| Author | Review |
|---|
TOO Taco Bob
424,660
TA Score for this game: 2,393
Posted on 21 July 09 at 21:09, Edited on 21 July 09 at 21:15 |
This review has 25 positive votes and 0 negative votes. Please log in to vote. |
DLC: None
100% Completion: 20-30 hours
Achievement Difficulty: 8/10
Story:
The game begins with you, Alex Mercer, taking a nice stroll through Times Square, demolishing everything in your path with an array of shape-shifting abilities. You are also introduced to your nice little ability of consuming people for their knowledge (and health), which will be used throughout the game to progress the story. After you have finished this little intro, however, you are thrown back several weeks (as in a flashback), to find out how you and the city got into this state, an infected mess. You will quickly find out that all of those fancy powers that you were killing your enemies with, during the intro, are now gone. You basically start with nothing, having to unlock powers, as you progress through the story and time-line.
The story itself has a bit of a bumpy pace, in which you progress by competing missions (31 in total). Sometimes however, you will find yourself in a good-long 30 minutes mission, whereas others, can be finished in less than 5 minutes. This combined with the fact that you have to stop and do side-events to gather more experience to upgrade your powers, makes the story choppy at best. If you can follow it however, there are several rewarding plot twists that keep things interesting.
There is also an optional 'Web of Intrigue', in which you consume people throughout the city, to reveal numerous strings of background information, covering nearly every aspect of the situation. I found this to be very rewarding, and impressed at the ingenuity of the whole idea. Don't just reward players with useless powers or achievements, but with insight into the story in which they are participating in.
7/10
Gameplay:
This is probably the best aspect of the game by far. Manhattan is like one big jungle gym, as you literally run up walls, jump from building to building, and glide through the air. I can't express in words, how fun it is to weave through buildings, as helicopters chase in pursuit. I've heard this game being compared to Crackdown quite a bit, but the pace at which you move is so much faster and fluid, I can't help but think that those who see the similarities are blinded by the differences.
Your variety of powers help to keep combat fresh, as you unlock different combos and attacks to decapitate your enemies. Although, your enemies are not so varied, as you find yourself fighting the same baddies over and over again. Switching between powers, as well, can be a bit of a turnoff, as combat all but freezes as you navigate the power wheel. However, as long as you don't mind with sticking with one power for a little bit, then combat remains enjoyable.
One aspect that I've heard a lot of complaints about, are the controls. Personally, I had no trouble what-so-ever with them. I found that once you get a feel for the physics of the game, you shouldn't have any difficulty navigating the rooftops and streets. As I said before the power wheel can be a pain and the targeting system is a bit wobbly, but that is the extent of control issues.
I found the most surprising aspect of the game, is how evil you truly are. I guess you could reason, that Alex Mercer is just misunderstood, but he is still very far off from being good. You pretty much kill and consume anyone that stands in your way, and personally, I find it quite refreshing. Especially when nearly every game today has you trying to balance a scale of morality.
9/10
Graphics:
Nothing really special here. The environment and characters don't look too bad, but they don't look amazing either. The environment does tend to get annoying when it starts turning shades of red, due to the spread of infection. Plus at certain heights, the city almost looks pre-rendered. However, the number of enemies that appear on screen at once, is impressive.
6/10
Replay:
Unfortunately, this is the biggest fault of the game. There are a couple things to do once you beat the game, such as perfecting the events, finding collectibles, or maybe repeating the whole process on hard. However, once you've done all this, there really isn't anything else left. There really is no guilty pleasure of running around destroying things and killing people, that is present in most sandbox games.
6/10
Achievements:
This is one of the few games out there that does achievements nearly perfect. A little bit for everyone; there are a good amount tied to the story, some that reward those who collect everything, and others that are challenging but not frustrating. That combined with the fact that they all have correctly proportioned gamerscore, makes going for 1000 seem like an enjoyable experience, rather than a chore. Plus if you do manage to get all 1000, it will serve as a nice badge of honor, as these achievements are no cake walk.
