Prototype 2

I finally got my grubby mitts on a copy of Prototype 2! As a self proclaimed biggest fan of Prototype I was expecting big things from the sequel. You play as James Heller a bad ass sergeant with serious rage issues and a potty mouth, kudos the voice actor Cornell Womack. Again as the prequel the story line is nothing ground breaking and hardly grips you. Your wife and daughter have apparently been killed by Alex Mercer... revenge... blah blah blah! The game world is slightly bigger than the first games, 3 island, the largest of which is the map from the first game, this time with more dilapidated buildings obviously.

Graphically the game is pleasing, vast improvement on the prequel, if you actually spend time walking around the citizen safe zones you will appreciate the attention to detail on the slightly rusted corrugated iron used as roofs, and the almost patchwork looking scraps of wood used to build the shelters. Its nothing outstanding but when pretty much all of the game is spent zooming from place to place or your eyes are too busy keeping up with mental paced combat, nice aesthetics is all cherry. I was worried when seeing the first game play shots of the game by how good it looked, I was certain some of the pace of the game would be sacrificed to make it prettier, for once I am happy to say I was wrong!

Game play is near enough the same. This time you can equip 2 powers at once and use them in a single combo creating the opportunity to use a bit more strategy, counter attacks with your shields, my favourite new ability is pack leader, allowing you to summon brawlers and set them on targets of your choice, watching one pounce straight through a chopper from the roof of a near by building is highly rewarding! Some moves have been taken out, such as the cannon ball. My favourite thing about the prototypes is the movement/free roaming/exploring, I had all the collectables found by my second sittings of the game, something that most other open world/free roaming games lack in is the ability to keep me entertained between missions, Prototype 2 doesn't offer many side quests and I completed the game 100% achievements and all, but still went back for another blast within a couple days of putting it down! On the downside, you no longer charge your jump as with the prequel, now you jump instantly and the longer you hold jump the higher you will go, even after getting used to this, which is not as easy as you may have thought, I still prefer having to hold then releasing actually perform the jump, it was easier to get around smoothly I feel, I understand why this was done though, timing your jumps has been taken out of the equation giving the player less to think about. Heller is less acrobatic than Mercer too, not in a way that would disadvantage him in a race, but in a stylish way, Heller doesn't flip and twirl in the air like Mercer did. Honestly I think if Heller did move like Mercer it just wouldn't seem right with Heller having more of a brutal personality but style is part of what made the original game so good.



There a massive sense of 'am I missing something here' when playing the game, Mercer's character has changed so much, you didn't get too strong of a hero or villain vibe from him in the first, but by the second game he's a classic antagonist, no transition or explanation. I have since completing the game found out there are comics/graphic novels that go deeper into the story of Prototype.

Overall the game is not too difficult, but does offer at least a couple of challenges. The trick is to keep moving as much as possible. This is the first game I've 1000g'd, and I was only 4 shy of all of them when I had realised how many I had gotten so easy picked for all the gamer score whores out there. I cant decide which of the 2 games I prefer, which is good as sequels of great games usually let me down, especially when they are made prettier, probably due to my high expectations.

Since the release of Prototype 2 it has been announced that Radical Entertainment will no longer be producing original games and will be a support team for Activision. You only realise how heart breaking this is once you look at their back catalogue. I for one will miss their great work!

Prototype

In honour of the coming Prototype2, I'm here to explain why the first Prototype is one of my favourite games to date. I don't think Prototype is a game you can easily apply a simple out of 10 score to, there is so much on offer from this game but most of it can be, and in allot of cases has been, overlooked or just not used during game play.
You play as Alex Mercer, in a predictable story, which has you awaking at the start finding you have mentally insane uber powers. You obviously don't know why, how, who or when, and set off to find the answers. The game has you slicing clean through enemies, launching them stupidly long distances with so much force they'll splat if they meet a surface on their travels, jumping of buildings with mutated hammer fists first towards the ground utterly obliterating whatever should be within radius of where you land. Going through the list of powers at your disposal is too long winded for someone like me to do, so here is something I scraped of Wikipedia;

Offensive powers include the large and powerful Blade, fast razor-sharp Claws (which can also erupt large spikes from the ground), the telescoping Whipfist, Musclemass that augments his strength, and the slow but powerful Hammerfists. Defensive options consist of a large shield for blocking ballistic attacks that needs to regenerate after excessive damage, and full body armour that exchanges agility and speed for toughness in hand to hand combat; both will allow Alex to plough through most obstacles when active. Vision modes include thermal vision, which allows Alex to see enemies through smoke and other obstacles at the expense of a decreased vision range, and Infected vision, which highlights those infected with the BLACKLIGHT virus as well as military units
And this doesn't include the insane running speed, jumping even the Hulk would be in awe of, gliding, brutal general strength... and so on and so forth.  

Yet another roaming game set in a New York'esq setting, probably because its easiest to design and work on/with this type of setting, but the game could have easily been set in any type of surrounding and terrain and have been a solid title, perhaps the city environment didn't do the title justice? The game looks and slightly feels too much like the early roaming Spiderman titles (I'm assuming it’s the same engine, but cba to research it), which is not a terrible thing, it just doesn't keep you engaged for too long. Hardly any variation in settings either, just heavily congested with pillars of buildings or a bit more open.  
Visually the game is lacking but not by enough to let the whole thing down. Anyway you can’t have a game the moves as swiftly and with as much action as this AND have beautiful visuals... that's just greedy. Personally Id go with better game play over visuals any day. Don't worry there is enough detail in there for you to get the sweet sense of satisfaction after brutally smashing someone/thing to a bloody pulp. Alex Mercer himself... BADASS! Assassins Creed'esq hood, not much expression of emotion, menacing grin, modern clothing... All adds up to fan boy and girl worthiness.

Back to my initial point, the fact this game has so much going on can make it seem desperate and can also can also be quite intimidating if you’re not looking to get chin deep into a game, especially one that on first appearance doesn't look very fulfilling. Plenty of varied civilian and military vehicles and a small range of weapons to use, ample special powers and abilities which are all upgradable BY CHOICE, hand to hand and weapon based combat, story lines that follow each the main character and the company you fight, side missions and challenges with a nice mix of difficulties that varies the game play nicely, exploration that, once you've gotten to grips with the game, is fun for hours a time, tons of collectables (think crackdown)... With so much going on and so much to potentially do, how to best play this game, but once you've mastered the controls, navigation, and combat this game can be picked up and put down however many times is called for, which to me is what makes a great game.



Looking forward to Prototype2, I can see already that the visual side of things has been addressed, far glossier looking and better detailing, but I hope this does not mean the pace of the game will be slower. A new power I'm excited about is the ability to infect enemies and use them as various kinds of weapons. We shall see...