| Author | Review |
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Astute Vagabond
530,900
TA Score for this game: 1,244
Posted on 28 May 12 at 13:55, Edited on 28 May 12 at 14:04 |
This review has 15 positive votes and 3 negative votes. Please log in to vote. |
Originally written by myself for www.gamerscoreaddicts.net
Prototype 2
Developer: Radical Entertainment
Publisher: Activision
Those of you who played and enjoyed the first Prototype are in for a treat. Prototype 2 is a direct sequel to the first game and those who know the character of Alex Mercer may be pleased to hear that he returns as a major (but not the main) character in this game. For anyone who has not played the first prototype do not fret - there is a plot summary for the first game in the main menu.
Story
Prototype 2 plays from the perspective of James Heller – A US Marine Corps sergeant hell-bent on getting revenge on Alex Mercer for taking his wife and child from him. The game starts with an interesting, news report style cutscene leading into a confrontation between James Heller and Alex Mercer, resulting in Alex Mercer infecting James and telling him to discover the truth. Heller then finds himself trapped in a testing room fighting for his life and discovering his newfound abilities as an ‘evolved’ infected. He can now morph his arms into various different weapons, consume people to regenerate and perhaps most importantly gain the memories of those he consumes.
Being able to gain the memories of other is a huge driving force for the story, allowing Heller to consume members of Gentek (a genetics research company) and Blackwatch (a Special Forces group) to unravel the secrets and discover the ‘truth’ Mercer spoke of. Heller soon discovers that all is not as it seems and certainly not what he was told during his service in the Marine Corps.
The story is a heavy feature in Prototype 2 as even the side quests often involve hunting down individuals with information that - whilst not crucial to the main tale - give extra detail for any gamers interested in learning more. Sometimes the game can seem too story focused as it can give several cutscenes without advancing the story at all.
Gameplay
Prototype 2 plays like a standard sandbox style game with a large focus on melee combat. Heller can fight with regular attacks or by using his arms as weapons such as claws, whips, tendrils and more. Each weapon type has a unique set of attacks which are more efficient in certain situations and keep the fighting fairly varied. There are also several different types of enemies, ranging quite drastically from regular infected and soldiers to huge infected and super-soldiers. There are also some enemy vehicles to be destroyed in the form of tanks and helicopters.
Despite this variety in fighting style and enemies, Prototype 2 has little variation in the objectives given throughout the game. Most of the time is spent either “hunting” someone to consume or infiltrating a base, with the odd timed collection task here and there. Due to the lack of variation the game can, at times, feel very repetitive to slog through the missions - particularly near the start of the game as you have few weapons and it takes longer to manoeuvre Heller around the city.
The game takes place in New York which becomes known as New York Zero (NYZ) after the outbreak. The city is split into three zones (green, yellow and red) based on the level of infection in that area – green is completely sanitary and safe, yellow being a mixture or those infected and not, red is a complete danger zone homing only infected and the military attacking them. Getting around the city is made easy by Heller’s ability to run up walls, jump incredibly high and glide long distances. Each of these abilities can be upgraded by completing side missions and completing sets of collectibles to make travelling even faster.
There are various different types of collectibles scattered throughout NYZ and Prototype 2 integrates collectibles into the sandbox environment well. Firstly, the three main types of collectible are field ops (groups of soldiers to kill), Blackboxes (dead soldiers with information on them) and infected lairs (lairs to fight in). Each of these collectibles “ping” on the in game map and notify the player of a rough direction when they enter the vicinity of the collectible. This feature makes it a more relaxed, simple and enjoyable experience which encourages players to seek them out.
The fourth type of collectible comes in the form of enemies scattered throughout the city that are indicated by a certain symbol on the mini-map when Heller is near. These enemies have the ability to grant upgrades to the player upon consuming them and so the player should be on lookout for them at all times. One downside to these enemies is that they can be killed by other forms of combat or environmental hazards before the player is able to consume them. They do, however, re-spawn at another location on the map. The player will have to hunt them down again if they wish to obtain the upgrades.
Graphics and style
The graphics in Prototype 2 are very crisp and display the setting of NYZ well. During my time playing I found no graphical hiccup, which is rare for any sandbox game. The explosions are displayed in vivid, colourful clouds and inanimate objects interact well when incorporated into battle, such as cars being launched across streets etc. During combat, the player can trigger a slow motion effect which often displays a lot of detail and makes the player feel bad-ass about exerting revenge on Heller’s opponents. The slo-mo effect lasts very briefly in comparison to most games which apply the same feature, so it never feels like a hindrance in the overall gameplay.
The cutscenes portray the characters in great detail, with highly defined facial features and expressions. The body alterations Heller and Mercer undergo are represented particularly well. Generally, when Heller consumes an individual and accesses their memories, a cutscene with a hazy background is displayed; making it clear to the player they are witnessing a memory.
Music and sound
The music that plays during cutscenes and tense moments sets the atmosphere well and the entire story is voice acted well with little to no text reading required. During most of the gameplay there is almost no background music present, leaving only the sounds of the environment to really accompany Heller as he goes about his day (no varied radio stations here!). This wouldn’t be too much of an issue as you could put on your own music if it wasn’t for the fact that Prototype 2 has the game stopping every few minutes for a cutscene which a player wouldn’t want to miss if they wanted the full story.
The voices are well done in main game cutscenes however the memory cutscenes distort the voices making it somewhat difficult to make out what is being said.
Longevity/Replayability
Overall, Prototype 2 does not take too long to complete story-wise. If the player intends to go for everything including side missions and collectibles, they are looking at around 10-20 hours. The game does have a “New Game +” mode in which gamers can challenge the newly unlocked insane difficulty or go back into free roam to clear up anything they may have missed. There is even an option to take on Radnet challenges, aiming for as high as platinum medals. These additions could add quite a significant amount of game-time for a player who wishes to squeeze every ounce of content available from the game.
Overall
Prototype 2 offers good gameplay, a decent story and is definitely worth one playthrough at least. The variety of weapons and enemies is interesting, however I feel the game falls in overall enjoyment as it becomes repetitive, lacking the entertainment of much background music whilst playing. Although the game offers a fair bit of longevity with challenges some may find it tedious to continue after beating the game once.
Rating: 7.5/10
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