Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Ah yes, that was the other thing that got revealed at the weekend: Radical are working on a sequel to their open-world eviscerate ‘em up, Protoype. A cinematic trailer (posted below!) introduces the new lead, a soldier who, having survived the first game, has now been all mutated and stuff to take down the original protagonist, the murderous/monstrous Alex Mercer. Well, whatever, I am just looking forward to some more running up buildings and making giant spikes explode out of the ground. That’s the stuff.
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On sale now is the oft-delayed open-world anti-hero killathon by Radical Entertainment, they of the hugely enjoyable console romp The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction. Prototype’s concept is similar, but it now stars a surly guy in a hoodie rather than the unjolly green giant. Promising an absurd level of mayhem and violence, can this possibly achieve the omnipotence it promises? Here’s my take on it. I even wore a hoodie while I wrote it.
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Do we care about the story of ultra-death freeformer, Prototype? Perhaps not, but it still has one: a tale of memories sucked out of brains the hard way, and New York City as an evolving character. It’s explained below the cut, and it might just surprise us with phrases like “the buildings themselves become infected.” The story trailer also suggests that there’s some level of interactivity in piecing together the protagonist’s memories, as well as introducing two new characters: Alex’s sister, and a helpful pathologist. Thanks, Pathologist.
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[I was at New York Comic Con last week. Between doing what I do at comic cons (i.e. drink), I found some time to have a quick crack at a load of games on the floor. Quick cracks. I'm going to write up the ones that stick in the memory.]

A kid in his early/mid teens – 14 tops – is watching me play for all my time with Prototype. As we walk away, he virtually gasps “I am so getting that”. I can only agree, and I’m not that surprised that he said so. Despite being an adult game, it’s the sort of adult game that not-too-strictly-adults are going to adore.
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Prototype is back on course for release in June, and has had a big showing at NYCC. It’s perhaps a little less impressive than it was when we saw it a year ago, but hopefully all that extra time will pay off. The three-way biologic war on the streets of NYC still looks ludicrously violent. I think Gillen is going to unload some thoughts on this next week, having seen it at the show, so I’ll leave you to the walkthroughs.

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Hulk-meets-GTA open-world absorb ‘em up Prototype has been heavily delayed, with the game now due for release in the summer of 2009. (Assuming we have a summer this year, and that hasn’t been cancelled due to budgetary constraints). The free-running organ-burster remains a contender for high accolades of action-game excellence, especially when contrasted with the other lacklustre run-and-jump games from the past 18 months. The pedigree of developers Radical Entertainment is pretty good, having impressed us with Hulk: Ultimate Destruction back in the previous console generation. All this means, of course, that the hype machine has been set spinning again with a superb action-splatter trailer to kick off the year, which is posted after the jump. The staged demo of this game at GDC 2008 was one of the highlights of the conference for me, and I still have high hopes for the finished game.

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Videogaming247 have scooped a chat with Prototype bossman Tim Bennison, and he revealed that the supposedly canned multiplayer mode might still find its way into the game.

“We’re trying to create the best possible single player experience. It’s an origin story and if we are successful, we’re hoping it’s the start of a franchise. But to do this, you’ve got to establish a great core single player experience. Having said that, we are still evaluating multiplayer to see if we can make it work in our development schedule.”

Prototype was due to be out for Christmas, but now sits in May 2009. As we’ve previously mentioned, we’re fairly excited about this game and co-op could potentially be icing on some kind of special cake.

This first trailer has our mutant protagonist using conventional projectile weapons, which I’m oddly disappointed by.

GameTrailers, you can appropriate our DNA anytime…

Second, longer trailer video after the jump, going into a bit more detail about the whole city combat thing.

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Looks like I am in a grumble-place this morning. What is up with the new Prototype website? Could it take any longer to get at actual information? Sheesh. Anyway, I’ve grabbed a bunch of the best screenshots and posted them after the jump. You can click on any of them, including the one above, for the high-res image.
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From this interview:

Why was multiplayer cut from PROTOTYPE?

Tim Bennison: From its inception PROTOTYPE was planned first and foremost as a single player open-world/action game. Naturally, with Alex’s genetically mutated shape-shifting abilities, we started to explore what would happen if he were to sub-divide into two PROTOTYPEs and what kind of multiplayer gameplay we could create around that concept. We’ve been looking at this potential multiplayer idea much more closely as PROTOTYPE’s development has been progressing, and while it’s a great concept and gameplay bonus, our conclusion is that we won’t be able to pull it off with the same level of quality and polish that we’re aiming for with the original single player story.

And yet something tells me that a slightly rough-around-the-edges city combat game where you’re playing alongside a friend would still be more compelling than the single player game, no matter how polished. Just look at Crackdown. This seems like a really unhealthy decision, and I wonder whether co-op actually broke something major in the game’s innards.

One of the most impressive sessions I was able to attend at GDC was the discussion of Open Worlds in the context of the development of Prototype, as hosted by Tim Bennison and Eric Holmes of Radical Entertainment. Much of the presentation was focused around the nature of developing open world environments and the way in which systems interconnect to provide options for players within those kinds of game worlds. Interesting stuff, if spider-diagrams of game systems and possible player actions are the kind of thing that draw you in.

The showpiece of the session, however, and the reason many of us were there, was to watch Holmes play through a large slice of the game. And, well, I think my interest in this game has now been validated.
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