Simple question, I guess, since it's obviously opinion-based, but I mean, I'm getting tired of fantasy RPG/MMORPGs, war-driven FPS and strategy games, or at least what is constantly presented. The RTS scene doesn't really work for me unless it's Starcraft, and I recently enjoyed Demigod, but stopped after that game seemed to be going nowhere. Another wasted potential like Hellgate London, it would appear, but I could be wrong. I haven't checked it out in about two weeks.

Fallout 3/Prototype/GTA 4/Dead Space has done me well these past months after playing WoW for a few years, but I don't see anything but, the same old, same old, on the horizon. I am, however, very excited for Bioshock 2 and Starcraft 2, but from what I understand both won't be released til Christmas.

When I look at the consoles I see exclusives and games that don't seem to make it to the PC.

Any recommendations for games on the horizon that don't follow the same old trend, I'm talking about games that add a new flare to a genre, kind of like Team Fortress 2 on the FPS genre, by combining RPG-like elements in a small dose, a new graphical scheme and feel, or a sci-fi shooter with a new hud and feel (Mass Effect), these COD and Warcraft-like games are getting really old for us gamers who like variety

I thought that I'd give my impressions on Prototype as the community seems a little stirred up by it.

To cut to the chase:

Presentation:

It all depends on your playstyle. Some enjoy a sandbox feel, others need a linear gears of war-like driven video game. For its best aspects, I believe that Prototype shines, and the negatives leave room for improvement rather than a feeling of disatisfaction.

Plot/Characters:

The plot is interesting enough. A major city being plagued by an infection of sorts. Our protagonist anti-hero has the ability to shapeshift, and has one goal - to take down the people who did this to him, and make sure it never happens to anyone again. I find this a little humorous since undoubtedly, no matter how "safe" you play, Alex ends up murdering hundreds of civilians, and let's face it. If you could shapeshift your arms into blades, or your hands into stone fists, or fly, or run at extreme speeds, would you really be that pissed off? I mean, it's not like he's stuck in that form forever. He has the ability to shapeshift back, and from what I can tell, it's not exactly harming him unless he chooses for it to.

The characters are one of the weaker points in the game. With a handful of characters you haven't much variety to work with. Some characters are bland, and show no emotion, or at least nothing believable. Alex enters the room, Dana and him exchange glances, before initiating a conversation she sends him to another location almost immediately and says good luck. The dialogue is short, but the web of intrigue scenes largely make-up for this. There's a lot of them, and they take you into the apocalypse a little further each time.

Graphics/Models/Animations:

This is highly debatable it seems. I personally play on the PC, and I don't mind the graphics. When rendering Manhatten, you've got to expect a compromise between systems. I can personally see Queens in the distance with cars miles and miles away going on the free way. While the buildings and the city itself isn't outstanding, it works. Some have compared these graphics to "PS2 graphics", and I haven't experienced any such thing. I can't speak on behalf of the 360 or the PS3, but this is false from what I've seen. The lighting and time of day dramatically change the look of the city. Standing near the Crysler Building just before dawn looks great. Alex's animations are top-notch and only add to the devastation. Unleashing your whip at an oncoming helicopter looks great, as do bleeding hives of sheer terror.

You can't expect to render a full city, with no load times in Assassin's Creed, or Fallout 3-like quality. You could say that Assassin's Creed had amazing draw distances, which is true, or GTA 4, but these games had noticable frame drops on the 360.

The variety in models is one of the weakest points in Prototype. There's literally 6 different model types for citizens minus the military. It's a bit disappointing, but I guess there has to be some room for improvement. The same guys for enemy models.

The highest point worth mentioning is how well Manhatten is constructed. I did a little searching on Google and compared a lot of the buildings, and they're spot on for the most part. I believe Radical took over 20,000 pictures of New York to put together Manhatten as we see it.

Sound:

The sound effects work well, but the music is repetitive or non-existent at times.

Voice acting seems fair. I have no complaints.

Gameplay:

This is one of those games where if you were to describe the gameplay to a friend, they would probably criticize you and compare what you were saying to what kids would say in the playground in elementary school - it sounds entirely unrealistic and false. Body surfing on civilizations, dismembering people vertically, horizontally, spreading sinew, blood, gore and bone in every which direction. The list goes on endlessly. The destruction nature that you're capable of is what makes Prototype what it is. There's something special about throwing an SUV at a helicopter, or slamming a military tank to pieces with your bare fists that will get you happy in the pants.

There's a large variety of abilities, and as you progress the list improves. I was at a point where I got comfortable with my abilities and had accepted that there may not be more, when all of a sudden I got a message saying, 12 more upgrades unlocked, and it just continued to go this way. Abilities ranging from jumping a certain distance, or speed, or using a devastating whip to kill, or pull enemies towards you - to a blade that will slice and dice anything - to a thermal vision that will help you seek out enemies, to the ability to hijack helicopters and tanks for your own use.

