Okay I have played both games for a few hours (limited time) but as these games seem to be going together in people's minds I figured I'd toss a review out for both of them, point out some of their comparitive strengths and weaknesses, and other things. inFamous I played in the PS-3, Prototype I played on the 360.
Before I get into what is probably going to be a small book, I wanted to say that if I actually assigned points both of these games would lose at least one for a singe bit of retardation that both involve themselves in and nobody seems to criticize.
That bit of retardation is the use of the term "Parkour". Parkour, or Free Running is a pseudo-sport that can be fairly cool. It's become somewhat hip at least conceptually in the US for reasons I will not get into here. However when I hear terms like "Super Parkour" I alternatly think of drooling retards or executives cluelessly dropping words that they feel will appeal to kids.
Spider Man has super climbing (or clinging) and moves up and down walls. He does not "Parkour" along. I for the life of me cannot see how Alex Mercer's (Prototype) Wall Running and jumping has anything to do with the "sport" of Parkour any more than any other super hero who has been jumping around cityscapes long before the term was known in the mainstream US.
I guess the term could loosely be applied to Cole (infamous) but again he's mostly just running and climbing and doing standard video game things with enhanced physical abillities. He doesn't "Parkour" anymore than Nathan Drake, Lara Croft, or any of those other video game characters.
Prototype really takes the cake here though because when you go into a bio-shield mode, it tells you that you can now smash through stuff but can no longer "Parkour" (and in this case it means run up walls like the bloody Flash... whatever happened to wallwalking or other proper comic book terms). It just really goads me.
I'm reminded of the term Cyberpunk, which caught on with game producers and the mainstream media and soon everything had the term dropped into it. If it involved a dark future, computers, or heck was just aimed at the 25 or under crowd it was suddenly described with the word "Cyberpunk". This destroyed what identity Cyberpunk had. This gets into a whole differant discussion though.
That long rant aside I will get on with the actual games.
Both Prototype and inFamous make pretensions of being super hero games. Neither really are super hero games though inFamous comes close. I realize superheroes can be ruthless anti-heroes at times as I am saying this.
Prototype is more of a horror game where you play a sociopath loosely on a crusade for revenge. No real moral desicians, it all comes down to degrees of "OMG, evil" as your HR Giger inspired bio-power freak rampages mindlessly through a cityscape and side missions which oftentimes seem to be firmly seperated from the storyline (as the cut scenes and plot development oftentimes seem to be somewhat detached from how you act when actually playing the game). Let me be blunt, without giving away any spoilers, Alex Mercer's personality is even described as being a delusional sociopath with narcissistic disorders in flashbacks. There is really nothing redeeming about this guy, "twist" revelation included. Think of him as like Godzilla and we're all just in his way. Godzilla is not a superhero.
inFamous is intended to be a sort of sandbox electrical devestation simulator. While you have the option to play as a heroic good guy, the game more or less punishes you for not being a sociopathic jerk by making little things like not hurting civilians into a chore (rather than a moral desician) and reserving the best power tweaks for the bad guys it seems.
In both cases it seems like the developers looked at the super hero movies like "The Dark Knight Returns" and decided to call what are basically sandbox rampage games "super hero" games despite an almost total lack of anything resembling super heroism if you play them as intended. This goes even for dark heroism. Especially in Prototype where it's hard to fight at all without reducing a handfull of civilians into a fine red spray.
Storyline wise, without going into any spoilers, I will say that neither of these games break any new ground. No great writing of the sort that turned "The Cake Is a Lie" into a pop culture phenomena, or well written plot twists that had people discussing Bioshock for years afterwards.
Overall Prototype tells a better story, the whole "Web of Intrigue" system where you hunt down, murder, and absorb people to gain parts of their memories to piece together what is otherwise an "ugh" worthy stereotypical story, is at least a very cool plot device.
inFamous on the other hand has a really horrendous story involving supporting characters like "Zeke" who is this loser sidekick who dresses like he really wanted to be an Elvis impersonator but was laughed out of his ambitions by the other impersonators. It wouldn't
be bad I guess if it wasn't for the suppporting cast.
