Until Prototype came along, no game let you elbow a tank and drop kick a helicopter. That's the type of crazy, over the top action you can expect from Activision and Radical Entertainment's open world kill fest. This arcade style beat-em-up is full of death-defying leaps, dismemberment and plenty of monsters. In other words, we strongly suggest that you put this at the top of your "must play" list.
In the game, you play as Alex Mercer, a former scientist infected with a virus ripping apart New York City. Whereas as other New Yorkers transform into hideous creatures, Alex looks normal for the most part, save for his ability to morph his arms into weapons that do incredible amounts of damage. One second, he'll transform his hands into enemy-slicing claws, and the next, they'll become armor-vehicle busting clubs; a third form lets him use his hands as whips.
He also possesses the unique ability to run up the sides of buildings, one of the Prototype's most impressive features. In addition, he can survive falls from any height, so after you reach the top of the game's highest building, take a flying leap or engage in some free running by jumping across rooftops. The exhilaration you'll experience while plummeting thousands of feel through the air more than justifies playing the game.
Climbing also serves another purpose, to make a quick escape. At one point, we needed to turn tail and avoid a gang of soldiers carrying rocket launchers. As we scaled the nearest building in a zigzag pattern, rockets swirled upwards, missing the target. This also proved useful in a later mission that challenged us to lead a group of mutants to a military installation. Instead of hanging around and pummeling the monsters, we led them through New York's concrete jungle over and around buildings en route to the destination; the beasts made short work of the military.
Similar to other open world games, namely inFAMOUS and Grand Theft Auto IV, you traverse the city and accept missions. Some force you to blow something up, while another tasks you with consuming someone (and assuming his or her identity) to sneak into a building. Since the game's mini map listed multiple missions, it appears that you can complete them out of sequence.
Consuming folks is an efficient way to avoid detection. To do this, simply sneak up behind the non-player character, lift it into the air and press the consume button. Doing this results in a gruesome animation where Alex steps on the head, drives a fist through the chest or the face, resulting in lots of blood and assorted special effects. If you do this unseen, the artificial intelligence will leave you alone and you're free to walk, despite knocking over cars and randomly sprinting up walls; nothing to see here.
If someone spots you, prepare to square off against an innumerable amount of enemies. One of the game's strengths is the developers' ability to flood the screen with characters. You'll look one way and see hundreds of infected, then look the other way and you'll spy a few tanks, an attack chopper and a platoon of guys carrying weapons.
How you deal with this type of situation, of course, is up to you. If you prefer to throw Alex into the infected and cut them to pieces, have at it. Or, drop kick that helicopter, punch the tank and throw some cars at the soldiers. You can even pick up their weapons, thereby increasing Alex's arsenal and hijack helicopters, tanks and APCs.
Even better, as you wreck havoc you collect Evolution Points used to not only upgrade stats up to three times (health, for example), but also purchase new moves like the Air Dash, Dive Roll. You're free to buy as many as you'd like, thereby customizing Alex any way you see fit.
It's clear that if anything, Prototype's a guilty pleasure designed for gamers disinterested in plowing through text, wandering dungeons and rescuing princesses. This is in your face, bloody fun that'll keep you body slamming bad guys and plummeting off buildings for hours, if not weeks. We'll return with the final verdict when Activision ships this promising adventure June 9th.
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