Completing the game on hard and beating all the platinum events are probably the hardest in the game, but not impossible if you know what you are doing. The collectibles include 50 hint orbs, 200 landmarks, and 131 consume targets, which will keep you busy for awhile as you search every nook and cranny of Manhattan island (although I was quite frustrated being stuck at 199/200 landmarks for the longest time). There is even an achievement for 53,596 kills, which is sort of a tip of the hat to Dead Rising and Left 4 Dead.
9/10
Overall:
A great game by far, but its short completion time and low replayability, makes it no more than a rent or a bargain buy.
7/10
 |
Tactical Rapt0r
32,321
TA Score for this game: 860
Posted on 20 June 09 at 16:19 |
This review has 36 positive votes and 13 negative votes. Please log in to vote. |
Lets get this out of the way first. Prototype. Is. Not. Infamous. They play nothing alike. I've completed both.
Challenge: 6/5- I started my first game on Normal difficulty. I died 27 times throughout, which is a hell of a lot. Bosses are extremely hard and most missions are tough at the least.
Graphics: 3/5- The gore looks very nice and severings and decapitations look good, but not a ton else. Move on.
Story: 4/5- Can confuse at times, and you have to consume 131 targets to get every single strand of the Web of Intrigue. You'll get the general idea of the story by the end, it is very good, but it is hard to get the story straight.
Gameplay: 5/5- They nailed it here. You have more powers at your disposal than you'll EVER use, and each one is awesome. Some are stronger against certain enemies, and they are proportioned well, unlike some games *Cough* Shellshock 2 *Cough*. Gun play work pretty well, but it is ussually best used to take out large groups of military or larger targets, such as bases.
Time Consumption: 5/5- You'll pend a good 50+ hours to get every unlockable and acheivment. Even after the main story ends, there is so much to do!
 |
BillyKlyde
89,663
TA Score for this game: 1,695
Posted on 02 July 09 at 17:15, Edited on 02 July 09 at 18:19 |
This review has 26 positive votes and 4 negative votes. Please log in to vote. |
A lot of people that heard about this game before it came out were really looking forward to it, including myself. Then the game finally came out and... it was good. Nothing amazing or groundbreaking like it had been hyped up to be, just good. If this game had been released a year or two earlier it would have been amazing but now? Ehh it's whatever. It's still a fun game but unfortunately falls short, it's missing that special something that would make it a great game. It had a lot of potential until they decided to wait until the last minute to release it, when people were sick of hearing about it and just wanted to play it.
Gameplay/Playability: 4/5
The game is fun as hell to play, I'm not gunna' lie. Especially when you have all your powers upgraded. I find myself straying away from the main story missions so I can just run around decapitating innocent civilians, throwing cars at helicopters or hijacking a tank to take down to Time Square and paint the streets red. In case you haven't figured it out yet, this game is extremely violent. I've never had more fun killing in a video game before. Other then that though it gets tired after a while. The main missions are boring because most of them are the same. Consume this person and sneak into this place, protect this group of enemies from that group of enemies, defeat this boss, blah blah blah. Shit is repetitive. The enemies themselves are annoying as well. The military just shoot the shit out of you and the hunters just claw you to death. There really is just no strategy in combat, especially against bosses. Every boss battle all you're doing is throwing things at the boss and running away, trying hand to hand combat with bosses is useless. The fighting just feels sluggish and unfinished.
On the other hand the movement in the game is pretty fluid. Running up skyscrapers, gliding through the city and running through streets jumping over cars is all pretty easy. You basically just hold RT (sprint) and move and that's it. There have been a few moments however were the camera angle can be less then cooperative. This is most noticeable when you are trying to get those hard to reach collectibles, like the ones at the tip of a needle on top of a skyscraper. What a pain in the ass.
Graphics/Sounds: 3/5
The graphics are really nothing to be admired. Pretty standard or even below in some instances when compared to other free roam games that came before it. The in game graphics just don't look good. Shadows are very pixelated, textures can become blurred and for some reason everyone's face is glossy. The opening cinematic and others through out the game are pretty solid though. The blood and gore looks great too, cutting up bodies at different angles will result in different size body parts being severed.
