An incredibly fun and interesting game that shouldn't be missed by any action fan.
User Rating: 9 | Prototype X360
This is a game I had been anticipating for a while and despite some minor nitpicks I had, it was well worth the wait. You play a Alex mercer, who wakes up in a morgue with no memories. This leads to one of the games strong suits, the story. Starting the game knowing as much as the character (nothing) and having the mystery of what happened to Alex and cause of the infection slowly reveal it's self over the course of the game is a very effective and interesting way to tell the story. Also adding to the story is the web of intrigue, a system where you absorb characters to learn what they know. There are over 130 of these targets and each add a small but important piece of information to the very intricate story. Another strong suit of this game is the combat. In a similar fashion to Hulk: ultimate destruction or Crackdown, you start the game fairly weak and slowly become more powerful. There are tons of different powers at your disposal, all of them useful in there own way. For example, slicing through soldiers with your blade, then smashing a tank with an elbow slam then grabbing a helicopter with the whip fist, all of this done fluidly and easily in quick succession. Movement is also very well done. By holing the right trigger Alex will run and automatically jump over or avoid anything in his path. Combine this with all of his movement related abilities like super jumps and gliding and you can cross the city in no time at all. Another interesting feature is the addition of stealth gameplay. Consuming an NPC will let you disguise yourself as him, allowing players to tackle missions in a less direct but just as fun way. Aside from the main story missions, there are also a ton of side missions. There are a good variety of mission types and they are all fun and bite sized.
I did have some problems with this game however. For one, it's not the prettiest game out there. Alex himself and some of the enemies look good but the city overall is bland and forgettable. After 20 hours of playing this game I still couldn't tell where I was in the city based on looking at my surroundings, it all looked the same. Also, another small nitpick, the web of intrigue, while very interesting, is almost overused. Keeping track of and remembering over 130 small bits of story info is difficult even for the best of us. If they had cut it down to 50 or 60 larger and more important pieces of story it would have been a lot easier to follow.
Overall this is an amazing and incredibly fun game. None of the nitpicks I had with the game get in the way of the enjoyment of the game. Anyone who likes a good action game can't afford to miss this game.
