Prototype - First Look Preview

Having delivered the 'bread and butter' title Crash of the Titans to a multitude of platforms in the last few weeks, Radical Entertainment's focus now continues on brand new IP, Prototype. Heading to Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC in Summer 2008 the game takes players to the Big Apple herself, and into the body of Alex Mercer - a man with severe amnesia and the rather 'unusual' ability to absorb the memories, abilities, and body of any poor soul that's stands in his way. So he's quite a bit different to Radical's lovable bandicoot.

Back in the days of longer daylight hours when leaves remained on their respective trees and didn't clog street drains with all their decomposing mulch, TVG got a first glimpse at the game that publisher Sierra Entertainment hopes will become merely the beginning of a trilogy.

The enemy within

Currently in development by the same team at Radical that produced The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction in 2005, Prototype is a conglomeration of different ideas with open-world sandbox gameplay, acrobatics, monster-killing, and a story that wouldn't look out of place in a big budget X-Files episode. Following Mercer as he attempts to identify, track, and absorb the memories of over 250 different characters to uncover a forty-year plot (suitably called the 'Web of Intrigue') that reveals who - or what - he is and how he came to have his polymorphing powers. Additional objectives are unveiled as Mercer consumes the correct personnel, though from what we've seen of Prototype a lot of the gameplay seems to boil down into enemy engagements with the military known as the 'Black Watch Special Forces' and the 'Infected'. The Infected are the largely generic, viciously sharp-clawed creatures and were formerly human, now transformed thanks to their exposure to a virus...which Mercer is also infect with.

So does this mean that the semi-Emo form of Mercer will also look like the failed teleport experiment from David Cronenburg's The Fly? Apparently not, as (luckily for him), Mercer seems immune from being totally engulfed by the full effects of the virus, and remains in control of himself. That doesn't mean that all is well with his molecular structure however, as his new found abilities extend beyond Parkour-style acrobatics (let's fact it, some assassin in the 12th Century has already managed that one). In fact, he can manipulate the virus - hence Mercer's ability to bodysnatch - and form his own vicious claws that can perform deadly tricks like slicing and impaling both characters and vehicles from underneath the tarmac.

The crux of being able to morph into anybody on contact and the razor-sharp claws are just two of Mercer's 'unusual' powers, with another two finishing off his routine. Creating armour-plating around his form and protruding spikes from his back are two of his defensive powers, which will no doubt come in handy against bullets and the claws of the Infected. In an almost 'Altair' way, Mercer also has the ability to sense individuals in crowds, though his sensory powers expand to include infrared and night-vision capabilities.

Staying away from sharp objects

Fighting against the two factions will also get a tad more strategic than trying to 'do a Vlad the Impaler' however, with the Black Watch and the Infected more than willing to rip each other to shreds if Mercer is out of the way. Whether this will end up being more than just a show of AI at work remains to be seen, but the integration of diversionary tactics would certainly help to boost the level of thought needed to untangle the web surrounding Mercer's origins.

The streets of Manhattan will also be crowded with military vehicles, enabling players to take control of tanks and attack helicopters alike. In a neat twist, the pilots/drivers of the respective specialist vehicle will have to be absorbed so Mercer knows how to use one of them...he can't just get behind the sticks of an Apache and make a daring raid on the Infected below. At this early stage, like so much about Prototype, how extensive this will prove to be in the final release of the game will have to be seen next summer. Hopefully, Radical will develop the absorption of skills so that there's more involved than just a single button press, cheapening what is an original idea.

Following with the somewhat vogue idea in videogames at the moment, Prototype will feature drop in/drop out two-player co-operative gameplay, allowing players to body-swap across the city with a friend. Radical has at least promised that the co-op will be fully story driven, though hopefully there'll be a sufficient enough explanation to how two people have managed to escape becoming an Infected.