The sounds are nothing special either. Gunshots, punches, soldiers calling in strike teams all sound fine. The music is kind of boring and rarely plays anyway. I can only remember music when you complete a mission or set off a military alert. Other then that if nothing is going on the music just fades out.
Story: 2/5
This games story can be really hard to follow, but even when you do it's not good enough to keep your interest. It's a pretty played out plot. The military creates a monster and then let's it escape and then try to stop it. And of course people have to become infected with something because the zombie bit isn't played the fuck out enough today. And even if you beat the game you still don't know exactly what the hell happened. You have to go around the city consuming random people for their memories to figure it out, which is really tedious. But even though the story sucks, I wasn't too bummed because this isn't the kind of game you play for the story. You play this game for the action, the story is just there. It almost seems like the only reason they put a story in the game is because they had to.
Achievements: 4/5
Some of the most fun I've had getting achievements. Destroy 50 characters in 5 seconds? Run over 500 hundred people in one tank? Destroy 2,000 vehicles? Decapitate 15 characters with one whip attack? Psshh I was going to do all that anyways, how foolish of them the give me gamer points for it. The achievements are just so fun to get and most are pretty easy, a little time consuming but easy for the most part. A lot of them you'll get in your first play through because some are story related and others just take time. Like you will eventually hijack 50 enemy vehicles, or evade 10 strike teams. You just have to play the game through. However there are a few annoying ones, most notably the Gold and Platinum on all events. Talk about a buzz kill. There are a ton of these random events scattered around the city, most of which require you to complete some type of speed run or killing a certain amount of enemies. Sure that's okay for a while but there's SO DAMN MANY, and after the first few they're not even fun anymore. Plus both achievements are only worth 100 total gamer points put together and after thinking about it for a good 5 minutes I've decided I don't want to waste so many hours of my life for so little. I really wish they didn't put these two boring ass tedious achievements in the game. Other then those two it's awesome for achievements.
Conclusion
This game is fun. Mindless, violent fun and nothing more. Upon completion of the story and getting a good chunk of the achievements there's really nothing more to do. I don't even find myself playing it that much even when I'm bored. Still it is fun to go back once in a while and just run down a sidewalk and watch people bounce off your armor or land an elbow drop on a tank from 20 stories up. It's worth picking up or at least renting, it may not be the most amazing gaming experience ever but it's still a pretty damn good one, if only for so long.
Replay value: Moderate
Final rating: 4 stars
|
The Living Dad
159,303
TA Score for this game: 2,393
Posted on 16 June 09 at 07:20 |
This review has 34 positive votes and 15 negative votes. Please log in to vote. |
[PROTOTYPE]
About the Game (taken from Wikipedia)
Prototype (stylized as "[PROTOTYPE]") is an action game developed by Radical Entertainment. The game was released in North America on June 9, 2009 and in southwestern parts of North America and Oceania on June 10. The game was released in Europe on June 12. The game is available on Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 platforms. Prototype was released a day early in Australia.
The game is set in New York City as a virus infects people and the military attempts to put an end to it. The protagonist of the story is named Alex Mercer, who has enemy-absorbing and shapeshifting powers. He can take memories, experiences, biomass and physical forms of the enemies through absorption. Alex can also shapeshift into more specialized forms for attack, defense or sensory enhancement. All of these together are intended to give players multiple ways to complete their objectives. Parallel to the game's storyline is the ability to play the game as a sandbox-style video game giving the player free roam of Manhattan.
Gameplay ( 8 / 10 )
The gameplay in prototype is borderline original in the sense it plays out a lot like any other superhuman genetic enhanced sandbox game would e.g spiderman, hulk, superman, you have over the top powers and brutal melee that even the most sickest horror villains would be jealous of and can glide from one side of central park to the other in one easy leap, and its satisfying to a certain degree in the sense that we have seen it before but it breathes new light in the gameplay… Over the top action and violence galore is what [PROTOTYPE] was made for. The different missions for [PROTOTYPE] range from destroying bases to running through speed checkpoints high about the New York skyline, box this together with Hint collectibles are scattered throughout the game alongside landmark collectibles.
