Prototype Review
Written By Gaetano Prestia
In Prototype you are Alex Mercer, a shape-shifting creature who has the ability to absorb other beings and monsters. You never really know who the true Mercer is, because the game begins as he wakes up in a military quarantined Manhattan. As he evolves and transforms into an emotionless being with limitless powers, people around him go through horrific mutations, as Mercer himself changes to prepare himself for the countless attacks on his life. As he roams through the city as a near-invincible creature, he jumps from buildings and drops down onto the unsuspecting public. The city of Manhattan is your playground, as you guide Alex to unravel the secrets that plague his current appearance.
Unlike the recently released inFAMOUS, which gives you the moral choice of good or evil, Prototype is focused purely on Alex being as evil and destructive as possible. While some of his actions during missions will be in the best interests of those he is involved with, a lot of the time you’ll be ripping apart innocent bystanders and consuming them to get a quick health boost. Consuming another being allows you to transform into them and imitate their likeness, so if you’re ever on the run from an enemy, you can quickly turn the corner and change into an innocent pedestrian.
Check out our HD Video review of Prototype
A lot of Prototype’s grunt lies in the unlockable special powers. While you can pick up cars and hurl objects at helicopters, there are quite a few awesome powers that really make Prototype worth playing. Whether it’s gliding from one building to the next, or destroying a large tank with a simple shoulder-hit, there’s plenty on offer when it comes to upgrading Alex’s abilities and his destructive nature. The game starts off initially with Alex still learning his powers, but as you earn experience points through the game, you’ll have the opportunity to upgrade. The upgrading system is easy to move through and while it won’t take you that long to purchase all of them, there are enough there to entertain those looking for a game with a high destructive tone.
You’ll have the chance to pick up dropped guns and rocket launchers, but considering Alex has massive claws attached to his arms from about five-minutes into the game, using a gun to take down a bunch of attacking soldiers doesn’t do the game justice at all. The focus is on destruction, aggression and action and the game really encourages you to run into enemies with arms waving everywhere. It’s great seeing body parts fly all over the place as Alex cuts his way through countless military soldiers.
There are around 30 missions all up, all of which don’t offer much originality to the sandbox genre. There are the typical boss battles, as well as search and destroy and escort missions and unfortunately there really isn’t any one mission that stands out above the rest. The narrative isn’t implemented into the missions as well as it could be - or as well as it is in GTA IV - and often you’ll find yourself fighting for someone or something that you, as the player, really don’t care about. While the focus is on destruction and action, the missions aren’t varied enough to carry a memorable plot and even when the story does get interesting, you’re forced to play the unoriginal missions with simple objectives.
However, actually playing the missions can be a lot of fun. The search and destroy missions can get hectic to say the least, with literally hundreds of soldiers and a few tanks all attacking you at once. There can be a hell of a lot of action on screen at any one time and while it takes a hell of a lot of firepower to take down Alex, using his powers and dodging methods to his best ability is integral to success in a lot of the missions.
The design of the health system is questionable, as the action-heavy areas make it extremely difficult to get through without dying at least once. You’ll find yourself being attacked by monsters and military personal over and over again, with frustrating enemy combos and heavy damage attacks quickly bringing your health meter down. Because health doesn’t regenerate quickly, you’ll have to leave the combat area, consume a bystander to regain health, and then return. This even happens early on in the game when you have minimal special abilities and you’re confronted with five or six mutated beasts. They keep coming at you and once they get a combo of attacks on you, you’re suddenly bordering death. It definitely makes the gameplay as a whole feel inconsistent, because there are parts that are really accessible and fun, but then there are others that are just frustratingly difficult to get through. Someone as powerful as Alex shouldn’t have any trouble taking down a few monsters, yet because of the lacking health system, he does.
The wanted system is heavily flawed and really takes some of the fun away from the title. You can run and fly across the tops of buildings without a stress in the world, but as soon as you hit the ground and start running, you’re suddenly being watched by military and policing personal. You can’t even run down the sidewalk without being put on notice. It kind of reminded us of The Getaway, in which you were punished for pretty much every action you did in the public eye. We can understand if the developer wanted to go for a realistic approach, but simply making Alex a wanted man because he is running is hardly realistic. With Prototype, it encourages you to cause trouble, but before you even get a chance to do it, you’re a wanted man. It actually gets frustrating at times, especially if you just want to do a bit of free-roaming.
There’s still a lot to like about the gameplay though. As mentioned above, the combat can be a lot of fun and scaling buildings and jumping throughout the city is where a lot of Prototype’s fun lies. There are also interesting and engaging side-missions that enhance the overall experience beyond the main story missions. There are plenty scattered throughout the map, each of which earn you points to upgrade skills. There are also secret missions that don’t appear in the map but can actually appear out of nowhere at any one time (even during missions). One such type is the Web of Intrigue, which has you hunting and consuming a target to unravel a secret of the infection that has spread throughout Manhattan. The presentation and direction of these scenes are done very well, even more so in some cases than the main story.
