Prey is a solid shooter with some innovative ideas that work for the most part
The Campaign in prey sets it apart from most other shooter games in several ways. The first and most obvious way is that Tommy can call on the power of his ancestors and take form as his spirit, leaving his body and being able to go where his flesh cannot travel. Initially its a pretty cool effect, but it grows thin quickly. This ability to spirit walk comes with a bow and arrow which is used to shoot both spiritual and physical enemies for lage amounts of damage, but its also a bit pointless since guns do the trick anyways. This spirit walking is combined with gravity lifts for some solid puzzels that make the game a bit more interesting. The gravity lifts are walkways that allow you to walk along walls of celings and change the gravity on your body and anything, on the walkway, but leaving natural gravity the same on the original floor. This gives you a chance to attack from above or the side, but more often it just makes for small puzzles. Puzzles in Prey are either good or routine, nothing else. Ocasionally there will be puzzles that require you to leave your body in a location and then cross a barrier or void with spirit mode and by pressing some kind of switch, move your body across to the other side or to another destination. The other puzzles that is most common (about 5 times a level) is simply that you must activate the gravity lift by pressing a level only accessible through a forcefield that you must spiritwalk through. While some of these mini puzzles are intriguing and add a good level of strategy to the game, most simply add run time to the games 8-10 hour campaign and become second nature. On the flip side, most of the puzzles are over easy to solve, and they require obvious solutions. Its a shame that only 3 or 4 of these puzzles actually enchance the game, and it feels a bit dry.
The campaign scans 22 levels each about 10-30 minutes in length, some that require alot of action and some that dont require any work on the players part whatsoever. The areas of action generally invlove attacking small groups of enemies that move and hunt you like Prey (pun intended). Problem is, the AI is, like the rest of the game, overly simplified. They can duck, avoid and shoot, but they have noa dvanced squad or team tactics and they are all complete pushovers. Enemies are made even easier by the games innovative but campaign wrecking death system. It works where you die, and you go to the spirit world to try and earn back heath and spirit points by using your bow to shoot wraiths that correspond to your benefits (red = health, blue = spirit power) when you return to life. The problem is, you can hit no wraiths and you will still be dropped directly back into combat with half health, so death has essentially no reprocussions. You lose spirit power (only is you had any to begin with), you gain back health and you lose no progress in the game. You are, in a sense, completely invincible, and it definetly will have an effect on how you play. With no way to lose, you can run and gun without any tactic and complete the easy game very very quickly. Overall, the idea of rebirth fits the game and its story, and it is definetly an interesting idea, but it breaks the campaign in major ways, and it is definetly a detraction from the otherwise solid single player game.
The multiplayer on Prey has its ups and downs. Firstly, it is only an online game, so if you have teh xbox version and intend to play it with other people, make sure you have Xbox Live Gold. It plays much like Quake 4 or Doom 3 (xbox) did, only a notch higher on the speed. You have your standard variety of weapons: Shotgun, sniper, rifle, grenades, grenade launcher, rocket launcher, wrench (basically takes the place of a knife). The weapon selection feels very standard, but each weapon does have a nice look and fits the "alien" feel very well. One gun can change how it attacks by absorbing enegies of different elements from speical energy tanks, and it is one of the most unique part of the game. Also, spirit walking plays a much bigger role in the online game. It is a strategic advantage to leave your body and procede with your invicible and leath spirit mode that can both kill enemies and be a safe way to see enemies ahead of your body along your path. The disadvantage is that when you leave your body, it is left open to attack and generally if it is found by another player, it results in death. That being said, the spirit walking is the most unique and best dynamic that Prey has over any other online game to date, particauarly on the Xbox 360. On the negative side, Prey has only 2 multiplayer modes: Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch, which seems a bit sparse. Most maps feature gravity chutes and portals (basically doors that only open when a player is near them), but it all feels very very standard of a modern online shooter. If you really like face pased Quakle or Unreal type action, then Prey multiplayer is definetly the game for you. The only issue is that the servers can lag for you if your internet connection is not stable, and its made worse by the intensity and high speed of the gameplay, particuarly on the Xbox 360. However, wether you are using a PC or Xbox 360, Prey online is a solid choice, even if it isnt going to win any awards. This game should also be a very safe pick for Xbox Live, because with only 4 or 5 other shooters availble right now, this game is one of the best and most enjoyable (aside from perfect dark zero, GRAW and Battlefield 2).
From a technical standpoint, Prey is very good. All of the guns, enemies and effects sound and look great, and voice acting is frequent, deliberate and top notch. The games alien organic/machine atmosphere works very well even if it doesnt pull off Doom's scare factor. The game on the xbox 360 runs at what would be mid settings on the PC, but the difference isnt huge, and unless you have atleast one gigabyte of RAM, the 360 version is a safer bet. The 360 version also comes with achievements for the single player campaign and online multiplayer which are fun to earn, but can be gained very very quickly if you desire to do so. All 1000 points are very very possible to attain.
Overall, in this 2006 summer where great PC and Xbox 360 games are running up dry, Prey is a welcmoed addition. it has a good and very solid campaign that has a great deal of polish, and the game sports a fun and fast paced if not sparse online multiplayer. Prey might not last you forever, but it is a very solid game and a safe bet for your money.