The game rewards you with EP for pretty much everything that you do and you'll be spending it according to your needs and how you play the game for example my character was a speed demon and just ran everywhere and cleared most of the map within minutes,going into fights i would kill a few then run away which to be honest most people will be doing anyway but i could get away quicker. The way Alex gets around the city is easy for anyone to pick up and play with touch of the right trigger your away leaping over cars, runnning up the sides of buildings and jumping from roof to roof crackdown style. The combat can become complicated with various button combinations to dissapoint even a veteran mortal kombat fan (have you ever tried pushing X+B at the same time quickly) but most will find a good combo and stick with it for the whole game.
The Web of intrigue targets are a clever way for the storyline to be filled in but this leaves A LOT of unanswered questions within the game, The storyline itself [PROTOTYPE] is all over the place, there are twists and turns at every corner but the thanks to the web of intrigue you can fill those gaps well the majority of them anyway, consume the correct people and your away.
Whilst fighting in the game or should i say run in kill a few people run away like a sissy and then come back for more, The difficulty in gameplay ranges sometimes you'll be running through most missions then SLAM straight into a brick wall and be stuck for an hour or two trying to beat the following mission and kill a boss most more then likely.
There are downsides to the gameplay like any games for [PROTOTYPE] these are the sometimes tricky targeting system and the horrible camera angles that the game chucks at you whilst you trying to run one way or get close to an enemy the camera could at least try to stay behind you. The difficulty mentioned earlier. Also some of the web of intrigue targets are completely pointless to what Alex is trying to achieve in the game.
Graphics ( 7 / 10 )
The graphics in this game are mediocre, most of the game suffers from the next gen filter as i like to call it make everything brown and were all good. The surroundings are reasonable and some have come across very bad draw distances and texture pop up but luckilt i experienced neither of those.
Radical did an amazing job at Alex the animations the way he looks is unbelievable whilst gliding through the air and landing from a skyscaper hitting the floor the animations are fluid and change very accordingly to what you are doing in game.
The City contents are another reasonable job you'll come across most pedestrians time and time again and see the same texture mapping used on pretty much all the cars, but whilst running through the city and destroying you'll hardly notice the difference.
Cinamatics within the game are beyond this world but in game cut scenes using the game engine could do with a little tweaking, lip sync is well out as if watch a badly dubbed porn film and the characters are all very shiny like they are constantly wet.
Sound ( 6 / 10 )
The game features various noises from rocket launchers swooping past to tanks crushing cars and glass shattering everywhere, gliding noises from Alex as he jumps from building to building, whilst travelling round the city you wont hear much other then a sort of busy street noise every once in a while get close to the action and the sound kicks in like people screaming, roar of tanks and infected making the noises they make.
Replayability ( 9 / 10 )
Like any sandbox games, you will put it down and pick it up, the game has various upgrades and collectibles, this should keep you coming back for more plus the new game+ mode which allows you to start a new game with all your upgrades from your last save.
Extras: upon the release of this game when pre-ordered it was bundled with maps and posters, some people managed to get a small Alex Mercer figure
Pros:
Over the top action and violence(leaving the street bloody and clearing central park in one leap pretty sweet to be honest)
Lots of replayability (collectibles and achievements will have you coming back for more plus new game+)
Cons:
Short Storyline (couple of hours worth of storyline)
Bad in game cut scences and terrible audio quality
Fighting upgrades and combinations to do them, IN AIR>Holding RT >(X+B) WTF!!