You can also infiltrate army bases to upgrade weapon and combat skills and even call in air strikes during times of need. This side-mission is actually pretty fun and has you entering heavily guarded bases as conspicuously as possible to avoid detection.
Some of you may be familiar with a neat little gem that was released under-the-radar last generation called The Incredible Hulk. It was a title that put you - as the Hulk - in a vulnerable city as you work your way through missions and side-missions while using the city as a way to let out your fury. The gameplay mechanics were great and extremely accessible and overall, the game was undeniably fun. It was long, deep and challenging and it even gave you the opportunity to roam the streets and cause havoc throughout the city. If you enjoyed that game, then chances are you’ll probably enjoy Prototype, because it’s essentially the same game. There is the same focus on action, the same focus on destruction and the same focus on free-roaming gameplay. Unfortunately, the city in Prototype is just as poorly designed and unfinished as it was in The Incredible Hulk.
The city of Manhattan in Prototype isn’t made to scale and if you’ve been to New York City you’ll notice how poorly reconstructed this version is. There are almost no noticeable landmarks and Central Park looks absolutely terrible. A lot of the famous Manhattan locations have been recreated poorly, with little to no effort made to make them look anything like their real-life counterparts.
The pedestrians on the street all move identically in-sync, looking as though they are all the same virtual character but only with a different skin. Cars move in a similar fashion. The way the pedestrians and cars actually move is reminiscent of the environment in Crazy Taxi and that’s a nearly decade-old game. The only nice thing about the presentation is Mercer, with his animations flowing fluidly and realistically. Even as he runs up buildings, you can see pieces of rock fall from his feet as he plants his foot into the concrete. His transformation animations look great and as a whole, his design must be applauded. We can all picture what a hero or villain looks like, but Mercer is the perfect rendition of an anti-hero: scary yet intriguing.
The buildings are as lifeless as the streets and this is obvious as you run up them with Alex. The windows have no life in them and look like they’ve been copied and pasted over and over again on every single building. The draw distance is horrid and the game clearly struggles with the streaming, as pop in is present as soon as you reach the top of a building and look out across the city.
This is all really disappointing. The game itself is on par with The Incredible Hulk’s presentation. That game was OK for a PS2 game, but Prototype is severely lacking for a 360/PS3 game. The developer has released a game with an unfinished and/or underdone presentation, focusing too much on the main character’s animations and not enough on the city he has at his disposal.
The developer has just really let the game down with the poor presentation. There are several hundred orbs scattered through the city, but they are nearly unrecognizable unless you’re right up beside them. In Crackdown the orbs were visible from a distance, so you could at least plan and/or note down when and/or how to get them. In Prototype, you’ll come across them by chance because the developer chose to make them near impossible to see. Furthermore, they don’t appear on the map, so it’s all luck when it comes to finding them.
It really does seem like two separate teams made Prototype. Sometimes the cutscenes are really well done and cinematic, while other times they look absolutely terrible with severe screen tearing. Some missions are timid with little enemies, while others have countless enemies coming at you with no end in sight. It’s an obvious inconsistency right across the board and a real letdown for the title.
The Final Verdict
Prototype is a fun game. There’s no doubt about that. It’s just let down by poor execution. The gameplay can be extremely enjoyable as you cause havoc across Manhattan, but it’s just a shame that it never really feels like Manhattan. The gameplay is accessible and the power upgrading system is great, and once you get all of the available powers, get ready to cause some intense trouble. However, there are inconsistencies all over the place. The cutscenes go from great to terrible, the missions are unoriginal (yet still fun at times) and the narrative never seems to take off like you’d expect it to. At its core, Prototype is a fun pick-up-and-play game. But on the outside, it’s an unfinished, inconsistent, poorly designed game that is saved only by accessible and fun gameplay mechanics.
Gameplay
8.0/10
The powers and destructive abilities really make the game what it is. You can upgrade at will and earn points very easily, which is great. The free-roaming aspect could have been better, as there are constantly people at your feet, but it’s still fun. The mission structure and overall execution could have been better, though.
Graphics
5.0/10
Barely a pass and that’s only because of Alex Mercer’s design and animations. Some of the cutscenes are great, while some are terrible. The city may as well be empty, because the buildings are dull, the pedestrians and cars seem to be on a robotic loop and there are no memorable or recognizable Manhattan landmarks.
Sound
6.5/10
Decent voice-acting with some nice sound-effects and a nice soundtrack.
Value
7.0/10
It will take you probably 17-22 hours to complete it. There isn’t much reason to play through it again, though.
Overall
7.2/10