I confront Alex Mercer and tell the [Prototype] where he went wrong.
Developer: Radical Entertainment
Publisher: Activision
Platform: Xbox 360
Genre(s): Action-Adventure
Release Date: June 9, 2009
"Hey look another Viral Outbreak! Jesus how many of these have I seen? [Prototype] is a wannabe super hero game, but super hero games don't exactly have the best reputation. [Prototype] was made by Activision and was based off of the template of Spider-Man: Web of Shadows, and it shows.
Alex Mercer wakes up on a medical table, with amnesia and a boat load of powers, Blade Arm, Whipfist, Body Armor, Temporary Flight, pretty much you name it, Alex can do it, and while these opens up quite a bit of creativity to the game, I found that the combat which was supposed to be the core draw to this game was the most boring/frustrating. Honestly it switches between the two, either Alex is an unstoppable force of monstrous and horrific power, or else he's the weakest "Hero" I have ever seen in my life. This game has taught me two things: 1) there truly is such a thing as "too much of a good thing" and 2) Helicopters are Alex Mercer's Kryptonite.
The story is mildly interesting at best, but it seems to move by at a slug's pace. Seriously no game that has this much action should make me this bored. The voice acting is pretty good, but the graphics seemed a little underpar to me, I seem to be the only person to have ever reviewed this game that thinks so, but I digress.
The most fun I had in this game was maneuvering Alex throughout this infested city, you can increase Alex's running to wear you are moving at a speed that would even impress a certain blue hedgehog, and watching Alex leap over a car and maintain this incredible speed without missing a beat is quite a spectacle.
Aside from his powers sometimes Alex will hijack a helicopter or a tank, and while the tank was fine. The helicopter was too difficult for me to control, Alex can also pick up the firearms of fallen enemies and shoot his adversaries, Alex can also absorb others either to take their appearance, or to regain health. Honestly absorbing a young girl and then throwing a car at a helicopter is due for a few laughs.
But Alex Mercer just reminds me so much of Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk, and even a tiny bit of Iron Man. For all of his abilities Alex just doesn't stand out. I found him to be extremely unlikeable and boring, I didn't care about any of the characters introduced, I didn't care at all if Alex got the answers he needed, I had no story driven reason to continue to play this game.
What sets [Prototype] aside from other sandbox games is all of the powers that Alex can get, and like I said the versatility and incredibly wide arsenal makes the combat up to you. After going through the game and playing with all of the powers I doubt two people will play the combat in [Prototype] the same as the other, and that's great but this game can be very unforgiving. I found myself dying on numerous occasions from extremely difficult enemies, annoying helicopters, and really, really bad camera angles. I felt that during the entirety of this game my biggest enemy was the camera, although it's because as you upgrade Alex and maneuver him to move so quickly and with so much agility the poor camera just can't keep up and this is a major problem for me.
All in all, [Prototype] isn't a bad game, it just sort of blends in with the other sandbox destruction games out there. The wide variety of powers is great, but the terrible camera, lame story, and boring characters does nothing to drive this forward. If you just want mindless destruction definitely give this game a shot. If you enjoy any sort of likeability to your character, or a good, cohesive story, there are numerous other choices out there."
+Great variety of powers and abilities
+Good voice acting and Audio
+Maneuvering Alex is a blast
-Enraging Camera
-Unlikeable characters
-Boring Story
-Replayability is Low
7.0/10
Bronze Seal of Acceptance