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PROTOTYPE

Average Customer Rating: 4.0
Release Date: 2009-06-09
Brand:Activision Inc.
Model:83611
Language:Unknown: English;
Weight:0.33 pounds
Dimensions:5.39 inches x 7.56 inches x 0.57 inches
[Width x Length x Height]

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Product description

 

You are the PROTOTYPE, Alex Mercer, hiding in human form. You step out onto the streets of New York with no memory, but limitless power. As a terrifying viral epidemic sweeps across Manhattan, top-secret Black Watch Special Forces move in, transforming it into a war zone. Delve into the mysteries of your origin, the true nature of your power and your part in a conspiracy 40 years in the making.

Prototype is a single player, open-world action game where players take control of shape-shifter Alex Mercer. In this gameworld you literally are a genetic prototype hiding in human form. You step out onto the streets of New York with no memory, but limitless potential power. As a terrifying viral epidemic sweeps across Manhattan, top-secret Blackwatch Special Forces move in, transforming it into a war zone. Delve into the mysteries of your origin, the true nature of your power and your part in a conspiracy 40 years in the making.

'Prototype' game logo
Battling against mutated beast in 'Prototype'
Battle through an infected NYC.
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Using arm/blade weapon in 'Prototype'
Turn your body into a weapon.
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Absorbing the abilities of in-game characters in 'Prototype'
Consume abilities, memories and physical form of others.
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Shooting at helicopter in 'Prototype'
Combat or join special forces units.
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Story
Alex Mercer was once a scientist for the prominent medical research corporation, Gentek, but one day he wakes up to find himself a shape-shifter with absolute mastery over his genetic structure, but no memory of how this came to be. Taking to the streets of New York City in search of answers, he quickly encounters a web of lies and vows to rip the truth from those who have hidden it from him and the world.

A few other things that Alex also learns quickly is that he is not alone in possessing amazing abilities, that there is a secret war brewing in New York City and he is on its front lines. A deadly infection has spilled out of control and the government has seized the media to stop the spread of information and has placed New York under quarantine as martial law is instated; igniting a firestorm of combat, carnage and death. As he roams the city, he faces an ever growing army of infected creatures warped and changed by the virus. As it spreads, the virus overwrites the genetics of those it infects, warping and changing their form into something else, something that seems to have been planned. The answers he seeks appear to be tied to the virus, so he rushes to discover the truth behind it, but standing against him and his goal is Project Blackwatch. An elite army specialist force, they are tasked with halting the spread of the virus at any cost and are eager to bring Alex in dead or alive to determine his connection to it. It would seem that they are potentially both enemy and ally to Alex's cause. Will Alex assist Blackwatch in its hunt, or join forces with the virus and subjugate humanity, pushing his powers to the limit as the genetic shackles of humanity fall by the wayside? That choice is up to the player in Prototype.

Gameplay
In Prototype players engage in 'Deceive or Destroy' gameplay. This allows gamers the choice to either blend in with the population and covertly progress through the story, or fully unleash Alex’s powers, and move through New York City like a walking slaughterhouse, taking control of military vehicles, and causing destruction at every turn.

Although Alex is literally strong enough to fling people and large objects around easily, his most intriguing power is his ability to 'consume' people. In doing this he acquires their memories, abilities, and their appearance. New memories help him to solve the mystery of how he got the way he is, while new appearances allow him to shape-shift into new useful forms at will and abilities allow him to maneuver in parts of the game requiring specific skills in specific situations. In addition, Alex's consumption of people also facilitates his ability to transform his physical body and manipulate his senses. Most weapons acquired in this way are outgrowths from his appendages like exaggerated blades, shields, whips and claws used for brutal close combat, but consumption also allows for powerful abilities like thermal vision, which provides for vision through smoke and obstacles, as well as 'infected vision' with which Alex can detect hotspots of viral infection throughout the city.

Key Features:

  • Fast and Deadly Combat - Shape-shift your body to the situation at hand ... from claws to blades to hammers to whips, as you choose the right weapon for the situation. Change to shield or armor for defense or use advanced sensory powers (thermal vision, infected vision) to track your enemies.
  • Over-the-top Locomotion - Seamlessly and fluidly bound from building to building, run up walls, bounce off cars and everything in your path. Adaptive parkour lets you move freely through the open-world environments of New York City.
  • Unique Disguising Abilities - Consume anyone at anytime, take on their appearance and assume their memories and special abilities.
  • Deep Conspiracy Driven Storyline - Wake up with no memory of the past ... just mysterious powers and a link to a town in Idaho. Delve into the mysteries of your origin, the true nature of your power and your part in a conspiracy 40 years in the making.
  • Parkour Inspired In-game Movement - Alex Mercer's movements are inpired by Parkour, a mostly urban activity bordering on both art and martial arts that aims at moving the human body from one point to another as smoothly, efficiently and quickly as possible. Recent examples of it gained worldwide attention in chase scenes in the 2007 film "Casino Royale."
  • Xbox LIVE Achievements - Collect a wealth of Xbox LIVE achievements and build your gamer score as you play.

