In Prototype you play the role of Alex Mercer, an individual who has no memory of his past, now normally a trip to the doctor would let him know he had amnesia, however given that he is now a mutant with shape shifting powers and his body is a devastating arsenal of weapons, it’s probably a bit more than our diagnosis suggests. Anyway, Alex has decided that he wants to find out why he is like he is and who did it and nothing is going to stand in his way and when you begin it becomes quite obvious that he is going to take some stopping.

 

 

Unlike inFamous on the PS3 to which it has often been compared, Prototype has no moral choices, therefore as you run through the city you will be destroying cars, killing innocent civilians and basically leaving a path of devastation behind as you try to find the cause of your mutation. Straight from the beginning of the game you are thrown into the action and it is quite easy to see the appeal of this game, the controls are very simple to pick up and it isn’t long before you are taking down enemy tanks and helicopters and running up the sides of buildings.

 

It’s not all fighting in Prototype as you can gain new powers and regain health by draining the life from people, this also allows you to take on their form too, therefore should you need to gain access to the high security building then you simply take down the required target and then morph into that person and no one will be any the wiser. The longer you play the game the stronger and more versatile your powers will become, therefore you do turn into a force to be reckoned with.

 

The game includes quite a few missions for you to take part in whether this be infiltrating buildings, escorting someone or seeking out targets to destroy. In general the missions aren’t really anything you won’t have seen before, although Prototype does seem to do things on a more destructive basis than any of the games like it. Away from the main missions, Prototype also has side missions which usually consist of racing to checkpoints or killing something or both. The side missions therefore are not exactly very original which is a shame since they are quite handy to earn Evolve Points (EP) which are required to allow Alex to upgrade his powers.

 

Although you can explore the city usually it isn’t long before you are in some sort of action thanks to the games warning system, therefore if you are spotted running along by the enemy it won’t be long before you have half of their military force breathing down your neck. This is all very well but sometimes it’s nice just to have a bit of a walk around the city to find your bearings, however unless you want to do this while cutting through the enemies it’s not going to happen. All of the action in Prototype is pretty heavy, quite often you will find yourself racing to find someone to drain the life from in order to regain some valuable health and more often than not you will be killed due to the sheer amount of enemies on screen and lack of healing resources.

 

This certainly is a full on game and perhaps that is its problem, sure it’s fun and action packed, but unlike inFamous there is no moral choice, there is no consequences for your actions and therefore you can do what you want to who you want without remorse and while this is all very good and fun, after a while it becomes quite repetitive and also quite boring. To me the games main saving grace comes when you are running up buildings and exploring, this at least makes it feel quite unique as it isn’t often in a game that you run up a building in order to rip the air conditioning unit off just so that you can throw it to take down the pursuing apache helicopter. There are also other moments I enjoy in the game though, like when Alex transforms his arms in weapons such as claws and blades so that he can rip through the enemies, sure its mindless violence but sometimes that’s all you look for in a game.

 

Now a sandbox game wouldn’t be the same without collectables so you will be pleased to know that not only are there 250 orbs scattered throughout the city, not only that but there are also people who are part of the web of intrigue to pick out of the shadows. When you catch a member of the Web of Intrigue you will be given a glimpse into the history of the infection that has devastated the city, which is something that obvious interests Alex very much.

 

 

Prototype does not include any multiplayer option at all, therefore it’s probably not for you if you are addicted to this side of gaming, to be fair to though it is not really the type of game that has a need for multiplayer so where would the sense be in tacking one on just for the sake of it.

 

Graphically Prototype isn’t exactly at the top of the sandbox league, the cities feel quite bland at times and even though the game is set in Manhattan it does not really represent the city in the greatest light on screen. There is also issues with pop up in the distance and there is no real interaction with the scenery, therefore no matter how hard you punch a billboard or building no visible sign of damage will appear. This area of the game is definitely the most disappointing aspect because otherwise it’s actually real fun to play.

 

Overall Prototype is a game that may not appeal to everyone, if you enjoy mindless violence with no consequences in your videogames and will not bore of repetitive missions then you will probably enjoy this, if however you prefer to put a bit more thought into your games then perhaps this one is only worth the cost of a rental.