Recommendations:
HD-TV, Patience, Collectibles guide
Recap:
Gameplay ( 8 / 10 )
Graphics ( 7 / 10 )
Sound ( 6 / 10 )
Replayability ( 9 / 10 )
Overall ( 7 / 10 )
The game will most likely be played for a while by customers and achievement hunters alike but once finished and after achievement hunting there is not much to go back to maybe the occasional mindless killing spree but the game will most likely sit on your shelves until you think one day maybe i fancy a game of [PROTOTYPE]
Happy Achievement Hunting
|
Azrane1
100,890
TA Score for this game: 907
Posted on 02 May 10 at 08:58 |
This review has 13 positive votes and 1 negative vote. Please log in to vote. |
Prototype is a third-person, action sandbox game set on Manhattan island in New York City. Granted, it's not a true one-to-one recreation of the entire island, but Radical Entertainment did a good job in grabbing the big, important parts of the city and even the street layout for the most part. I can tell because I've never been there, but I've looked on Google Maps! *grin*
You play as Alex Mercer. Starting out, you're dead on a slab, about to be dissected. Suddenly, you awaken and escape from the building, Gentek headquarters, only to find yourself being pursued by armed guards. Your body starts changing. You're suddenly able to jump unnaturally high and escape from the guards. Oh, and you have almost none of your memories.
It turns out, you've been infected with a virus that gives you greater jumping distance, better health, and most importantly, the ability to shape-shift, even into other people. The game allows you to upgrade yourself using the experience points (EP) you earn throughout the game. The list of these upgrades is quite extensive, and gets very expensive as the game goes on.
Like I said, you're in Manhattan. Every place you see, you can go. The game has free-roam down to a science, I think. You can completely ignore everything and just wander. Or kill. Or wander while killing. The only thing that stops you from 100% free-roam action are the occasional pop-ups giving you little tips or telling you that you have upgrades you can afford to buy. While early on, they're pretty nice tips, I don't really want to see them after 35 hours of mayhem. I know how to glide, thank you very much. An option to turn this off would have been awesome!
I won't go into the storyline at all, except to say it's somewhat convoluted, and doesn't make a lot of sense if you just do the main missions. But that's not a bad thing in this case. The game has a sort of collection system called the Web of Intrigue. The web is made up of something like 130 different nodes, all of these are memories of the people with a red marker above them.
The memories were so short and scattered, it didn't make a lot of sense to me at first. You only get a voice-over and short bursts of visual imagery. When I started really trying to hunt down these people of interest, it all started coming together slowly. This is where the backstory lies. The gameplay and plot of the game are the present (rather, the past two and a half weeks or so), while the Web of Intrigue is everything that has led up to the end of the game. The presentation is really fascinating.
The problem with the Web of Intrigue is that the people you have to track down are placed in seemingly random sections of the island, and they'll only show up if you've been connected to their node by eating other people.
The gameplay is simple at its core. You have one button to run, one to jump, one each for standard attacks and special attacks and one for targeting. As you unlock special upgrades, they all require special button combos, situational requirements (like being in the air, or running), and aren't perfectly clear on how to perform them. For example, I've unlocked all of the "devastator" attacks, but I'm only really able to perform one consistently. Also, who thought X+B (square + circle for you Playstation types) was a good idea?
The upgrades aren't all bad. You get upgrades to health, speed, jumping, air-dashing, weapons, and vehicles. You also increase the effectiveness of your different attacks.
Overall, the gameplay is a wonderful, gore-filled killing spree. Your main enemies are the marines and Blackwatch troops, though the "Infected" also turn up shortly after the game begins. While the marines can hurt you pretty badly with armored vehicles, helicopters, and rocket launchers, you can tear into them like a knife through butter. If sheer chaos isn't your style, you can walk among them without drawing much attention. You can even enter their bases by consuming the base commander and liquify everyone inside, without drawing any suspicion.
The infected hunters, on the other hand, are big, nasty things that are rather tough to fight, especially early in the game when you don't have much in the way of power or health. It wouldn't be so bad if every single time they hit you, you weren't stunned like a red-headed step child being beaten by her father. And they can hit you five or six times in a row with no respite. The only benefit is that once you beat them down enough, you can consume them for a large health gain.
The only real down-side I see to this game is in the mission difficulty. Even on the medium difficulty, I found them to be very hard. Especially at the end, when Blackwatch has the equivalent to the Infected hunter that can sniff through your disguises. Thank you, Radical, for taking away the only effective weapon I have when I have a quarter-inch of health meter left while the entire island is trying to kill me.
