Prototype

Not quite alive, never really dead.

Alex Mercer woke up on the slab and has no clue who he is nor how he got there.  He's an uncaged killing machine hell bent on figuring out what is going on and who is responsible.  No matter what, someone is going to pay for what Mercer has become.

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Recommended Age Minimum Age Available On... 16 14 PC, Xbox 360, PS3 Overall Fun Length Frustration   Violence Sexuality Substances Gambling 7 7 2   9 0 1 0 Mods Religion Anti-Law Community Sports Magic Miscellaneous 0 0 10 0 8 0 5

1.     Gameplay

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• Overall Fun - 7

Every once in a while a game can forgo a deep, intricate plotline for mindless violence and still be great.  The greatness isn’t in the variety of enemies killed but the awesomeness of the killing methods and the sense of power that the player is given over an environment.  It strokes that egotistical god complex that we get when we want to be true masters of a domain.

Everything is within reach.

_Prototype takes that total control and inserts it into a game with a well-developed storyline and decently interesting characters.  Alex Mercer wakes up in a lab right before his body is supposed to be autopsied.  He has absolutely no memories prior to waking up and goes on a rampage to figure out who he is and why he has become some monstrous, superhuman being.

With Hulk fists.

_One of my favorite non-combat elements in this game is the “Web of Intrigue”, which is basically an intricate network of memories that the player can uncover throughout the storyline.  Alex consumes a target (usually human) that is connected to the web and absorbs a memory that helps to explain the storyline and motivations behind the characters in the game.  It’s an excellent way of presenting backstory and details without forcing the player to endure long monologues and boring cutscenes.

_Some of the powers in the game are pretty awesome.  Eventually the player will get the ability to use a weird sort of body armor which, when combined with the huge blade, can turn Mercer into an armored, fast-moving killing machine.  The glide power and upgrades to running speed were extremely useful for crossing large distances in a short period of time and kept me from getting bored in transit from mission to mission.

Float like a butterfly, sting like a freight train.

_But the list of powers would not have been enough to make the game interesting if vehicles weren’t also included.  The military vehicles can be hijacked and used to great effect.  Tanks and helicopters can be devastating against the plethora of enemies that will try to take down Mercer.  Fortunately, the vehicles have the perfect amount of health and damage so that they are strong tools in Mercer’s arsenal but not overpowered.

You can hijack the chopper or you can roundhouse kick it out of the air. No joke.

_My only real problem with this game was that it had nothing that made me really love it.  It did everything right.  It was clean, well designed, had an interesting storyline and an awesome main character.  But at the end of the game there was nothing that made me want to say “this game was awesome”.  It’s definitely worth playing once.

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• Length - 7

There is a lot to do and find in this game.  The main storyline is long with a good number of missions and there are dozens of “challenges” to accomplish along the way.  The types of challenges vary, but some will be significantly harder than others.

_There are also over one hundred different glowing orbs to find in the game.  The game tries to entice the player to collecting these orbs by giving experience points for each orb collected, but I never had the desire to actively search for these orbs.  The ones I collected are those that I found while traveling across the island to other missions or submissions.

So many orbs...

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• Frustration Factor - 2

The only real problem I had was with the health system.  Most of the time health was never very difficult to get.  Consuming an enemy would lead to regained health in proportion to the difficulty level of the enemy.  Getting in vehicles would replace the normal health bar with the health bar of a vehicle.

_But there were a number of scenarios and challenges when health was scarce.  Most of these had to do with the game requiring the player to use a particular skill or form to kill as many enemies as possible.  The scenarios where the player had to fight against the military or the infected could be difficult if certain exploits were not discovered first, and often I would fail the challenge simply because I ran out of health.

2.     Parental Notices

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• Violence - 9

While this game is extremely bloody and violent, the true impact of the violence is significantly muted by the lack of any real consequences to the violence.  In short, the player is able to mutilate thousands of enemies resulting in split corpses and showers of blood, but a killing spree has no impact on the number of units in a given area.  Even if the player manages to clear out all of the civilians and military personnel from an area, more civilians and military personnel will flood the area within seconds.

There's always more where that came from.

_The player can and will be able to tear apart enemies at will.  With bare fists the player can punch blood from an enemy or ride an enemy like a surfboard on pavement.

There will be blood.

_The player can gain the ability to turn his arm into a huge blade with which he can slice enemies in half like butter.

Toast is always better with a healthy slab of butter!

_The player can also “consume” enemies, absorbing their organic matter in a writing mass of bloody worms.

Or intestines. I'm not really sure.

_This game has a lot of blood and gore, but as I mentioned before it’s a detached, dispassionate form of violence.

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• Sexuality - 0

One of the monsters, some form of Elizabeth Greene, has what appears to be a naked woman in the center “mouth” area.  However, it is difficult to tell exactly what it is and the player will be more concerned about killing the monster rather than what’s in its mouth.

