What does Prototype 2 have in common with old school Steven Seagal and should you get it ?..answers inside.
You see, much like it's predecessor, the game is forgettable. In fact a good 6 months from now if you walk into a store and ask the gum chewing chick wearing the over sized company t-shirt for this game there's a good chance you're going to get that "wth is this guy talking about" look.
Seriously, there's probably nothing in this game that will stick with people for very long. That partially has to do with the story and setting. There's not much of a story to enjoy, it all starts with a cutscene of your character Heller, a US Marine Sergeant making an oversees call to his wife and child. This in an attempt to connect you to the character and make you want to dish out the hurt even more when things (ofcourse) turn sour.
If this sounds familiar, you've probably seen the first Transformers movie, the trailer for Medal of Honor and the 48 other movies and games that used it. In fact if I was a real life marine in 2012, I'd give serious thought to stop calling home just to avoid awkward cliches. To top things off the game once again takes place in NY City....wait...., didn't I just save this place wearing a nanosuit??".
At this point you might be wondering why I rated the game an 8.5 regardless.
You also might be wondering how our good friend Steven Seagal fits in the picture. Well it's simple really. You see old school Steven Seagal wasn't much of a storyteller either, he also didn't care much for originality in his movies. Ex-cia, ex-seal, ex-cop ex-whatever. He's always the same character and the titles of his films are freely exchangeable.
What he does do exceptionally well though is kick people faces in and break off limbs at will, in fact he's one of the best at it. He's so overly powerful and skilled that in his earlier movies at least, he looked completely believable clearing out gritty bars and nightclubs. It was awesome seeing him break some bully's arm before sending him through a wall head first. Or how about that biker dude in that bar where he wrapped an 8-ball in a handkerchief and knocked the dudes teeth out. It was graphic, completely over the top but oh so sweet.
Enter Prototype 2...
Your character Heller, over the course of the game, becomes so insanely powerful and skilled you can't help but feel like a badass. Dodging incoming projectiles and oversized monsters. Throwing cars or soldiers into choppers, slamming tanks or just simply free running over buildings; it's all a fantastic time !
What helps things greatly is the completely believable setting in which this mayhem all takes place. Up to 30-40 npc's crowd the screen at any given time, streets are filled with endless lines of vehicles, helicopters fly over and trash and debris litters the streets. It may again be New York but it's easily the most detailed rendition of post apocalyptic streets I've seen in any game I can remember. For a sandbox game, that's quite an achievement. Everything you do impacts the world around you with large groups of civilians running and screaming as you lay destruction upon street furniture, cars, military hardware, soldiers and oversized creatures alike.
The AI is also pretty decent for a sandbox game. Walk along with the general public and enemies won't notice you, do a couple of 30 ft. vertical leaps and they'll start paying attention to you and come in for closer inspection. Throw a vehicle into some people and all hell breaks loose, enemies fire at you, about 30-40 civilians run around screaming, the music picks up, it looks and sounds great and really makes you feel like your one scary dude.
Now about that all important question and probably the reason your reading reviews on the game:
Should you get Prototype 2 ?
That depends really. If your the type of person that likes to unwind after a hard day's work by holding a controller and mess around a bit in a sandbox game, this game was made for you. Stop reading and get it now.
If you like deep emotional rpg's and have an interest in the story after that trailer, you'll likely be very disappointed. If gaming to you is a social event first and you like to put on a headset and dish out some online pain with your friends in online shooters then there's nothing for you here either.
Prototype 2 won't stick with you the way other games have, but that doesn't mean it isn't a highly entertaining romp through one of the most believable and intricately detailed open worlds you've played this generation.
EDIT: btw for those interested. I've had both versions of the game, 360 and PS3 run side by side on identical monitors and was surprised to see the PS3 clearly edging the 360 version.
Multiplatform titles typically tend to favor the Microsoft machine. However this is not the case here.
The 360 version frequently tears in the upper half of the screen and has a weird "striping" artifacting on the building textures. Stranger still is the unstable framerate in the 360 version. I installed the game to the 360 HDD to see if it would improve things but it didn't. The issues aren't game breaking but the game looks and runs noticably cleaner on the PS3 if you have the choice.