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Prototype 2 |OT| There's a Prototype 2?

kanugo

Member
EDGE reviewed the game. They gave it 8/10.

A handful of ill-advised missions later on require you to pilot a slow-moving helicopter, which feels all the more prosaic given how accustomed you’ve become to the charms of your mutant appendage toybox. But don’t worry, you won’t be sitting in a helicopter cockpit when you finally square off against that hoodie-sporting creep – that sneering, under-dressed Ezio. You’ve played this game before, no question, but don’t miss the chance to experience the current apotheosis of the ‘one-man apocalypse’ subgenre.
 
I never played Infamous, enjoyed infamous 2; its grounded (N.P.I.) super hero gameplay mechanics and its characters (enjoying a brewski with your broski while watching tv is one of the most poignant moments in gaming considering their history.)

Never played prototype 1, but got 2.. its beautiful..anyone who NEVER played the first game add another 2 points to IGN's score, love the viral powers, the upgrade system, and ability to wreak havok, there's a wtf moment where an easy kill becomes a threat that i applaud for its audacity..i played their hulk game, this is all the good in that and then some mission variety i forgive due to the fun of hunting and plotting different ways to destroy..plus Hellers not a bad character, somewhat one dimensional in some respects but his situational banter and personality quirks make him a fun avatar for me.. if you NEVER played the first and enjoyed either Infamous? GET THIS GAME MANG.
 
Hmm I am doing the same mission just with different endings and characters over 3-4 hours now.

there is really no variety in mission design

This is what kept me on the fence. Probably won't be a demo but I don't care about that anymore. Prototype 1 was too repetitive for me, although I did like the traversal elements.

Will pick it up at bargain price.

Also interested if the game has crazy difficulty spikes again on Hard, or else I won't even bother. Second to last boss on P1 was a bitch and I never finished the game on Hard because of that. :/
 

Gileadxv

Banned
Thought I'd drop back into the thread and post some longer impressions for you guys. I've played through about five or six hours of Prototype 2 now. I like it. I don't think it is necessarily going to be to everyone's taste - it is very reminiscent of the first. Lots of 'go here, kill/eat this guy' kind of stuff - but the thing that sells it for me is that it is an equally visceral experience. That it is repetitive is probably a valid question - this isn't Skyrim, it is a game in which you kill people. A lot. And, frankly, that's the beginning and end of it.

But, as with the original Prototype, if you like a game where the REAL objective is the create as much chaos as you possibly can, you'll enjoy this. At the end of the day, the 'missions' are really just excuses for you to go apeshit and destroy everything you possibly can, and the sequel expands on the original's repertoire of death. To be honest, the violence is kicked up to even more ridiculous extremes here - you tear people to pieces, bisect them, rip them into tiny pieces, and carve your way through hordes of enemies, and innocents. You throw cars at homeless people, pull helicopters out of the sky and throw them into OTHER helicopters, and run vertically up walls at high speeds while dragging someone behind you by the face.

All of which are tricks that the original played - but in the sequel, the action is faster, more savage, and more frenetic. The engine has been streamlined, and the controls feel far more fluid to me - possibly as a result of upgrades to the engine. The upgrades seem somewhat more interesting as well, and the challenges are a lot of fun.

The downside is, of course, the story. The story is a pile of horseshit. Cliched, B-movie nonsense with horrible voice work - but, at the same time, there is something effective about the way the game acknowledges what you're doing: you may be ripping a group of soldiers to pieces with your massive biomechanical claws, and you'll hear radio chatter: "OH MY GOD HE'S KILLING US", etc. It adds a nice dimension to the game. But, ultimately, if you play stuff like Prototype for the story, you're crazy. This isn't Ocarina Of Time - it's a very flimsy skeleton, upon which to hang buckets and buckets of gore.

