The Best New Game I've Played in 2009.
The story is as blockbuster as anything you'll see in the cinema. The action is as brutal as you could want. You'll learn the controls and become skilled at things you could only dream of before Prototype made them a (virtual) reality.
This game makes you feel like an unstoppable, invulnerable, organic machine of death. The only other game that's given me the same feeling of kick-buttness, might be Crysis. Another excellent game.
You could be forgiven in the first few seconds of play for thinking Prototype is another run of the mill 3rd person...whatever. But mash some buttons and carnage is unleashed. Learn exactly which buttons do what, configure your keyboard to give you easier access to that favourite power, learn to make use of the fact that time slows when you're targeting enemies (or friendlies) and in not too long, it all comes together. But I've mentioned one of my very few problems with Prototype - the targeting. The way the game chooses who to target when you press the rel event key, might make sense on paper, but can be frustrating. Sure, the most obvious target might be the tank that's parked at the end of the road. But I want to grab this poor fool in-front of me to make a speedy exit and feast on his worthless flesh. It can be a fiddle. This is a rare problem and won't cause too many issues through the course of the game. But it's there.
The triumphs in Prototype, stem from your mobility - Mercer can run up walls - up buildings - skyscrapers! Can jump from giant heights and land, hundreds of meters below. The only injuries to the pavement and to anyone close enough to be caught in the shock-wave of your impact.
One of the early joys is that of simply running down a a busy, congested street. Mercer will parcour (as in free-run) over anything in his path. Only direct hits from can hope to inhibit your movement, but there are ways to dodge these as you evolve your abilities, buying upgrades with points awarded for destruction. You can focus on the infected, unleashed on the city, you can kill the military, civilians. whoever - it all counts towards your upgrade points. You will eventually be able to glide from rooftop to rooftop, Unleash mass-destruction through special attacks which will see organic spikes erupting from the ground around you to describe but one of the super-attacks.
In a Grand Theft Auto sort of way, there are mini-quests around the free-roaming city of Manhattan. Jump from a building, glide, then land in the specified bulls-eye, shoot down as many attack heli's in the time limit as you can. There are quite a few which you'll want to get the gold award in.
As discussed, the story itself is brilliant. You advance by 'consuming' key persons, thereby absorbing their memories, piecing together the story of how you came to be - whatever you are.
I won't spoil the twists or too much of the plot for you. But it involves failed military experiments, untold atrocities and dodgy dealings and YOU are the result. It's time to put a stop to the chain of terrors. It's time to kick-butt!
It's time to play Prototype!