Prototype is the latest open world game to hit the big gaming platforms and it’s certainly one of the best we have seen in many ways. Good graphics, incredible gameplay, well done audio, great presentation and some of the highest value we have seen in a while. But the game does have one major issue and that is with the story. The story is decent if you wish to follow it but there is very little reason to since the story is simply not compelling enough to follow and I found myself skipping the movies.

The games story is about Alex Mercer, an amazing shape shifter with incredible powers who can destroy almost everything with ease. The story is told through a series of videos played when you consume the body of some of the important characters in the game to see what they know. You try and discover everything about this infection and how to deal with it and the overall consequences to the city of New York, you and your family.


Gameplay

Prototype is a game of an infection which is spreading across a city and expanding in the lead character. As you level up your powers and gain new ones your speed, strength, abilities and sheer destructive power increases dramatically making you a one man wrecking crew. Some of the abilities include running up the side of buildings, super jump, gliding, power drop, change shape, and turn your arms into different weapons such as hammers, tentacle and blades.

Where Prototype absolutely shines is in its ability to allow the player to cause massive amounts of destruction in tanks, helicopters and even with just your abilities. In the duration of a mission you can kill thousands of civilians, infected and troops, blow up cars, tanks and helicopters and level key buildings. During this destruction smorgasbord of gaming you will notice that you have to keep moving or the well trained troops and the over powered infected can easily knock you down and keep you down but to keep moving is a simple affair with your ability to run up the side of buildings, bound over tanks and cars like nothing and even hijack all of the military based vehicles in the game. There is nothing like driving a tank and destroying thousands of people and hundreds of cars.

Like all standard open world games you do the normal missions, but you also can do challenges such as races, distance and accuracy gliding, specific target destruction and more. You earn a Bronze, Silver and Gold medal for each and if you earn a Gold medal you can redo it and earn a Platinum medal which is an achievement in its self.

There is no multiplayer in Prototype in any form and actually that is ok since I am not sure I could see a use for it since you can easily be destructive solo. Perhaps a basic co-op mode like Crackdowns but the game is great without it.


Graphics

Prototype takes place in New York City and the actual city, buildings, parks and more are all rendered beautifully if not a little too gray at times. The city is almost a character in the game because you can and will often use landmark buildings as you zip across the city to your advantage. But the games overall graphics do suffer from what most games of this type suffer from and that is the over use of the same static and NPC models everywhere and it does bring the entire game down some.

This use of the same models is a requirement of the game type and most gamers do realize that to achieve such a great frame rate some sacrifices need to be made, especially during the massive destruction sequences when hundreds of people and infected are dying, fighting and fleeing all around you. This is where Prototypes graphics shine, in the pure carnage gaming when you can destroy buildings, cars, trucks, tanks, helicopters, infected, non-infected humans and troops, literally killing hundreds in any number of ways and never have the frame rate take a hit. The sheer amount of destruction you can perform is only matched at how fast you can do it with your abilities or one of the vehicles. My favorite way is to hijack a tank and drive over people and cars while blasting everything. Very satisfying in a possible disturbing way in some peoples mind I am sure.


Audio

Prototypes audio is good with some average to excellent voice over work, great environment sound effects and decent music. The music was surprising because I had to make sure I took note of it as I was playing the game. It is so subtle in the end I had my iPod Touch going for some heavy music which is something I like because the music never tries to force itself upon the player and ruin the whole gaming experience in the meantime.


Value

Unlike some of the more recent sandbox games Prototype has one factor which had me hooked for a long time and that was the ability to just simply free roam and cause massive amounts of damage against the infected and the army. Hijacking tanks, helicopters and armored vehicles or just using your impressive powers to lay waste to hundreds of humans, infected and army personnel is such a rewarding feeling I almost would hope the developers would have made this a true mini-game. Prototypes value is high and one of the purely fulfilling gameplay experiences this year.


Bottom Line

Prototype is one of those games that starts out with some horribly boring gaming and seems to take too long (1-1.5 hrs) to get anywhere. But once the game opens up and you can free roam, do missions and the like you begin to see how wonderfully brilliant the destructive gameplay is and as you build up your powers to amazing heights allowing you to do more destruction the game is amazing and satisfying. This is a must buy for action fans.