Mission wise, both games have a decent amount of variety, though Prototype has more flexibility due to the disguise elements and such. Overall neither game has much in the way of side activities worth note, nothing at all like a "Saint's Row 2" with endlessly entertaining and varied side missions. You've got your basic array of yawnworthy races and "rampage" type missions.
Gameplay wise, there is very little comparison.
inFamous is a shooter pretty much like most other shooters when you get down to it. Your character is pretty fragile, and you spend a lot of time moving between cover shooting at people with your powers. The powers themselves pretty much emulate the effects of weapons your probably used to (with the possible exception of Shockwave). You can shoot a basic lightning bolt/gunshot, throw a "lightning grenade" which explodes afterwards, and similar kinds of things. Advanced techniques involve being able to hold off the release of an attack to charge it up, or "tag" an opponent so all of your attacks automatically home in on them.
In inFamous your going to spend more time than you'd probably like getting shot at by guys in rooftops firing with perfect accuracy from half a mile away, and chances are you will die without being able to figure out where you were being shot from.
Prototype is more of a brawler, the enemies have less personality than inFamous and there isn't much variation, but you at least feel superhuman. You'll be taking fire from a dozen soldiers at once at times and keep going, as opposed to being bullseyed by some gang banger a block away.
Of the two inFamous is much easier to play, anyone familiar with shooters should be able to pick it up with minimal difficulty. Prototype starts out simpler and becomes a lot more complicated as you obtain more and more powers and the commands become increasingly complex. Some of the missions involve having to use powers that are somewhat awkward to execute. A problem that definatly needed to be worked on.
Soundwise both games are very good, and do exactly what they intended. There is however nothing like the rich soundtrack of liscenced music and professionally voice acted mock talk shows and commercials that you get with most sandbox crime games. Overall your dealing with a very basic package here and there are no real frills like a soundtrack, or greatly varied side missions (mentioned above).
Graphically I rate the games as being equal. In terms of actual graphics quality and detail inFamous is a lot better, it's a very pretty game. Prototype on the other hand has graphics of lower quality but more stuff going on at one time, and more interactivity. In inFamous you'll rarely be dealing with more than half a dozen opponents at one time, where in Prototype you can be dealing with dozens ranging from foot soldiers, to choppers, and tanks. In inFamous you can't really pick anything up, but in Prototype you can pick up dropped weapons and use them, throw vehicles, and hijack choppers and armor. Prototype looks less impressive but is tracking a lot more stuff going on at once.
System wise both games involve an RPG-like system of character progression where you earn points that are eventually saved towards purchusing new powers. However it seems rather tacked on due to the fact that in both games what powers you have access to at any given point are limited by story progression. So really all it is, is a device to encourage you to rampage to buy powers after they unlock and before progressing to the next mission. It's a neat idea but with more options and/or having everything availible from the beginning to decide how you want to tackle the game/what to develop first it would have worked better. Right now it's mostly just a very "meh" thing which seems to be an excuse to get people to kill soldiers and strike teams, or jump from rooftop to rooftop hoping to spot/kill gangbangers before they do the same to you.
Also, it should be noted that power development is also very scripted as you need certain powers to progress, and in the case of prototype to keep the game "challenging" they rather arbitrarly (no matter how it's covered in the story) decide to strip your powers just to keep things challenging.
I remained neutral when it came to these games when they were being hyped/released as I knew I'd play both of them eventually. In the end it's a mixed bag. They both have some very good ideas, but I don't think either game was the high quality sandbox hero game people wanted. Both are likely to entertain any action game/sandbox player for at least a few hours however, and they are probably the best "new" games on the market right now, but largely because I think it's been a slow year so far.
