Developed by Radical Entertainment, the team behind The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction, Prototype follows much the same formula as that Marvel Comics inspired title. Both feature super-powered characters feared by the public and hunted by the military. Both take place in New York City, where their respective characters can travel from the streets to the rooftops, wrecking havoc as they see fit. The main difference between the two titles is that Prototype’s antagonist, Alex Mercer, is a completely original character, unfettered by preconceived notions of what he will and will not do to further his quest for the truth.

The question is, can this sort of game handle an original character, or is ultimate destruction best left in the hands of the more professional superhero?

Loved
Weaving Its Web: The real meat of Prototype’s story isn’t found in the game’s normal cut scenes, but in the minds of specially marked citizens wandering the streets of New York City. Grabbing these marked citizens and absorbing them into you causes a flashback that helps fill in the plot, as you learn what your victim knew about the sinister plot that made Alex the way he is. The flashbacks are a combination of solid voice work, stock photography, and bizarre live-action imagery, pieced together like a mental collage by a Web of Deceit that urges the player to scour the city, collecting memories like Pokémon. The adds a layer of intrigue to a story that otherwise would have been your average tale of scientific misconduct.

Freedom of Movement: The streets of New York City belong to Alex Mercer, and you can feel it in every movement he makes. Apparently a practitioner of the extreme sport of parkour, Mercer leaps over cars and pushes through crowds of pedestrians as he travels, or simply takes to the rooftops with his ability to run up sheer surfaces. As you upgrade your movement capabilities you’ll find yourself gliding long distances across the skies of the city, wind-whipping at your clothing. The controls might feel a little loose, but the feeling of freedom they afford more than compensates.

Drunk With Power: Though he begins his new life as a strong guy who can run up buildings, Prototype’s upgrade system soon presents Alex Mercer with an astounding array of powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men. There are several core power sets to utilise, each with their own unique moves and uses, generally manifesting about Alex’s hands. The blade power turns your arm into a massive edged weapon, perfect for taking out some of the game’s more powerful enemies, while the tendril power allows you to attack from afar, proving particularly useful in the area of helicopter hijacking. As impressive as the normal powers are, the Critical Mass moves are even more so. I spent a good couple of hours in the “new game plus mode” once I finished my first play through, seeing how many pedestrians I could take out at once with the devastating tendril burst power. For the record, it was around 108.

I’ll Be You: Much more than an unstoppable juggernaut of raw power, Alex Mercer can also take on the appearance of any NPC in the game, allowing him to blend in with the population, losing any pursuit that might be following him at the time. This is a mechanic you’ll use quite often throughout the game, sometime merely to make an escape, and other times to infiltrate enemy strongholds. There’s nothing quite like having a whole fleet of helicopters on your tail, only to drop off the side of a building, turn into a civilian, and then lose yourself in the crowd. On top of blending in, certain NPCs can be absorbed to learn new skills, such as the ever-handy helicopter piloting proficiency, which leads us neatly to…

Tanks For The Firepower: Charging in with your powers blazing is certainly one way to handle a situation, but there’s just something about quietly hijacking a tank or a helicopter, wandering over to your objective inconspicuously, and then opening fire with everything you’ve got. The initial trailers made vehicle hijacking seem like a gimmick, but it works rather well in the game. Once you’ve upgraded the appropriate power, taking over helicopters, letting another chopper shoot you down and then leaping through the air to hijack the other is an amazingly cool feeling.

Play It Again, Alex: “New game plus” is always a plus! Once you’ve finished getting your arse kicked for a good 8-10 hours, you can play through the game again with all of the powers you’ve already unlocked. For extra added fun, do new game plus on easy mode, to help vent the frustration built up from a certain timed event you may have to do over and over again.

Hated
Throwaway Side Missions: Hmmm. A mutanagenic virus is rapidly infecting the city, I regains memories by absorbing other people into my being, and an elite military force is trying to kill me at every turn. I know! Let’s see how fast I can jump from rooftop to rooftop! While some of the side missions in Prototype do fit with the storyline, others just seem completely silly and out of place. Destroying a mutant hive? Yes. Seeing how close you can get to landing in a fountain after jumping from the top of a tall building? Not so much.

Difficulty Spikes: One minute you’re cruising around, kicking arse and taking identities; the next you’re reloading the last checkpoint for the fourth time, cursing at the television screen. This happens quite a lot in Prototype. Where other games are content to introduce new enemies slowly, letting you get a feel for them, Prototype gives you one, and then while you are catching your breath two more, and then five drop in. There were many situations where I found myself having to jump into a situation, take out a few enemies, and then run away, healing up and coming back for more. I did manage to finish the game, of course, but I had to continue far more than I feel I would have if the difficulty was more ramp than jagged mountain range.

