As the only Vivendi published game to survive the Activision/Blizzard merger, Prototype has a lot to live up to. It says a lot about quality control when a company like Activision drops seemingly money titles like Ghostbusters or Brutal Legend, but for the most part, Acti's stable of games does speak for itself with their Triple A games consistently owning top 10 sales data around the world (Call of Duty, Guitar Hero).

So why hang onto Prototype? For one, it's a fairly strong contender for benchmark game in the burgeoning sandbox superhero field, going up along the likes of Sony's Infamous (and the rumoured Crackdown 2) plus every other action/adventure sandbox title out there (Red Dead Revolver 2, Assassin's Creed 2, etc). It's also an all-new IP with massive potential for growth beyond the core game, keeping it in line with Acti's number one rival, EA, and their big critical movers of last year, Mirror's Edge and Dead Space, both of which were successful new IPs.

In all, there's a fair amount riding on the game performing well and living up to expectations, and it's with just that attitude I went into a hands-on demo with Prototype yesterday, and walked away feeling fairly optimistic about we'll likely see with the end result.



There's a bit of a checklist with modern action games these days, and for the most part, Prototype ticks them all off. Over-the-top free-running: Check. Huge open game-world: Check. Massive amounts of destruction: Check. Zombies (essentially): Check. Anti-hero torn between a thirst for revenge and the moral implications of his actions: Check. Lots of blood: Check.

We weren't really given a great deal of background on the game or character, though there is a three minute back story trailer available (viewable right here on AusGamers). Instead, I was allowed to check out two missions - the first, quite early in the game - is an introduction to some of Alex Mercer's newfound powers, while the second - much further on in the game - showcased both hijacking vehicles and the dual paths you can take to broach mission objectives.

As someone who was experimented on, the games proantangonist, Alex Mercer, has some amazing abilities. He's also the only person seemingly immune to the deadly virus gripping New York. As such, he has the ability to wander about, not only unharmed by the epidemic, but also stronger because of it. The initial action requirements for our first hands-on test were a basic introduction to the game's controls.

Alex can punch infected and civilians alike (which you do will affect your morality), pick them up and throw them, or consume them. Consuming them reveals a bloody beat-down unlike anything I've ever seen. I was informed the game has been awarded an MA 15+, but it must have been a battle to get it through in the state I saw it. But saying that, I'm no blood prude (just check out my MadWorld review), and welcome a game of this nature not only existing, but also making it into Australia unscathed.



Beyond basic combat, Alex also has a contextual run command, sort of similar to Assassin's Creed, only far more forgiving and fun as a result. Basically pulling down on the RT (right trigger) and moving in any direction has our anti-hero cascading to your intended destination, be it forward, sideways or even up. You can run along the walls of buildings and launch off them, or even run directly up them to scale the building (and remember, this game is set in New York, so the buildings are massive). Along the way, any impediments are dealt with in style; Mercer flips over cars, ploughs through hordes of people and generally just does things we all wish we could do in everyday life.

The first mission ended with me having to take down Hunters, which are fairly hardcore. They smack you around like a red-headed step-child if you're not careful, though you can replenish your health by taking out any of the neighbouring infected or innocents. Once an icon above the Hunter's head shifts from blue to red, you can pick them up and consume them, giving you even more power, and some pretty gnarly blades as arms. My last uber-move saw me jamming my fist into the ground to launch a field of deadly spikes that impaled anyone in my immediate area. Very, very cool.

The second mission required a bit more tact and saw Mercer perched on a rooftop. The goal here was to grab a helicopter below being guarded by an entourage of soldiers, and prior to getting in the chopper, I had to be sure to grab the pilot and consume him (you know, Matrix style, so I know how to fly the damn thing).

There were two potential paths for this mission: I could jump down from the rooftop into the guarded area and take on everyone blades 'a slicin', or I could jump down out of sight of the guarded area, attack another soldier in stealth and consume him (you also take on their look and voice), then casually enter the area with much less resistance.

The latter appealed to me more because it's easy to just be gung-ho, even from a design perspective, so I wanted to see how they handled the stealth element of the game (which, again, reminded me a little of Assassin's Creed).



My choice proved a little more difficult because it's thorny to play this game with finesse if you've only had the controller in-hand for 20 minutes or so. But still, after alerting guards through my intended consumption of a soldier, I found a hiding spot (you can tell if you're in trouble with a camera icon displayed as part of your HUD) and waited for the heat to die down. Eventually feeling safe I realised there was no real tactful way to get down from the roof of the massive building I was on without looking at least a bit conspicuous, but then again, the majority of people around me are ostensibly zombies, so it was no real surprise when I didn't trigger any alarms.

Armed with my new persona, I casually entered the guarded area, picked up the pilot, consumed him then in an ensuing hail of bullets, proceeded to commandeer the helicopter - mission accomplished.

Or so I thought. The next phase saw me flying it, which I found marginally easier than flying choppers in GTA IV. You essentially launch with A, and descend with X meaning you're not always having to worry about the analogue movement of up or down. This leaves controlling the bird intricately through buildings a much more palatable affair, and something I thought was much more enjoyable. While flying I was notified I'd learned the ability to skyjack other choppers, though my hands-on demo didn't permit that act. Instead, I was tasked with locating a water tower to scan for infection, because the one that was, was likely hiding a Hunter, and once again, it was my job to take him out.

Unfortunately I died before I could execute my target, and it was demo over.



In all, Prototype feels like a fun game. I mashed my way through most of it, though I could sense a level of depth available to combat for those who want to learn. I'm also hoping the in-game tutorial stuff and intrusive hint system can be switched off, but for the 40-odd minutes I played of the game, I did walk away not only wanting more, but beginning to imagine what the extent of Mrcer's powers might be, and just how free-form the game would be to allow me to utilise said skills.

On a visual level it's looking pretty cool. There's a heck of a lot going on on-screen, and while I found the animation trees not quite as consistent as some of the aforementioned games I used in comparison, Mercer's moves are so over-the-top and ridiculously cool, I didn't really mind.

It's also super bloody, with dismemberment, pummelling and plenty more for the gore freaks out there. In fact, so much so, this almost feels like an enlightened Activsion (though they are also responsible for publishing Soldier of Fortune).

At any rate, so far so good. You have a very strong sense of power represented throughout the experience, which was one of the factors I feared would suffer in an open-world superhero game. Here's hoping the amount of freedom to utilise said power is as open as the game-world seems to be. You can check out more about Prototype from our AusGamers game page.