Of the two I think Prototype is a better game (as you might guess from the above, but I am also endeavoring to explain myself), but that is because I rate playability more than graphics quality. You can simply do more things in it, and the "Web Of Intrigue" idea is interesting. Plus honestly before Prototype was even released I was getting annoyed with inFamous due to being shot down by gangers I couldn't find, and for all the character's mobility finding it a bit of a chore to get from point A to point B without landing in crossfires.
As constructive advice if a game developer ever reads this:
#1: If your going to make a super hero game, make it about a super hero. Not a bloody rampaging monster (and honestly The Hulk does a lot of good things, and doesn't hurt many innocent people which is why he's still a super hero... I add this because of the game the team that did Prototype came from).
If your going to give an option between being good, or bad in a game, make it viable to choose both paths.
#2: In coming up with character personalities, I recommend either a silent protaganist (despite some people hating it), OR some kind of modular personality like Wizardry 8 or (to a lesser extent) Saint's Row. It involves recording multiple sets of dialogue for each scene in the latter case, but honestly it gives you a decent chance of getting a character you can empathize with.
Video game protaganists increasingly seem to have their personalities designed by comittee to "appeal to the youth" without really offending anyone. Of course the problem here is that such attempts to be "edgy" and "hip" result in thise cardboard cutout characters that are complete dorks.
Both Cole and Alex come accross as dweebs that are trying too hard to be "cool". At times I almost wanted to vomit day-glo.
#3: If your going to make a sandbox game, keep in mind that the whole point of playing in a sandbox is all the toys you have to do stuff with in it. In these games I feel like a kid plopped down in a pile of sand with no buckets, shovels, or other stuff to play with and just sitting there in the powder crying.
If your choice is basically to wander around more or less aimlessly, or run heavily scripted missions, it's kind of defeating the entire purpose. You need more toys in the sandbox, not just some lame races and collecible hunts.
#4: If I'm playing a character that is supposed to be "super" then I do not expect to be taken down easily by a few dudes with guns. Prototype got this right at least, Infamous made me feel quite wimpy at times. I mean honestly, using cover is all well and good, but super heroes only do that kind of thing in extraordinary circumstances. Being able to stare down some dudes with guns with pretty much no fear is kind of a prerequisite.
No matter how cool "The Reapers" are, they are still just gang bangers. They shouldn't be putting down a super hero that easily (well excepting the Conduits perhaps but they are super also).
#5: For the love of all that is holy, work on the supporting cast. I can deal with the protaganist having a best friend/girlfriend/whatever but at least make them be someone I look forward to scenes with or hearing from. If I'm having fantasies about ripping my characters friends and loved ones to pieces on general principles, something is wrong. This is largely about "Zeke".
Plus let's be honest this is supposed to be a super hero game. Comics are known for incredible babes. Keep that in mind when it comes to the love interests and girlfriends and such. Spider Man for example winds up between like Mary Jane Watson, and The Black Cat. The current stable is lacking.
See I'm not the character so I'm not emotionally invested in some of these girls, over years they might have wonderful personalities or whatever. But as a guy playing a video game, and a SUPER HERO game at that, they should have an overtly entertaining (in one way or another) personality and provide some decent eye candy.
#6: Again, also, the achievements should sort of fit the whole motif of the game. Part of the reason why I dislike Alex as a character for example is like an achievement for rapidly killing civilians, and another one for running over like 500 people with a tank.
At times it seems like the designers are trying to get us to empathize with the character as a "revenge seeking anti-hero" but when your going out of your way to randomly smash cars, or looking for crowded sidewalks to drive a tank down... well... as evil as they are I kind of see him as worse than the goverment conspiricy.
The Punisher, Spawn, heck even Lady Death (well some versions), are all fine for dark heroes. We need SOME Redeeming qualities to latch onto here, and I think that even in inFamous (or especially in inFamous given the alleged choices) there should be achievements revolving around being... you know... heroic. Not just murdering, destroying, and rampaging (though I can see some of that too especially on a villain path).
