Still a Prototype.
Radical gives us [Prototype]. Is it enough of an open world superhero game to get our nod?
Published: August 3, 2009
At large it definitely is no technical disaster but also not the most beautiful open world game out there. At times [Prototype] even manages to attract crowds of interested people that want to catch a glimpse of you playing. It's less due to the graphics and more due to the pure insanity of the displayed violence. Consuming someone looks awesome and gross at the same time. Doing so with a different main power turned on results in a variety of animations of which every single one is more disturbing than the one before it. [Prototype]'s violence is a fest for matured superhero fans. And yes, the game earns its mature rating dearly.
Also problematic are the superpowers themselves. While they are mostly fun to try out and experiment with, none of them are really necessary for the completion of a mission (aside from the consume move of course). In theory you could just get the blade power and ignore the other main powers completely. It would have been much wiser to build missions around certain powers. Instead most missions seem uninspired and unoriginal. The connection between the powers, the story and the mission is again missing almost entirely. That's wasted potential, pure and simple. While playing the game I couldn't resist the feeling that the designers could have solved many problems with a few intense brainstorming sessions. inFAMOUS is a great example of superpower integration into the plot and the missions. It's far from perfect but Radical could have used some of their design choices for [Prototype]. Instead their superhero epic often feels like a bunch of great ideas on its own that never really care to work together in order to complement the bigger picture.
In the end [Prototype] is still a great game that's a lot of fun to play and a good choice if you're looking for something new to toss into your console in this summer's video game drought. Everyone should at least have given it a chance once this summer. And despite my criticism I am still very excited about the fact that this is a new ip with a ton of potential and I really hope that [Prototype 2] will fulfill all my violent superhero action game fantasies. Until then I will have to look elsewhere for the full dose of satisfaction. [Prototype] is just too much of a snack and not enough of a meal. It is very much like today's summer blockbusters, or a Michael Bay flick to be more precise. It's packed with a ton of great explosions and fast action and yet it's just (a little) too shallow for the average hardcore gamer to fall in love with.
I am sure there are people out there that think [Prototype] is one of the best games of the year, but to me it just is not polished enough to deserve that much praise. Half a year more production time and some minor yet drastic changes could have made it a much better game, I'm certain about that. And again, I can't deny that the game is very entertaining at times. Yet in the end I have to toss out a verdict and tag it with a score. And as you can see beneath this article I couldn't give it the score I wanted [Prototype] to get. That's a damn shame with such gigantic potential.
