Prototype is one among my favourite games. It has been since it ever first appeared and I was so fascinated by the brilliant game mechanics. It was like a combination of different games or different game heroes and villains. You have the massive hulk like hands to thrash the enemies and send them up or you can just have the Wolverine like claws to tear enemies apart. There is a blade which is like – um, nothing but which is so cool to play around with. There is still much more to do in Prototype than in any other standard adventure games of those times. I loved each and every minute of it playing as Alex Mercer, the superhuman who is fast, agile, strong and cool at the same time. Moreover, the entire storyline was very well paced and the flow of the story could be felt. Prototype didn’t fail to keep up the difficulty of the game too.
Prototype 2, the successor of the Prototype series from Activision is yet another action/adventure game which tries to fit in the same experience Prototype gave us but wasn’t able to fully restore the experience. In Prototype 2, you play as James Heller, a military sergeant looking to avenge the death of his family by finding and killing Mercer who appears to have turned to a villain in this game. Well, I was really sad on that. I loved Alex Mercer a lot and he is one of my favourite game characters. It is quite awful to see an ex-hero turn into a villain. He was so cool and they could’ve found another guy to take that place. So much for their sympathy. Anyways, Alex is villain and Heller is turned to one of the infected by Mercer. With his newfound powers, Heller seeks his family killers and finally finds himself in front of Mercer and eventually kills Mercer (sort of). That’s the story-in-short of Prototype 2. Before moving further, let’s take a look at what made the game interesting and what failed to raise its popularity.
What I enjoyed while playing
The same killer style action is present in Prototype 2 with a few stuff missing like the Armour (well, I never used it anyways in Prototype). There isn’t any extra power to replace Armour unless for a vine whip sort of thing other than the original whip. Rest is the same. Activision killed the upgrades section and auto upgrades Heller’s moves and skills with increase in levels. This sorted out a lot of ambiguity present in Prototype but I feel they should’ve miniaturized the upgrades section rather than dissolving it. Gaming atmosphere seems fine like Prototype. A lot of mini-missions are also presented in Prototype 2 rather than just infiltrating bases and infected cores that was seen in Prototype.
There is also a new skill through which Heller can call for help from infected beasts. This helped me quite a bit during battles. However, always keep a close watch on these guys as the army keeps getting tougher and tougher when you summon them to the scene. All in all, they are a good cover for you to escape from the scene or get through the access point as the enemies turn their eyes onto the monsters. The visuals and audios are colourful and are on track for building a beautiful graphical gaming atmosphere. I was able to put the settings to max and still play the game smoothly with very minor lags here and there. The stunning visuals won’t be killing your system as the game is fine tuned. Last but not the least, there is the epic carnage Prototype offers and brilliant action and violence that fits your patience. However, those who are not normally used to extreme gaming violence won’t be treating the game pleasantly. As always, this is not the game for you.
The misses and the Letdowns
One thing that frustrated me was the annoying camera controls which took me a while to figure it out. It’s not as smooth as seen in Prototype. Movement too suffers due to this annoying problem. Storyline is quite flat – you just kill this guy that guy and so on and finally kill Mercer. End of the story. I sought for a twist which I found nowhere. Heller is not as cool as Alex and so is his appearance and costume. Moreover, I’m sure that Prototype 2 is a lot simpler than Prototype having very weak bosses during each section. Even Mercer could be dealt easily in the final battle (I just used the hammer fist and sent him up and down a few times marking his death). Game’s difficulty is poor as you can easily finish off the game. Prototype had a great amount of fine bosses with whom I spent a lot of time and had an excellent difficulty balance. Prototype 2 misses that greatly. A few more tougher and challenging bosses should’ve been there which could’ve nulled the dull storyline.
Verdict
All in all, Prototype 2 is just an evolved Prototype and there is nothing new about it. Even if a Prototype 3 appears, this one won’t be making a big miss for the whole series if you skip playing this as there’s not much great gameplay in it nor any nice story that fills your moods. This one’s strictly for the diehard Prototype and action/adventure fans with an extra bit of violence.