The missions can be left alone for a while if you need, though, because the game has mini-game events. Jump off a building, glide, and try to hit a bulls-eye. Get from point A to point B as fast as you can. Kill as many meat sacs as you can in the time allotted. And more. There are a lot of these, and they all give you a bronze, silver, or gold medal, depending on how well you do. And if you can get gold on all the events, then you can go for platinum! Luckily, if you do well enough to get platinum on any events before unlocking it, you'll get those platinum medals automatically. The events are a great way to blow off a little steam when you're getting your ass kicked in the latest mission for whatever reason.
And if you want to back off from the destruction and killing, and just explore, there are orbs to collect. If you played Crackdown, you know exactly what's up with them. They give you EP, and once you collect all of each type, you get an achievement. It's a great way to get to know the city, especially early on.
The graphics aren't the greatest, eye-splitting thing on the planet, but they're decent. The only real complaints I have is with the humans and vehicles. Vehicles, there are only a large handful. A larger variety would have been a great thing to have, considering it's New York City. Humans, same thing. But to add to humans, the character modeling could have been better. An extra polygon or two in the face. Something to make them look less like a mannequin.
There isn't much to the sound of the game. People screaming, exclaiming in excitement about something you did. Bullets, explosions, that sort. I would've liked some sort of soundtrack to hear while I was playing, beyond the "You've been caught" generic fighting music.
The game has 40 achievements worth the usual 1,000 gamerscore. Don't expect to boost too much without a good investment of time and effort (and frustration). Not a single achievement is worth over 60 points, and those are given for completing the game on hard, completing the story mode without dying, and that sort. Very stingy, in my opinion.
So, I've aired my praises and complaints that I've had so far, playing to the near-end of the storyline. For all the things I dislike, overall, I like this game. It's a damn fine sandbox game. Looking at Radical's list of previous games, this one is kind of a diamond in the rough.
|
Cheese Touch
233,551
TA Score for this game: 763
Posted on 30 July 09 at 23:01 |
This review has 12 positive votes and 1 negative vote. Please log in to vote. |
Prototype is an open-world sandbox game like Crackdown or Grand Theft Auto. You play Alex Mercer, a guy who was infected with some sort of virus and can't remember his past and you'll spend most of the game killing a LOT of soldiers, infected and pedestrians while trying to figure out what happened to you.
The gameplay feels a lot like Crackdown since you get to run around in a city, can jump really high and are crazy strong. The core of the game is a linear set of about 30 missions which have widely varying difficulty levels. Some are a total walk in the park and others are controller-throwing frustrating. There's some variety to the mission structure and the core story is not too bad although it's told in a choppy way.
Moving around the city is pretty easy, especially once you unlock (and purchase) jump, glide and speed upgrades. The controls are what you'd expect for a third-person shooter but there are three things that I didn't like: (1) The camera is a little wonky and at times it feels too close and flips around a lot. (2) The lock-on is frustrating. It will often lock onto a boring soldier instead of the helicopter that is perforating my torso with its chaingun. You can flick it around with RS but taking the time to pick the right target a good way to turn into Hunter Snacks. (3) Attack buttons often use weird button combinations (like two of the face buttons at the same time) and there's a lot of them. Out of all the moves I really only used 2-3 on a regular basis. I also wish that there were warp points so I could quickly move about the island. The disguise mechanic is pretty well done, especially once you get the ability to pretend that other people are disguised infected. The stealth consume is a little overpowered, though. Once you get used to how it works you can wipe out an entire base full of soldiers without breaking a sweat.
The graphics and sound are ok. I wouldn't call them good but they are not painful, either. The voice acting and cutscene presentation is at least good enough to not be jarring. I actually like the look of the bits of information that you get form consuming the plot people in the web of intrigue. It's probably not for everyone, though, since the presentation becomes very disjoint and can be hard to follow. The physics engine is pretty good and you can get a LOT of people on the screen at one time. Your weapon and kill effects are also pretty well done and look good.