So, again, if you enjoyed Prototype, you'll enjoy this. It is closer to Just Cause 2 than GTA, and that's as it should be. What I mean by that is that it is a giant sandbox of murder, which occasionally throws a chunk of plot at you to bind everything together, but ultimately, the fun you have is dependent on the fun you are willing to create for yourself. Personally, I can spend hours just running around trying to create as much mayhem as I possibly can - others may be looking for something with more depth, in which case, star far away from this game.

Anyway, for those of you on the fence, I thought this might be helpful.

Thanks for the impressions. It reminded me of some of the initial fun I had with the first game. Based on what you wrote, this seems like it could be a reasonably fun game, provided you enter it with tempered expectations. Hmm...my interest is slowly rising, although I'll still probably wait for a fire sale.
 

surly

Banned
I've put a few hours into this. It's a shame that there's not more variety in the missions, cos to me that's the main thing that lets this game down and it's why I'm playing it in fairly short bursts. I had hoped to see an Assassin's Creed 1 -> 2 type progression, but it kinda feels like I'm playing the first game over again. I'm still having fun with it, solely because you play a character that's such a bad ass, but I am mildly disappointed with it.
 

Data West

coaches in the WNBA
The line with Heller and the keyboard was surprisingly funny.

I didn't think I'd like the claw strong attack where he lunges, but it's actually a ton of fun. Graphics look drastically better.
 
Optimus Lime said:
At the end of the day, the 'missions' are really just excuses for you to go apeshit and destroy everything you possibly can, and the sequel expands on the original's repertoire of death.
...
It is closer to Just Cause 2 than GTA, and that's as it should be.
Thanks for the impressions Optimus. These parts especially stand out and have moved me from "meh" to "I'd like to see more of this or play a demo". Paying full price isn't going to happen right now though.
 

wrog

Member
Thanks for the first impressions. I haven't played Prototype, but I decided to give this one a try and ordered it today.
 

Dead

well not really...yet
Wow, the tendrils are amazingly fun. The chaos and havok that I am currently wreaking with them is insane :lol
 

Data West

coaches in the WNBA
After spending some time with it, I really don't think it 'doesnt' feel like a sequel'.

The game looks far better than the first. The powers have some similarities, but they've been fleshed out some more. The mutations make the game feel a lot different as there's a ton of them. I feel like sneaking into bases is a lot less frustrating than the first one. The dodge ability is a huge improvement over the first. I don't think you'll like this if you didn't like the first, but it's definitely an improvement. Also, the cutscenes presentation and the sound design is wonderful. The constant swearing is a bit much.

Also, I just had a glitch where the cutscene went black and never came back even though the audios still going. Let's hope it autosaves well, or I'll be very unhappy.
 
Actually waiting for the PC version. I needs me my 60fps, so I guess I'm out of the picture for a long while.

We'll see if I've forgotten about it by then.

 
I guess it might be worth posting some of the store-exclusive bonuses. I guess if the codes are included in the packaging, then it might apply towards early purchases and not just pre-orders.

GameStop (Pre-orders only?): "Bio-Bomb Butt Kicker" attack
Best Buy: "Hardened Steel Vehicle Specialist Armor Upgrade"
Wal-Mart: XBLA or PSN download copy of Prototype.

Obviously, Wal-Mart has the biggest bonus, and it looks like it's packed in all first-run copies at Wal-Mart (As long as they have a sticker on the front, apparently).
 

Data West

coaches in the WNBA
For people as stupid as me, you can equip every mutation. I assumed it was only one per category but apparently not. Based on evo level, of course.
 

bryanee

Member
I've played it for 3 hours today and I'm loving it, everything about it feels more refined than the first game. Good stuff.
 

EvB

Member
Here are my full impressions after a couple of hours play, there are some mild spoilers contained within.


Anyway, if you've played Prototype, you will know what to expect.
Seriously, I mean you will know what to expect, I swear it is the same game. If there was 1 game I was to ever lable with the much overused 1.5 tag, it would be this.

Graphics: During the initial sequence they had added in some nicer shader effects on things like rubble and roadblocks. The framerate suffers with quite a few judders during this section, they have obviously piled on as many effects into this sequence to set the scene.
Once the game actually starts, the framerate recovers and we are back to looking identical to Prototype 1 i.e. like a late era Xbox game.