The Other Side of the Story: As intriguing as the memory-siphoning story reveal is, the actual in-game cut scenes are rather bland and boring. The voice acting is so-so, with Alex’s sister in particular sounding as if she’s bored. It makes it hard to care about the characters in the game. Luckily the flashbacks are more than interesting enough to carry the story.

There’s no escaping it; this is an evolved version of Radical Entertainment’s Hulk: Ultimate Destruction. Many of the powers and mechanics are exactly the same as they were in the green goliath’s title. Movement in particular feels much like it did in Ultimate Destruction, with the smashing through cars replaced with hopping over them, unless you choose the Muscle Mass power set, in which case you’re one color-change away from being the green goliath himself. Even the Critical Mass feature from Hulk finds its way into Prototype, giving Alex access to ultra-powerful moves when his meter is either nearly depleted or filled past its saturation point. On top of that, one of the main bad guys bears a striking resemblance to General Thunderbolt Ross. Alex might not be able to level whole buildings, but when you can kill an entire city block worth of civilians with one massive attack, why bother?

It’s not a bad thing, really. Radical Entertainment did a spectacular job on the Hulk, and now we get a chance to see what they do when they aren’t tied down to a licensed character with an established history – and what they’ve done is pretty fantastic. Prototype puts an intoxicating amount of power in the player’s hands and doesn’t let up until the last enemy is torn asunder by your wriggling tentacles.

Prototype was developed by Radical Entertainment and published by Activision for the PlayStation 3, PC, and Xbox 360. Released on June 9 in North America and June 10 in Australia. Retails for $US59.99/AU$109.95 PS3 and 360, $US49.99/AU$89.95 PC. Played the Xbox 360 version. Completed game on normal difficulty.

Confused by our reviews? Read our review FAQ.

All week we’ve been giving away copies of Prototype. We’ve been giving away two copies each day, one on Xbox 360 and one on PS3. Below are all the winners and their winning entries.

Monday’s Xbox 360 Winner
James C – “I would morph into the Lambada, the forbidden dance. It cannot be stopped or contained, and there is no cure.”

Monday’s PS3 Winner
Glenn – “I would shape-shift into a chair. You could sit all day long inside the enemy’s headquarters, learning all their secrets, and they would be none the wiser. It’s not very ultimate but it is sly.”

Tuesday’s PS3 Winner
Micca Delaney – “I would become a faulty fluorescent overhead light in order to annoy the enemy with my constant flickering and barely audible yet irritating humming sound.”

Tuesday’s Xbox 360 Winner
Antwandemarco – “I would transform into David Koch on the morning show and give the bad guys really bad financial advice to deal with the GFC, ruining there stock portfolio!”

Wednesday’s PS3 Winner
Paul W – I would morph into Evil Scissors, the pair your mother always eluded to every time she caught you cutting up things and scalded you with the line “Not with the Good Scissors!”

Wednesday’s Xbox 360 Winner
RobotFart – I would shapeshift into a pair of scissors attached to a pair of legs so I can constantly run around and cause untold destruction.

Thursday’s PS3 Winner
grabda – I would transform into Windows Vista SP2. Destroying the world one PC at a time.

Thursday’s Xbox 360 Winner
Dean Henderson – I would morph into a pen as I hear it is mightier than the sword.

Friday’s PS3 Winner
Andrew Mills – I’d turn into my credit card bill, for it is devastating.

Friday’s Xbox 360 Winner
Joshy206 – I’d turn into the spy from TF2. Thus, I could disguise myself as myself, thus no-one would know I changed, thus letting me backstab the crap out of them.

Congratulations to the ten winners, and thanks to the rest of you who entered and made this one of the most popular competitions we’ve run. Special thanks to Activision for offering up the prizes.

Oh, and a quick mention to reader Simeon, who’ll be getting a consolation prize.

Alex Mercer, Prototype’s protagonist, is a shape-shifter. We wanna know what you would choose to shape-shift into with the aim of becoming the “ultimate weapon”. Give us your answer in 25 words or less, along with your console of choice and your email address so we can contact you if you win.

For the fifth and final time this week, today we have two more copies to giveaway. And once again, we have one on Xbox 360 and one on PS3.

Here are yesterday’s winners, both of which hit me rather close to home:

Thursday’s PS3 Winner
grabda – I would transform into Windows Vista SP2. Destroying the world one PC at a time.

Thursday’s Xbox 360 Winner
Dean Henderson – I would morph into a pen as I hear it is mightier than the sword.

Check the original post for the full terms and conditions.

UPDATE: This competition is now closed.