The list really does go on, and it's the destructive heart of Prototype.

I could argue in disatisfaction that there's no co-op or MP, and that you're unable to travel to the other boroughs of New York, but the positives really do make up for the negatives, and it's all a room for improvement. If Radical is interested in taking Prototype to the next level, I would assume that they would release the other boroughs over time in a DLC, or expansion, and add a few new character/enemy models to add to the variety.

The missions are straight forward for the most part, but are so fun that you forget everything. Chasing down glowing orbs seeping from an infected building while fighting off hordes of hunters, and also destroying tanks and helicopters is a rush to say the least.

Replay Value:

The sandbox feel is well done, and it's satisfying just scaling buildings and exploring. The combat doesn't evade you, as there are patrols of hordes and military everywhere you look depending on how far you progress and how quickly. Collectables and events will keep you interested after the game has played out, and there should be a few upgrades to pick up as well.

A second play through offers you the ability to retain your previous ability setup, while allowing you to progress more powerful than before.

I don't think that Prototype deserves anything less than an 8.5, but exceeding a 9/10 would be cutting it. Prototype has room for improvement, but most definitely delivers to any combat-hungry gorefiend.

To compare to inFamous without playing is ignorant as well as non-credible. Do yourself a favor and play this if it appeals to you.

I'm gonna have to disagree with the OP, personally I couldn't put it down during my first play. I was playing on a sub-par rig, but trying to avoid the graphical side of the game. I was running on mostly medium settings, but I thought the game was fantastic. Very little bugs, a great transition from killing koreans and then fighting aliens. Of course it's a beautiful game, but the physics as well as mechanics put it over the top for me.

I also thought the story was great. Games like COD4, Far Cry 2, while undeniably good games, had such simple plotlines, either seen in other video games or popular action films.

What are your favorite PC games, dating back to when you started gaming? What really took a hold of you like no other game?

For me, immersion value is very important, as is plot most of the time.

I've never quite been so immersed as I was with Fallout 3 for the atmospheric value, and WoW was just a 3 year plague of enjoyment.
Other notable mentions would have to be Sim Copter, Diablo 2 and Starcraft while growing up.

I'm currently playing Demigod, Fallout 3 (Third Play-through), and attempting Oblivion for a second time.
Awaiting SC2 and Diablo 3 like no other games I've ever awaited it feels like.

What about you? Favorite game? What are you currently playing? Games you're trying or looking forward to? Post it all here.

I tried Oblivion when it first came out and couldn't get into it. It felt like there was 'too' much freedom. I'm all about exploring endless land and screwing around with NPCs, but Oblivion just felt a little weird to me. I installed it recently and am trying to get into it, but the controls feel so awkward, even though they're close to Fallout's control scheme.

I personally couldn't put Fallout 3 down. I played for something like 60 hours and have started my third play through now that there's a lot of DLC out. Oblivion is set in a fairly repetitive world. Post-apocalyptic settings are growing more common, but Fallout 3 captured the post-nuclear war look and feeling so well that every corner I turned took a hold of my attention like no other game in the past year or two. The more DLC they keep releasing, the more I feel like saying this is in my top 3 games of all time.

I will give Oblivion another try, though. I just feel like there's little direction and I often have no idea where to start and just end up exiting the game.

Stalker: Shadow Of Chernobyl on hardest difficulty..

Tapout_076

DX10 isn't pointless. It's called technological advancement. I can barely handle Crysis on DX10 so I can't speak for that game, but on Lord of the Rings Online I know a fairly big difference, and I'm sure future games will have noticable differences as well, particularly more dynamic shadows and lightning.

Ok, for one thing, half of you didn't even read my post. I didn't say I was using 8X AA. Actually, I said I wasn't using AA at all.

It just doesn't make sense how I can max every other game I try, and I can't get over 30 FPS on Crysis DX9, no AA, when my older computer which couldn't handle all the games this computer could, could run Crysis at the same, if not a little better.

I'm not. I don't even have AA turned on, just DX9 / High settings and I can't seem to get above 25 FPS and it's dropping all the time. With my heap of trash I used to have, I can remember running the game at about 35 FPS with little drops.

I'll start with my specs:

Core 2 Duo E8400 @ 3.0GHz
5GB DDR2-800
250GB HDD
Evga GeForce 8800GT
Resolution: 1680x1050
OS: Vista Ultimate 32-Bit

I can't see to get over 25 frames on simply High/DX9. I had a computer setup about a year back, same card, less RAM, way older Dual Core and pulled off the same results, if not a little better, so I'm wondering what's going on here.

When it comes to just about every other game I've tried (Fallout 3, LOTRO, Oblivion) I can put all these games at my resolution, 8X AA, DX10 for Lotro, Ultra High/Max settings and I'm still running them at nearly max frames, which I absolutely could not do on my older computer.

I can't really make sense of this so any help would be appreciative.