Gaming on the cheap - Prototype

Since this is a new blog, I’m still trying out new ideas for
recurring columns. In keeping with my desire to constantly play
new games combined with my desire to not spend money, ever, I’m
trying out the idea of going to GameStop, Best Buy or wherever
and picking up a cheap game every now and then. And you’re about
to read the story of how it came about, whether you like it or not.
(That’s not really a threat, you’ll like it.)


I’m a big fan of open-world, sandbox games. Ever since me and a
friend spent hours upon hours discovering the different ways we
could cause chaos in the top-down, original “Grand Theft Auto,”
I’ve always made it a point to check out every new sandbox game
that I can. I even managed to have fun with the “Saints Row”
series, despite it being a second-rate “GTA.” Ok fine, that’s not
fair – “Saints Row 2” was pretty cool.


Back in June, I found myself in Best Buy, money in hand, staring
at two games that sat next to each other on the rack – “Red Faction:
Guerilla” and “Prototype.” I knew both were sandbox games and I
knew both had been getting fairly good reviews, from magazines and
from word of mouth. I’m a big fan of the original “Red Faction”
but also knew that “Guerilla” was a third-person sandbox game,
not a first-person shooter like the original. On the other hand,
I was also a big fan of “Crackdown” and was eager for another
taste of open-world superheroing that I’d been hearing was
“Prototype’s” strongest point.


The minutes passed and I just couldn’t decide. Did I want to get
my ass to Mars or was I more in the mood to throw a car through a
helicopter? If this is a question you’ve ever found yourself asking,
you know it is not an easy one to answer. Eventually I made a
decision and ended up buying “Guerilla,” a decision which I ended
up being pretty happy with.


What does my consumer indecision have to do with anything, you ask?
To which I say, settle down, I’m getting to the point. Being that
this time of the year is usually slow when it comes to new game
releases (“this time of the year” being anytime between Christmas
and, well, next Christmas) or the time of the year games get delayed
for no good reason (I’m looking at you, “Red Dead Redemption”),
it’s the perfect time to rediscover some old favorites or pick up
some cheap, used games. Taking a trip to GameStop with a friend
recently, I decided to pick up “Prototype” to see if I made the
right decision months earlier.


Let me start off by saying I had, indeed, made the right decision.
As I see it, “Prototype” is fun, but it doesn’t offer near the level
of freedom, character progression, story or overall fun that
“Guerilla” offered. That being said, “Prototype” has plenty of
redeeming factors. But let’s start at the beginning.


In “Prototype,” you take control of Alex Mercer. At the start of the
game you know only two things, really, that Mercer has a bad case of
amnesia and has developed a few new…abilities. Set on the Manhattan
Island, Mercer finds himself in the same position as a majority of
the island’s population – stuck in the middle of a war between
military forces, strange monsters and a mysterious infection that
is most likely the cause of the monsters, only Mercer has more in
common with the vicious monsters than the human populace these days.
With the ability to transform into various implements of destruction
(think along the lines of a T1000) and regenerative powers, Mercer
sets out to discover his past and just what caused the infection on
Manhattan. Don’t worry, Mercer’s brand of investigation involves more
than just a little bit of the old ultraviolence. Along with the
copious explosions and bloodshed Mercer will cause on his quest for
answers, “Prototype” also includes elements of stealth. Perhaps
Mercer’s most interesting ability is that of shape-shifting. By
absorbing people, Mercer not only gains their likeness to use at will
but also their knowledge which extends to memories that serve to
further the story or as ability upgrades.


After playing a few hours of “Prototype,” I almost thought I made the
wrong decision back in June. Almost. With a few more hours of playing,
I began to realize that being able to throw box trucks through Apache
helicopters could, in fact, get old. Though the action in “Prototype”
is unmatched by any sandbox game except “Crackdown,” beyond the
action, the game falls a bit flat. Being set on Manhattan, don’t
except to see anything but buildings, buildings and more buildings.
It doesn’t really matter much, though, as what you’re bounding off of
and throwing through choppers or tanks is pretty irrelevant to the
action. Being little more than a vessel for ridiculous carnage,
Mercer is a fairly shallow character in terms of the story and of
the voice acting. And while on the subject of the story, there’s
hardly one to speak of. It’s clear some crazy infection is turning
people into monsters and Mercer is part of it, somehow – I honestly
couldn’t tell you more than that because the story is told in such a
disjointed manner and is so mundane, the details don’t even matter.
The same boring irrelevance affects the missions as well. Aside from
the handful of side-missions, main missions tend to boil down to
tracking someone down, consuming them, then attacking/defending
someone/something or a combination of those.


But you know what? It was only about $25 used at GameStop and with
no new games on my horizon until “Alan Wake,” “Red Dead Redemption,”
and “UFC Undisputed 2010” you can’t beat “Prototype” at that price.
Don’t expect “Bioshock” levels of story depth or the kind of
tried-and-true sandbox gameplay you’d get from a “GTA” game and
there’s a surprising amount of fun to be had with “Prototype.”