 Heller vs. Mercer James Heller is infected, his wife is dead, and his daughter is missing. There is one man responsible for it all, Alex Mercer. Now Heller has to find and take out his revenge before Mercer can infect all of New York. Being infected never felt so powerful.
1. Gameplay
The original Prototype was a power trip of epic proportions, and Prototype 2 continues along those lines. The game looks and handles exactly the way that it should (the graphics are definitely significantly improved since the previous game), but Prototype 2 isn’t without its flaws. These flaws are usually very minor, but they kept the game from being something greater.  Brace for impact! I liked the story in the first Prototype. Alex Mercer was a very interesting protagonist who was out to demolish Blackwatch and Gentek regardless of collateral damage. Heller in Prototype 2 had a compelling backstory as well, but it didn’t feel like it was executed as smoothly. Heller’s wife was killed by Mercer (who was really just a physical form of the virus, the man who was once Mercer was basically dead), which serves as a motivating plot device but it felt like Heller was trying to be more strategic with his actions than Mercer was in Prototype.  Usually. But sometimes it's just about brute force. I also missed the idea of being able to destroy bases. In the first Prototype, Mercer could level an entire Blackwatch base by hitting it with enough ordinance, which was definitely an awesome feeling. That was removed from Prototype 2, so even the illusion of making a lasting impact on a specific area was completely lost. The player could find and take over infected lairs, but this felt far removed from the rest of the city.  It's like a whole different world down here. The one thing that I definitely didn’t like were the people that Heller surrounded himself with. In the first Prototype, Mercer used a few characters as information sources in his campaign against Blackwatch and Gentek. These sources, especially the reporter, made sense with Mercer’s life. In Prototype 2, Heller’s main information source was a priest who felt far too tough to be a man of the cloth. Maybe it was that he was too young or too gruff or too willing to say “do what you have to do”, but it just didn’t come off as believable.  Not a convincing priest. It has been a while since I played the previous Prototype, but all through the first half of Prototype 2 I was saying “This feels exactly like the first game.” That was a good thing in some respects, but it was a bit difficult to see the innovation (other than the vast graphical improvements). Eventually there are more improvements, but I kind of expected to see more than two new enemy types and a few different powers. Outside of the visual improvements, this really felt like more of an expansion pack rather than a sequel. Despite all that, I enjoyed the game and would definitely be willing to recommend it to friends who enjoyed the first game. I have yet to play Infamous (this game’s main competition), but the lack of any game-breaking problems gave me some hope for this series’ future. Unfortunately, the series has since been scrapped, so we may never see a sequel to this game.
It took me around 13 hours to complete Prototype 2’s campaign. This included getting a gold rating on all of the challenges. The game did offer a New Game+ option, which is definitely welcome considering I was unable to obtain all of the upgrades and mutations. With no multiplayer mode, the only thing that will keep players coming back for more are the challenges and the New Game+.
For the most part, Prototype 2’s game mechanics prevented any frustrating situations. This was a huge plus since the wall running and parkour mechanics could potentially create some hazardous situations. Sometimes minor issues were escalated if I was trying to perform a few actions at once, but these were relatively rare overall. There were some optional objectives that were more difficult to complete than others, but even completing gold on the various challenges was a breeze if you figured out what the game wanted you to do. The only enemy that could get slightly annoying were the “super soldiers”. Normally the player can jump over enemies to dodge their attacks, but the super soldiers would punch the player as he landed, which made dodging their attacks almost pointless. However, if the player used a combination of timed blocks and the hammerfists, even these foes could be dispatched with relative ease.  Sooner or later, they all fall down. 2. Parental Notices
There are few games as violent as Prototype 2. The player will use a variety of ability-based weapons, objects in the environment, and vehicles to slaughter every enemy in sight. Deaths of civilians and random zombie infected are an acceptable form of collateral damage. Whenever the player attacks any enemy, blood is tossed around in buckets. This is increased exponentially if the player kills a large enemy or a group of small enemies.  Paint the world. The player is encouraged to constantly consume larger enemies. This will give him more experience points and will give him health. Consuming small enemies will usually just mean wrapping the enemy in worm-like tendrils and literally combining that enemy’s matter into Heller.  Hugz tiem! Consuming larger enemies initiates a cutscene that always always ends in the enemy being torn to shreds and then consumed. This always involves a ton of blood and gore, sometimes involving the enemy being literally ripped in half.  I'm not sure where anything begins or ends, but I do know that one of those chunks was a head. Gore will be everywhere. Even enemies that are not consumed can be cut into pieces and have those pieces hanging around for some time. This is especially common if the player uses the tendril attack.  I'll leave you to figure out what that chunk to the left of Heller is. Buckets and buckets of blood. Seriously, I can’t express how much blood this game contained. There’s a reason the Red Zone is literally red in places.  All I see is red.
