So what's this game all about? Well... You play as Alex Mercer, a hooded man that wakes up in a morgue in the middle of Manhattan, no memory of how he got there, who he is and why he suddenly has the ability to turn his arms into claws and rip the heads off local law enforcement.
In the meantime New York is in the middle of a viral outbreak that is transforming its citizens into mad zombie like creatures. Now don't worry, there's no moral high ground here, you're not looking to save anybody, you're here to find the truth about what's happened to you and you will quite literally slash and hack your way through plenty of innocent bystanders on the street to get to where you're going. Opposing you will be increasingly difficult levels of the military, which have targeted Alex Mercer as their number one priority for initially unknown reasons and the infected, who are taking over the city at an alarming rate.
The game play is simply phenomenal, Mercer's running Parkour is activated with the press of a button and this makes him one of the most agile main character's you've ever seen. Combine this with his ability to run up buildings and glide between them and you will find yourself able to sprint from one end of New York to the other in no time at all. But it's his combat powers that are the game's main pulling point, Mercer's ability to transform his arms and body into living weapons give him access to some truly awesome powers, not to mention his natural strength and physical capabilities. These skills are gained and upgraded by 'buying' them with 'evolution points' which you get from completing missions, scoring in side events and by cleaning out infected or military bases, among others.
The powers themselves are sickeningly satisfying, with wicked blades slicing enemy soldiers in two, or huge fists to smash their faces in, there's an array of powers in this game that will keep any gore fan content. Add this to what are called 'devastator' attacks, which allow you to pretty much destroy anything on your screen with huge spikes popping out of the ground or tendrils that reach out from your torso. Finally Mercer also has access to any of the military hardware the marines bring along with them which consist of anything from standard machine guns to full speed attack choppers.
That being said, when you find yourself in command of even just a few impressive powers, you'll notice that the control scheme hasn't really been set up to handle them all. Changing between primary powers is awkward at best and if you don't want to get hit by a missile or a stray infected, it's best to be done prior to battle. While the devastator moves are pulled off in general by awkward button combinations that will have you trying to bend your thumb in ways it just doesn't bend or changing your hand position on the controller in general, just for the one move.
Mercer's other awesome ability is his ability to 'absorb and become' pretty much any random person walking around on the street. The game really lets you run with this, absorbing your standard civilians or infected will give you health and give you the physical appearance of this person (imagine a grandma running up the side of a building). However absorb say a soldier and you'll gain access to the military bases, will be able to use military vehicles and hardware without a struggle and if you want, accuse other soldiers of being infected. This really gives you a lot of freedom in the story related missions throughout the game, even in standard conflict, you can either run into a situation, destroying anything living in your path, you can walk right through the military as a soldier, steal a tank and blast away, a tactic you'll become familiar with towards the end of the game. However the absorption technique is also incorporated into the game in an especially clever manner. Absorb the right person (don't worry they're clearly marked) and you'll get a piece of the 'web of intrigue' that is, you'll absorb their memories in a quick video process. The web of intrigue is truly awesome and one of the best ideas I've seen in a sandbox open city game today, not only does it make searching for these collectibles worth your time, but these small bits of story, when pieced together actually open up the true depth of the game and find out who Mercer really is, an experience you wouldn't get were you just to shoot through the game on story alone.
The missions in the game drive the story, but you will find yourself devoting a lot of your time to completing events, only if it's for the payout in evolution points to make your main man that much meaner. The majority of these events are clever and allow you to really let loose with your powers and skills you've gained, with events such as sprinting/gliding from point to point, or 'kill a certain amount of enemies using a certain power in a time limit.' However these events do get repetitive and at times, really frustrating, especially when you find yourself losing time and time again, not because of any lack of skill, but because the enemy AI has all the zombies you need to kill stuck against a wall, stupid zombies.
Sticking with that point, the AI in the game is fair, the infected and the military will duke it while you look on, you can choose to interfere if you want to or not and the war seems to go on without you. What is truly amazing is the level of frame rate the game can hold up with between 100-200 players on screen, you'll be in combat between the infected and the military at the same time, while hundreds of civilians run from infected in the background, all with attack choppers floating above you.
The difficulty level in this game can be severely frustrating and feels to be Prototypes weakest point. At times you will feel ridiculously overpowered with your onslaught of mutant weapons. At other times you'll feel like you can't go 10 feet without the military blowing the crap out of you no matter what powers you've got. Compile this with the infected 'hunters' who are enemies that make you feel like your powers are pointless, the standard tactic with these guys is, choose power, button mash, run away as they do their un-blockable running attack, then come back button mash against them some more, rinse, repeat.
Battles against these guys and most boss battles make you feel like many of the awesome skills you have can only be used against the weakest enemies in the game, which makes little sense considering by the time you get them, these enemies have for along time been obsolete.
The city itself is a changing entity, as the game progresses parts of the cities grow infected with its population, people will run screaming from infected, buildings will grow into huge infected 'hives' and the streets will pile with abandoned cars. Still, you can't help but feel the city is bland and boring, especially when you compare it with cities like Liberty City whose every street corner has character, Manhattan feels like a bunch of generic buildings placed in a generic street block order, with a recreation of central park placed in the middle. Indeed by the end of the game, central park and Time Square will probably STILL be the only landmarks you recognize by sight. The graphics otherwise while not as impressive as other games, do the job well, the PS3 version obviously looks slightly better than the 360, but the differences are barely noticeable. The sound however goes quite well with the game, and really adds to that 'superhuman' feel that Mercer brings to the game, whether your slicing a base commander in half, or elbow dropping a tank from the top of a building, the effects really add to that satisfaction of pulling off a sickeningly cool move. The games music however is the same old predictable 'dark tunes' that haunt any horror/infection game and while, not out of place, you feel like you've heard it all before.
Overall this game has to be one of the most enjoyable games I've played in a while, its replay value can be based on its game-play alone, it is a genuinely all around awesome game, and the few issues to be found with the game are only so evident because of the all around quality the game gives you otherwise. All in all this is a most worthy addition to any Xbox 360/PS3 collection and a game that your sure to be playing over and over again.
BUY THIS GAME
- If you love open ended sand box games, period.
- If you're after an in depth story worthy of any graphic novel
- If you love guts and gore
- If you're an action game fan
AVOID THIS GAME
- If you have some moral issue with slicing innocent civilians in half for health
- If you don't like games that can be too much of a challenge