Topic: Prototype

[KDR_11k]

I got the game a few days ago (ordered it from a UK store because it's WAAAAAY cheaper over there, 45€,60$ instead of 70€,100$, they sent me a Korean copy which was o_O but worked well anyway) and it's a ton of fun. Reviews are mixed and I can imagine it getting somewhat repetitive depending on how you play. Yahtzee's criticisms of the combat are spot on, most of the other attack powers are only of limited use, in part because switching is just so uncomfortable (you have to use the right analog stick) so you're going to stick with one and the extend-o tentacle just seems to be the most versatile one... Of course that doesn't stop you from using the others just for fun (and sometimes they're better at some tasks as well, the tentacle is just the best allrounder), just like you can use dropped weapons for some fun or actually bother with maintaining stealth instead of simply slaughtering everyone that comes along. The game certainly lets you take many different approaches to situations and manages to make stealth actually fun (in part because the stealth attack tells you when someone is looking and refuses to trigger instead of blowing your cover because you didn't notice that one guard waaaay over there). It's a bit strange how slowly climbing up a wall raises suspicion quickly while just hitting dash and running up doesn't bother anyone at all but generally the guards seem a bit thick when it comes to realizing who you are...

Anyway, it's one of those zero-consequence open world games where you can just pull any nonsense you feel like, whether performing cannonballs into crowds of onlookers or stealth killing an entire army base's staff one by one (BTW, you don't get the EP bonus for doing that so once there's only one guard left make sure to blow your cover and use regular combat).

I like the alert system too since it actually tells you when people see you and when your suspicion rating is going up instead of slapping a wanted star on you when it's way too late.

What stood out the most for me though was the unnecessary level of violence. You can cut people in half horizontally or vertically with very graphic results but it seems like gore for gore's sake, the game certainly isn't consistent when it comes to hit effects, while people just get ripped apart anything with more hitpoints causes the usual videogame effects that are only missing a text like "crack!" and "pow!" to look entirely cartoony. Big enemies just ragdoll and fall to the ground, no matter how massive an explosion killed them so I really don't get why they had to add elaborate gibbing mechanisms to the humans and drive the rating of the game up that way. While Prototype was strangely available from Amazon here it didn't show up in stores and got a rating refused so it's definitely hurting its marketability with that unnecessary violence (of course the whole consume and kill mission stuff may also have been enough to trigger that). Especially with the way the blood sprite looks just plain cartoony... Anyway, it's enough fun that they could have replaced the bystanders with puppies or kittens and it wouldn't have hurt it in any way.

The graphics look pretty meh in many parts, strange specularity on people and the blocky buildings of modern cities don't help much, the pre-rendered parts have pretty ugly hair and lighting effects too. The large number of people onscreen at least justifies the platform choice but some of these things could've been improved without a performance hit... At points I was missing Red Faction's building destruction but that was mostly in a tank...

Overall it's great fun that lets you do whatever you feel like.

[bustin98]

If you have played the Incredible Hulk, you have played this game.

[Peachylala]

What stood out the most for me though was the unnecessary level of violence.

And in this era of gaming, is this surprising? I don't think so.

[broodwars]

I've thought about picking this game up a few times, but honestly I already own Infamous so I don't see any real reason to pick this up.  Yeah, the combat's much more extreme.  Whatever.  If I got bored of the whole Open World thing playing Infamous (I'm still halfway through that game), I don't see myself suddenly finding it interesting again with Prototype.  Well, that and the enemies in Infamous are just so frickin' cheap with their sniper AK-47s on top of rooftops.

Besides, I have something of a ban on Activision right now (on the games I would play like Prototype, anyway) for all the shenanigans they're pulling right now with Brutal Legend and the company that's making that Scratch game.

[Rize]

I find this game nothing like inFamous.  I found it far more fun first of all.  InFamous is ultimately a shooter, whereas prototype features a hard to describe combat system.  Whatever attack you're using, you usually lock on to your target before executing it.  The attacks cover a range of melee and weapon attacks, but without manual aiming even the ranged attacks feel nothing like inFamous.  It's far more visceral.

I never got bored of the open world in Prototype because the entire world is open from the beginning.  It's not like in most open world games where after you play a third of the game they let you into a new area that looks almost identical to the first area.  You're never thinking about opening up new parts of the world, but rather opening up new abilities for the character.  Side missions are shamelessly pointless (i.e. they're not even remotely related to the story, instead being purely designed as fun tests of your combat, movement or stealth abilities).

Let me repeat myself: Prototype is way more fun than inFamous

Also, it may be possible that you're not getting much more out of this if you already played the Hulk game last gen (I skipped it), but surely the game is far more polished and has a lot more depth. 

Did anyone actually play both of them (at least half way through) or are we just talking out of our ass?

[Dirk Temporo]

I've thought about picking this game up a few times, but honestly I already own Infamous so I don't see any real reason to pick this up.

It's like you really go out of your way to be an ignorant prat.

User was warned for this post. Personal Insult. ~Pale

[broodwars]

I've thought about picking this game up a few times, but honestly I already own Infamous so I don't see any real reason to pick this up.

It's like you really go out of your way to be an ignorant prat.

It's like you go out of your way to be a troll.  Next!

[Dirk Temporo]

All you ever do is complain and make baseless claims about things you've never experienced, without any regard for whether or not what you're saying actually has any weight or truth behind it whatsoever.

