RPS Feature The Mercer Seat
Several months after its console debut – the so-so sales of which lead to Activision closing its developer – open-world superhero game Prototype 2 is now out on PC. I’ve been hulking out, wall-running up tall buildings and eating people alive for the last few days, and then I played some Prototype 2. Allow me to foist the following words about it upon your monitor.
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“RIP Radical Entertainment 1991-2012,” tweeted audio designer Rob Bridgett earlier today. Moments later, the Internet was abuzz with reports that Activision had used its maniacal death tendrils to choke the life right out of Prototype 2 developer Radical Entertainment. That, however, isn’t entirely true. But, while not a full-on closure, Activision explained in an official statement that “some employees will remain working for Radical Entertainment supporting other existing Activision Publishing projects, but the studio will cease development of its own games going forward.” Which is, of course, horrendously depressing. There is one infinitesimally small bright spot to all this, though: Prototype 2’s PC version is escaping unscathed.
If I’m reading Prototype 2 correctly, it’s actually an extremely subtle environmental message. I mean, just look at the evidence: main character James Heller goes out of his way time and time again to slice, dice, and skewer vehicles of all shapes and sizes. No car is safe from his bladed assault, and when helicopters try to lend their wheeled pollution-spewing compatriots a helping spritz of machine gun fire, Heller makes sky sushi out of them as well. He also sort of, you know, carves up a few people, but I’m sure it was a simple mistake. From the right angle, people do bear a striking resemblance to helicopters. Honestly, it can be kind of awkward. “Hey, Boeing AH-64 Apache,” people will call out to me on the street. “Oh, wait, I thought you were someone else. Never mind.” Now watch a very angry man slice a… wait, is that me?! No, no, just a helicopter. Phew. It’s after the break.
I’ve just learned something new. Games decay. Did you know that? While they’re sitting there, waiting for you to buy them, content rots away from them, flaking away like a sort of scabby flesh-rust. At least, that’s the terrifying explanation I’m assuming is behind the fact that Prototype 2 will contain 55 ‘items’ that unlock in the weeks following its launch that will only be available to those who buy the game early. They are the “biggest” and “best” fans, you see, so they get more of a game. It’s not decaying at all, is it? It’s some form of retail-driven dissection dickery. Doesn’t matter to us though because they’ve also delayed the PC release to July 24. Here’s a video about the content that you can’t play.
A new dev diary for Prototype 2 makes it look more interesting than some of the previous tentrailacle-themed gorefests. The men who speak in it appear to have good ideas about both hunting and killing, and the kind of freedom on offer, even if it will eventually lead to bloody murders in every instance, is something I can imagine myself enjoying. It’s also worth noting that I don’t think I’ve heard a better quote from a developer this year than: “Someone just fell out the sky and landed on a guy and then ate him”. That comes complete with excited hand motions, as you’ll see if you join me below.
Blue noticed that Radical have put out a trailer detailing their approach for New York in Prototype 2. The so-called “NYZ” will be far more detailed this time, with the city divided into three zones, allowing them to increase the visual fidelity and density of detail in the city. There’s loads from the devs and a bunch of game footage in the video, which I have posted below. It’s looking more and more promising.
(Echoes of a BLDGBLOG article wot I wrote.)
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I barely played the first Prototype, so when it comes to the sequel anything plot-related is a bit hazy. Angry men are killing each other with appendages they should not have, that much is clear, but what about the soldiers caught in the middle of it all? Do they deserve to be torn asunder? Judging by this latest trailer, they sure do, casually shooting defenseless animals and then snickering about it. And if you don’t want trouble, don’t hang around with a bunch of tanks and guns in a place called The Red Zone. Leave the weaponry at home and stick to The Mauve Zone, or even the pedestrianised zone, it’s hard to imagine all this mayhem going on there.
There was no doubt, of course, that Prototype 2 would be violent to the point of grotesque silliness, and the “Art Of Combat” trailer below, in which a number of the devs talk through their choices for the design of Prototype 2’s various super-powered combat moves, proves that. I’ve posted it below, and in it you can see a range of ways in which people are turned into red dust by a cross between a pro-wrestler, an alien, and a flying spaghetti monster.
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Remember yesterday’s teaser for Prototype 2? Well here’s the trailer it was teasing, and it’s a bit of a disappointment for me. I was hoping to see some gameplay footage to compare and contrast with the original, but it looks like Activision are focussing solely on the story with this trailer. Still, I always thought the first Prototype had quite slick cut-scenes, and from the looks of this trailer, that’s set to continue with the sequel. There are some heavily edited snippets of in game footage included too I suppose, so it’s worth a watch for that. Oh, trailers… Read the rest of this entry »
The ESRB warn that this trailer “May contain content inappropriate for children”. I say “Barely contains any content”, but I suppose there isn’t much overlap between mine and the ESRB’s responsibilities. Here’s a 26 second teaser trailer, featuring 6 seconds of Prototype 2 gameplay and 20 seconds of pure tease. It’s somewhat indistinguishable from the first game, except it’s a different bloke.
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Prototype 2 is a game about some dude is made of tentacles or something like that. You can check out the general use of tentacles in the trailer below. Tentacle Boy DOES NOT like helicopters, no sir. Also he’s going to have a fight with the protagonist from the previous game for some reason.
Whatever, I still want a decent Hulk game. (And yes, Radical’s Ultimate Destruction was the last good one, but imagine what destruction tech could do now.)
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But that isn’t stopping Radical from releasing comedy death trailers like the one I’ve posted below. Again, it doesn’t show much more than a brief clip of the game, but at least it’s slowed down so that you can enjoy the passing scenery as a random dude is tumbled to his explosive end. (Via Blues.)
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Oh yes, while I am stealing videos from Blues‘ YouTube channel, we should probably link to the latest Prototype 2 teaser. It looks like Prototype! Only it is introduced by Penny Arcade for some reason? I am missing something here, aren’t I? The game isn’t out until 2012, so don’t hold your breath. I mean if you do hold your breath and you are still alive by 2012, then OKAY, because that would be some feat.
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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.
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.
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.
