Comments on: Let us Prey?

By: Krupo

Krupo — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 02:16:53 +0000

The first time I encountered a mechanical portal thing, I didn’t realize at first I was dealing with a mechanical portal thing.

Cue 5 minutes of running back and forth through the portal thing, trying to figure out where the heck I’m supposed to go.

At one point I finally left the portal room when I exited in the new/”different” area.

Oops.

Tommy’s attitude is amusing enough early on. Let’s see if it becomes grating over time.

I mean, I love that “worst Indian casino ever” line.

By: Omelette Of The Damnned

Omelette Of The Damnned — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 16:10:11 +0000

I couldn’t resist buying this for $5. I’m partway through it now.

It seems rather uneven.

There are some weird and wonderful portal and gravity-based puzzles and some glorious, dazzling vistas.

There are also loads of portals that could perfectly well just be ordinary doors. A lot of alien territorry looks good but unimaginative, like outtakes from Doom 3. A few scenes look downright dated, like they were lifted from some much older game.

One thing that kind of bugs me is Tommy’s reaction to … everything. Tommy’s grandfather points out that Tommy is more-or-less invincible, that he can walk through walls, that he can see invisible things, and that he can kill aliens with his mind. Tommy pretty much says “Dammit, old man! I don’t have time for this crap! Gotta find my girlfriend!” When the impossibly shapely and almost-naked alien babe Elhuit tells Tommy that the bad guys have enslaved her entire race (implying that humanity itself is likely in grave danger), Tommy’s reaction is similar: “Whatever. Have you seen my girlfriend?”

What’s the lesson here? When greatness is thrust upon them, some people shrug it off?

By: Evan

Evan — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 17:58:26 +0000

There’s so much that is wrong with Prey, and there’s so much that is right with it. In fact, whether you say “it sucks”, or you say “it rocks”, you are right. This is because it both sucks AND rocks in equal measures.

The art direction is incredibly generic. Painfully generic. The baddies look like Doom 3 + Halo 3 – Coolness.

The setting and story are so tedious it hurts. ALIENS ATTACK THE PLANET, AND ONLY YOU CAN SAVE IT!!!

Finally, the weapons are really generic as well, although I liked the idea of ‘living grenades’.

Still, the game mechanics rock. Some of the gravity puzzles really had me scratching my head for a minute or two. The ‘puzzles’ are just hard enough that you feel good when you figure them out.

Also, the main character is pretty unique. Beyond the fact that he is Native American, what really made him cool is that his powers were derived from a religious/spiritual source (as opposed to him having a ‘super suit’, or being genetically enhanced). This gave the game some interesting religious overtones, but not in a cheesy way.

… anyway, that’s my view of the game. Equal parts good and bad. Definitely worth $5.

Like one of the metacritic reviewers said, Prey is the game that Doom 3 should have been. After all, at least Prey has 2 new game mechanics where Doom 3 had none.

By: andreas

andreas — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 13:00:57 +0000

fuck!
the weekend, it is gone

By: Irish Al

Irish Al — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 09:50:21 +0000

@Radiant

Yes, it differs insofar as you can use mouse and keyboard and as such it will be controllable. :)

It’s probably worth 5 rats just for the opening sequence.

By: Andrew Farrell

Andrew Farrell — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 08:00:11 +0000

Perhaps they’re making a statement that they can afford to sell games this low, because without a box or shipping, it’s still basically all profit.

Or perhaps they’re not making any statement, just counting the money.

By: Krupo

Krupo — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 06:13:01 +0000

The Australian games block thing is WEIRD. Perhaps my friend’s theory that “Australia doesn’t actually exist” is somehow proved true by this, but I’m not sure how.

The moment I saw the sale, I thought, “hmm, there will no doubt be a discussion at RPS about this” – thank you for confirming my assumption. :)

Now here’s a question I have for you: why is Peggle Deluxe getting updated this weekend too?

And why did Peggle Deluxe (on sale), end up costing TWICE as much as Prey?

Let’s see which one is more fun now.

By: timbo1138

timbo1138 — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 23:46:15 +0000

Really wanted to get into this, but no, 2K’s Steam games aren’t available in Australia. Arbitrary restrictions like that make me really angry, and I’m forcing myself not to get into my regular rant about it. Gr.

By: Caiman

Caiman — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 23:40:56 +0000

Prey left me feeling that it was the game Doom3 should have been. But perhaps that’s because Prey was so transparently using the Doom3 engine, it felt more like an expansion pack at times. Still, it looked fantastic (still does in fact) and really tried to step outside the FPS-paradigm at times.

By: Seniath

Seniath — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 23:10:10 +0000

I picked it up on release, and enjoyed it as a no-brains shooter with a couple of interesting gimmicks. Yes, portals have been done better now, but I still feel, for the price of a Subway you can’t really go wrong.

By: Alex Hopkinson

Alex Hopkinson — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 22:20:04 +0000

So far it’s definitely worth the £3 for 1) fighting beasties on the walls and floor whilst you stand on the ceiling, and 2) getting shot at by a beastie on the ceiling, turning off the gravity strip and watching him fall to his death.

Plus I got to turn the human-pulping machine back on by “mistake” and consign my neighbours to their bloody end!

By: Wickedashtray

Wickedashtray — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 21:11:34 +0000

Other than the moronic end-boss battle (think the end boss of RtCW x10 in terms of goofiness) its was a really fun game with plenty of “oh wow” moments.