Review: Prototype

[YuheJi]

Now I've never played either game, but when I look at them Infamous and Prototype seem to have more than a few similarities. Both are open world superhero games featuring a loner antihero- though the tone of prototype seems much darker.

I just thought it was interesting that the review didnt mention this- or maybe they arent that similar. As I said, I havent played either.

They are a lot more different than one might think. In Prototype, you basically spend the entire game killing civilians, and just wreaking havoc. You don't care who or what gets in your way, and there are little if any moral choices. InFamous is all about moral choice, precision, and civilians. You aren't quite as powerful, and if you are going to be good, you don't kill civilians (in fact, you help them) and you attack with much more precision.

 

[Abedeus]

*snip*

I think it was before you could finish a game in 10 hours and multiplayer/modding was available.

What about Portal? That game is great as is. Yes, there are many mods and community made maps, but none equal the original content. I don't even play any of them, as I haven't found any that I enjoy even close to as much.

I'm sure it's not what you meant, but it sounds like you haven't ever enjoyed a game that you can beat in a short amount of time. Quality, not quantity, is the most important thing in a game.

Yeah, and every single review complains that the game is too short. But it didn't cost $50. And you have content and you have mods and more maps.

I am enjoying the game, quite a lot. But one thing I can't stand is when developers make a dick move. You know, releasing a sequel too fast, no support EVER to a game (you do know this means that if you have a problem with the game - framerate, sound issues, ANYTHING - you won't get a fix), or something done not on purpose - Blizzard announcing 1.13 patch to Diablo 2 two months ago, essentially killing what was left of the game's community, as everyone's fed up waiting for a patch that was supposed to be released by the end of April.

 

[Break]

Uh... Maybe it's just because Prototype, as a whole, is the action game of my dreams - I'm serious, every single feature and concept in the game is something I've wanted for a long time - but by the time I'd gone through the story missions, I'd spent so much time deviating, playing around, doing side missions, and getting into pointless, unending, three-way battles outside hives for no reason, that I was nearing 20 hours playtime. I just really like that game, to an unreasonable degree.

And I still haven't found my last bloody Web target! I've ran up and down the damn island so many times, and broken into so many military bases, I've lost count. Fucker's invisible.

 

[laryri]

Serious question in reference to Alex Mercer, Warning huge plot spoilers:

Spoiler

So I've noticed that almost every review both professional and not refers to the main character as Alex Mercer, and he is often described as an amnesiac and an evil/anti hero. I understand that for reviews that are meant to be spoiler free this is ok, but in reviews that have spoilers no one mentions that Alex Mercer is dead and you're really Blacklight, a virus that Alex took as insurance when he tried to take down Gentek. And in a desperate attempt Alex threw the virus to the ground condemning the city/world as he was gunned down by plain clothes assasins, but in a twist of events Blacklight absorbed Alex in the same manner as the game lets you absorb other people throughout the game. Because of this it really isn't an amnesiac, it doesn't have the memories in the first place beyond its creation. And it is a bit hard to bring up morality in terms of something that really isn't human, do I say a virus that kills people is evil? I really don't think so.
Why do I bring this up? From the web of intrigues Alex Mercer was a douche. He was a selfish jerk who didn't think of anyone but himself and tried to take down humanity with himself (hell even Blacklight says at one point that Mercer committed an unforgivable act. Hell the virus cared more to save his sister than the real guy, Alex Mercer didn't give a rat's ass about his sister considering he didn't see her for years even though they were in the same city. In the end Blacklight does actually do some actions that can be seen as "good", and recognizes that him ending a lot of lives probably wasn't the best thing he could have done. Thus I think that the distinction should be made, it reminds me of the whole Frankenstein and "the creature" problem. Every one refers to the creature as Frankenstein when they are in fact two separate individuals, and in both cases the creatures are very flexible in terms of their morality.
Anyways /endrant.

Because that was a plot twist.

 

[sirdanrhodes]

I would like to add, DO NOT buy the PC version, it loves high end systems, but budget systems, forget it!

 

[KDR_11k]

I would like to add, DO NOT buy the PC version, it loves high end systems, but budget systems, forget it!

I guess they have to add some fuckups to make sure people pay the 70€ for the console versions instead of the 50 for the PC one...

Overall Prototype seems like pricedrop material for me. I'm also interested in Red Faction and might get it if it drops to 50€ (if I still remember I was interested by then). Then again EVERY 360 game looks like pricedrop material to me because it's got to be really fucking amazing if it wants to justify the 70€ pricetag and thus far no game has managed to justify it.

 

[Rednog]

Serious question in reference to Alex Mercer, Warning huge plot spoilers:

Spoiler

So I've noticed that almost every review both professional and not refers to the main character as Alex Mercer, and he is often described as an amnesiac and an evil/anti hero. I understand that for reviews that are meant to be spoiler free this is ok, but in reviews that have spoilers no one mentions that Alex Mercer is dead and you're really Blacklight, a virus that Alex took as insurance when he tried to take down Gentek. And in a desperate attempt Alex threw the virus to the ground condemning the city/world as he was gunned down by plain clothes assasins, but in a twist of events Blacklight absorbed Alex in the same manner as the game lets you absorb other people throughout the game. Because of this it really isn't an amnesiac, it doesn't have the memories in the first place beyond its creation. And it is a bit hard to bring up morality in terms of something that really isn't human, do I say a virus that kills people is evil? I really don't think so.
Why do I bring this up? From the web of intrigues Alex Mercer was a douche. He was a selfish jerk who didn't think of anyone but himself and tried to take down humanity with himself (hell even Blacklight says at one point that Mercer committed an unforgivable act. Hell the virus cared more to save his sister than the real guy, Alex Mercer didn't give a rat's ass about his sister considering he didn't see her for years even though they were in the same city. In the end Blacklight does actually do some actions that can be seen as "good", and recognizes that him ending a lot of lives probably wasn't the best thing he could have done. Thus I think that the distinction should be made, it reminds me of the whole Frankenstein and "the creature" problem. Every one refers to the creature as Frankenstein when they are in fact two separate individuals, and in both cases the creatures are very flexible in terms of their morality.
Anyways /endrant.

Because that was a plot twist.

I know it was the plot twist but, like I mentioned, there are reviews who are filled with spoilers that still refer to him in a way that the twist never happened. And other things like Infamous and Prototype comparisons on "morality" of the characters, but for reasons mentioned it shouldn't apply.
I'm somewhat interested in what happens to the main character in the future (most likely another game) and really just don't want a Frankenstein thing (again mentioned above, trying not to be a spoiler) to happen to the main character.

I would like to add, DO NOT buy the PC version, it loves high end systems, but budget systems, forget it!

Really? I built my own system for $550ish (after rebates) and it runs and high pretty well, the only issues I ever had were on those ridiculously long cut scenes that load as it jumps from area to area, and on one event where I managed to piss off the whole city and had like 10+ helicopters on me.

 

[Epifols]

Its plot is the same old government conspiracy song and dance you've seen a thousand times, and it trades significant character development in exchange for exotic ways to sow death and destruction. In other words, it's an absolutely perfect game for summer.

I don't follow that logic.

Why must summer games be unoriginal and have an under-developed protagonist?

 

[The Great JT]

I saw this came out on PC.

I swear some deranged crazy person is gonna make a mod that changes the character's arm into some deforemd penis club thing.

 

[Susan Arendt]

Its plot is the same old government conspiracy song and dance you've seen a thousand times, and it trades significant character development in exchange for exotic ways to sow death and destruction. In other words, it's an absolutely perfect game for summer.

I don't follow that logic.

Why must summer games be unoriginal and have an under-developed protagonist?

They don't have to, of course, but many folks enjoy lighter fare during the summer months. Maybe it's because it's their chance to relax from the rigors of school, or maybe the hot weather simply makes their attention spans shorter. Summer tends to bring out the dumb in people, and thus we have a bunch of movies that go "boom!" at the cineplex and games like Prototype. (Which is just a game that goes "boom!")

 

[antipunt]

I agree with this review

 

[pantsoffdanceoff]

Hmm, I'm still not sure about Prototype. The main character annoys me for some reason.

Because he's a dick. Not "even a nobody loved me when I was young" dick, he truly has no damn soul whatsoever, and thus makes him rather hard to connect with. Also, why is he so pissed HE HAS SUPER POWERS. Sure they didn't ask him first but whatever no on has to ask to give me tons of money, they can just go ahead.

(granted I haven't played the game only watched my friends play it for a little bit but I think I got the gist).

 

[jasoncyrus]

Great review, lucky it wasn;t the pc version or you'd have more than a simple "Cant run straight" bug. Random freezing, orange screen, black screen, grey screen, instal problems, launching problems, hardware problems. Just off the top of my head.. Thankfully i only had the random freeze one which had a *really* wierd way around. Defragged the folder itself then when it freezes, ctrlaltdel, then cancel it and back to game play.

Sucks that it doesnt have a windowed mode =(

 

[ORLOFT]

I don't know about anyone else, but I play games because they are fun. This game is fun... really fun. Yea it doesn't bring anything totally original to the table, accept that you are a fucking superpowerful shape shifter. I think it's the only shape shifter game I've ever played, and as far as power fantasies go, I've never felt so powerful. Sure it's not going to be for everyone, specifically not for people that like to take something that is fun and pick it apart. Come on people! Stop being so damn critical of everything and enjoy yourselves for a moment!

 

[KDR_11k]

Great review, lucky it wasn;t the pc version or you'd have more than a simple "Cant run straight" bug. Random freezing, orange screen, black screen, grey screen, instal problems, launching problems, hardware problems. Just off the top of my head.. Thankfully i only had the random freeze one which had a *really* wierd way around. Defragged the folder itself then when it freezes, ctrlaltdel, then cancel it and back to game play.

Sucks that it doesnt have a windowed mode =(

Okay so I'll REALLY stay away from the PC version.

It does sound nice though not like a game I'd be happy paying 70€* for. On the other hand it apparently got a rating refused (makes me wonder why the console versions did get released here considering every other game that got a rating refused got blocked) so I'm not sure how long it'll remain available. Damn those high prices, they make buying anything that isn't a GOTY contender a bad idea! I wish companies would realize when they've got a B list game at their hands and price them accordingly.

*= Why the hell are HD games 70€ anyway? The US price hike was 50$->60$, Euros are worth a lot more than US dollars so why did we get a price hike from the already too high prices (regular price was 60€ last gen, that's almost 85$!) to even higher ones? It's really ridiculous especially considering PC games remained at 50€ the whole time (with almost all 360 games having PC versions which don't require paying for online) and Wii games went down to 50€ too (GC games were 60&#8364.

 

[whaleswiththumbs]

You certaintly changed my views on this game. i'm ot gonna buy it, but I think better of it.

 

[Ranooth]

Great review and my thoughts exactly, i just kinda hope Activision will release DLC of a mission editor so we can actually make varied missions but meh tis a very fun game.

Was a great stress relief for after my exams.

 

[Operations]

Penny Arcade today offers some advice on if you should buy it.
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2009/6/19/