Anger Management! or Prototype?

Well my time with Prototype has come to an end and the game did indeed live up to initial expectations, although the last few sections of Prototype did feel like running straight at a brick wall with araldite (look it up) stuck to your shoes. Prototye has a learning / frustration curve thats near vertical and doesn't come into play till you are around 6 or 7 hours in. By this point you are upgraded to the max and should be able to take on anything that moves - but still - I found myself almost defeated by the basic hunters a little too often.

Now Prototype has the 'sandbox' idea pretty much spot on. If you want to do something here, then - prepare yourself for this - you can. Almost. So, say there is a big ass tank in your way, what would you do? Do you nick it? Do you run past it? Do you blow it up with a rocket launcher? Or do you decide to beat the crap out of it with your bare hands? Personally I liked using the elbow drop attack on the tanks - very effective and very entertaining.

Right after the opening cinematic the whole of New York is an open playground for this kind of mischief with literally thousands of human inhabitants (at the start anyway before they all become 'the infected' or to be honest - zombies) littering the streets ripe for the plucking, or 'consuming' as Prototype likes to call it. Yes - you have a tendency to eat any human / zombie / monster thing going and always more underdone than those burgers at your last barbecue. 'Consuming' folk is a disturbing but required function of Prototype. You need it to survive. You need it to progress. It refuels your health and occasionally you get a little insider info as to what is actually going on.

This leads us nicely in the 'Web of Intrigue', something I'm sure Spiderman has been stuck in a few times. This 'Web of Intrigue' is an integral part of Prototype as this is where you can piece together all of the back story that leads up to why Alex Mercer found himself in a morgue at the beginning of the story. From what I could see there were quite a few 'Web of Intrigue" pieces that I missed. But thats because I was going hell for leather to finish Prototype in the few times for gaming that I get.

The combat in Prototype is really the selling point here. The very first section plays a little like any of the Metroid games in that you have all your powers in a short tutorial section just to get you in the mood. The Wolverine claws are out, the Hulk Smash fists are there, Indy's whip and a generic but damn powerful sword is in there too. Then - just when you get going - Prototype jumps 17 days into the past to the beginning of the infection and you have no powers. Thus starting a quest to 'discover' them all through evolution and one of the most overly excessive upgrade systems I've ever had the misfortune to use. The sheer number of upgrade options that are visible by the end of Prototype is crazy. You really would have to continue playing after the last boss just to unlock them all. Most of which aren't really necessary. You could quite happily finish Prototype with a single weapon - so long as its upgraded to the max. Unless you are feeling sadistic.

All in all Prototype is worth the money. More so if you find it cheap, as there is enough in there with all the side missions and the upgrade options. So if you are after something new as an alternative to anger management there is little to discourage me from recommending Prototype. Unless you haven't already played Wolverine.