Very soon you are running and jumping all over the City as hystericaly Stereotypical black character, James Heller.

I've heard enemie radio put out this description for Heller out
"Bald,Black, Mid Thirties."

Well that should make him easy to find in the whole of Videogameland.

According to the trailers, James Heller is pissed of at Alex Mercer for killing his Wife and Child, he is going to do whatever he can to destroy him.

The only mention of anyhing regarding this in game is with a 3 Line Bio when you see miltary man Heller flying across the city.

JAMES HELLER:
WILL GET ANYTHING DONE
DISREGARD FOR OWN SAFETY
OBSESSIVE FIXATION ON DESTROYING ALEX MERCER

and then Alex Mercer mentioning it in passing.
Very quickly, Alex Mercer's Evil civilian NPC mudering is a commonplace occurance for the now superpowered Heller, who is just as likely to brutally kill a female passerby.

One of the first unintentionally amusing moments is when you meet Alex for the First time, who as usual, is skulking around in a big hoody and leather jacket with a giant glowing emblem on the back.
It was amusing enough that Heller tries to sneak up on him with a big knife , despite knowing that Mercer can jump, fly, make claws grow from his hands, catch missiles etc.

It was even more amusing when Mercer instructs Heller to "Put some clothes on"
and in the next scene, Heller turns up looking like he is in the Alex Mercer Fanclub.

During your city traversal (which has reused what appears to be 100% of the character parkour animation of the first game) you will often hear Heller shouting out such charming things such as

"UGLY MUTHA****A!"
"STAY DOWN BITCH!"
etc etc
gone are the days of Characters like Sonic or Dante breakdancing then posing at the camera with the exclamation "SWEET!".
Heller is a more modern protagonist, for a filthy, nasty post 9/11 world.
Fail a Race or a Challenge mission and you will either be greeted with a macho animation of Heller posing like an angry gorilla, biceps-a-bulging.
Finish the Mission and he will cheer "**** YEAH MUTHA****A!"


At least one of the Main quests is me being guided by Catholic Priest 'Guerra', who spends his time tending to the homeless, before you know it he is chatting in my ear telling me how to get into miltary installations and doesn't seem to have any problem with me murdering innocent people for the cause. A true Catholic Leader.
He doesn't even bat an eyelid when I groestquely slice homeless on the doors of his Church.


So far the Highlight of the game has been a very strange what seemed unintentionally funy cutscene with Heller being Instructed to access a computer
"press the ALT key" says Father Guerra

"THERE IS NO MUTHA****IN' ALT KEY !!!" shouts Heller the brusk Heller, now in the form of a scrawny scientist in a biohazard suit

"Is there a small blue square, for alternative function?"
this goes on for quite some time ending with Heller claiming "I HATE MUTH****IN' COMPUTERS".



The quality of the Dialog hasn't improved in the few hours I've played. Guerra's expertise for provoking rebellion and murder is explained like this:
"SO FATHER GUERRA, HOW DID YOU BECOME A PRIEST?"

"James, let's just say I had a lotta Tattoos removed"




Outside of the new story and new generic cityscape there have been a few improvements, when looking for a specific target to consume you can use a buOilt in Sonar to find your prey across the map. Clicking the Left Stick in sends a sonar wave of wavey orange filter across the world, when it pings back in the games normal colour you can see where the wave eminated from, even it is is the opposite side of the city. This is a much nicer way of finding someone without resorting to using mini maps and waypoints.

Stealth missions are improved a little, you can use the same Ping to highlight enemies which can't be seen by others, these enemies can be consumed without alerting anyone. It is possible to consumed an entire interior of a copy and paste warehouse without being spotted once.

There is a fairly comprehensive levelling up system too, which is an improvement over the first, you level up each time you kill someone, do a sidequest or if you consume specific highlighted characters.


