By John Walker on May 28th, 2009 at 9:41 am.
Update: New mission walkthrough trailer with developer commentary added below, too. Tis a good one.
Boasting “disgustingly deadly confrontations”, the latest video from GameTrailers previewing Prototype doesn’t contain any new facts, but it does make this colossally fun-looking game seem even more enticing. Explaining who lead character Alex Mercer is, we learn some hints about how he came to possess his gruesome abilities, and then screens and screens of brutal violence. It’s a fun time. I’d watch it if I were you. Since I’m me, and I did.
28/05/2009 at 09:54 Bhazor says:
So GT review guy now does voice overs?
Still, it good to see the disguises are still in there. So long as they aren’t mandatory I’ll be very happy.
28/05/2009 at 09:59 Catastrophe says:
I am getting this for the Xbox360 out of fear of under permformance on my PC.
I also feel its one of them games that will just “work” better on Consoles and look lovely on my 42inch TV.
28/05/2009 at 10:07 Sephrilum says:
…He just bodyslammed a tank.
This looks like Crank: The Video Game.
28/05/2009 at 10:09 Lewis says:
So, I just read the headline as “Alec Meer is having a bad day.”
28/05/2009 at 10:12 weegosan says:
Throwing a body at a helicopter makes it explode?
28/05/2009 at 10:18 MetalCircus says:
Nobody said it was realistic
28/05/2009 at 10:18 pierec says:
Absolutely. Try it!
28/05/2009 at 10:21 Denton says:
That top left polaroid looks a little bit like Tom Francis.
28/05/2009 at 10:22 Little Green Man says:
@weegosan
Don’t think of it as realistic, think of it as AWESOME!
28/05/2009 at 10:28 Rosti says:
1) Like Lewis, I fail at reading today. On the other hand, this make me want to create an RPS game/mod – ALEC MEER’S BAD DAY!!!1!
2) Clearly, one of the unlocked abilities is a Gambit-esque exploding matter power. Which is fine, but civilians are the only easily available ammunition…
28/05/2009 at 10:29 Lewis says:
“That top left polaroid looks a little bit like Tom Francis.”
Arf! It does.
In other “game journalists looking like characters” news, someone I know makes this: http://forthegamergood.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/lolngaicroal.jpeg
28/05/2009 at 10:29 Dominic White says:
I recently dusted off my copy of Hulk: Ultimate Destruction on the OldXbox, the previous game by Radical. A little aside: It actually runs at 720p if your TV supports that (and, due to Microsoft idiocy, you have a US/Softmodded Xbox, as they removed HDTV features from the european dashboard), which is great.
What has become very apparent from comparing gameplay footage of Hulk and Prototype is that, if it weren’t for the change of main character, you’d be forgiven for thinking that Prototype is a direct sequel. The combat system is near-identical (including a very intuitive padlock-camera system), the upgrade method, the military alert system, the ‘enemies drop glowing health orbs on death’ thing, which can ‘overfill’ your health bar and let you do slowmo area-clearing smartbomb attacks, etc etc. Aside from the comic lisence, near everything else is an upgraded version of Hulk.
Prototype is Ultimate Destruction 2: This Time You’re Carnage/Venom. Pure and simple. This is a good thing, as even on a third play, Hulk is brilliant fun. Hammer-throwing tanks, punting soldiers a hundred feet into the air, and power-bombing mechs off skyscrapers will never, ever get old. And despite giving you ridiculous powers, it’s never a cakewalk either. Quite challenging in places, in fact. If they can replicate this, and the sense of escalation Hulk had (you start out fighting cops, then regular army, the special ops – by the end, they’re throwing squads of super-science giant robots with hojilions of guns at you), then it WILL be great.
Bring on the mutant hoodie-man, says I.
28/05/2009 at 10:31 Seniath says:
So this is a game about a virus wreaking havoc, right? And the lead character is named Mercer. Which is how Americans (well, those who appear in House at least) pronounce MRSA. Coincidence? I THINK NOT.
28/05/2009 at 10:32 Ian says:
Elbow-dropping a tank doesn’t look any less brilliant than it did in the last trailer RPS posted.