For gameplay, there is not much to do outside of the core missions. It is a sandbox game, but the only things you can really do are kill people, collect trinkets and do a bunch of semi-interesting challenges. That's it. The plot never branches so there's only one real mission to select. There are three types of collectible items: hints, landmarks and Web of Intrigue. The hint and landmark collects are just like (and just as annoying as) the hidden and agility orbs in Crackdown. Collecting them all is very boring and time-consuming and I highly recommend using a guide early on in the game. The Web of Intrigue is filled in as you consume certain key people and take their memories. This might have sounded cool on paper and it's a little fun at first but it also means that you'll be getting parts of the story in fragments and in varying order. The people in the Web will only spawn in certain areas and the order in which they will spawn is important so, without a guide, it will take a long time to get them all. As for random, wanton killing, it's fun to run around New York City throwing cars at the soldiers but that gets old after a while. The challenges are not that exciting and you only get experience points (and achievements) for completing them. They should have tied unlockable attacks and abilities to them like in the GTA series. There is no multiplayer so the replayability of this title is low. You'll have to play it at least twice (once on medium, once on hard) for 1000 GS.
The achievements are pretty well done, though the collection ones are tedious. Getting gold and platinum in all challenges looks like it will be pretty annoying, too. I'm also not a fan of games that make you play them repeatedly at different difficulty levels (I'm looking at you, Gun and Prey). Most of the other ones are easily obtainable in a 5-day rental.
Overall, I've had a good time with Prototype so far, despite its limitations and sometimes frustrating difficulty. I've enjoyed following the plot, jumping all over the city is fun and the combat can be really good. I really can't justify giving it more than three stars, though, due to the lack of variety and limited number of things to do. I really do expect more out of a full priced game. I just rented it for a week and I'd say I definitely got my money's worth out of it but I'd be mad if I'd paid $60 for this game.
 |
R0SSKEMPONGAMES
59,004
TA Score for this game: 763
Posted on 16 July 09 at 20:58, Edited on 16 July 09 at 21:00 |
This review has 9 positive votes and 10 negative votes. Please log in to vote. |
I'll write this as what you can expect from a rental.
To start with i'll talk about the look/graphics of the game, i was in an xbox live party when i first played this game, and all they heard was 'what the f***, it looks like a ps2 game' and yes, i stick by that, the graphics are terrible, mercer has a baby face during gameplay, and during the rendered cutscenes he looks completely different. The explosions are awful, but the physics engine is quite good, as when you use the blade to slice someone you do actually cut them in half and get to see it, you also get a lot of gore when you body surf.
Next i'll do the gameplay, the gameplay left me with many different opinions, On the whole it was largely enjoyable, if a tad repetitive, but the main thing that made me wish i hadn't rented it was the difficult, i always start games on normal, but after half an hour, maybe less, i started a new game on easy, it's too challenging. Some people like challenges, and good on them, but surely the challenge should be saved for difficulties other than easy? There were many times that i was screaming at the screen, having failed a mission because the guns on the helicopters wouldn't hit anything, or that i couldn't evade the military because the helicopters kept spawning. Maybe a bit strange, but in all honesty, i found the boss battles so much easier than most of the missions, even the final boss was a walk in the park compared to earlier levels.
Next i'll briefly cover the story without ruining it. You are Alex Mercer, you don't know who you are but somehow you know how to use all your powers the second you wake up. after significant scenes you'll skip to a cut scene in the future, from day 18 of the infection, by the time you actually know who's talking under the mask you've pretty much worked it out, there is one major twist, and it's quite a crappy one that just blags your mind if you havn't really been watching the cutscenes haha.
Finally achievements, i'm reviewing this as a rental, and yes, if you have no life and too much time then you could get 1000gs in a week, but my god would you have to be something special, the achievements for doing things like 'kill 15 characters with a whipfist attack' can't be done until you unlock the ability you need, if you're a score whore and want a quick 1000gs then don't rent this. i have 11 hours of play time and 440gs, and i have it for 2 more days. and i've calculated i could only get around 100gs in those 2 days. BUT, i really don't think this game is worth buying, the hard mode achievement will have you taking anti depressants and hating life.
Overall, it's a good game, but its way too hard for a casual gamer, and the achievements arn't easy enough for scorewhores. Good as a rental, but not sustainable as a buy.
|