Prototype Review

Game:  Prototype
Year (s):  2009
Company:  dev.  Radical Entertainment
pub.  Activision
Engine:  Titanium
Type:  Open World, Platformer, Hack 'n Slash
Viewpoint:  Third-Person
Metacritic Score: 79
My Score:  I agree with Metacritic.

Price (as of  March 17, 2013)

Regular list price on Steam:  $19.99
Lowest Buy-It-Now on eBay (new, with shipping):  $17

Game Time: 21 hours.  This includes a few hours on normal before starting over on easy.

Obligatory Trailer:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvsUkUaJjYs


Plot

Alex Mercer was at Penn station when a biological weapon was unleashed.  Three weeks later he wakes up in a morgue.  His memory is spotty, soldiers are trying to kill him, and he now has superhuman powers.  The initial goal is to take revenge on everyone responsible for the biological attack.  Also, zombies.

The plot comes through in bits and pieces, partly through killing people.  There are a few cool twists near the end, but these don't do enough to compensate for some of the game's lacking aspects.

Engine

It's called the Platinum engine.  It looks ok.  No bugs.

Save System

Manual Save?  No
Quick Save?  No
Area Load Save?  No
Checkpoint Save?  Yes

Combat/Gameplay

The playable character is a shapeshifter.  Spending experience points allows you to unlock attacks (these often involve changing the arms into weapons), maneuverability bonuses, and other useful abilities.  In addition to attacking, running up walls, jumping high, throwing cars, and gliding across Manhattan, the player can disguise themselves.  Simply murder a person (preferably unobserved) and you can look just like them.  Murder is also the easist way to gain life.  It's not a character that derives a great deal of sympathy.

Gameplay is obviously directed toward consoles.  I unlocked a bunch of moves that I never figured out how to actually use.


Expansions / DLC / Sequels

Prototype 2 came out in 2012, pitting one of the infected against Mercer in a ravaged city.


Final Thoughts

The difficulty isn't balanced whatsoever.  On normal, I got stuck two hours in.  On easy, I was a god for most of the game, but a few parts were a huge pain in the ass.  Because the game called for constant murder, I didn't connect with the character, or care at all if they died.  Gameplay was fun initially but became repetitive about halfway through, and poorly ported to the PC.  A couple of cool plot elements and a glitch-free engine do just enough to make this a fantastically ho-hum game.  I would not highly recommend this one.