Alex Mercer, Prototype’s protagonist, is a shape-shifter. We wanna know what you would choose to shape-shift into with the aim of becoming the “ultimate weapon”. Give us your answer in 25 words or less, along with your console of choice and your email address so we can contact you if you win.

We have two copies again to give away today, one on 360 and one on PS3. Meanwhile, here are yesterday’s thematically similar winners:

Wednesday’s PS3 Winner
Paul W – I would morph into Evil Scissors, the pair your mother always eluded to every time she caught you cutting up things and scalded you with the line “Not with the Good Scissors!”

Wednesday’s Xbox 360 Winner
RobotFart – I would shapeshift into a pair of scissors attached to a pair of legs so I can constantly run around and cause untold destruction.

Also, quick mention to “jimmy” whose entry below made me chuckle:

jimmy – I’d shape-shift into a an omnipotent bipedal creature with the rule-checking capabilities of David Wildgoose; the cute, unsuspecting aesthetics of a butterfly; velociraptor and chainsaw versions of Chuck Norris’ hands; an aerodynamic shark fin so I can fly; an inbuilt jetpack for no reason; and a “Chk Chk Boom!” ultra combo finish. With all these powers combined I will be a weapon of mediocrity, not destructive enough to kill you, but annoying enough to put suicidal thoughts in your head.

Check the original post for the full terms and conditions.

We’ve giving away ten copies of Prototype this week. We asked you to describe in 25 words or less the shape you would shift into to become the ultimate weapon, just like Alex Mercer can do in the game.

Two winners have already been picked. And another two will be announced in the following paragraphs.

Tuesday’s PS3 Winner
Micca Delaney – “I would become a faulty fluorescent overhead light in order to annoy the enemy with my constant flickering and barely audible yet irritating humming sound.”

Tuesday’s Xbox 360 Winner
Antwandemarco – “I would transform into David Koch on the morning show and give the bad guys really bad financial advice to deal with the GFC, ruining there stock portfolio!”

We’re giving away another two copies of Prototype today – one on 360, one on PS3 – so to be in the running you’ll need to add your entry to the comments below. Please include your console preference and valid email address. (Facebook login users: please include your email address in your comment.)

Oh, and a few tips: answers referring to me, butterflies, Chuck Norris or anyone saying “Chk Chk Boom!” are guaranteed not to win.

Hit the original post for the full details and terms & conditions.

We asked you to describe in 25 words or less the shape you would shift into to become the ultimate weapon, just like Alex Mercer can do in the game. Monday’s winners are terrifying and ingenious, respectively:

Monday’s Xbox 360 Winner
James C – “I would morph into the Lambada, the forbidden dance. It cannot be stopped or contained, and there is no cure.”

Monday’s PS3 Winner
Glenn – “I would shape-shift into a chair. You could sit all day long inside the enemy’s headquarters, learning all their secrets, and they would be none the wiser. It’s not very ultimate but it is sly.”

We’re giving away another two copies of Prototype today – one on 360, one on PS3 – so to be in the running you’ll need to add your entry to the comments below. (And hit the original post for the full details and terms & conditions.)

I knew you’d like to win one.

The thing about Prototype is that you play a guy who can shape-shift, assuming the physical identity of any living being and inheriting all their memories, abilities and powers. You use this to stop a conspiracy involving a shadowy military group and a viral outbreak that’s swept throughout New York.

Prototype’s hero, Alex Mercer is apparently the “ultimate shape-shifting weapon”.

So I want you to tell me in 25 words or less, what shape (person, creature, any living thing) you would shift into to become the ultimate weapon. And, more importantly, why?

Leave your entry below in the comments, along with your console of choice and valid email address. (Just put your email address in the field, no need to include it in your comment.) Each day this week I’ll choose one 360 winner and one PS3 winner. The wittiest, cleverest, awesomest or just plain most creative entries will win.

Prototype release on June 10 for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC. Check out this story montage trailer for some inspiration.

And good luck!

[Terms and Conditions]

The last thing Prototype is trying to be is a modern day version of Assassin’s Creed set in Liberty City, so stop making those comparisons right now.

Oh fine, there’s parkour and it’s set in New York City. But the game has more in common with its cousin The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction than it does with anything Ubisoft or Rockstar created; and it doesn’t have some pretentious sci-fi or overwrought gangster premise. Seriously – when you’re elbow-dropping tanks and flinging pedestrians into airborne helicopters, do you really need some character-driven excuse to have fun?

What Is It?
Prototype is a singleplayer action game set in a sandbox world that happens to be New York City. Gameplay focuses on the sinister superpowers of amnesiac Alex Mercer that allow him to, among other things, rip people apart and absorb their appearance and memories. It’s coming out on PC, 360 and PS3.

