Games That Matter: Prototype

If you haven't caught wind of Prototype, it’s an action based game being developed by Radical Entertainment. Now when I say action based game keep in mind this game has a serious twist to it. Normally action based games don't give you a main character that has what seems to be limitless abilities, or at least not at the very beginning. Something cliche often seen in video games and I could name quite a few if I wanted to, is you get into the game and at the very beginning your basically a power house having all your abilities, then something radical (no pun intended) happens and your abilities are either stolen or lost and part of the adventure is to re-acquire them.

Now, Prototype is essentially all about chaos, destruction and deception. You play as main character Alex Mercer, a genetically mutated shape shifter, who has unfortunately lost all of his memories and has only one ambition, to figure out the mystery behind his existence. If that isn't enough, you get to rampage through a heavily populated New York City choosing to either destroy everything in your way or take the scenic route and blend in while trying to recover your lost memories. Now the game incorporates a parkour style, giving you the option to use your surroundings to your advantage. Just think climbing, running, jumping and in this case flying across New York City, which should give you plenty of options to get around town, or if you need to do some bad ass acrobatics before slamming down on whatever or whoever you feel like destroying, it’s really your choice. Just remember there is probably some consequence you will have to pay if you just go around town destroying everything, then again maybe not...

So before we loose track of where we are heading with this game, let’s focus on the story line for a moment. What is exactly driving the player and character in this game to do what he does? As we all know without a good story line even the best of games would play only mediocre. Prototype has an interesting story line or at least from what we've been able to gather so far. I already told you that Prototype takes place in New York City, or rather a damaged and destroyed New York City and you play as Alex Mercer. Now Alex has no memories, so part of the game play is going to be getting back those memories. As well as finding out how he's able to shape shift, what has happened to him and possibly getting his revenge. Unfortunately outside of that the only other elements of the story that we know right now is that New York city is suffering from a biological infection that spreads as the game progresses and can even infect entire buildings called "hives" which are described as the core of the infection and is where large groups of infected can spur out of and attack anything within reach. Along side that you will also find heavily militarized zones where the military is moving weapons and soldiers to combat the infection. Honestly it sounds pretty cut and dry, but what jumps off the page for Prototype is the potential this story could have if taken in the right direction.

Let’s recap for a moment, Parkour style game play, enormous destructive power, Shape-shifting abilities (oh did we mention you can kill and take the appearance of other people) and don't forget lost memories. Add it all up and it sounds like one compelling game. Now you might be asking yourself, well how/where does a guy like this intend on getting his memories back. Honestly its a good question and the answer is even better. As you scour through New York City and consume people you will acquire pieces of your memory as well as their memories, along side that you can also find bits and pieces elsewhere, but lets focus on the former. In order to "steal" people’s memories throughout the city you must first consume them. In a nut shell this basically means kill them and take over their mind and body and make it a part of you, which happens to be one of the abilities that Alex has in his arsenal. When you consume them not only do you get their memories, the ability to use their face but you also gain health as well. Lets put that aside for a moment though. The other way to obtain pieces to your past is from your sister who is a journalist, but unfortunately she doesn't have all the answers so you'll have to pull both resources to piece together your past.

Moving on to game play, more specifically the Parkour style this game incorporates as well as the shape shifting abilities that Alex Mercer has been blessed with or in this case cursed with depending on how you'd like to view it. Imagine the following for a second, being able to run at 60MPH, jump, dash and plow through any obstacles in your way. So you find yourself on Canal Street in the middle of New York and you wined up in the wrong place at the wrong time. So you dash through the streets, dodging automobiles, citizens and anything else in your way, but then the military shows up and they want you dead. You decide you need to get off the ground, so you jump and run on the side of a building then dash to the roof top where you start leaping from roof to roof. Soon you realize being in the wide open might not be the best place for you, so you leap off the roof top and deliver a devastating blow to the ground below taking out a few citizens, and couple cars stirring up some real ruckus.

