Post by The Chupster on Jun 15, 2009 14:42:29 GMT -5
Alrighty, it seems like the gaming world is being inundated with more open world-style "sandbox" (and I'll explain the quotes in a minute) games than in quite a while recently. And while the great notables- GTA and Saint's Row- have a decidedly more real-world bent to them, there have been a good few titles that have bent the norm and introduced superhero-style characters into the same types of environments, such as Spider-Man, Crackdown, and the Incredible Hulk.
I say "sandbox," because typically that means that you can do what you want, how you want- approach missions with different tactics, tackle a myriad of side objectives and minigames, or just generally enjoy yourself. These worlds are made to be a solid environment for exciting, fun games, where it's okay to stop for a bit and play with the physics, or just goof around.
The problems start when you lose the freedoms that make these large worlds enjoyable. Put quite frankly, when there's nothing to do except race across town to start the next mission- when you just really don't have the freedom or drive to explore the environment in question or its physics- then you have whatever power the game gives you, and nothing else to do it in.
These games can't really be described as true sandbox games, because you're forced into doing whatever they say that you have to. Akin to a corridor shooter, when the game is leading you by the nose and there's nothing else worthwhile to do, then you really don't have any freedom- what you have is a larger cage.
And with that said, I begin my quick review of Prototype, during which I will compare it point-by-point with the other recently-released sandbox-style superhero game, InFamous.
First, a quick synopsis. In Prototype, you play another generic character with a cool-sounding name that you probably won't remember 5 minutes later because in the universe of video games, everyone has a 'cool' name like Jet or Cole or Alex or whatever, and frankly they all bleed together, especially when you start playing very similar games. And no matter what the detractors on the internet say, Prototype and InFamous are about as similar as a pair of sandbox games get.
Your character gets infected with some freaky virus that gives him the ability to control his physical makeup on the genetic level, giving him the ability to do a lot of really cool stuff, but to be completely honest, they would've had a much more memorable game if they would've just called it "Venom: The Game" or "Spider-Man Villains: Venom" or something of the sort, because the main character? Yeah, he's pretty much Venom.
The majority of his powers are directly ripped off from things that Venom has done in Marvel Comics. Claws, blade hands, large masses of gooey material, tentacles, shields, consuming people- most of it has already been done in the literary realm. The only powers that your character- Alex, if I remember right- has that Venom hasn't already covered are those of gliding and mimicry, and Alex can't swing from weblines. But we'll get into a powers rundown here in a bit.
For even more Spider-Man linkage, I would almost swear that this game was developed by employees that worked on the relatively-recent Spider-Man: Web of Shadows team. The story starts off the same- you play through a quick "what's going on now" mission where you're fully powered-up, kicking ass and taking name, and then the game turns into a flashback, where you start off a lot weaker and have to earn your abilities. The games also have very similar experience-earning power-up trees (even if the one in Prototype is simplified and not presented in 'tree' form) and have very similar-feeling controls. And finally, both games take place in a very New York-inspired city.
Anyway, here we get into our first comparison: the basic story.
Prototype: Character gets powers, goes after people that done did him wrong.
InFamous: Character gets powers, goes after people that done did him wrong.
Winner: ?
Prototype's story is written and performed with in-game graphic cutscenes, which would be great if it was written decently, but it really, really isn't. InFamous has a similar problem in the writing department; the story is a little convoluted and completely forgettable, but at least you get the less-animated-but-awesomely-styled drawn cutscenes. Overall, it's a wash.
From here, I'll just be hitting on the major points, because if you've played one, frankly, you've more or less played them both. So let's deconstruct these bad daddies!
Graphics:
The graphics are pretty decent for a sandbox game, which always come under fire because they aren't Gears of War. Right, because Gears of War doesn't have to render an entire city! That said, Prototype is very serviceable, and definitely not the worst-looking 360 game that I've played. The city buildings look like they repeat quite a bit, which can make it very confusing when you're trying to actually learn the city. My solution: don't. Just use the map, it's easier.