What We Saw
I spent an hour with the 360 version of the game in a private hands-on appointment, going through the first tutorial mission and a second steal-the-helicopter mission set about a third of the way through the game.

How Far Along Is it?
This build is shy of release code by a bit – Trophy/Achievements haven’t even been worked out yet – but it looked pretty smooth for a game two months away from shipping.

What Needs Improvement?
Why Do I Care About Alex?: No matter how vast, pretty or interactive a sandbox game is, it gets boring if you have no connection to the main character. Radical has kept details of the plot pretty close to the vest so far, so maybe there is some compelling reason why I should care about this hoodie-wearing mutant. But unless and until I found out what that is, Alex could get old fast after the first hundred elbow-dropped tanks or so.

What Do You Mean No Multiplayer?: Sounds like Radical bit off more than they could chew when they first announced Prototype – this game was supposed to have a badass multiplayer to go with the badass gameplay. But it doesn’t, and I’m docking points for promises broken.

Simultaneous Releases Make Me Nervous: I only saw the 360 version of the game, so I don’t know how it plays on PS3 or PC. But I have noticed a sad trend where games that go for simultaneous releases on all three platforms usually break one and leave the other out in the cold for DLC – that’s PS3 and PC respectively.

What Should Stay The Same?
The powers: Remember those old Nintendo ads that said “Now you’re playing with power”? I think this is what they had in mind. Alex Mercer has all kinds of weird mutant tricks that allow him to run up the side of buildings, tear through the streets of NYC at a blurring rate, glide like a bat, and – of course – kill people in weird ways. One of the weirdest I saw in the tutorial level was where his hand turns into a black and red writing mass that he slams into the ground, which causes a huge set of spikes to jut out from the ground in front of Alex, flipping cars and impaling people.

The control scheme: Alex has a lot of superpowers and a lot of people shooting at him because of said superpowers; players need to be able to handle his big bag of people-killing tricks and get him the hell out of trouble at the drop of a hat. Thankfully, the controls lend themselves to both, with most of the mutant moves mapped to the face buttons, plus a “flee” option mapped to the right trigger that performs most of Alex’s parkour moves without the player having to find surfaces that are viable parkour platforms – so for example if you’re running through a crowd, Alex doesn’t shove people aside and stumble, he just vaults over them and then runs up the side of the building because the flee button allows you to parkour off of pretty much any surface (unlike a certain game that I said we shouldn’t compare Prototype to).

So Many NPCs, So Little Time: The Titanium engine developed for Prototype can support a lot of NPCs on screen at one time. Dave Fracchia, VP of Technology at Radical (and former software dev on Reboot), told me that the engine can handle between 80 and 100 pedestrian NPCs plus another 100 or so vehicles. That’s 200 things for me to wreck, maim or otherwise inconvenience via Alex’s superpowers at any given time. Awesome!

Gotta Absorb ‘Em All: A major storytelling method for the game is the Web of Intrigue – a network of memories that Alex collects by absorbing people. Some of the Web you’ll unlock by progressing through the main plot; but there are lots of non-essential memories that fill in Alex’s back story that you can gobble up by seeking out and absorbing random NPCs all over town. Having this storytelling method might not make the plot any better (or worse, as the case may be), but it definitely gives you something extra to do in the game. And the really fun part? They might “misremember” stuff, so you’ll have absorb even more people to get a clear picture of what really happened to Alex to make him the freak he is.

Final Thoughts
Prototype was a cathartic game to play, but not at all mind-numbingly repetitive. The varied superpowers, dense city and numerous ways to break a helicopter (you can jump off a building and sort of glide into its propeller – so hilarious) kept things interesting, even though I couldn’t get into the plot. I’m almost willing to say that even if the plot is horrible, that won’t make the game less fun; repetition is the enemy of sandbox games, not pretentious plots. But I’ll have to wait and see. Maybe Radical can cook up something so pretentious, it sucks all the fun out of sucking up people’s memories.

Poor Alex Mercer. The Prototype antagonist wakes up in a morgue and has to eat people to regain his memories. Yum.

There’s a bit more to it than that, but the idea of consuming other people as a storytelling technique is certainly a novel way of putting a fresh spin on the overly-used amnesia mechanic. It certainly beats the hell out of having to assemble a team of colorful adventurers and then slowly learn about your past through a series of cutscenes interspersed with turn-based battles.

Need a reason to pickup Radical Entertainment’s Prototype when it hits store shelves this June? Activision gives you 10.

In case you aren’t patient enough to watch all 10, let me sum things up for you. It’s Hulk: Ultimate Destruction plus Spider-man: Web of Shadows. If those were your type of games, it certainly looks like Prototype will be right up your alley, killing people and taking their identities.