Features

  • A deep, conspiracy driven storyline set in a realistic recreation of New York City that delve into the true nature of Alex Mercer's power and his part in a conspiracy 40 years in the making.
  • Fast & deadly shape-shifting combat that allows players to reconfigure body parts into offensive and defensive items like claws, blades, hammers, whips, shields and armor.
  • Use of advanced sensory powers like thermal vision and infected vision to track your enemies and keep the action going.
  • Fluid, over-the-top locomotion & agility based on real-life Parkour movement styles that allows you to bound from building to building, run up walls, bounce off cars and everything in your path.
  • Unique disguising abilities derived from Alex's ability to "consume" characters, and in doing so acquire their appearance, memories and special abilities.
  • Customer reviews


    « The Prototype for mediocrity »
    As a lover of both Crackdown and Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction (same dev as this game), I had high hopes for Prototype. Unfortunately, and beyond all expectation, it turned out to be a mediocre bore of a game.

    The graphics are pretty poor, but I try not to let that bother me. While the gameplay works on a design level -- controls do what they're supposed to -- Prototype just isn't very fun. You may look at videos and screenshots and ask, "How can a game where you're a nasty superhero in an open city be less than awesome?" I couldn't answer that for you, but it's true. The boss battles, combat, and story progression are all sub-standard. Even with the ability to purchase upgrades, nothing really drives you to keep playing. The story is quite weak, in the brooding tough-guy vein.

    Maybe this open-world genre is just getting long in the tooth. Maybe Radical just dropped the ball. Whatever the reason, I really didn't enjoy Prototype, and I wouldn't recommend it over similar games. Wait for Crackdown 2, or pick up the super-cheap and underrated Crackdown 1.
    Rating: (3 out of 5) @ 2010-02-13
    « GTA without the cars. »
    Listen, I love that I can JUMP KICK A HELICOPTER as much as anyone, but frankly, this game is GTA without the emphasis on cars. Sandbox games and everything are neat, but I never care for all the side challenge missions they have.

    Tons of fun and VERY violent, but at the end of the day, just ask if you really like the GTA series, and if you did, pick this up. You won't be dissapointed.
    Rating: (3 out of 5) @ 2010-01-31
    « Super Car throwing 5000 »
    Hmmm, yeah.. The plot in this game is really boring. Marella doesn't even consider this a full-game, it's more like a mini-game based on throwing auto-mobiles with a lame plot thrown in to blind players from what is truly is.

    Marella believes the "idea meeting" for this game went something like this -

    Guy 1 : Wouldn't it be awesome to make a game based on throwing cars?
    Guy 2 : OF COURSE!

    Marella is not to fond of throwing people's cars.. I'm sure their insurance can take care of it, but still.

    Marella gives this game a solid 1/5.
    Rating: (1 out of 5) @ 2010-01-26
    « It's Reach Seems to Have Extended its Grasp »
    I truly believe that if the developers took a few more months to polish it up, [PROTOTYPE] would have been a real jaw-dropper. There are so many moments that the game almost becomes immensely fun to play, but for me, there always seems to be some irritation the prevents the game from really dropping into "5th gear" so to speak.

    I won't rehash the plot. It's a little different and modestly interesting, but the way that it's told, in my opinion, makes it extremely difficult to really immerse yourself in it. The basic idea is that you wake up with amnesia and need to "consume" certain people who are flagged in the city as having a small piece of your memory. Doing this triggers a flash-back and from there, you put together what happened to you. In a nut-shell, it plays like a big jigsaw puzzle. The issue is that you start off knowing so little, that for me, it was difficult to feel like you're understanding what's going on. This lends the game to degenerating into a "run here" "Hit this check-point" "Take out the target" without really understanding why you're doing it. This might be something that certain gamers don't mind, but for me, the style of story-telling was a bit of a turn-off.

    The city itself is a replica of New York City. Unfortunately though, it's really pretty ugly. There not a lot of color or variety and it can make it difficult to just "know" what part of the city you're in just by looking at your surroundings and not checking the map. Think for a second, for comparison's sake, at GTA 4. That game was stone-brilliant at the way it crafted its environment! This definitely is a missed opportunity here. Even the citizens don't have a whole lot of variety to them. You can probably count the number of character models on one hand.

    The graphics are a pretty interesting mish-mosh of above and below average points. On one hand, the frame-rate is absolutely absurd. There are points where there is so much going on that the feeling of complete chaos will be totally and convincingly conveyed. This is one of the things that [PROTOTYPE] is doing really well and it's impressive! On the other hand, on top of a fairly ugly city, the amount of "pop-in" graphics, I thought, was unacceptable. For example, there's a mini-game throughout [PROTOTYPE] that has you collecting these "landmark" and "hint" orbs of light. One of the best ways to accomplish this is to hijack a helicopter and do a fly-over of the city in order to look for them in open-areas or building-tops. The orbs won't show though, unless you're virtually right on top of them. The ability to see objects at a distance is really poor.

