The new protagonist, Sgt. James Heller.
The opening scenes of Prototype 2 have got a lot of blood in them. The sequel to Radical Entertainment’s open-world, anti-superhero video game, Prototype, promise to improve on the first game with more skills, features and a much-deserved Mature rating.
Mashable got a chance to try out the first couple missions of the game and experiment with a fully-powered main character as part of a special demo from Activision, the game’s producer.
The Story
[No major spoilers were shown save for some background info on the main character]
Prototype 2 takes place 14 months after the first game and the threat of a bio-weapon virus has racked New York (now called “New York Zero”). The hero from the first game, Alex Mercer, is the new bad guy. Infected with a virus, he was given strange superpowers like the ability to glide through the air, shoot organic tendrils from his body or even consume other humans to assume their appearance.
Mercer is blamed for a new outbreak of the same virus and New York has been broken up into three zones: Green (government lockdown), Yellow (medical quarantine) and Red (total f-cking chaos).
The player is thrown into the Red zone as Sgt. James Heller and the virus has run rampant with bodies and bio-mutations growing over the buildings. Heller and his military squad are attacked by Mercer who infects Heller and leaves him for dead. Heller is recovered by the government and turned into a bio-weapon against his will after showing an unnatural ability to fight the virus.
Mercer helps break Heller out of the medical facility and tries to convince him that the whole virus is a government plot. Fair enough, but Heller also blames Mercer for the death of his wife and kid who were both killed by an attack from infected civilians.
The game is all about Heller’s quest for revenge as he tries to figure out exactly who — Mercer, the government, or something else — is to blame.
New Features
The player assumes control of Heller as he’s wandering through the Yellow zone coming to grips with his new bio-powers and avoiding government and military patrols looking to take him in. All of the game’s powers return, such as the ability to consume enemies for health, new costumes and even plot points (absorbing certain enemies grants you their memories). Players can also turn their hands into giant blades or hardened fists, shoot tendrils from their bodies like webbing, or even cause bio-spikes to shoot up from the ground.
Players can now assign two of these powers to hot buttons allowing them to chain together bio powers with standard kicks, punches and picked up items such as guns. This adds another layer to combat and lets players fight in their own way (range vs. brute force, etc.). Emphasis has been put on special moves and finishers as opposed to exhaustive move lists and complex button inputs. The skills and powers can be leveled up throughout the game.
The team also wanted Heller to feel more like a hunter, preying on targets. To wit, the character as a sonar-like ability that allows him to track down key enemies and goals by sending out a biological pulse, of sorts.
Gameplay
We had a chance to test out some of Prototype 2‘s new powers and moves as a fully-evolved Heller fighting all manner of militia. The game’s combat feels similar to that of Batman: Arkham City: Moves have an appropriate heft and weight from punching out guards to ripping cannons off of tanks. The game can feel like button mashing thanks to the streamlined controls but variety comes in mixing and matching special abilities and powers to adjust to situations. The combat is surprisingly deep and rewarding regardless of your ability.
Non-combat sections focus more on surveying your surroundings and blending in then the high-wire parkour of the first game. It’s clear the team took some notes from the Assassin’s Creed series but the game still feels all its own.
Verdict (So Far)
It’s too early to tell if the game can keep up the tension and narrative pace through the whole experience. The opening missions give a promising look at the new face of Prototype and the combat feels good. The game didn’t blow us away but its clear Radical Entertainment is swinging for the fences.
Is Prototype 2 going to hit it out of the park or does it sound like just more of the same? Let us know in the comments below.
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