But what is the... prototype?
Prototype arrived ridding a wave of hype, but does it deliver its promises or does instead drown in them?
The game tells the story of man, Alex Mercer, awaking in the morgue, with no memories, and a question on his mind:
"Who did this to me?"
In the meantime, Manhattan is put under quarantine by the regular army and a unknown military outfit, called the Blackwatch Special Forces, due to a misterious virus that spread within the city, turning its citizens into disfigured zombies.
Are the two related or is it coincidence?
You find out!
From start to end you're going to try to fill his blank memory with a recolection of the events that took place and lead to his untimely ride to dissection.
The game graphics seem a bit dated, especialy the explosions, and the art direction is arguable... but they fulfill their job well, and immerse the players in the plight.
Manhattan is itself a rich, though not very elaborate graphically wise, set for the self-discovery of the character and for the desease to spread. Along the duration of the game it changes mirroring the state of the outbreak, with panic running down the streets in the infected areas, tanks and soldies battling the infection, explosions, ill-red clouds, that contrasts with the peaceful yet uptight safe military controled areas, and relaxed areas in between.
The city is an immense open world "sand box" where there is much possibilities and where no experience is exactly the same. From hijacking tanks and helicopters, infiltrate enemy bases, running to the top of skyscrappers, hovering above the city, fleeding the enemy, throwing cars and air conditioners... there is a lot to play thru.
And lots of blood too, as you rip appart your enemies! So people sensible to violence and gore beware.
Prototype includes a lot of little details, that are fun to see... like the craters when you jump from a high altitude to the concrete ground.
The game pace is almost always fast and furious, as there is always something happening in the streets. If you want to relax, just morph and stay put. And even that might not be enough as the army may spot you, and chase after inrelenting.
The gameplay is a little hard at first, because of the huge number of moves you'll have at your disposal, but after some time it will be easy to grasp.
One particular hability you have is to morph into any npc (non playing character) that you encounter in the game, which creates an furtive approach to the game, that varies from the "unleashed" sort. These opposite styles while incredibly amusing aren't as flesh out as they could be, probably do to the restrictions it would cause to the players choices, as, for example, you'd probably not shapeshift in plain mainstreet to avoid people's comotion and uproar, summoning the army of the police to the scene. It's a balanced trade between reality and fun gameplay.
Running thru the city is fast and smooth with high jumps, hovering capability, parkour and other moves. The only quirk is that running is done automatically, but it is understandable, as when you are running there are possibly objects that block your path, and, without any stops in the run or asking the player for directions, it is avoided in a single move.
To every mission there is a wide range of ways to accomplish it, though towards the end it number of options decreases and become somewhat limited, due to the dificulty of choosing other approaches.
Like the title of the review may reminesce, there is some similarity of this gameworld to the matrix, as it is somewhat inspired by its universe.
Besides the great number of powers at your disposal, there is a major number of moves and habilities with which you can costumize the main character and your experience. And to have them all you'll have to invest more than a playthru.
The story is interesting yet not completly original, told in a particular non-standard way by cut-scenes, using the game engine, and the Web of Intrigue. The latter is a collection of other peoples' memories that you have to find and possess, so you can know some particular details about the events that took place and lead to current state.
The difficulty of the gameworld is set according to the stage of the main plot you're on, and it is uneven. Tthere are some moments, specially in the beginning and nearing the end, when it is very easy to infiltrate into a military base, and there are other times when is in almost impossible and you'll have to fleed.
The same can be said in respect to missions and boss battles. Missions tend not to be hard, as they generally present some challenge to the way you approach it, but once you know a good one there's nothing to it. Boss battles in the other hand present sometimes an injust dificulty, that rewards the use of some of the powers and moves, that you should have bought and upgraded. If you're not one of the lucky ones to have them, then expect some fustrating challenge, especially nearing the end.
The game main quest is completed in about 20 hours... but there is an infinitude of side quests(running from point a to b, finding certain npcs, killing soldiers, invading bases, destroying virus hives, collecting memories...) that easily last for twenty to forty hours at least.
After beating the game, you have the possibility of starting a new game with all the powers you unlocked, or continue playing thru your side-quests and admiring the world as it has been set, in a time frame after all the events in the main plot.
In this game there isn't any morality system as other games feature, like Knights of the Old Republic or Infamous, but in the story there is a deep reflexion about the nature of good and evil, and main character's actions. So while true that this game is very violent and gore, it is untrue that it does it without any moral background.
It is true that the game is a bit unpolished, specially when compared with other games, but the sheer number of possibilities and experiences it provides makes these details forgotten in the heat of the almost constant action.
And it's a hell of a fun to play literaly, a bit due to the simplifications of gameplay made, and all the options provided combined with the engaging story.
For me the game desearves a 8 from a 10 scale, but due to the amazingly fun that provides, i give it a 8.5 total.
While some games really are beautiful to watch but not as fun to play, this one is less beautiful to watch and more fun to play thru. Yet it gives moments of pure awe as you see a bloody battle between hundreds military and infected, or as you gaze the sky from the top of a skyscrapper.
Now do you want the blue pill... or the red pill?