Now tell me again. Who's the troll here?

[broodwars]

All you ever do is complain and make baseless claims about things you've never experienced, without any regard for whether or not what you're saying actually has any weight or truth behind it whatsoever.

Now tell me again. Who's the troll here?

I don't believe I've made any "baseless claims" about Prototype.  I said that I played Infamous, and that pretty much satiated my interest in Open World games for a while, and I didn't see Prototype as all that different save for a more extreme combat focus.  And you know what?  If you have such a problem with me, then here's an idea: don't post anything.  I don't particularly care what you think, and you don't particularly care what I think.  That's leave it at that.

[Dirk Temporo]

You basically said "Prototype and Infamous are the same game" which is fundamentally wrong. In terms of gameplay, the two games are absolutely NOTHING alike, except that they have open worlds.

[Enner]

If you have played the Incredible Hulk, you have played this game.

Mostly true. It's a bit disappointing that there's a lot of carry over in the combat system and military response from Hulk: UD to Prototype. However, there are quite a few new wonderful additions that Prototype has for the Ultimate Destruction formula. One is the different selection of attack and protective powers that provide more variety. Second is the disguise power that creates some fun stealth play. Third is the war between military and infected that you can participate in through the disguise power. Fourth is the ability to use guns and military vehicles. Perhaps only a replacement for Hulk's weaponizations, but rolling around in a thermobaratic tank is satisfying.

This is a minor point, but the amount of pedestrians, soldiers, vehicles, and infected that can be on the screen at any given time is really impressive. I guess that's where most of the graphical horsepower went and it really pays off to have Times Square full of people. Alive or otherwise.

[broodwars]

You basically said "Prototype and Infamous are the same game" which is fundamentally wrong. In terms of gameplay, the two games are absolutely NOTHING alike, except that they have open worlds.

No, I heavily insinuated that they are very similar, so similar in fact that I don't see the point in playing one when I already got bored playing the other.  Yeah, they have their differences in terms of story presentation; combat intensity; and variety of superpowers, but let's close this argument here, shall we?  It's drifting far off-topic and into the land of personal.

[Pale]

Let's try and discuss the differences (or lack there of) between the two games like civilized people.  While it could be argued that 'ignorant' isn't a personal insult... 'prat' definitely is. (I had to look it up.)

[Rize]

Broodwars, except if you haven't actually played Prototype (or at least Hulk Ultimate Destruction) you don't really have any idea what you're talking about.  They're both open world games where you play a "super hero".  The similarities end there.  The gameplay of each game is about as different as possible otherwise.  InFamous has no stealth element for example.  It's impossible to go under the radar and stop all those pricks from shooting at you.  That alone drastically changes the feel of Prototype (for the better).

I also used to think I couldn't tolerate open world games, but it turns out I was playing all the wrong ones.  I really enjoyed Red Faction and Prototype.  I forced myself to go through inFamous and I've never once finished a GTA game.

btw, I would say Red Faction was better than both Prototype and inFamous.

[Pale]

To be fair inFamous has some stealth... but it isn't very good.

At least early in the game, gang member won't shoot at you unless you use electricity in some form.  This seems glitchy but it does work to some extent.  Problem is, its almost impossible to do anything without using electricity.

Also, there are stealth missions where you have to tail a gang member until they drop a package.  These are by far the absolute worst part in the game though. =P

[Rize]

haha, basically I meant stealth as in a way to got those bastards to stop shooting at you while you're exploring.  that's just not the way the game is set up though.

even when you clear out parts of the city by doing side missions, you can still find enemies on the ground and enemies in neighboring non-cleaned sectors wills till shoot you from the roof.  it's maddening except on easy mode you can mostly just ignore the bullets if you keep moving.

[GoldenPhoenix]

I've been tempted to get this since inFamous let me down. We'll see!

While it may not be true that the gameplay is similar, on the outside it looks like both games were released too close together. Open world games tend go a long ways and you don't need them back to back.

[Rize]

Tell that to the main that played Red Faction, Prototype and inFamous back to back!

The only one I really wanted to go back and play more of was Red Faction.  And I did blaze through inFamous a second time as an evil character, but I skipped all side missions and finished the game in two short sessions.

[Ymeegod]

Well there's a mix-bag of good and bad in the game. 

I loved the speed of the game (you can fly from one object to the next and the animation is smooth).  Yeah there's not alot of small detail in the building, people, ect but there's also not alot of load points so it balances out.

The gameplay did suffer from "glitches" because I too had a hell of a time switching between weapon modes.  Each time I switched forms I went back to standard (no form) and had to quickswitch to the form I just selected from the RB menu.  Didn't enjoy that to much so I ended up using mostly just the one form (I picked stone fist one until the sword one was unlocked).   But mostly I used the "cannonball" ability which made the later missions alot easier (you could rocket yourself to helicopters and then instead of destroying them, hijack them instead).

Still enjoyed the game even with its flaws.

[KDR_11k]

You can use the extend-o-tentacle to quickly grab a heli and hijack it without damaging it, the cannonball was powerful enough to one-hit helis most of the time when I used it or can you somehow cancel out of the attack into a grab?

[Ymeegod]

Yeah you could just cancel the attack.  The cannonball was great at targetting them and give you they additional distance you needed (for some reason I could cannonball like 100+ feet easily).