Well you just blew your cover, and people are screaming and the authorities are alerted. Soon a military helicopter, tank and other vehicles show up. You've grown tired of running so you decide to take them all on. You go after the tank and helicopter first, delivering a devastating blow to the tank taking it out in one strike. You grab a car near by and launch it at the helicopter then you unleash a wide ranged attach to wipe out the surrounding citizens, soldiers and anything else in your way. Awesome you just destroyed and absolutely owned everything in your path, but you need to find a safe place to hide so things can calm down. You run down an alley way and a lucky stranger is sitting there, you grab, kill and consume her. Your new face makes it real easy to blend in so you strut down the street as if nothing ever happened.

This brings me to the huge arsenal that Alex Mercer has at his disposal. If you've read this far you should have noticed I've already mentioned a couple. To put it bluntly the developer wants you to be the ultimate and most powerful "hero" you can be and they've obviously climbed high mountains to ensure you feel that way while playing the game. Lets cover some of the abilities you have. So what are they, well to sum it up, the abilities/powers you have are as follows: super human strength, speed, agility, resistance/durability and regeneration. To put this into perspective, you can leap great distances, run extremely fast, throw heavy objects a fair length, resist damage from vehicles, explosives, bullets and other weapons used against you and if you sustain damage you can heal quickly with your insane regeneration, of course you need human biomass in order to do that, but that aside you are basically at the top of the food chain. Not only that but you have the ability to shape shift which I mentioned above. Basically your body can be shifted and used as a weapon itself, if it wasn't enough having super human strength the developer also gives you the ability to shape shift your arms into deadly weapons, anything from shields for protection to hammer like weapons or swords for offence. Further more you still have the wonderful ability to disguise and stealth. By slaughtering other people and consuming them, you get to take on their appearance and blend in. So if you've had a long day of vandalizing the streets of New York City and find yourself knee deep in the remains of those you have killed along the way, remember a quick appearance change might be just what the doctor ordered. After all going into hiding and having no one know where you are is a great way to let things calm down. Oh did we mention once things calmed down you should turn around and start destroying everything again? Well if we didn't and the thought didn't already cross your mind, remember once you go bad, err... ummmm yeah that was pretty much it. Seriously though, there is no redemption if you've already killed 20 people, so killing 200 more isn't going to land you any lower in hell...

Lets take a moment to talk about the surrounding theme. This story takes place in New York City, specifically a heavily infected New York City that has probably seen better days. Honestly being realistic and using a place that exist on Earth is definitely a plus, especially based on the type of game we're talking about. Obviously throwing this type of game into a jungle region simply wouldn't work well for parkour and might take what could be a great game and turn it completely sour. Taking a look at the city and how the developer designed it, it definitely gives a clear indication of what the developer was going for here, and portrays a convincing theme for what the story is trying to tell. I am not entirely sold on whether or not it was the best choice, then again I don't know enough about the story to jump to any conclusions yet.

Wrapping this up the game looks like it could be a hit. Taking everything into consideration, this game is expanding on the action genre. There is definitely not a whole lot of games out there that I can name that let you play as a character that has almost limitless power. In this game you truly are the ultimate bad ass. That aside though isn't the only reason this game is on our radar for Games That Matter. Take a look at the unique game play experience, being able to shape shift honestly opens up a world of possibilities that are only limited by your imagination. Having the option to use shape shifting to either make deadly weapons or to consume and disguise yourself as someone else is a wonder choice and letting the player decide which way to use it is also a great way to let those playing make decisions based on how they may do things if they were Alex Mercer. On top of that you can always rely on your incredible speed and strength to tare through what seems to be a rather enticing experience.

Taking everything into account, this game looks to be a mixture of action, adventure and shooters all wrapped up into one mean green fighting machine, err well in this case biological weapon or whatever Alex Mercer has become, either way keep a look out for Prototype, which is scheduled to release June 5th in Europe and June 9th in the USA.