Personally I'm enjoying my own racially stereotyped version of the plot, where I am a homeless Chinese immigrant, hell bent on seeking revenge for whoever caused the entire of Manhatten to be destroyed, the location of his family's restuarant.

arqwwavcqaak52p.jpg
 

KenOD

a kinder, gentler sort of Scrooge
inFAMOUS had way more thought put into it as a game rather than it being a boring gore simulator structured around missions. I guess your preference depends on whether you prefer meaningless romp through a city or a game with more polish and attention to design.

I would disagree completely. I think the debate is more a "where your taste lies" litmus test.

I like both inFamous and Prototype, both games are just two different tastes. I didn't say anything about one or the other being a bad game as both are enjoyable to me, but they are quite different experiences to me. Jumping around with beat-em-up or electric sliding around third person shooter.

Both games are meaningless romps to me of going through a city and doing random missions while not caring about the story at all, both games had a lot of detail to it (you notice this while jumping around and finding all the spots to get to in Prototype).

I like both inFamous and Prototype, both games are just two different tastes. I didn't say anything about one or the other being a bad game as both are enjoyable to me, but they are quite different experiences to me. Jumping around with beat-em-up or electric sliding around third person shooter. Though as mujun said, it's a where your tastes lie and yet when it comes to exploring an open city game I would rather do it with super jumps and gliding because it's more fun for me.
I was joking a bit, but my point still stands. Sucker Punch never gave me a jumping around beat-em-up to explore a city, but that's okay as Radical Entertainment never gave me a third person shooter in a superhero comic book themed style either.

&
Personally I'm enjoying my own racially stereotyped version of the plot, where I am a homeless Chinese immigrant, hell bent on seeking revenge for whoever caused the entire of Manhatten to be destroyed, the location of his family's restaurant.

Thanks for the impressions, and the thought of how to enjoy it more. Though now I wonder if you can turn off the voice, I'm not really fond of hearing swearing and immature "mature" sayings.

Though with things taken out like the charge jump and some other mild issues, it does still sound like I'll have fun with this one as a go to game between other titles for the beat-em-up aspect. I just won't get it until I clear out my other games first though, just not a top of my list to get title.
 

Pimpbaa

Member
Graphics are improved considerably, although it seems to be at the expense of draw distance. Will double dip to get 1080p and 60fps if the PC port turns out to be good.
 

Data West

coaches in the WNBA
They removed my favorite little feature. In the first one you could press against a wall while falling and slide down so you didn't make such a fuss on landing. Can't do that on this one.
 
About 6 hours in an loving it. My main concern is the mission structure, not necessarily the missions themselves. The new collectible portions and the city breakdown feels REALLY influenced by inFamous, which isn't a bad thing per se but it's a different vibe, for sure.

I truly do not regret this purchase.
 

Pandemic

Member
This looks a lot like Prototype, but with a few extra features here and there... Anyone have some thoughts on the game so far?
 

1stStrike

Banned
I only have the claws so far, but I'm finding that after only playing it for a few hours I'm already getting the "Well, time to go do something else." feeling. Not necessarily a bad thing, but that just means it'll take me longer to finish the game.

This is one of those games where you can just go in and wreck some shit for a little while and then go back to whatever you were doing before. Should be more fun once I've unlocked some other shit, but that's how I feel so far. The missions are rather stale as others have said, so it's not like I look forward to the next one - I just kind of mindlessly go in and slash everything to death.

I played Prototype 1 and had fun with it. I'll have fun with this one too, but this isn't going to be a game I rave about.
 

Zabka

Member
Seems improved in some ways from the first, worse in others. The smoke and explosions look terrible compared to the first game.
 

Hawkian

The Cryptarch's Bane
They removed my favorite little feature. In the first one you could press against a wall while falling and slide down so you didn't make such a fuss on landing. Can't do that on this one.
How could they?? That was Proto-swag at its best. Is the Patsy still in at least?

Seems improved in some ways from the first, worse in others. The smoke and explosions look terrible compared to the first game.
Oh god, really?
KuGsj.gif
They were awful.
 