28/05/2009 at 11:15 MonkeyMonster says:
That’s a nice warm apple pie of awesome I want to stick my …
28/05/2009 at 11:16 DarthInsinuate says:
Evil killer virus! I don’t know why, but I hate that as a plot device.
But flying like a squirrel looks like fun, and smashing stuff too.
28/05/2009 at 11:23 Dominic White says:
Oh yeah, there’s a list of achievements from the 360 version here:
http://www.xbox360achievements.org/game/prototype/achievements/
Nothing spoily (the ‘secret’ ones are still hidden), but it gives you an idea of just how ridiculously violent it is. There’s one for killing 50 people in under 5 seconds, and the amusing ‘nice guy’ achievement is your reward for eating less than ten civillians over the course of the game. You can still chow down on as many soldiers as you like, though.
One of the cooler ones: Speed Bumps – with a single tank, crush over 500 people. Splattertastic.
Oh, and the one-upmanship continues. There’s an achievment to kill 53,596 infected, which in itself is one more than Left4Deads ‘Zombie Genocidest’, which in turn was one more than Dead Risings ‘Zombie Genocider’. I’m just dissapointed they didn’t call it Zombie Genocidester.
28/05/2009 at 11:28 DMJ says:
I need Prototype, because in real life I’m inexplicably not a super-powered carnage-wreaking one-man army capable of killing tanks with my elbows.
28/05/2009 at 11:39 Dhomochevsky Static says:
Definitely liking the looks of this. Always had a fondness for Venom and Carnage, and this is basically as close as we’ll get to playing them any time soon. Have they released the system reqs yet? Most of the 360 ports haven’t been too system intensive, which is great for those of us with no Xbox and a less-than-stellar machine.
28/05/2009 at 11:51 Optimaximal says:
You didn’t know?
28/05/2009 at 11:57 Acosta says:
“So, I just read the headline as “Alec Meer is having a bad day.”
So I did.
28/05/2009 at 11:59 Alec Meer says:
I’m always having a bad day.
28/05/2009 at 12:19 Paxeh says:
I once had a bad day. It went away.
28/05/2009 at 12:43 JulianPierce says:
I’m afraid that the game will turn really repetitive and boring really fast. As GTA IV and Assassin’s Creed did.
28/05/2009 at 12:49 Dood says:
Wow, the politicians here in Germany are going to love this game. Not as game a game though, I’m afraid. But “A game about ripping little innocent girls apart with giant claws”, as they will put it, will make a very good reason to ban violent computer games as a whole. Go dishonest politicians, woo!
28/05/2009 at 13:05 Dominic White says:
@JulianPierce: It’s nothing like those two games. If it plays anything like Hulk (which it looks nigh identical to in every gameplay video) it’s less of a sandbox, and more of a constant arcadey smashathon in a semi-open environment.
Assassins Creed was a game about slowly climbing on rooftops and occasionally stabbing someone. This game is about being able to run vertically up the side of a skyscraper and wipe out entire military divisions with razor-tentacles.
28/05/2009 at 13:11 Mort says:
That is ridiculously violent. :o Good stuff!
I saw the video with no sound (at work :() and the part where he´s pointing at the other soldier is hilarious. It seems like he´s bullying him into depression:
-”You have a huge nose! You! yes you!”
Then he walks away and someone randomly shoots the poor guy.
28/05/2009 at 13:55 Monkeybreadman says:
Anyone else think it looks like an old ps2 game? I’m with Julian Pierce on this one. Alex will quickly mutate a large boring face that instantly kills all enemies making any challenge and any reason to play melt into some mutagenic goo.
But it might be fun for a day
28/05/2009 at 13:58 Dominic White says:
So, is nobody reading the repeated comments that the previous game by the same studio ALSO gave you incredible ( and suspiciously similar) superpowers, yet still was challenging and consistently interesting?
My only concern at this point is whether they’ve managed to keep the balance between making the player feel like a god, and making the enemies feel like a swarming, heavily-armed force with enough weaponry to kill god. They’ve done it once before, so I don’t see them failing here though.
28/05/2009 at 14:19 Zyrxil says:
Honestly I can’t see how this won’t play exactly like Hulk: Ultimate Destruction with a differently modeled protagonist. I’ll call it right here – the stealth and disguise aspects will be shallow and pointless, and the game will only be fun for an hour or two at a time before the ultra repetitiveness kicks in.
