Prototype (2009 Video Game) User Reviews (8)

A good game, if horribly repetitive

[CuriosityKilledShawn · 7/10 · 28 February 2010]

I'd been after Prototype for a while and was thinking it would always be out of my budget. By chance I managed to pick up a copy for less than half price and wasted now time in starting.

You play Alex Mercer a mutant-type creature who used to be human. Alex can consume anyone he encounters and assume their identity. A deadly zombie plague is spreading though Manhattan and Alex must figure out the whos and whys. Sounds simple, but you've got the entire military on your tail and monsters are growing in numbers.

Alex's powers are a some of cross between Spidermans' (the ability to run up buildings), Superman's (flying), various X-Men (mutating abilities) and the Hulk (super strength). He's a good character involved in a good mystery but blandness sets in about halfway through. The Manhattan Island location may be nearly geographically accurate but it's dull, dull, dull. The colour schemes are dull, the streets are dull and the view from the air is dull. I am also getting sick of these zombie/monster games featuring evil biotech companies in league with the military. It's getting really old now.

But the biggest problem though with Prototype is that the controls are just not precise enough. The game claims that it will target the main enemy when you push the targeting button. But in reality it'll just target anything and you'll waste precious time trying to aim at what you really want to kill. The same goes for objects you want to pick up. Alex can often grab things from an impossible distance yet cannot grab things that are right at his feet. This makes intense boss battles a real pain in Prototype. I'm not sure to what the title refers either but maybe I never watched enough of the Web of Intrigue cutscenes.

Worth playing once, but there's nothing worth coming back to.

Graphics B Sound A Gameplay B Lasting Appeal C+

Fun in many parts, infuriating in others

[Pepe-arbiter · 7/10 · 19 November 2020]

Various aspects of the game such as the repetitive mission design, irritating targeting system, and the stealth system, hold Prototype back from reaching its full potential. But playing as an anti hero and going on a rampage, terrorizing the city, and uncovering this vast crazy conspiracy, is so much fun and a good time overall. If you can overlook these issues Prototype is a fun time overall.

Alex Mercer Probably Should've Stayed Dead

[Margera4445 · 6/10 · 27 May 2012]

Playstation 2 days are relived when you pick up games that include superhero exploits across the whole of Manhattan Island. I'm reminded of Activision's Spiderman franchise that made the comic book action and, by Spiderman 2, web-slinging free-roam an experience worth...well, experiencing. Prototype nearly hits that mark in a faithful bound, but misses it by miles and falls flat on its face...into a barrage of tank-fire, no less.

Like any good superhero story, Alex Mercer's begins as an ordinary man placed in extraordinary situations and given great and foreign powers because of it. Granted, Alex is no superhero. His exploits across the island of Manhattan usually result in catastrophic bodycounts on both civilian and military sides. Either way, when he's around, someone is ending up sliced in two. You take the hooded anti-hero across the island, witnessing firsthand as the Big Apple gets a few bruises in the fashion of an rampant, infectious disease that's taking over people and buildings alike. As the story goes along, it's made clear that it's all Alex's fault. Pretty much -everything- is Alex's fault. That is, of course, except for the game's mechanics and storyline.

-The Big Picture- The storyline is mostly predictable. Alex is a rebellious employee for a big corporation who screwed the pooch big time when he released a crazy virus that starts crawling across Manhattan. Of course, everything goes wrong, Alex gets plugged by a few soldiers and ends up as the shapeshifting warmachine you see here. The virus basically took him over and is now using him as a vehicle. Yeah.

When you get past that crazy mess, you have the ridiculously overdone writing for the soldiers. The lot of which sounds a lot like random words thrown together to mock the codespeak which military personnel use on the radio waves, with threads like "Tornado dog to red crown, target is lighted and sighted." I was half expecting someone to come over the comms with a piece of gold like "Papa bear to big smoke, 10-20 on the cheese whiz, over." but alas, I was disappointed.

Now for the biggest downfall in the game's vast arsenal, the gameplay. While I will go on record as stating that the game's entertainment factor is beyond fantastic, most of it is dashed under the feet of extremely overpowered enemies and horrid AI. The fact is you're playing as an extremely powerful scientific mistake, your strength surpasses anything on the face of the earth, yet each hit you take is equivalent to being shot in the face with a shotgun at close range. You're thrown about by every tank shell and missile fired at you and they fire at least nine million thousand at you per second. Most of every battle you get yourself into is spent on your back, your face, or dead.

The AI, as I mentioned, is even worse. While, at some points, the AI seems to be beneficial to your escaping from the authorities, other times it can be outright annoying. Disguised as a soldier and walking the streets of the infected neighborhoods of Manhattan, I can't tell you how many times it seemed like the tanks were following along with me and firing purposefully in my direction. I wasn't noticed as Alex, I was disguised, and being shot up by shells, missiles, and bullets.

The AI is weak, the storyline is predictable, and the gameplay is entertaining, but the enemies are far too rough. The game is amazing to play for a challenge, to give yourself a quick jolt of entertainment in the form of exhilarating movement and crazy awesome fight sequences, however if you casually game, don't expect Prototype to do much but punch you in the head repeatedly until you die, it'd probably be another to add to the lengthy list of things that are all Alex's fault.

