I have a subscription with a game rental company here in Ireland where I basically build a queue of games that are soon to be released and they send me them when they come in stock. However, I very rarely get a game on the day of release due to demand. The game [prototype] was sent to me the day before release. This didn’t bode well for it, it meant there was no demand. This could be due to 2 reasons; 1: The game is getting bad review or 2: It is so similar in genre and scope as the other recently released “inFamous” that people are jaded with playing another Sandbox game where the protagonist is the super powered result of an experiment.

However I let my misgivings lie, and installed the game (thankfully not encountering the known glitch that stops it from installing). Initial impression weren’t good, the voice acting is mediocre, the graphics are below the quality of its contemporaries and the controls feel clunky. There is an odd delay when you press jump that just doesn’t make it feel fluid. I understand why this is, as you are charging for a great jump height, but still, it took some getting used to.

If you’ve played the Hulk game on the PS2 or indeed the more recent “Spider Man: Web of Shadows” you’ll start to notice instant similarities. The gameplay is far from unique and in a lot of places feels like a blatant rip-off. Web of Shadows is pretty recent in my mind so I’ll stick with the comparisons to that.

Here are the qualities so far that the 2 games have in common: Set in New York, main story revolves around an infection breakout that turns the people into zombies but that gives the protagonist extra abilities, abilities include shooting tendrils from body, protagonist can climb and run up walls like a spider, there is a military presence in New York also that is unaffected by the infection, there a load of collectibles to get which allow you to purchase upgrades a lot of which can be found in and around Central Park and Times Square, protagonist can pick up and throw cars, during the course of the game and spread of the infection the city gets more and more chaotic… etc

On top of this, at a point about midway through the game you unlock an ability which makes you look almost identical to the protagonist at the end of Dark Sector. If this was a coincidence, it was a big one. I mean the outfit look, colour

What sets this game apart though is the ability to hijack Tanks and Helicopters. It’s a nice touch, but doesn’t really add a lot to it as they can be destroyed rather easily (and again this has been done before and better  in games like Just Cause or the more recent Mercenaries 2). The only really unique ability I’ve seen in this game is the ability to mimic and patsy people. You can walk up behind a soldier, consume them, then become them and point at another soldier to claim they are the target. It’s a nice way of creating a distraction so that you can slip into a base.

Other than that the story is rather basic, guy gets given a load of powers, wants to find out who did it to him, has amnesia… etc. Throughout all this his sister is helping him track people down, completely oblivious it would seem that  her brother, who you play, is out there killing thousands of people. To add to the mediocre plot, the voice acting is sub-par. Compared to even Mercenaries 2 it’s lacking. On top of all this the graphics and musical score aren’t a high point either. Graphically it looks below Web of Shadows in a lot of areas, and the score just isn’t memorable.

Overall, it’s a slightly above average game. It’s fun to play but won’t leave you with any lasting memories. If you are looking for a sandbox game to roam around in I’d recommend inFamous, same type of game but I’ve heard that in nearly every area it’s superior to [prototype]. I’ll give you a definite on that in the next while  though as I plan to also play inFamous to see if it really is that good. But for now I really can’t see why [prototype] could be considered any more than a rental.