28/05/2009 at 14:42 Ian says:
The only good day Alec ever had was when he first laid eyes on Tall-Nut.
28/05/2009 at 14:56 IvanHoeHo says:
It’s nice how the character’s slaughtering civilians everytime the voiceover says ‘enemy’. Wasn’t he supposed to be the good guy? With allies?
If being an asshole were the point from the very start, maybe they should have created a different story/script accordingly.
28/05/2009 at 15:11 Dominic White says:
Well, the idea is that you’re a morally ambiguous monster with no memory and a constant hunger for human flesh. Still, there’s an achievement for avoiding eating innocents, so you have the option to NOT kill everything and everyone.
It’s just that it’s hard not to, as it looks like a lot of your powers are very wide-area. The same was the case with Hulk – sure, you were fighting the bad-guys, but it was almost impossible to avoid flattening the occasional schoolbus, as you’re so powerful that precision becomes difficult.
28/05/2009 at 15:31 moyogo says:
Looks like GTA, he’s just mowing down civilians willy nilly while they try to weave a hero story in the background. Also, guess what guys, mowing down civilians is not morally ambiguous.
28/05/2009 at 15:36 Okami says:
Also, guess what guys, mowing down civilians is not morally ambiguous.
Whut? But some of them might have been not nice people.. like.. like… like they forgot to feed their little doggy this morning.
28/05/2009 at 15:39 Nighthood says:
Did nobody else notice the comedy oversized rocket launcher at the beginning?
28/05/2009 at 15:44 Dominic White says:
@Nighthood – Looks kinda like a Javelin missile launcher or equivalent.
http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/images/ORD_ATGM_Javelin_Launch_Immediate_lg.jpg
Those things are seriously huge.
28/05/2009 at 16:08 Optimaximal says:
@Dominic White
ZOMG! Fast picture!
28/05/2009 at 16:16 Tworak says:
low res, liek totally
28/05/2009 at 16:20 Gravey says:
@Seniath: Then I’m glad they didn’t name him C. Diff, cos that game would be crap, ba-dum-tish.
Outside of House, or at least among health care professionals I know, they just pronounce it em-are-ess-ay, but I’m in Canada. So maybe that should be MRSEh, ba-dum-tish.
28/05/2009 at 16:43 Shadowcat says:
hmmm… too much spoilerish information in that video, with no notable differences in the gameplay content compared to the previous video I saw here. Ah well. Time to stop looking at articles about this, and just wait for the reviews.
28/05/2009 at 16:48 Dominic White says:
Oh yeah, there’s been one review in so far – 9/10 from PSW Magazine UK, apparently. Not the best of sources (in fact, they’re downright questionable), but that’s off to a good start at least.
28/05/2009 at 17:46 Downloads_Plz says:
I think this game has got my attention far more than any other release in the past few years.
I’m hoping when they talk about evolution points being spent on skills, they mean there’s a wide range of skills to choose from and you won’t be able to get them all in one playthrough, hence encouraging replays. Though I’m thinking I’m going to be disappointed and it will be more along the lines of “you get this, then this, then this, til you have everything”. Ah well.
28/05/2009 at 17:47 Post Maker says:
Dominic, it looks like no one is reading those comments about Hulk: UD and how it kept from getting stale! Perhaps they’re too busy making assumptions.
I’m fairly excited for Prototype, with it being all “Hulk: UD +1” and everything. The mix and match nature of the super-power system looks to be fairly fun too. Neat looking body armour and a long, stretchy, wiggly Gumbi arm? The fact that the arm can cut things is half is really secondary at this point!
28/05/2009 at 17:49 phil says:
Does anyone else inwardly cringe when they hear the gametrailer voice over man? It’s like hospital radio.
I suspect the game will be more Saint’s Row 2 than Grand Theft Auto 4 – it’ll stay entertaining by dialing up the crazy, though I hope to Christ the protagonist is funny rather than a Spiderman 3/Warrior Within/Squall conflicted tossbag.
28/05/2009 at 18:35 pepper says:
Throwing a body at a helicopter could make it crash, why? This is a turbine-jet driven helicopter, meaning cold air get sucked in at side A, squeezed bang blow and out on side B. If you would throw heavy stuff in at side A then the bad things happend. Google/youtube/whatever for a birdstrike on a airplane. It shows a thing you dont want to encounter.
