Whee! Prototype For Summer '09

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.

The trailer contains most of the stuff we've seen before, with perhaps a little more emphasis on the "become anyone" side of things. I'm hoping that the stealth option is going to be real and necessary for at least the first part of the game. I'm still a bit sceptical about the protagonist appearing to be the same guy who hangs around in the bus shelter down my road, but I'm fairly sure that guy can't run along the side of skyscrapers.

There's also a new website opened for the game, with more info, movies, and so on.