Since Alex can assume the forms of other characters, you can get a pretty good look at anyone in the game by consuming them, switching to their appearance and manipulating the camera. Civilians (especially women) have a strange appearance, with strangely deformed, almost stretched faces pulled over oddly-stretched heads- nothing major, but distracting if you actually look at it. Military folk look a great deal better, but of course, Alex looks the best. The other organic enemies look pretty good close up, but from far away look almost like amorphous, undetailed blobs, which is a shame, but that's how it goes sometimes. I guess.
Vehicles are done simply but well. Nothing outstanding, but decent nonetheless. The models are about on par with what you'd see in Spider-Man: Web of Shadows, with some decent texturing, but when they explode or are destroyed, they just look like a big chunk of polygon crap covered in darkened crap texture. Nothing major there.
Explosions and other effects are done very well. The explosions are on the low end; they're not as fiery as you'd expect, but they're done well enough. Alex's powers effects are done VERY well, and you really get a good sense of "hey, that's some serious cellular reorganization there" instead of "hey, there's a really crap-looking bunch of tentacles."
Overall, the graphics range from mediocre to very good, but the very good stuff is reserved for your character specifically, so there really isn't anything pretty to look at while you're playing the game.
And the game is GORY. And I mean GORY.
For comparison, in order, InFamous has an excellently rendered city with repeating details as well, but the details are rearranged so that almost every building has its own look. Additionally the game is separated into three islands, and while you'll still get confused as to where you are occasionally, it's nowhere near as bad as Prototype. Again, your protagonist looks the best, but all of the rest of the graphics are in sharp 1080p resolution, and while they're still on the upper end of mediocre, the textures are MUCH nicer and more detailed. Additionally, enemies have more detail and visual pop, and all of your characters' effects look fabulous. Vehicles look as poor or worse than those in Prototype, but the higher resolution and better textures give the edge to InFamous, but if you like blood, you won't see much in InFamous at all.
Comparison #2: The Graphics
Prototype: Very good character graphics, upper edge of mediocre on everything else.
InFamous: Very good character graphics, upper edge of mediocre on everything else- but higher resolution and sharper, higher-resolution textures kick it up a solid notch. On a 1080p HD widescreen, InFamous IS the sandbox game to play if you want eye candy.
Winner: InFamous[/b]
Animation:
Great graphics are crap if the animation is shoddy. Prototype has some really great animation, especially in terms of your character's effects. However, there are exceptions- the way he walks will get to you after a while; sort of a shambling lurch, especially when simply walking, and if you take on the persona of a female character, WHEW does she walk funny!
Other characters' animations are pretty basic and not done all that well- they look very much like a bunch of stilted robots unless you're far away. The one thing you have to take into account is the number of characters onscreen at the same time though; I don't think I've ever seen more densely populated areas in a sandbox game than I have in Prototype. At one point I was fighting the military for the fun of it, and I was facing off against a helicopter, two tanks, about a dozen characters (who respawned as I killed them), and what looked like literally hundreds of people freaking out and running from the fight, which was in a parking lot FILLED with vehicles. It was CRAZY.
And finally, the framerate. It stays mostly around 30fps, which seems about typical. You don't experience a lot of slowdown, which is a nice edge over some games like GTA4.
Comparison #3: Animation
Prototype: Great character/power animations, poor-to-mediocre AI animations, huge amount of characters & items onscreen at once, good framerate.
InFamous: Excellent animation across the board (though AI animation is repetitive), large amount of characters & items onscreen at once, framerate ranges from good to 60fps excellence.
Winner: InFamous[/b]
Gameplay:
Once you learn the controls, everything is second nature. Alex has a ton of different abilities available to him that you earn and upgrade as you go, including claws, shields, battering ram-style fists, performing a dropping ground pound, running up vertical surfaces, gliding on tentacle membranes, leaping up huge distances, shoving his huge claws through the ground to impale enemies that are located far away, healing by consuming others and then gaining the ability to impersonate them, and the ability to learn how to use specific vehicles by consuming those with that knowledge, and super strength that allows him to both fall from any height with no damage and throw monstrously large pieces of equipment around like it's nothing. My main complaint is that he doesn't really have any direct long-range attacks (at least that I've discovered so far). You can also pick up weapons and use them. And then there are abilities that you can earn that damn near clear the area around you, destroying everything in one massive attack, termed "devastator" powers. And wow, do they rock.
