Prototype may not be the best looking (hell, it's not even decent looking) sandbox game out there. It may not be the most refined and fair sandbox game out there. It does not have the same value as other sandbox games. However, it has one very important thing: it is pure fun to play through.

Game Details			Loading Reality Scoring
Format	Xbox 360 (all 360 reviews)		Score Meaning: Slightly above average. There is nothing incredibly special about it, but there are enough good qualities to make it worth a look for fans of the genre.
Publisher	Activision
Developer	Radical Entertainment
Category	Action/Adventure		Presentation
ESRB	M		Gameplay
Online Players	0		Graphics
Offline Players	1		Sound
Price	59.99		Value Factor
Release Date	June 9, 2009		Final Score

Prototype

With the huge wave of sandbox games that have been released in the past few months, it’s becoming a fierce competition. Infamous and Red Faction have been released already, so the last contender is up to duke it out. Prototype is the name of the game, and with the exception of some flaws, it proves that Radical's last sandbox game (Hulk) was not simply a lucky fluke.

The main character, Alex Mercer, is the less than heroic. Alex has lost his memory and must absorb other people to gain their memory and piece together exactly what happened to him and the dying Manhattan. The main story itself is passable, while the side-quests of finding certain individuals in the city and retrieving portions of their memories helps push the story (and the length).

The gameplay is extremely satisfying. The parkour portion is like pure magic; the flow hardly ever breaks. Running across the city is very easy and usually fun. Alex will automatically leap over any obstacle that stands in his way without breaking stride.

While the parkour portion is nice and fun, I can’t say the same thing for the combat. It’s not like the combat is bad or anything like that. The developers made the combat fun... when the difficulty isn't spiking to insanity on the normal and the player has to resist the urge to toss the controller across the room. When the difficulty is on a sane level, the game fighting mechanics are fun.

The combat works because of how empowering Alex can feel. Radical did the smart thing and gave you experience points for your moves like you’re an adorable kid receiving candy on Halloween. After any main/side mission you perform, you’ll usually have enough points to buy several upgrades. The upgrades inject variety (and conniving fun when murdering civilians) into the game.

Now for the hurtful flaws that keep this game from being a nice little gem. The appearance of Prototype is hideous. While the expectation for sandbox games' appearance isn’t as high as other games, the way Prototype looks make it seem that it’s on the same level as Saints Row 1 (minus the cartoony looks). The way Manhattan looks is very bland, soulless even.

The length of the game is about 7-8 hours if you're going to finish the main storyline, but the amount of side missions (which sadly accounts for next to nothing for the story or the world) could easily double the game length. One portion of the game that is not directly tied to the main storyline quests, but adds to the overall world is the activity of consuming people who have knowledge of what’s going on in Manhattan. Though, after finishing the game once, there will be no reason to re-enter the world of Prototype again.

3 / 5

Written by :

Necrovex

 

---

Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites