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New York's contaminated zone looks much better this time around, Radical putting the work in where the environment is concerned, with more variety in structures and colour providing the necessary tonic to the original's grey tones.

Prototype 2

Infection spreading

Sadly, the draw distance doesn't extend too far but then, in a game where gliding through the sky is a possibility, that's almost to be expected and doesn't particularly blight the impressive – if at times clunkily animated – fighting.

It's during such action sequences where the game soars, and rarely do encounters leave you feeling like anything other than a super-powered whirlwind of destruction. Once Heller’s initial spread of skills expand – either by consuming key characters (yum, tasty) or using an RPG-lite experience points system – he’s soon gratifyingly powerful and near to invincible against all but the most powerful beasties.

Prototype 2

Krueger attack

Tanks will be torn asunder; helicopters dragged out of the sky and as for foot soldiers… well, let’s just say that closed-casket funerals are set to become the norm.

Alas the action, explosive though it is, never truly eclipses what continues to be Prototype’s problem: a lack of mission variety.

No matter who Heller is working for, no matter what their motives or their goals, his missions are almost identical. First, find a scientist/soldier/person of interest then consume them in order to steal their identity and knowledge. Next, use said traits to find and gain access to a secure facility in order to carry out the necessary action. And repeat.

Prototype 2

Give ME a dead arm?

Yes, both Assassin's Creed and Infamous suffer from the same problem, but not quite as noticeably. There are side objectives to complete - the collection of black boxes and the wiping out of infected nests as identified on your handy map - but there's no denying the ultimate lack of diversity.

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Latest Comments
Anonymous Coward

Get Infamous/Infamous2 instead

Similar game, superior in every respect..

Nuff said.

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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.

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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.

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