Gameplay generally consists of getting to a point on the map that starts your next story mission and doing it. There are collectible orbs scattered around that give you experience, some of which give you helpful hints. There are also scattered side missions that are all timer-based- kill so many enemies with a specific power before time runs out, or run through so many different checkpoints, etc. etc. etc. Nothing very compelling unless you like that sort of thing.
And that's it. There's nothing to do besides play the story and do stupid timer races. You have all of this infinite power, and nothing to really do with it.
Don't get me wrong; it's decently fun to start some crap with the military and kill them, or just go on a murder spree, generally destroy stuff. But it's not enough to keep you coming back for more; after you run through the story, there's just nothing worthwhile to do. You can also collect the 'web of intrigue" memories, done by consuming specific people, which reveals the backstory through the memories of those that you've killed, but since the story is pretty weak, it's hard to imagine wanting to do this.
InFamous, on the other hand, has tighter controls that are slightly computer-assisted in terms of jumping and climbing. InFamous's protagonist has the ability to shoot lightning bolts, fire off a larger shockwave that throws people and objects into the air, perform an electricity-based ground pound from the air, grind on electric rails and power lines, climb virtually any surface with a handhold (a la Assassin's Creed but better), throw electric grenades that can stick on enemies, glide through the air with an electric "thruster" power, and enhance powers depending on their morality- playing as a good character opens up a few different upgrades to your powers, and playing as evil opens others. Gameplay consists of story missions, but there are also a good few different side missions that clear sections of the city of enemies while awarding experience for success, some of which are only available depending on what morality you're playing. The downside is, you can't use any vehicles or any weapons.
Comparison #4: Gameplay
Prototype: Excellent (but largely short-ranged) powers, can use enemy-dropped weapons and vehicles, bulk of game is in story mode, alternative is time-trials only, collectibles are orbs and "web of intrigue" targets, controls are good. Tons of power, not a lot to do.
InFamous: Excellent powers, no weapons or vehicles, bulk of game is divided well between story and side missions, alternatives are the side missions, collectibles are blast shards (which give you more power for your abilities) and dead drops (which are audio recordings that, like the web of intrigue, reveal the backstory), controls are TIGHT. Not nearly as much power, but significantly more to do with it.
Winner: InFamous, but just barely- the no-weapons-or-vehicles bit does hurt the game a tad, but there's ultimately more (in terms of quantity and quality) to do with those powers in InFamous's city.[/b]
Sound:
Prototype has some decent voicework- nothing stellar, but it's not cringe-worthy. Sound effects sound like they should, simple as that.
InFamous is about the same.
Comparison #5: Sound
Prototype: Not a lot to say, it's good to great.
InFamous: Ditto.
Winner: ?[/b]
So there you have it- two games that won't have a lot of replay factor past a time or two (Prototype once; InFamous twice, if for no other reason than to do the good/bad thing), both offering a lot of power and not a lot to do with it. InFamous wins simply because it has a lot more variety of things to do with the powers you have. Prototype gives you a lot more power; in InFamous, you can fight off a good handful or so of bad guys at the same time- especially if you have the high ground- but anything past that and you're toast. In Prototype, you can fight off a ton of soldiers, tanks, choppers, even a few freaky biological monsters all without breaking a sweat, as long as you take the time to consume some of your enemies as you go, and you can do it all with STYLE- the powers in the game are awesome and fun to play around with. But ultimately, unless you're into racing against the clock (which I personally despise in just about any game), there's just not a lot to do.
By no means am I saying that Prototype is a bad game (nor is InFamous, for that matter)- there's just a lot of internet topics out there comparing the two and/or bitching about people comparing the two, and both are very, very similar animals. What it basically comes down to is what system you have, whether you like gore, and if you like eye candy. Both are worth owning, though I'll go on record and say that there's no way I'd recommend paying the full $60 for Prototype. It's a good game, but it's not THAT good. InFamous barely makes the $60 cut, but I think it is worth it- barely, but it is.
And for those that it will matter to, both games are incredibly fun to play while high. Not as fun as Saint's Row 2, but fun.
I say "sandbox," because typically that means that you can do what you want, how you want- approach missions with different tactics, tackle a myriad of side objectives and minigames, or just generally enjoy yourself. These worlds are made to be a solid environment for exciting, fun games, where it's okay to stop for a bit and play with the physics, or just goof around.
The problems start when you lose the freedoms that make these large worlds enjoyable. Put quite frankly, when there's nothing to do except race across town to start the next mission- when you just really don't have the freedom or drive to explore the environment in question or its physics- then you have whatever power the game gives you, and nothing else to do it in.
These games can't really be described as true sandbox games, because you're forced into doing whatever they say that you have to. Akin to a corridor shooter, when the game is leading you by the nose and there's nothing else worthwhile to do, then you really don't have any freedom- what you have is a larger cage.
And with that said, I begin my quick review of Prototype, during which I will compare it point-by-point with the other recently-released sandbox-style superhero game, InFamous.
First, a quick synopsis. In Prototype, you play another generic character with a cool-sounding name that you probably won't remember 5 minutes later because in the universe of video games, everyone has a 'cool' name like Jet or Cole or Alex or whatever, and frankly they all bleed together, especially when you start playing very similar games. And no matter what the detractors on the internet say, Prototype and InFamous are about as similar as a pair of sandbox games get.
Your character gets infected with some freaky virus that gives him the ability to control his physical makeup on the genetic level, giving him the ability to do a lot of really cool stuff, but to be completely honest, they would've had a much more memorable game if they would've just called it "Venom: The Game" or "Spider-Man Villains: Venom" or something of the sort, because the main character? Yeah, he's pretty much Venom.
The majority of his powers are directly ripped off from things that Venom has done in Marvel Comics. Claws, blade hands, large masses of gooey material, tentacles, shields, consuming people- most of it has already been done in the literary realm. The only powers that your character- Alex, if I remember right- has that Venom hasn't already covered are those of gliding and mimicry, and Alex can't swing from weblines. But we'll get into a powers rundown here in a bit.
For even more Spider-Man linkage, I would almost swear that this game was developed by employees that worked on the relatively-recent Spider-Man: Web of Shadows team. The story starts off the same- you play through a quick "what's going on now" mission where you're fully powered-up, kicking ass and taking name, and then the game turns into a flashback, where you start off a lot weaker and have to earn your abilities. The games also have very similar experience-earning power-up trees (even if the one in Prototype is simplified and not presented in 'tree' form) and have very similar-feeling controls. And finally, both games take place in a very New York-inspired city.
Anyway, here we get into our first comparison: the basic story.
Prototype: Character gets powers, goes after people that done did him wrong.
InFamous: Character gets powers, goes after people that done did him wrong.
Winner: ?
Prototype's story is written and performed with in-game graphic cutscenes, which would be great if it was written decently, but it really, really isn't. InFamous has a similar problem in the writing department; the story is a little convoluted and completely forgettable, but at least you get the less-animated-but-awesomely-styled drawn cutscenes. Overall, it's a wash.
From here, I'll just be hitting on the major points, because if you've played one, frankly, you've more or less played them both. So let's deconstruct these bad daddies!
Graphics:
The graphics are pretty decent for a sandbox game, which always come under fire because they aren't Gears of War. Right, because Gears of War doesn't have to render an entire city! That said, Prototype is very serviceable, and definitely not the worst-looking 360 game that I've played. The city buildings look like they repeat quite a bit, which can make it very confusing when you're trying to actually learn the city. My solution: don't. Just use the map, it's easier.
Since Alex can assume the forms of other characters, you can get a pretty good look at anyone in the game by consuming them, switching to their appearance and manipulating the camera. Civilians (especially women) have a strange appearance, with strangely deformed, almost stretched faces pulled over oddly-stretched heads- nothing major, but distracting if you actually look at it. Military folk look a great deal better, but of course, Alex looks the best. The other organic enemies look pretty good close up, but from far away look almost like amorphous, undetailed blobs, which is a shame, but that's how it goes sometimes. I guess.
