Although contested in the office, some of us loved the first Prototype, as elbow dropping a tank never gets old. But after playing the new Prototype on the show floor at Comic-Con, we think we’re ready to move on to the sequel and cause some more havoc. And havoc we did cause.
In the demo we played, there was a mode where you could just smash the hell out of everybody and everything on screen. Your new character, Sgt. James Heller (more on him in a few) is just as badass as Alex Mercer and can still pick up vehicles and tear through swarms of people. But he can also shoot out tendrils where he can grab enemies off of rooftop or across the screen and bring them back down so you can tear them apart or throw them around wherever you like. It’s pretty intense.
Just like the first game, this demo was easy to pick up and play and we were mowing down foes like it was going out of style in no time. We lost count of how many people we slayed. There was just so much going on.
What we may be most interested in though with this next installment is the story. And after talking to studio vice president, Dave Fracchia, at Radical Entertainment, we have a lot to get excited about.
For example, did somebody say Prototype vs. Prototype?
Instead of sticking with an overpowered Alex Mercer this time, we’re actually going to be tasked with taking him out with James Heller, who is also super powerful. We actually prefer this. Mercer was powered up to the yin yang by the end of the first game, and for him to lose all his powers and start all over again from the bottom would be ass. This, we like.
Also cool is the three distinct zones in the game of the new, New York Zero setting. There’s the red zone, where the virus has torn the city to hell. There’s the green zone, which is actually probably the safest zone, and the yellow zone, which is the quarantined section of the city. You’re going to get to traverse all of this and probably wreck it with your mighty fists.
There’s also some stealth involved. You’re being watched constantly, so you can’t just walk up to somebody and rip them apart anymore without taking out the person watching you or waiting until they look somewhere else. It adds an element of strategy to the game that we like. Fracchia likens it to being a predator, and we love that idea. Can’t wait to play it.
There are six more months to go, so there still might be a lot in store for us. We’ll be counting down the days.
