Prototype 2 Hands-on

Does everything better than the first, one helicopter-punch at a time.

Upon hearing that I would be having a go at Prototype 2, I had a sit down and tried to remember the redeeming features of the first Prototype game, but the problem that I seemed to come across is the fact that it is was so specifically un-memorable. While I had a vague idea about the plot of the first game, and a murky image in my mind’s eye of what the game looked like; it was becoming increasingly difficult for me to remember something about the first Prototype that made me think it was a particularly interesting game. Of course, what I’ve come to realise is that Prototype was a good game that set up a blue print for what could turn into a great game series, with the possibility of Prototype 2 being the first of great games in said series.

“But what’s different about Prototype 2?” I hear you ask in that oh so high pitch voice of yours. Well, little girl. Let me show you. With my words.

Sitting down in front of a rather large TV screen with nothing but an Xbox 360 controller and a note pad – adorned by some hastily scribbled interview questions and a crudely inked badger – can make even the most green of video game journalists imagine themselves as some of intrepid high priest sent around the world to sample the arts of diligent and wondrous video game designers before the lowly cretinous under beings (aka normal people) are allowed to get their grubby hands on the game.

With that being said, this sapling of a game reviewer was brought back down to earth very quickly after dying in the game within about 20 seconds thanks to a creature, I dearly nicknamed Big Sally, chasing my character down a very narrow, and rather cluttered street. Well the end of that story is that Big Sally ran me over. To say that this is a bit of a metaphor for Prototype 2’s outlook on life is a bit of an understatement. This is an exact metaphor. Prototype 2 sees you take control of Sergeant James Heller; a man without any fear of death. An empty shell of a man who has lost all hope, with the only thing that keeps him going being his unrelenting hatred of Alex Mercer, who he blames for the death of his wife and child.

Reasonably light story fodder then, ey?

Being run over by a giant monster aside, the beginning of Prototype 2 sees Mercer and Heller come face to face within a matter of minutes. At first I thought this was going to be the shortest game ever but, Heller – still being a human at the beginning of the game – can hardly get within reaching distance of Mercer before he is out of his league. The conversation that plays out basically sees Mercer infect Heller and then convince him to help sort shit out around NYZ. Whether you end up actually killing Mercer, seeing as you are now basically doing is his dirty work, is another question and not one that I can answer seeing as I didn’t get that far through the game. Of course I’ll say that you definitely get to fight him at some point. There is no way the developers went through all this trouble just have Mercer and Heller settle their differences, move to LA and adopt small orphaned children, although, if they did they would totally be called Jamex by the paparazzi.

While I can’t say a lot about the storyline, due to the short amount of time I spent actually doing missions, I do think people will able to relate a hell of a lot more to Heller’s plight, especially as his core motives in the game are all emotional ones. Then again anybody would be easier to relate to than the cardboard box that was Mercer.

So as the storyline seems somewhat more mature and less vague, other aspects of the Prototype world have grown up and put their big boy pants on to; one place where this is evident is in the aesthetics, both in the cinematic cuts and in game. The cut scenes look like samples from a rather grim and dreary comic book series – think Sin City with its damp greyness and splashes of vibrant colour -, and seem to give the game a sort of sad beauty. While much of the time I like to remain quite cynical and displeased with video games that try to make me feel ‘feelings’ with their ‘real world’ aesthetics, i have to say Prototype 2 has done well. It’s not so bombastic and in your face that you want to gouge your eyes out, but it’s also subtle enough for you to actually sit through the cut scenes as they add an extra texture to a game that makes Japanese gore movies seem relatively boring.

–~~~~~~~~~~~~–

In terms of the actual aesthetics in game; well let’s just say it’s sufficiently better than the first Prototype in all aspects, and while it’s obvious that the developers would have set out to make the overall graphics better on the second time round, I have to say that Prototype 2’s overall final look is way better than Prototype 1’s. While with P1 I felt that the graphics were a bit cartoonish, P2 sees everything take an all together more polished and – dare I use the ‘r’ word – realistic touch. I think for me the most noticeable difference, or at least the thing which has stuck in my brain, is the attention to the buildings in P2. Instead of the boxes with painted on windows that we saw in P1, buildings in P2 look like an actual building instead of merely an obstacle for your character to run around on. It’s quite impressive.

Everything from the people to the trees, to the impending destruction which will happen when you finally get all your powers, looks pretty great, and it’s really one of those things which makes the game all that more enjoyable.

Seeing as I mentioned powers…yes there are some new powers and yes there are some old ones. There are some pretty cool new powers which cause all sorts of hell when used. The tendrils are by far my favourite power, mainly because of the overall devastation, pure horridness, and probably because my mother didn’t hug me enough as a child. One of the new powers allows you to basically plant a bomb on a person and when that bomb goes off tendrils shoot through them and attach themselves to other objects in the surrounding area and drag them towards the initial target. If that sounded confusing, then tough luck ‘cus in my head it looks amazing.

Some of the powers that have returned are the whipfist and blade, with both getting some pretty cool redesigns for Heller’s character, and while both are generally used in much the same way i.e. to cut people in half, the correlating destruction that they create is unbelievably wonderful. If you read my quick over view of the game that was posted a week or so ago you should know that I was partially astounded by the attention to detail when I used the whipfist to decimate and maim a huge crowd of on lookers.

Another new power is something called ‘hunting’. Hunting allows you to tag/find people while playing P2. From what I can tell it’s similar to the tagging system in Crysis, or at least that is how I used it in a mission. It could have other uses in game play but I couldn’t really find any use for it other than during missions when I needed to tell which guy I had to consume, out of the big group of guys. I guess in the end it adds a new dimension to game play but without playing the whole game I can’t really tell you of its complete usefulness.

So you’ve got some new powers and some pretty awesome graphics to make all the gory killings worthwhile but it’s all pointless if the combat system is utter bollocks. Wait. What’s that? Revamped you say? Batman: Arkum City? Wha-wha-what?

Yep. The combat system is a hell of a lot smoother. I don’t know about you but I found P1’s combat system to be lumpy and at times as un-coordinated as blind person with their hands tied behind their back trying to get a brick into an egg cup. Pretty bad is what I’m trying to say.

Prototype 2 feels somewhat like Arkum Asylum but just a hell of a lot crazier, as usually when fighting you are getting shot at by various forms of infantry, tanks, and helicopters. Thankfully the new combat system makes it a lot easier to switch between all of these things that want you riddled full of bullets. There is still a slight problem with what I like to refer to as a sort of in game ADD, which is where there is so many people trying to kill you at once and you, as the controller of the character, think the best method to get rid of all these people is to Ninja Gaiden off of every single living thing with your fist. Before you know it you are on the other side of the zone scraping the remnants of human off your boot. Lovely.

As far as the sequel to Prototype is looking, I’m reasonably content with the way it seems to be going. While they don’t seem as though they are going to break down any barriers in the innovation department, Prototype 2 seems to be a good few steps above Prototype and fans of the original game will be very pleased with the changes made. People who have yet to get into the Prototype series would do best to wait until the second one comes out as there is no point in picking up a game for continuities sake; especially if that game is pretty boring compared to what it looks like Prototype 2 has on offer.

[via tbreak] #gamingumar