Vehicles are done simply but well. Nothing outstanding, but decent nonetheless. The models are about on par with what you'd see in Spider-Man: Web of Shadows, with some decent texturing, but when they explode or are destroyed, they just look like a big chunk of polygon crap covered in darkened crap texture. Nothing major there.
Explosions and other effects are done very well. The explosions are on the low end; they're not as fiery as you'd expect, but they're done well enough. Alex's powers effects are done VERY well, and you really get a good sense of "hey, that's some serious cellular reorganization there" instead of "hey, there's a really crap-looking bunch of tentacles."
Overall, the graphics range from mediocre to very good, but the very good stuff is reserved for your character specifically, so there really isn't anything pretty to look at while you're playing the game.
And the game is GORY. And I mean GORY.
For comparison, in order, InFamous has an excellently rendered city with repeating details as well, but the details are rearranged so that almost every building has its own look. Additionally the game is separated into three islands, and while you'll still get confused as to where you are occasionally, it's nowhere near as bad as Prototype. Again, your protagonist looks the best, but all of the rest of the graphics are in sharp 1080p resolution, and while they're still on the upper end of mediocre, the textures are MUCH nicer and more detailed. Additionally, enemies have more detail and visual pop, and all of your characters' effects look fabulous. Vehicles look as poor or worse than those in Prototype, but the higher resolution and better textures give the edge to InFamous, but if you like blood, you won't see much in InFamous at all.
Comparison #2: The Graphics
Prototype: Very good character graphics, upper edge of mediocre on everything else.
InFamous: Very good character graphics, upper edge of mediocre on everything else- but higher resolution and sharper, higher-resolution textures kick it up a solid notch. On a 1080p HD widescreen, InFamous IS the sandbox game to play if you want eye candy.
Winner: InFamous[/b]
Animation:
Great graphics are crap if the animation is shoddy. Prototype has some really great animation, especially in terms of your character's effects. However, there are exceptions- the way he walks will get to you after a while; sort of a shambling lurch, especially when simply walking, and if you take on the persona of a female character, WHEW does she walk funny!
Other characters' animations are pretty basic and not done all that well- they look very much like a bunch of stilted robots unless you're far away. The one thing you have to take into account is the number of characters onscreen at the same time though; I don't think I've ever seen more densely populated areas in a sandbox game than I have in Prototype. At one point I was fighting the military for the fun of it, and I was facing off against a helicopter, two tanks, about a dozen characters (who respawned as I killed them), and what looked like literally hundreds of people freaking out and running from the fight, which was in a parking lot FILLED with vehicles. It was CRAZY.
And finally, the framerate. It stays mostly around 30fps, which seems about typical. You don't experience a lot of slowdown, which is a nice edge over some games like GTA4.
Comparison #3: Animation
Prototype: Great character/power animations, poor-to-mediocre AI animations, huge amount of characters & items onscreen at once, good framerate.
InFamous: Excellent animation across the board (though AI animation is repetitive), large amount of characters & items onscreen at once, framerate ranges from good to 60fps excellence.
Winner: InFamous[/b]
Gameplay:
Once you learn the controls, everything is second nature. Alex has a ton of different abilities available to him that you earn and upgrade as you go, including claws, shields, battering ram-style fists, performing a dropping ground pound, running up vertical surfaces, gliding on tentacle membranes, leaping up huge distances, shoving his huge claws through the ground to impale enemies that are located far away, healing by consuming others and then gaining the ability to impersonate them, and the ability to learn how to use specific vehicles by consuming those with that knowledge, and super strength that allows him to both fall from any height with no damage and throw monstrously large pieces of equipment around like it's nothing. My main complaint is that he doesn't really have any direct long-range attacks (at least that I've discovered so far). You can also pick up weapons and use them. And then there are abilities that you can earn that damn near clear the area around you, destroying everything in one massive attack, termed "devastator" powers. And wow, do they rock.
