team-up or something? Let's hope so.
 

Art Axiv

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Dec 25, 2008
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For some reason, the developers on the video didn't feel *genuine* to me. That "spark" developers have when they talk about their newest game.. I didn't see it. I'm not really sold on the second installment based on what and how they presented it.
 
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Woodsey said:
"What's interesting is that even though Mercer is the antagonist in the game, that doesn't necessarily mean he's a bad guy."

Well he was - to put it gently - a fucking arse hole in the first one, so now that he's actually fulfilling the antagonistic role I don't see why they can't just make him an official baddie.
Probably trying to go for depth.

Whether they'll make it work or not, remains to be seen. But I can't see how it could work, considering...

Alex is dead. In the first game you were the actual virus itself, who just assumed Alex's form and memories
 

ampzero66

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Art Axiv said:
For some reason, the developers on the video didn't feel *genuine* to me. That "spark" developers have when they talk about their newest game.. I didn't see it. I'm not really sold on the second installment based on what and how they presented it.
I'm completely with you.
 

Martin Joyce

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I wouldn't be surprised to see an ulterior motive to Mercer infecting Heller, similar to Kain and Raziel from the Legacy of Kain, that OTHER series with a second game played as a character hunting down the previous iteration's hero who appears to have arbitrarily ruined your life by making you a monster.

Or not.
 

CGAdam

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Maybe they could follow the Souk Reaver series lead and have a third game where you play as both characters. It worked in Defiance.
 

guess who

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From the looks of it my guess is that Mercer gave Heller Blacklight but also what he could of his family or at least memories. That's just my guess but I think it would be a good way of explaining it.
 

Woodsey

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Irridium said:
Woodsey said:
"What's interesting is that even though Mercer is the antagonist in the game, that doesn't necessarily mean he's a bad guy."

Well he was - to put it gently - a fucking arse hole in the first one, so now that he's actually fulfilling the antagonistic role I don't see why they can't just make him an official baddie.
Probably trying to go for depth.
Should be interesting if they're still using the same terrible writers and actors from the last game.
 

Dark Knifer

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Irridium said:
Alex is dead. In the first game you were the actual virus itself, who just assumed Alex's form and memories
Wouldn't a virus want to spread itself around to more hosts because that's usually what viruses do? That sounds like that could work to me possibly...
 

CrazyGirl17

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Sep 11, 2009
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I guess I could give it a look, but it might take some time to get used to having Alex as the bad guy...

Also, why would he infect the new protagonist in the first place? I can't really wrap my head around it. Unless of course, he had some ulterior motive...
 

Dusk17

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Didnt Alex get blown to bits with a nuke and come back? how is this guy going to beat that?