Before I get into what is probably going to be a small book, I wanted to say that if I actually assigned points both of these games would lose at least one for a singe bit of retardation that both involve themselves in and nobody seems to criticize.
That bit of retardation is the use of the term "Parkour". Parkour, or Free Running is a pseudo-sport that can be fairly cool. It's become somewhat hip at least conceptually in the US for reasons I will not get into here. However when I hear terms like "Super Parkour" I alternatly think of drooling retards or executives cluelessly dropping words that they feel will appeal to kids.
Spider Man has super climbing (or clinging) and moves up and down walls. He does not "Parkour" along. I for the life of me cannot see how Alex Mercer's (Prototype) Wall Running and jumping has anything to do with the "sport" of Parkour any more than any other super hero who has been jumping around cityscapes long before the term was known in the mainstream US.
I guess the term could loosely be applied to Cole (infamous) but again he's mostly just running and climbing and doing standard video game things with enhanced physical abillities. He doesn't "Parkour" anymore than Nathan Drake, Lara Croft, or any of those other video game characters.
Prototype really takes the cake here though because when you go into a bio-shield mode, it tells you that you can now smash through stuff but can no longer "Parkour" (and in this case it means run up walls like the bloody Flash... whatever happened to wallwalking or other proper comic book terms). It just really goads me.
I'm reminded of the term Cyberpunk, which caught on with game producers and the mainstream media and soon everything had the term dropped into it. If it involved a dark future, computers, or heck was just aimed at the 25 or under crowd it was suddenly described with the word "Cyberpunk". This destroyed what identity Cyberpunk had. This gets into a whole differant discussion though.
That long rant aside I will get on with the actual games.
Both Prototype and inFamous make pretensions of being super hero games. Neither really are super hero games though inFamous comes close. I realize superheroes can be ruthless anti-heroes at times as I am saying this.
Prototype is more of a horror game where you play a sociopath loosely on a crusade for revenge. No real moral desicians, it all comes down to degrees of "OMG, evil" as your HR Giger inspired bio-power freak rampages mindlessly through a cityscape and side missions which oftentimes seem to be firmly seperated from the storyline (as the cut scenes and plot development oftentimes seem to be somewhat detached from how you act when actually playing the game). Let me be blunt, without giving away any spoilers, Alex Mercer's personality is even described as being a delusional sociopath with narcissistic disorders in flashbacks. There is really nothing redeeming about this guy, "twist" revelation included. Think of him as like Godzilla and we're all just in his way. Godzilla is not a superhero.
inFamous is intended to be a sort of sandbox electrical devestation simulator. While you have the option to play as a heroic good guy, the game more or less punishes you for not being a sociopathic jerk by making little things like not hurting civilians into a chore (rather than a moral desician) and reserving the best power tweaks for the bad guys it seems.
In both cases it seems like the developers looked at the super hero movies like "The Dark Knight Returns" and decided to call what are basically sandbox rampage games "super hero" games despite an almost total lack of anything resembling super heroism if you play them as intended. This goes even for dark heroism. Especially in Prototype where it's hard to fight at all without reducing a handfull of civilians into a fine red spray.
Storyline wise, without going into any spoilers, I will say that neither of these games break any new ground. No great writing of the sort that turned "The Cake Is a Lie" into a pop culture phenomena, or well written plot twists that had people discussing Bioshock for years afterwards.
Overall Prototype tells a better story, the whole "Web of Intrigue" system where you hunt down, murder, and absorb people to gain parts of their memories to piece together what is otherwise an "ugh" worthy stereotypical story, is at least a very cool plot device.
inFamous on the other hand has a really horrendous story involving supporting characters like "Zeke" who is this loser sidekick who dresses like he really wanted to be an Elvis impersonator but was laughed out of his ambitions by the other impersonators. It wouldn't
be bad I guess if it wasn't for the suppporting cast.