I wouldn't know that it was a mouth, except that it vomited something to attack me.

_The final battle involves a huge infected predator who is completely naked.  However, other than buttocks, nothing graphic is shown.

Really? Not even some shorts?

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• Substances - 1

At one point, one of the Gentek antagonists injects Mercer with some sort of “cure”.  It ends up being a form of cancer that begins to grow on Mercer’s back.

That's a big needle.

Later, Mercer injects a similar substance into Elizabeth Greene.

Right in the neck. Gross.

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• Gambling - 0

Gambling is not a factor in this game.

3.     Other Factors

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• Mods - 0

Aside from a few texture changes, there are no mods available for this game.

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• Religion - 0

Religion is not a factor in this game.

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• Anti-Law - 10

Mercer is a lone wolf in a much bigger, very complicated battle.  The military forces led by Gentek are constantly fighting against the virus and, as a result, will constantly fight against Mercer.  However, Mercer doesn’t always fight against the military.  There are a number of situations where the player will fight alongside the military against the infested.  However, these situations usually boil down to “the enemy of my enemy” situations rather than any sort of alliance.

It's not much of an alliance.

_Since the player and the military are enemies, the player will be able to take on the military directly.  While direct confrontations with the military early in the game are ill-advised, eventually the player will be strong enough to take down an entire military base single-handedly with little effort.

And that was with one hand tied behind his back.

_Civilians are the unfortunate collateral for the damage that the three warring factions cause.  While the infected actively kill the civilians, Mercer and the military simply don’t care for the deaths of innocents.  The ends are much more important than the means, and as a result civilians are treated as a means to an end, if they’re treated with any importance at all.

Evidently these guys haven't heard of virtue ethics.

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• Online Community - 0

There is no multiplayer game mode in this game.

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• Extreme Sports - 8

Moving rapidly across the entire island of Manhattan would normally take a lot of time (or a very fast vehicle).  However, Mercer’s abilities allow him to sprint faster than a train and reach the top of a skyscraper within seconds.

Apolo Ohno wishes he could speed skate like this.

_The player will also never take fall damage.  The player could jump off the top of the Empire State Building and break more concrete than bones in his body.

The ground never stood a chance.

_Eventually the player will gain the ability to “glide”.  The player will be able to jump forward and use momentum to fly a farther distance and gain a bit of height.  The effect is similar to what a flying squirrel can do.

More like an infected flying squirrel on steroids.

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• Magic - 0

All of the powers and abilities in this game are biologically based and, as a result, magic is not a factor.

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• Miscellaneous - 5

Human Disfigurement

The vast majority of the infected, including all of the “common infected”, are humans that have been mutated by the virus.  These will be found in any area that has been exposed to the virus.

I kind of wish "Thriller" would have started playing at this point.

_Mercer is both an excellent example of and an exception to this human disfigurement.  He takes a human form except when using some specific power.  When using a power, his body shifts and creates that power.

Or absorb that person.

_Most enemies will look at least somewhat humanoid.  If they were human, they have been heavily disfigured by the virus.

Human?

_Execution

At the beginning of the game, two scientists are about to perform an autopsy on Mercer when he wakes up.  The scientists run out of the lab and tell two Gentek guards that Mercer isn’t dead.  The guards shoot the scientists in the head.

Damage control?

_At the end of the game, a soldier is brought to a general and blamed for the loss of Manhattan Island.  The general shoots the soldier in the head.

Judge, jury, and executioner. With an emphasis on executioner.

_Human Experimentation

As the player develops more of the “web of intrigue”, he will uncover evidence of human experimentation.  The most blatant of this experimentation surrounds the fictional town of Hope, Idaho.  Gentek created a town in order to study the effects of biological weapons and, more specifically, the Blacklight virus.  The tests resulted in the deaths of almost every civilian within the town.

_When the virus managed to take root, it did so through a woman named Elizabeth Greene.  The virus somehow allowed Greene to take control of the living civilians in Hope and turn them into mindless slaves.  Eventually Gentek managed to capture Green and kept her for 39 years for study and experimentation.

Anyone who has read any science fiction novels knows that this kind of thing always ends well for the captors.

_Weapons of Mass Destruction

After Gentek realizes that there is very little hope of saving Manhattan Island, the only solution left was to nuke the entire island out of existence.  If the player fails in the final battle, the island is nuked and the player is forced to restart the battle.

Poof.

_Suicide

One of the main antagonists, a scientist by the name of Raymond McMullen, is cornered by Mercer.  Before Mercer can consume him, McMullen shoots himself in the head.

Yep, he's dead.

_Childbirth

The Web of Intrigue reveals that Elizabeth Greene had a child that is supposed to be some sort of ultimate version of an infected.  Brief pictures of Greene wearing a hospital gown with blood near her groin (giving the impression of post-birth) are shown.