For the most part, sexuality is not an issue in this game. However, there are some exceptions. There is one female character that clearly is hitting on Heller in a few cutscenes and conversations. She was definitely trying to seduce him. This seduction comes up in a number of conversations, but except for a single cutscene it’s barely noticeable. Heller refuses her advances, though, and as a result there is never any sex or nudity.  Ain't nobody got time for that. There were a few other conversations that involve very mild sexuality (such as the one that discusses prostitution, which is covered in the “Miscellaneous” section). However, one conversation caught my attention because of its weirdness. In it, one of the Blackwatch military personnel implies that some of the female zombies are still attractive enough to have sex with. This was a seriously random statement that felt rather awkward (at best), but it did serve to make the Blackwatch guys seem more twisted (not that the game needed help there).
There were a few substances that were regularly featured in the game. While the virus is a substance that has carried over from the previous game, it isn’t seen in a liquid form as it was in the first Prototype. However, there are a few other substances that have taken its place. The most prominent one is called “White Light”. The original design seemed to be a cure for the virus (or at least some sort of vaccine). This was a surprising twist for the scientists of Gentek, who seemed to be more interested in weaponizing the virus. However, Mercer tainted White Light with the virus. This would turn the cure into a method to infect the rest of the uninfected population of NYZ.  I don't think Whitelight is having its intended effect. There are also a number of infected barrels in the Blackwatch bases. These can release a red, cloudy version of the virus that infects any humans in the area. There are some missions and challenges that will require the player to throw these barrels and infect humans (usually to create a diversion). There are also a few missions where an unspecified poison gas is involved. However, the gas is never explained in detail and the player can never actively use it.  This woman looks like she's cold, not like she's dying.
Gambling is not a factor in this game. 3. Other Factors
There are no modding tools available for this game.
Religion does play a minor factor in this game. The player’s main ally for most of the game is a young, tough priest. The church that the priest maintains is one of the most noticeable buildings in the Yellow Zone. The religious aspects of the priest and the church are almost never discussed. The priest never seemed like a genuine priest at all. His profession and location could have been switched with anything and the game would have still worked.  A little slice of heaven in the boiling pits of hell.
Traditional law enforcement has been completely removed from NYZ. There are no police officers anywhere in the game. Blackwatch is the organization in charge of enforcing martial law. Since almost all of the player’s actions will go directly against Blackwatch and Gentek, there is some element of anti-law involved.  Pick up that can. Even excluding the action taken against Blackwatch, the player will also have to fight against members of the military who are assisting Blackwatch in maintaining control. The military personnel tend to blend in with Blackwatch and they act in exactly the same manner, sometimes even sharing the same bases.  Blackwatch or military?
The only online content are the challenges that friends use to compete against each other. However, there are no actual online game modes. As a result, the online community is not a factor in this game.
Extreme sports is a serious factor in this game. Heller’s mutations allow him to perform superhuman physical feats with complete ease. Running up the sides of skyscrapers, gliding in the air across miles of cityscape, and sprinting faster than any of the vehicles in the area are all extremely common.  I'm like Peter Pan! There are numerous challenges that encourage the player to get from point to point as quickly as possible. This will usually involve covering extreme distances without ever touching the ground. In some areas the player can use a combination of high jumps and wall runs to perpetually stay off the ground.  Well, almost perpetually. All of these abilities can be further upgraded through mutations, making normally impossible feats even more impossible. The player can get even jump from the ground to a airborne helicopter and hijack it.  Nowhere is safe.
Magic is not a factor in this game.
Language Language is, at times, a serious factor in this game. Almost every time the player completes a challenge, Heller yells out “Hell fucking yeah!” If the player completes all of the challenges multiple times, as I did, Heller will end up saying this a lot. Similar language is included in many conversations and game elements. This was especially obvious in the descriptions of the player’s mutations and powers.  "Survival of the fittest, motherfuckers!" - Charles Darwin Homophobia There was one mission where the antagonist repeatedly shouted homophobic slurs at Heller. He would call the player a “fairy” and other slurs. It was extremely obvious during the one mission, but was never present anywhere else in the game. Prostitution One of the audio logs mentions that prostitutes were brought into and operating within NYZ. However, prostitutes are never shown in the actual game. Suppression Experiments There was one mission where the player had to kill scientists who were testing genetic suppression experiments. Their tests would lead to some sort of a device or genetic change that would prevent poorer members of the world population from breeding. Experimentation The Gentek scientists are constantly performing new experiments on people and the infected with a variety of usually sinister purposes. Most of the time this experimentation is only discussed, but occasionally the player can come across people or infected in cages while scientists perform experiments.  I wouldn't want to be in that cage. These experiments almost always involve trying to weaponize the virus. The zombies are completely out of control, so it’s impossible for Gentek to effectively implement it and use it as a targeted weapon. However, sometimes the purpose of the experimentation is completely unclear. For example, there was a mission that involved one of the scientists performing experiments on fetuses. It wasn’t clear if these fetuses were alive or dead, but the implications are always sinister.  He's supposed to be doing fetal experiments, but I don't see a fetus here. Human Disfigurement All of the infected characters, including Heller, will feature some sort of disfigurement. Heller will be the most obvious since the player will always see him in the picture. However, there are plenty of other characters that can have mutated arms, faces, or other body parts. These mutations can easily be hidden by the characters, though.  Aww, you got infection all over that nice suit!
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