Gameplay generally consists of getting to a point on the map that starts your next story mission and doing it. There are collectible orbs scattered around that give you experience, some of which give you helpful hints. There are also scattered side missions that are all timer-based- kill so many enemies with a specific power before time runs out, or run through so many different checkpoints, etc. etc. etc. Nothing very compelling unless you like that sort of thing.
And that's it. There's nothing to do besides play the story and do stupid timer races. You have all of this infinite power, and nothing to really do with it.
Don't get me wrong; it's decently fun to start some crap with the military and kill them, or just go on a murder spree, generally destroy stuff. But it's not enough to keep you coming back for more; after you run through the story, there's just nothing worthwhile to do. You can also collect the 'web of intrigue" memories, done by consuming specific people, which reveals the backstory through the memories of those that you've killed, but since the story is pretty weak, it's hard to imagine wanting to do this.
InFamous, on the other hand, has tighter controls that are slightly computer-assisted in terms of jumping and climbing. InFamous's protagonist has the ability to shoot lightning bolts, fire off a larger shockwave that throws people and objects into the air, perform an electricity-based ground pound from the air, grind on electric rails and power lines, climb virtually any surface with a handhold (a la Assassin's Creed but better), throw electric grenades that can stick on enemies, glide through the air with an electric "thruster" power, and enhance powers depending on their morality- playing as a good character opens up a few different upgrades to your powers, and playing as evil opens others. Gameplay consists of story missions, but there are also a good few different side missions that clear sections of the city of enemies while awarding experience for success, some of which are only available depending on what morality you're playing. The downside is, you can't use any vehicles or any weapons.
Comparison #4: Gameplay
Prototype: Excellent (but largely short-ranged) powers, can use enemy-dropped weapons and vehicles, bulk of game is in story mode, alternative is time-trials only, collectibles are orbs and "web of intrigue" targets, controls are good. Tons of power, not a lot to do.
InFamous: Excellent powers, no weapons or vehicles, bulk of game is divided well between story and side missions, alternatives are the side missions, collectibles are blast shards (which give you more power for your abilities) and dead drops (which are audio recordings that, like the web of intrigue, reveal the backstory), controls are TIGHT. Not nearly as much power, but significantly more to do with it.
Winner: InFamous, but just barely- the no-weapons-or-vehicles bit does hurt the game a tad, but there's ultimately more (in terms of quantity and quality) to do with those powers in InFamous's city.[/b]
Sound:
Prototype has some decent voicework- nothing stellar, but it's not cringe-worthy. Sound effects sound like they should, simple as that.
InFamous is about the same.
Comparison #5: Sound
Prototype: Not a lot to say, it's good to great.
InFamous: Ditto.
Winner: ?[/b]
So there you have it- two games that won't have a lot of replay factor past a time or two (Prototype once; InFamous twice, if for no other reason than to do the good/bad thing), both offering a lot of power and not a lot to do with it. InFamous wins simply because it has a lot more variety of things to do with the powers you have. Prototype gives you a lot more power; in InFamous, you can fight off a good handful or so of bad guys at the same time- especially if you have the high ground- but anything past that and you're toast. In Prototype, you can fight off a ton of soldiers, tanks, choppers, even a few freaky biological monsters all without breaking a sweat, as long as you take the time to consume some of your enemies as you go, and you can do it all with STYLE- the powers in the game are awesome and fun to play around with. But ultimately, unless you're into racing against the clock (which I personally despise in just about any game), there's just not a lot to do.
By no means am I saying that Prototype is a bad game (nor is InFamous, for that matter)- there's just a lot of internet topics out there comparing the two and/or bitching about people comparing the two, and both are very, very similar animals. What it basically comes down to is what system you have, whether you like gore, and if you like eye candy. Both are worth owning, though I'll go on record and say that there's no way I'd recommend paying the full $60 for Prototype. It's a good game, but it's not THAT good. InFamous barely makes the $60 cut, but I think it is worth it- barely, but it is.
And for those that it will matter to, both games are incredibly fun to play while high. Not as fun as Saint's Row 2, but fun.
