Prototype

Prototype is a third-person free-roaming action adventure game developed by Canadian Radical Entertainment. You play as the protagonist Alex Mercer who is suffering from a kind of coma-induced amnesia while coming to grips with strange biological powers of super-human strength and terrifying modifications of his body. Alex, while making sense of his new-found abilities, seeks out the answers to why and how he has developed them. Along this journey, he further uncovers a biological outbreak that has caused widespread zombification and the imposition of martial law over the citizens of New York.

Not surprisingly, Radical is also the same developer that worked on the Hulk games from 2003 and 2005. Everything here feels as though it's the next generation of that same engine, which is not necessarily a bad thing. Alex has all of the same sense of strength and badass-ed-ness found in the Hulk, but none of the slow bulkiness. Similar to the movement in Assassin's Creed, where the focus is on fluidity of transitions and ease of motion. Leaping from roof-top to roof-top to street-level to roof-top is wonderfully gratifying and feels excellent and well polished.

The powers themselves are interesting and dynamic. The virus has changed Alex in such a way altering his physical state that he's no longer essentially human in form, but a biological altered mass. This allows him to manipulate his limbs in to a host of different forms like sharp blades or large flat shields. The variety in forms offer different functions in different situations. Claw-hands are effective in large groups of humanoid enemies, the larger sledgehammer-hands are more effective against tanks and so on.

The most interesting element of this shape-shifting ability is to take on forms of other people you come across throughout the city. By disguising yourself as one of the military, you can make your way in to one of the many installations found throughout. Once inside the installation, take the absorb particular guards inside to gain access to their knowledge about certain weaponry or vehicles. Once back outside, and if spotted, you can run, leap and bound over the barbed wire fences, absorb a civilian's form and evade the patrol in pursuit of you.

Absorbing is by far the most compelling gameplay element as it also serves as an effective narrative device. Just as taking on forms of enemies absorbs their physical forms and skill, their thoughts and memories are also taken on in the form of a short cutscene. These cutscenes often give information on current or upcoming missions or objectives and further shows the scope and scale of the viral antagonist.

So far, I haven't yet mentioned the story aspects of this game because I wanted to give the reader a fair chance at being excited to play it. The story itself is less than lack-luster, more like lack-structural-integrity. There is only the one plot point of waking up in the morgue and being confused about why you've woken up in a morgue. Every continuous cutscene asks the same continuous question over and over again.

All of what I've been describing so far is interesting and compelling and fun, but you will find your enjoyment only lasts for about an hour. There are a lot of different kinds of things to do in this game, but once you do them, twice becomes too many. The city itself, again, although entertaining at first to leap and dash and leap from building to building, is ultimately character-less. How many times are we going to see another rendering of New York city?

The more and more I had to play this game the less and less I enjoyed it (and the more and more I held a grudge against it). Why am I playing a game that is ultimately pointless? What could Alex possibly do after flattening the entire city, killing every person in the military and curing the public of such a virus? Alex wouldn't make a good dishwasher or bus driver. There is little to no resolve in sight, and it feels as though the developers didn't think that far ahead either.

This is a solid rent, unless you're currently playing something else that you enjoy. How can you enjoy a game with so few consequences? Prototype ultimately suffers from not providing the player with enough structure or resistance to keep things interesting. The danger of these and all other free-world roaming games is that fundamental narrative elements are abandoned, providing players with a range of "choice" in exchange for depth of content.

Prototype, ironically, is anything but new. It's a tired game with tired mechanics. Ultimately, it lacks character which is disappointing since the gameplay overall offers so much potential. Instead of focusing on one aspect to develop as the goal or plot-point, Prototype is a game that is a mile-wide and an inch deep. It does a lot, but it does everything with the same half-assed effort. This is barely a recommendation to rent, and can be altogether skipped over if you've found something else you're enjoying.