Mission wise, both games have a decent amount of variety, though Prototype has more flexibility due to the disguise elements and such. Overall neither game has much in the way of side activities worth note, nothing at all like a "Saint's Row 2" with endlessly entertaining and varied side missions. You've got your basic array of yawnworthy races and "rampage" type missions.
Gameplay wise, there is very little comparison.
inFamous is a shooter pretty much like most other shooters when you get down to it. Your character is pretty fragile, and you spend a lot of time moving between cover shooting at people with your powers. The powers themselves pretty much emulate the effects of weapons your probably used to (with the possible exception of Shockwave). You can shoot a basic lightning bolt/gunshot, throw a "lightning grenade" which explodes afterwards, and similar kinds of things. Advanced techniques involve being able to hold off the release of an attack to charge it up, or "tag" an opponent so all of your attacks automatically home in on them.
In inFamous your going to spend more time than you'd probably like getting shot at by guys in rooftops firing with perfect accuracy from half a mile away, and chances are you will die without being able to figure out where you were being shot from.
Prototype is more of a brawler, the enemies have less personality than inFamous and there isn't much variation, but you at least feel superhuman. You'll be taking fire from a dozen soldiers at once at times and keep going, as opposed to being bullseyed by some gang banger a block away.
Of the two inFamous is much easier to play, anyone familiar with shooters should be able to pick it up with minimal difficulty. Prototype starts out simpler and becomes a lot more complicated as you obtain more and more powers and the commands become increasingly complex. Some of the missions involve having to use powers that are somewhat awkward to execute. A problem that definatly needed to be worked on.
Soundwise both games are very good, and do exactly what they intended. There is however nothing like the rich soundtrack of liscenced music and professionally voice acted mock talk shows and commercials that you get with most sandbox crime games. Overall your dealing with a very basic package here and there are no real frills like a soundtrack, or greatly varied side missions (mentioned above).
Graphically I rate the games as being equal. In terms of actual graphics quality and detail inFamous is a lot better, it's a very pretty game. Prototype on the other hand has graphics of lower quality but more stuff going on at one time, and more interactivity. In inFamous you'll rarely be dealing with more than half a dozen opponents at one time, where in Prototype you can be dealing with dozens ranging from foot soldiers, to choppers, and tanks. In inFamous you can't really pick anything up, but in Prototype you can pick up dropped weapons and use them, throw vehicles, and hijack choppers and armor. Prototype looks less impressive but is tracking a lot more stuff going on at once.
System wise both games involve an RPG-like system of character progression where you earn points that are eventually saved towards purchusing new powers. However it seems rather tacked on due to the fact that in both games what powers you have access to at any given point are limited by story progression. So really all it is, is a device to encourage you to rampage to buy powers after they unlock and before progressing to the next mission. It's a neat idea but with more options and/or having everything availible from the beginning to decide how you want to tackle the game/what to develop first it would have worked better. Right now it's mostly just a very "meh" thing which seems to be an excuse to get people to kill soldiers and strike teams, or jump from rooftop to rooftop hoping to spot/kill gangbangers before they do the same to you.
Also, it should be noted that power development is also very scripted as you need certain powers to progress, and in the case of prototype to keep the game "challenging" they rather arbitrarly (no matter how it's covered in the story) decide to strip your powers just to keep things challenging.
I remained neutral when it came to these games when they were being hyped/released as I knew I'd play both of them eventually. In the end it's a mixed bag. They both have some very good ideas, but I don't think either game was the high quality sandbox hero game people wanted. Both are likely to entertain any action game/sandbox player for at least a few hours however, and they are probably the best "new" games on the market right now, but largely because I think it's been a slow year so far.