Jac_Solar

Member
I don't think I've read any complaints about how extremely annoying the 'cinematic' camera event - camera suddenly shifts to something else while playing, which effectively pauses the game (Perhaps there are some animations on models.) as something gets framed (To point you in the right direction, I suppose.). This happens A LOT, several/some of the basic combat moves even force it every single time, and the others will put the game into slow motion, every time.

I've been playing for awhile now, and it's become EXTREMELY annoying. Why, WHY would they implement such an awful feature in a game that's all about fighting? It breaks the flow of the fighting completely, it's pointless and just all around awful.

And also, the soft auto lock on is also annoying. It's constantly targeting whatever is closest/infront of you, and even focuses the camera on it -- very, very frustrating. Especially in fights with a huge mini boss, where the camera is almost locked on him, even if you're trying to find some mobs to heal with, or whatever. And, for example, when you're doing combos, you might accidentally hit a mob you didn't want to hit, cause once you've pressed a button and selected a direction (Which will often be forced by the soft lock on.), you can't break the animation or move/change direction, so you might hit a mob you didn't want to hit, or move in the wrong direction.

Why isn't there an option to toggle these things off?
 

1stStrike

Banned
I don't think I've read any complaints about how extremely annoying the 'cinematic' camera event - camera suddenly shifts to something else while playing, which basically pauses the game. This happens A LOT, several/some of the basic combat moves even force it every single time, and the others will put the game into slow motion, every time.

I've been playing for awhile now, and it's become EXTREMELY annoying. Why, WHY would they implement such an awful feature in a game that's all about fighting? It breaks the flow of the fighting completely, it's pointless and just all around awful.

I like it. Floats my boat. Can't please everyone, I suppose.
 

halogamer

Banned
If you plan on buying this I would recommend buying the PC version. From what I've played the framerate makes it almost unplayable for me. I also hate how they removed the way you could keep holding the A button to charge the jump. I'm not far into the game but I'm not really liking the new upgrade system.
 

Data West

coaches in the WNBA
If you plan on buying this I would recommend buying the PC version. From what I've played the framerate makes it almost unplayable for me. I also hate how they removed the way you could keep holding the A button to charge the jump. I'm not far into the game but I'm not really liking the new upgrade system.

Haven't had a problem with the framerate.
 

Jac_Solar

Member
I like it. Floats my boat. Can't please everyone, I suppose.

(I edited my post to explain some of the reasons why I don't like it; you quoted me a bit fast.:p)

Ok, I don't agree with how its implemented in the game but it hasn't gotten a lot of complaints it seems - but I don't think it would be too hard to include an option for toggling cinematic events, along with the targetting.
 

BurningNad

Member
My only problem is I kind of liked the old control scheme better (R2 for air dash, charging the jump, mainly) but I think I can get used to the new layout. Is there a way to put your claws away aside from morphing into military/civilian and back?
 
The fog is constantly there and a some pop up? Well that takes out a lot of my interest, in this day and age they should be able to do better. I want to see the city I'm running around in, not grey fog and outlines in the distance.
I don't remember Prototype 1 having that much fog.
 

Claude

Catalina's bitch
Alright, impressions time.

Prototype 2 is exactly what you'd expect from the Prototype series: a fun murder simulator. Currently enjoying the hell out of the tendril attacks. Graphics are better than the first, but the draw distance bothers me. It reminds me of the Spider-Man game in 2000. The good thing is that the city feels more alive and vibrant than the first one.

Combat is much improved over the past game. All of the attacks feel nice to execute, and killing for the sake of killing never gets old. Travelling through the city still feels great to do, and I love every second of it.

Like stated by many GAFfers before me, the story and missions are quite repetitive. Luckily, I'm not too picky about the story in Prototype 2.

If you were even remotely interested in the first game, I highly suggest you play this one. There's no need to play the first Prototype, since the game has an option to catch up on the story.

If you're still not sure about this game, at least give it a rental and try it.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I must be getting back to killing more soldiers.
 
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