Prototype 2
Heller damnation
Review In my mind’s eye I see the original Prototype in murky black and white, not because the game was without colour per se, but more because everything about it, from the repetitive use of textures through to the monotonous mission structure was somehow muddied and just, well, uninspired.
High blood pressure
In a way, it could be said that the game was a prototype itself, a way for Radical Entertainment to try out some mind-boggling crazy ideas – Hulk-like bounds over or through buildings immediately springs to mind – and then, having received feedback from fans and critics alike, head back to the drawing board and sketch out a fuller, more rewarding experience.
Skip forward three years and here is the fruit of their labour. But rather than Prototype 2 proving to be the perfect evolution of its predecessor, we’re once again faced with a series of irritations which serve to diminish the final product – even if it does make up for these some way by raising the action stakes.
Soar point
The first thing that Prototype veterans will want to know is that this time they will be stomping around in the boots of James Heller, a hard as nails ex-marine who'll soon find himself challenging previous protagonist, Alex Mercer, as the most be-tentacled mutant in town.
That's not to say that Mercer is gone and forgotten, however - far from it. He steps up to infect Heller with the mutagenic Blacklight virus at the game’s start, all in a bid to manipulate Heller for his own nefarious purposes.
School of rocket
Heller duly sets off on a path of destruction in the kind of blind rage reserved for tragic anti-heroes who've had their family, their heart and, yes, their very humanity ripped away from them.
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COMMENTS
Get Infamous/Infamous2 instead
Similar game, superior in every respect..
Nuff said.
Yeah, might look out for this one on discount.
This is a good example of why the 2nd hand market needs to exist.
It looks like it could be fun, but not £50 worth of fun, maybe £15, it has no real long term value, no reel 'keep factor'. The above poster is bang on, inFamous 2 feels like a far better value product thanks to the in depth editor and greater possibilities.
I'm sure it's just another game which Activision, EA and the like will point to in an effort to show how 2nd hand sales are killing their market, but the simple truth is it isn't worth the asking price, very few games are. In this case I don't think it's even worth the asking price after being reimbursed by a trade it so I will be waiting until it can be picked up sub £20 and if I can't find it at that price point, I won't be buying it.
That's not to say it's a bad game, the review and rating seem fair from what I've seen of it but things need to be priced more realistically.
Prototype was good for mindless action...
But unfortunately, as the author worded quite well, that will eventually become boring. I enjoyed the original Prototype but many aspects were far too limited for my taste. You could consume people after which you could take over their personality. So far, so good.
But only when consuming /specific/ people; it didn't stick. For example; a terrified person comes up to you, you consume him/her to replenish your health. Then I'd expect to know what scared the heck out of the guy/girl. For example; knowing where the nearby enemies are located. But Prototype never went that deep. Which disappointed me to some end.
Back in the day Prototype stood directly against inFAMOUS; after careful consideration I eventually picked Prototype. It was good fun, and it still is (I still play Prototype occasionally). But now I think inFAMOUS is the better of the two. The side missions in inFAMOUS added to the whole storyline and expanded heavily on the feeling of being in a city which was in total anarchy. The Prototype side missions on the other hand were mere tests. Race to the top of a building, glide to the spot marked X, consume as many people as possible, etc. It was fun, don't get me wrong, but it never added up to the story of the game itself. Within that context the tests never made much sense...
When looking at the inFAMOUS sequel I think its obvious that Sucker Punch (company behind inFAMOUS) realized all too well that this stuff could get repetitive. And so they added a state of the art (IMO) editor to the game. Some critics considered it a sign of weakness, but owning inFAMOUS 2 I think it was a sign of brilliance. Even now I enjoy messing with it; not bad for a game which storyline you could finish in a few days! The editor is easy enough to let anyone work on it (you don't have to be a graphic artist to build up a story) yet advanced enough to really build something deep.
Prototype 2 otoh... I still think it'll be fun, but I'm not quite tempted to get it, maybe second hand or after a year or so at a (heavily) reduced price. It simply seems to be more of the same.
