A great incorporation of games, art and scenes inspired from movies combine to create a hybrid prototype of a game
GAMEPLAY: 9
Combining the likes of GTA with spiderman and devil may cry. Alex Mercer is prototype's main protagonist and he can jump,run climb and glide around the city effortlessly while maintaining great strength by shapeshifting his body in numbers of ways to produce swords,claws,whips and other weapons as expected by any superhero/anti hero. Just alone in the fighting system there is enough combination's and variety to satisfy your superhero cravings. But the greatest feature about Alex is that with each different special ability he has they aren't just additives but more so they completely redesign the way you play the game. For example you could play as Alex himself without morphing himself in anyway and only use his fists or you can play as a raging lunatic wielding a giant sword whilst clad in armor or you could possibly not even want to play as Mercer and simply play as an army officer with an M4 or an M249. The possibilities are huge and i haven't even talked about the vehicles. The only downfall simply is that all of these elements aren't greater than the predecessors which the design team most likely took the inspiration from but that can also be expected as this game is a hybrid and simply as more sequels come along more aspects of this game will be polished.
SOUND: 9
The sound like most aspects of this game is simply just a recollection of various inspirations as certain music pieces will remind you of films such as the matrix and various other films which to me exploits the dramatic emotion of certain scenes as a sense of nostalgia runs across your spine and influences and further immerses you within the game. Sound effects are pretty standard nothing really stands out as this game tends to be a combination of various games almost every sound you hear you have heard from something else as the design doesn't really allow for any innovation. Activating the Web Of Intrigue has a scarily creepy effect as you hear hundreds of drowned whispers and voices, if you have headphones you will be looking around the room thinking somebody is behind you so anyone with headphones shouldn't play in the dark unless you want to feed your own paranoia, a simply great effect.
STORY:9.5
Even though the story isn't innovative, among other things the inspiration is heavily apparent here as the design team must of been fans of either or both the Resident Evil games and movies
as gentech has a striking resemblance to the Umbrella corporation and the blacklight virus mirroring the effects of the T-virus. The biggest strength of the story is how its told. Even though it isn't innovative it is all expressed through Alex on the 18th day of infection throughout NYC to an unknown individual and you play the entire flashback of the 17 days plus the last few days as the game dwindles to an end. But the biggest feat is again an incorporation of an element of a thriller movie as Mercer has the power to consume peoples identities and also most importantly their memories. You as Alex Mercer will have to consume 113 people to figure out the various mysteries and as you get around the 80% mark around the twists you are looking for are so immersive that you just tend to stop whatever you are doing within the game to pursue a web of intrigue target. The recollection of memories through a consumed target are presented remarkably as the art and film direction is one of the innovative features presented within a video game as i haven't seen anything like this before.
GRAPHICS:6
The single greatest downfall to this game is the graphics. For current gen this is shocking as it is simply nearly one of the ugliest games i have played on the xbox 360. the graphics just get the job done and are sub par. At first it actually is so bad that i was rather skeptical to how this game would actually be but the game doesn't play to graphics being its strength. Besides this isn't atrocious as it can still just be defined as a current/next generation game than something what is last gen and if you have ever played games like Deadliest Catch, A-Train HX and Warriors Orochi on 360 then you should know what i am talking about.
LASTING APPEAL: 8.5
A large number of different abilities which allow you to play as pretty much any assorted superhero , an open world enviroment, weapons, vehicles, quests, sidequest, exploration, rampaging and achievements there is definitely a lot to do.
Since i have never played such a game which collaborates such an assorted type of gameplay, art design, sound and even the storyline with success it simply creates this hybrid game which is dangerously addictive and somehow unique. It is definitely the kind of game you briefly thought about back when you were playing GTA 3 but thinking it would never happen but now it has happened and it's Prototype and the sequel is going to be beyond sick.