Prototype Review - Xbox 360

7

Gameplay: 9
Graphics: 7
Audio: 6
Innovation: 8

The name of the game says it all. Prototype is an experiment, to put it bluntly. You take the role of Alex Mercer, a ‘prototype’ who has no recollection of how he became one, and your journey leads you to solving world hunger, or something cliché like that. Prototype is set in New York where a virus has spread and is infecting humans increasingly over a short period of time. It’s up to you to slow the infection and find out how it happened and how to stop it, but there’s a twist – you have super powers. Prototype is one of those games that you can’t miss as it offers a new perspective on free-roam gameplay, and if it weren’t for the fact that Infamous and Red Faction: Guerilla were released a week before it, Prototype may have been a lone wolf in a winter of ordinary titles.

Gameplay

As you begin the game, you are gifted with all of Alex Mercers weapons and can destroy everything in your path (except buildings). This is more a glimpse to the future than a beginning, as you are soon brought down a few notches and begin your journey. As you work your way through the different missions, you’re given experience points (EP). With this EP you can purchase the other weapons, and upgrade all your abilities including running speed, jumping height and all sorts of aerial manoeuvres and fighting combos. It’s not until the end of the game that you unlock all of Alex’s ultimate powers, which is why gamers can be drawn in until the very end.

The main story is able to be completed in around 10-15 hours, and you’ll find that once you unlock the aerial maneuvers and speed upgrades, travelling around the city and escaping your foes becomes far too easy. In Prototype there are two different types of enemies to look out for. There’s the infected, a raging mutated force set to attack anything that doesn’t look infected, and then there’s the military, a raging egocentric force set to attack anything that doesn’t look human. This puts the player in a bit of strife as Alex Mercer looks infected when he uses his abilities, which of course draws the attention of the military.

There are also several different types of side missions to do, and for every type there are several locations to do them, meaning there are dozens of side missions to be completed alongside the main storyline. These side missions award you with either a bronze, silver, gold or platinum medal which works towards unlocking achievements, and also gives valuable EP in your quest to unlock all your abilities.

The military and the infected both have bases which can be destroyed. If you destroy the bases, that part of the city returns to normal, and allows you to roam more freely. Doing this is not a necessary part of the game however, and is more of an optional task. Attacking the military bases does allow you to unlock new ...