    The controls definitely needed work. I had the same complaint about 'Star Wars: The Force Unleashed', but the environment being as destructive as it is, is both a blessing and a curse. There's so much debris to pick up and potentially so many enemies on screen, that in highly-chaotic situations (which is often) it becomes frustrating to try and target the object that you want. I could be mistaken, but the AI seems to default to selecting artificial targets for me to attack, regardless of distance. So lets say I'm in the middle of a war-zone and I'm being besieged by both tanks and a bunch of these mutant hunter-things. If I just hit the "target-lock" button, it'll default to selecting the tank, NOT the monsters that are directly in front of me and beating me senseless. That extra second or two it takes to get the targeting correct makes a huge difference in maintaining your character's health on the higher difficulty levels. The other thing about the targeting is that it's being controlled on the same joy-stick that controls your camera. This isn't doing you any favors when you feel you have a good angle on the action ...

    Where [PROTOTYPE] really becomes a game worth checking out though, is your super-powers and your ability to upgrade them! There's a ton of really cool stuff that'll keep you playing just for the chance to unleash some of these beauties! Organic blades, whips, Hulk-like biceps and fists, full body armor, a shield, the ability to glide ... [PROTOTYPE] has got it all! It's wildly fun to drop yourself in a military base (for example) and just go bananas, you really start to feel invincible! Conceal your identity by absorbing a military officer and sneak into a military base. You can then turn around and take an APC, tank, or helicopter for whatever use you please. Wreaking havoc is what you gain experience from, and that's how you earn the ability to upgrade your powers. It's all very cool and a lot of fun!

    It's just frustrating that a lot of, what I felt were, missed opportunities here were totally fixable, if the proper time was just taken to do it. Whether it was because of time or money, I was left with the impression that [PROTOTYPE]'s designers really wanted to do more then they were ultimately able to. I'd still have no reservation about giving it a thumbs up though, especially now that it's been released for a while. I'm not sure it was worth fifty or sixty dollars, but at this point you should be able to grab a copy at a price that's more then fair.
    Rating: (3 out of 5) @ 2010-01-05
    « Underrated Game. I think everyone should give this a try. »
    I have no idea why people are complaining about the look of this game. The cutscenes in this game are some of the best I've ever seen in terms of visual. Actually, I can not name a single other game that had a single cutscene more visually impressive that [Prototype]'s opening. I remember as a kid, I used to have Ninja Gaiden for the NES and used to watch that opening cutscene hudred's of times (And speaking with several other gamers I'm not the only one). This game has an opening scene just as "epic" for it's time.

    Now the graphics in game are not shoddy by any means. Watching New York City from a skyscraper is amazing. So detailed...this game is just gorgeous. I've played almost every "Big" Game for the xbox360, and this game is just so visually impressive.

    PROS
    + The game is gorgeous. Visuals are just amazing.
    + Controls are pretty easy to pick up, and there are a TON of moves to do, however it's not too much to confuse you.
    + Difficulty: Now, this might be a con to some of us... I've gotta mention that this is one of the hardest games I've ever had to play. There are 3 modes (Easy, Normal and Hard. You unlock Hard mode after beating Normal difficulty), and doing it on Normal was very hard. This game is so fast paced, you need to think on the fly, and one tiny mistake can and probably will lead you into death.

    Cons
    - Campaign: The story is a bit confusing, and it doesn't really all make too much sense until you capture all the memories. The Protagonist; Alex Mercer, has some sort of Amnesia, and to recover from it, he kills certain people and "consumes" them, to unlock a memory.
    - No Multiplayer: There is absolutly no multiplayer on this game. No co-op, no matchmaking, nada, zip, zilch, nada. Just like Batman:Arkham Asylum, if you play this game you will understand why there is no multiplayer...I can't imagine what type of multiplayer could be done for this. However it is 2010 now, it's something the general public "expects" nowadays.


    The achievements aren't that difficult with prior planning. It's not too easy, and it's definitly not impossible. This is a game where if you max it out, kudos shall be given. Some of the harder achievements require you to beat the game without dying, beating the game on hard, getting a platinum on all events (These are like...mini-games, where how well you do gets you a medal; platinum being the highest). Definitly an obtainable 1000, but you might break a controller or two.

    This game has almost no flaws. Had the story been better, this game would be considered one of the best games of the year. This game also has no multiplayer as mentioned above. So, due to the fact that there is no MP, is there any replay value? This game is a lot of fun, I personally love moving around the city, running around, jumping, gliding, etc...After you beat the story, and get the achievements you want, there is little replay value to this. It's a fun title that I feel everyone should play at least once, but with all the games out there with addictive MP, this won't stay in your Xbox/PS3 for too long.
    Rating: (5 out of 5) @ 2010-01-02
    Quantity:
    List Price: $39.99
    Our Price: $28.44 (Save $11.55)
    Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days