Of the two I think Prototype is a better game (as you might guess from the above, but I am also endeavoring to explain myself), but that is because I rate playability more than graphics quality. You can simply do more things in it, and the "Web Of Intrigue" idea is interesting. Plus honestly before Prototype was even released I was getting annoyed with inFamous due to being shot down by gangers I couldn't find, and for all the character's mobility finding it a bit of a chore to get from point A to point B without landing in crossfires.
As constructive advice if a game developer ever reads this:
#1: If your going to make a super hero game, make it about a super hero. Not a bloody rampaging monster (and honestly The Hulk does a lot of good things, and doesn't hurt many innocent people which is why he's still a super hero... I add this because of the game the team that did Prototype came from).
If your going to give an option between being good, or bad in a game, make it viable to choose both paths.
#2: In coming up with character personalities, I recommend either a silent protaganist (despite some people hating it), OR some kind of modular personality like Wizardry 8 or (to a lesser extent) Saint's Row. It involves recording multiple sets of dialogue for each scene in the latter case, but honestly it gives you a decent chance of getting a character you can empathize with.
Video game protaganists increasingly seem to have their personalities designed by comittee to "appeal to the youth" without really offending anyone. Of course the problem here is that such attempts to be "edgy" and "hip" result in thise cardboard cutout characters that are complete dorks.
Both Cole and Alex come accross as dweebs that are trying too hard to be "cool". At times I almost wanted to vomit day-glo.
#3: If your going to make a sandbox game, keep in mind that the whole point of playing in a sandbox is all the toys you have to do stuff with in it. In these games I feel like a kid plopped down in a pile of sand with no buckets, shovels, or other stuff to play with and just sitting there in the powder crying.
If your choice is basically to wander around more or less aimlessly, or run heavily scripted missions, it's kind of defeating the entire purpose. You need more toys in the sandbox, not just some lame races and collecible hunts.
#4: If I'm playing a character that is supposed to be "super" then I do not expect to be taken down easily by a few dudes with guns. Prototype got this right at least, Infamous made me feel quite wimpy at times. I mean honestly, using cover is all well and good, but super heroes only do that kind of thing in extraordinary circumstances. Being able to stare down some dudes with guns with pretty much no fear is kind of a prerequisite.
No matter how cool "The Reapers" are, they are still just gang bangers. They shouldn't be putting down a super hero that easily (well excepting the Conduits perhaps but they are super also).
#5: For the love of all that is holy, work on the supporting cast. I can deal with the protaganist having a best friend/girlfriend/whatever but at least make them be someone I look forward to scenes with or hearing from. If I'm having fantasies about ripping my characters friends and loved ones to pieces on general principles, something is wrong. This is largely about "Zeke".
Plus let's be honest this is supposed to be a super hero game. Comics are known for incredible babes. Keep that in mind when it comes to the love interests and girlfriends and such. Spider Man for example winds up between like Mary Jane Watson, and The Black Cat. The current stable is lacking.
See I'm not the character so I'm not emotionally invested in some of these girls, over years they might have wonderful personalities or whatever. But as a guy playing a video game, and a SUPER HERO game at that, they should have an overtly entertaining (in one way or another) personality and provide some decent eye candy.
#6: Again, also, the achievements should sort of fit the whole motif of the game. Part of the reason why I dislike Alex as a character for example is like an achievement for rapidly killing civilians, and another one for running over like 500 people with a tank.
At times it seems like the designers are trying to get us to empathize with the character as a "revenge seeking anti-hero" but when your going out of your way to randomly smash cars, or looking for crowded sidewalks to drive a tank down... well... as evil as they are I kind of see him as worse than the goverment conspiricy.
The Punisher, Spawn, heck even Lady Death (well some versions), are all fine for dark heroes. We need SOME Redeeming qualities to latch onto here, and I think that even in inFamous (or especially in inFamous given the alleged choices) there should be achievements revolving around being... you know... heroic. Not just murdering, destroying, and rampaging (though I can see some of that too especially on a villain path).
