Prototype is an open-world action adventure game that seems to test the very boundaries of videogames as we know them. Unfortunately it doesn’t manage to break all these boundaries successfully but, despite its shortcomings, it’s a hell of a good romp.

You play as Alex Mercer, a genetically modified shapeshifter, who wakes up on a morgue table and sets out to find the truth behind his past, no matter what the cost and no matter who dies. Mercer can use his shapeshifing abilities to consume anyone who dares to cross his path, assuming not only their physical likeness but absorbing their powers, skills and, perhaps more importantly, their memories too.

Mercer targets certain individuals to acquire their memories, told through well-crafted memory-flashbacks, and slowly begins to piece together the truth behind the infection that is running rampant through quarantined Manhattan. You will face opposition from not only the Blackwatch Military, who will relentlessly pursue you regardless of who or what gets in the way, but will also have to keep a look out for the Infected, the unlucky members of the population who have been exposed to the virus and are turning into mutants.

Shapeshifting is not the only ability that Mercer boasts, he can also sprint fairly lethally up the street, crushing anyone who happens to cross his path, and straight up any building as well. There really is something to be said for the freedom that running vertically up any building offers you in a game. Alex’s giant jump ability runs hand-in-hand with this, he can jump from the top of a skyscraper, plummet to the ground and the only damage he will cause is a large crater in the earth. He also has the ability to glide after a jump so that you can soar between buildings with ease and arrive at your destination much quicker if you choose to.

I will admit that when I first started playing the game, all I did was run up buildings and jump from the top to see the huge destruction I could cause. That and run down the street causing cars and trucks to first hoot then swerve to avoid me, crashing into each other, or simply crushing them by jumping on top of them. You will also begin to realise that you don’t really care who you kill, innocent or guilty, they will all die in your quest to find out who you are and keep your health bar regenerating.

It is here when you will first start to notice the incredible attention to detail – run into a tree and it shatters, run down the street and people start to scream as you push them out the way. You will also begin your exploration of the island – players are free to explore as they please and the sky is the limit here. You will find yourself marveling at the sheer size of the game environment, yet never lost in the massive open-world thanks to a useful pointer and map system.

The control system of the game is very intuitive. Initially you will have a few basic commands to wrap your head around, square and triangle to attack or consume, X to jump and circle to pick up and throw objects. Hold down the left trigger button to target and the right trigger to sprint. As you progress in the game and upgrade your skills, you will learn more commands but they are all relatively easy to remember albeit a bit challenging as the amount of commands increase.

Alex is a pretty lethal opponent in a battle. Just as well because he will be forced to fight against wave after wave of Blackwatch personnel, crowds of the Infected and of course the formidable Hunters. And this is all before the Strike Team gets called in, bringing with it helicopters and a quicker, more deadly military force all intent on taking Alex down, dead or alive.

You will soon learn that Blackwatch sees Alex only as target Zeus and because of this is prepared to send the entire military after him. You will be pursued persistently by military men, tanks and even helicopters. Although it can be fairly simple for Alex to destroy one tank, it soon becomes necessary for him to hijack a tank and fight fire with fire when a number of tanks join the fight. There’s nothing quite as satisfying as hijacking a tank before using it to blow up half the city. Oh wait, there is…hijacking a helicopter to turn the fire power against your enemies from the sky.

Consuming people and taking on their identity can prove to be particularly helpful when you need to gain access to restricted areas. To do this you may need to target the officer in charge, consuming him to take on his identity before using his disguise to walk into the new area.

However, you soon learn that consuming people in the middle of the street can be somewhat risky. Not only will you alert the Blackwatch to your presence, but you will no doubt soon be pursued relentlessly by the Strike team as well. You can either grab a target and move towards a less-public area to consume him and assume his identity, or you can master the stealth consume to ensure that no one raises the alarm and your consumption goes undetected.

It’s not all as easy as assuming a disguise and waltzing into a base either, most bases have sensors which can detect if Alex is wearing a disguise and will alert the Blackwatch to your presence within seconds. This adds an element of strategy to the game, and stealth too, because you will have to sometimes blend in as a member of the crowd to bring you closer to the base undetected before assuming another disguise of a military man to infiltrate it. Oftentimes running in guns blazing will do more harm than good and you will have to fight off the Strike team and Blackwatch before you can proceed with your mission. This balance between gun fights, strategy and sneaking is great because it means the gameplay is varied.

Players will also face a number of choices in the game, for example when a Strike team gets called in you can choose to evade or defeat them. Evading them may sound like the simple solution but when they have helicopters in the sky circling to find you and a number of men trained to be quicker than ordinary Blackwatch members, it becomes a slightly different story. Personally I found it way more fun to blast up as much of the military and city as I could, adding to my military expenditure cost at the end of the mission, but whatever you do if you do it successfully you will earn valuable EP.

As you progress in the game you will earn new items and powers as well as EP for completing objectives and defeating enemies which you can use to upgrade Alex’s abilities and powers. You will soon learn that a shield is pretty essential when facing the persistent Hunters and that Hammerfists are helpful when taking on a tank. You can also upgrade his Claws and many more abilities to help you destroy the waves of enemies sent your way. Most importantly you will discover that earning EP to upgrade his powers becomes addictive and will find yourself playing ‘just one more mission’ so that you can kick butt even more with more upgrades. Switching between Alex’s abilities is easy, simply call up a radial menu and select which ability you want. Of course you can also elect to make use of the traditional weapons dropped by your enemies and, let’s face it, it’s still hard to beat the effect of a well-timed rocket launcher.

You will face 31 different missions during the game, each varied and each revealing a bit more of the truth behind Alex’s tale. There are also numerous side missions that you can embark on, adding to the replayability factor of the game and giving you the chance to earn extra EP and so upgrade your powers even further.

Bottom line is that it’s a lot of fun to step into the shoes of an anti-hero for once who is completely unafraid of just being the bad guy and taking out anyone who stands in the way. It’s cool to stroll down the streets, killing the military, blowing up tanks and generally being a badass thanks to your awesome arsenal of powers. But it’s even more cool that you also have to employ some strategy tactics to complete the missions – a delicate balancing act that the developers seemed to have pulled off quite well.

However, that isn’t to say that Prototype doesn’t have a few niggles too. First up is the sheer amount of enemies sent your way in certain missions. While it’s amusing at first to tear apart hundreds of citizens and military on screen at the same time, it soon becomes tiresome that despite Alex’s superhuman powers you may find yourself repeating levels because of the insane number of enemies that you are required to take out.

I also found the sequence of events to become a tad repetitive: try take out Blackwatch, Strike team gets called in, evade or defeat Strike team. This formula is used again and again, and although there is a slight degree of variation because you can choose to deceive the team or blast their members and choppers to smithereens, don’t be surprised to hear yourself groan when you hear that yet another Strike team has been deployed in pursuit of you.

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