Game of the Decade

[Muttley007 · 10/10 · 18 October 2009]

This game does not have it all. But what it does have is action, great adrenaline pumping stuff, with rare slow moments.

The story in my view is pretty OK and contains a thrilling end. I have been playing this game this whole week and was really sad when i ended it today.

Contains: loads of bloody gory scenes, buildings,choppers blowing up. Set in New York. You can fly jump from one building to another. You get to ride in tank, helicopter equipped with latest missiles. SkyJacking is another ultimate addition in this game which itself is a game changer in a battle.

If you like action and even slightly like sci fie you will dig this movie. There's not one dull scene where you wish it was over and done with. Graphics are state of the art. If you like adrenaline pumping stuff, this is for you.

Woah, this game just rocks!

[h-rabbit · 10/10 · 25 September 2009]

I first played this game. I thought it was excellent, but then it got some bad reviews.

So I was hesitant at buying it. But the cool cover and all that hype just overtook me and I brought the game home and gave it a try.

Let's just say, if you like destruction, this is the game for you. Tanks, choppers, hordes of mad mutants and legions of soldiers, this game just rocks. You get to beat the crap outta your enemies, use awesome morphosis powers to change your body into weapons, and just lay waste to everyone you see.

This is the game for everyone who loves blowing stuff up.

The Rise Of Alex Mercer

[kervindonngo · 10/10 · 7 October 2023]

For the longest I have wanted to finish this game as a kid during my time when there was Circuit City in Robinson's Tacloban I have finally got the game that I am willing to play.

Before Saints Row IV I actually get to play with both using superpowers and guns at the same time! It's like Grand Theft Auto with superpowers but I can't really drive cars in the game I can actually drive tanks and fly helicopters to shoot enemies along the way.

The story is really good. Although there are parts that are a tiny bit complicated it is still good to learn a bit more about Alex Mercer how he became the Prototype and why he was infected by the Mercer virus the gameplay is absolutely the most fun that I ever have that I can have creative ways to kill an enemy with the use of superpowers and guns. The best part of this game is that I can do endless dive kicks and powerbomb. As I progress the game starts to get a bit difficult and it really does motivate me to farm enemies to get experience and even find ways to heal myself with a disguise.

And the final boss battle is a bit too challenging. It really finds ways to almost smart how the bosses are.

Prototype is absolutely the best experience that I ever played and the best first game in which I can actually use both superpowers and guns.

Highly enjoyable action packed title(played PC version)

[grewelgrewel · 9/10 · 28 June 2009]

First off, if your a puzzle, or adventure game fan, this game isn't for you, Prototype is an action packed game, its not heavy on complexities or boredom.

To sum up the game, your basically a guy that unleashed a plague on the city, and in doing so you also infected yourself which turns you into a super being.. well sorta, i don't wanna give away the story, so we can just stick with that for now and you can unravel the truth through gameplay, but that is basically the intro plot to the game, and you gotta go around fighting government agencies and the mutated creatures that are created by the virus while unraveling a highly interesting, and incredibly cool storyline filled with special op government agencies, and mutated creatures that are trying to kill you most of the time in a new york city that is slowly being taken over by the plague.

This game was amazing, and no matter what anyone says it was a masterpiece in its genre, amazing art and style, exciting game play that made you feel like a god among men, and mutants (oh and zombies) .. throwing around cars, devastating entire blocks with powerful attacks which you can upgrade with experience points over time, graphics, animations, sounds, environments, characters, story, etc were all done very well, and the coding was done well, no major memory leaks or crash issues that i noticed.

One small problem i did have was that as you learned more combos and attacks it did get a little confusing remembering all the combination so i would suggest if you play this game only have this one on the go, don't bounce between several different titles or the combos will fade slightly from your memory, so its best to stay focused on this game while your working your way through it, oh and OCCASIONALLY the controls felt slightly clunky and unresponsive.. but not enough to lessen the enjoyment of the game play much so its no problem.

but ya, if your a fan of action packed open exciting games then grab this one, i got a good 20-30 hours of game play out of it and i feel it was time and money well spent.

Only for the mindless

[TheFangs · 2/10 · 18 June 2009]

If you enjoy mindless violence with no substance then you might enjoy this game, but from my point of view this game blows.

The narrative is the worst part. The plot has the same quality as the plot of your average porn film, meaning that it's just there to set up the next sex scene (or in this case the next orgy of violence) so no real effort is made to make it any good, or even to make any sense of it. The characters motivation especially makes no sense, supposedly it's revenge, but revenge for what? you wake up with awesome powers and no memory of who you were. What is the loss you seek to remedy by seeking revenge exactly? This point is further amplified by the fact that very early in the game the main character finds both his sister and his girlfriend, and in his interactions with them he shows no curiosity as to who he was or who they are, nor do they show any curiosity or concern for him or for what has happened to him they simply lay out the next mission and send him on his way.

This game could have been so much better with a half decent writer, but alas this was not to be.