28/05/2009 at 18:50 Meat Circus says:
The Rule of Cool clearly applies to this game.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RuleOfCool
Anybody complaining about realism needs to question their priorities.
28/05/2009 at 20:04 Leeks! says:
He surfed on that guy! He surfed his face into the pavement and kicked him into a tank!
!!!
28/05/2009 at 20:12 teo says:
This game is 59,99€ on Steam
F-O-R-G-E-T .. I-T!
28/05/2009 at 20:33 Dan says:
ShopTo have it for £27.99.
Y-A-Y!
28/05/2009 at 21:08 Ashbery76 says:
What happend to the graphics compared to the early shots?.It looks PS2.
28/05/2009 at 21:35 Gabe says:
Looks great, can’t wait to play, but I’ll admit I’m a bit worried about the helicopter and stealth parts. I’m REALLY hoping it doesn’t come with crappy controls/game play. Such a small part could potentially ruin the game if it comes up enough times.
28/05/2009 at 21:51 Moorkh says:
So do plot and gameplay. *shudders*
Rule of Cool my ass.
28/05/2009 at 22:07 Adventurous Putty says:
ICO was on the PS2, gents.
28/05/2009 at 22:46 Post Maker says:
I’m really enjoying the sudden appearance of rose-tinted glasses on everyone. The original XBox and the PS2 could do some neat stuff, and there were a lot of very good looking games on them, but come on.
28/05/2009 at 22:48 Funky Badger says:
+1 for the “I drive tanks, son.” moment in the first vid.
+1 for looking like an upgrade of Crackdown.
+1 for turning into Albert Bumshandy out of Resi5.
Nice.
28/05/2009 at 22:56 Funky Badger says:
Post Maker: graphics ain’t the most important thing. Nintendo know this…
28/05/2009 at 23:08 JKjoker says:
i dont care that the graphics look a bit dated as long as it they keep the requirements down, if they ask me for GTA4 grade hardware then screw them
28/05/2009 at 23:19 Dominic White says:
Just a reminder to people – Kieron did play this back at NYCC, and wanted to steal the demo booth.
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2009/02/12/prototype-nycc-much-cop/
And also confirms that it’s basically Hulk:UD2. No mention of terrible graphics or boring gameplay though, which is sure to dissapoint those apparently grumpy people who don’t want nice things.
28/05/2009 at 23:32 cm7 says:
£35 or 59,99€ on Steam. Thats what I call a deal!
Only that it isn’t. Seriusly, WTF? Most expensive game on Steam ever.
29/05/2009 at 00:10 Dominic White says:
The publisher is Activision. They’re TERRIBLE about digital distribution. They were trying to sell Call of Duty 4 for £40 on Steam when most retail places were selling the boxed version for £25 or less.
It’s probably best to get it off Play.com or equivalent.
29/05/2009 at 01:02 Gorgeras says:
My Steam displays the unlock date as the 13th.
Wot??
29/05/2009 at 02:33 Post Maker says:
Funky Badger:
It’s more that people are saying it looks like an original Xbox/ PS2 title, which isn’t really all that correct. The average “graphics level” (if such a thing can be measured) on those two was lower than this game, which is to say that this game does not look like a title that would appear on those two consoles.
Looking back, perhaps my post was too poorly written!
29/05/2009 at 14:55 Gorgeras says:
My Steam also displays a price tag of £35, higher than any retail. What a surprise.
29/05/2009 at 21:30 emlod says:
Should i get this for PC or 360? I usually dislike analog control scheme of 360, but some games are definitely better with a controller.
Or maybe I can get for PC and hookup my 360 controller…oh the choices.
29/05/2009 at 21:41 Heliocentric says:
The dpad on the 360 is terrible, my 8 decade old megadrive controller has a better dpad, so does a £3 no name pc controller i got. Why the dpad is a mess is anyones guess, i think they messed it up avoiding current patents.
29/05/2009 at 21:43 Heliocentric says:
@cm empire total war used to be £40 on steam
29/05/2009 at 21:54 Real Horrorshow says:
THIS LOOKS FUN WAAAAAAA