Prey did portals before Portal.
It didn't do them as well, but it's still a very creative, enjoyable
shooter. Earlier this year, it was offered on Steam for the cheap
price of five bucks, and I couldn't pass that up. It's not a great
game, but it's fun, and easily worth that price at least. There aren't
that many weapons in the game, but all the firearms are pretty
interesting visually, being made of either advanced technology or small
aliens, and have multiple uses. Most enemies are pretty dumb and don't
make for particularly entertaining confrontations, but Human Head
Studios throws in enough gimmicks, from ghost children to
gravity-defying walkways, to keep it fresh. You can also use your
spirit powers (Native Americans are magic!) to fight in other ways and
solve some environmental puzzles. Trudging around and shooting up
aliens could have gotten boring, but all the disorientating, unique
environments prevent repetition from getting too grating. The puzzles
get too simple once you figure out the different tricks they have, but
that only really manifested as a flaw near the end, when what should
have been a set-up for a gigantic, brain-bending final challenge ended
up being tragically easy.
Visually, the game is pretty impressive even though it came out a
couple years ago. This comes mostly from the effects and architecture
of the giant ship you spend most of the game in, which is really
inventive and varied, and best when it opens up to reveal grand,
far-off vistas conveying the scale of it all. The character models are
less impressive. I'm not sure if it's something with the perspective,
but their heads seem too big and they animate a little awkwardly. The
sounds of the alien setting are good and some of the music choices are
really nice, especially the best use of "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" I've
seen, but the voice acting is uneven. Some are fine, including Art
Bell playing himself as people call in to describe the alien invasion
going on, but others, including the main character unfortunately, are
just clumsy. The story is decent, and does an adequate job of
unfolding naturally as most modern shooters try. It ends on a
cliffhanger, which I'm semi-interested in seeing the supposed sequel
resolve.
