Games of the Year: Prototype

By J.D. Richardson

We’re coming to the end of our Games of 2009 musings. Just a few more to go, then on to games of the – my goodness – decade. But the feature simply wouldn’t be complete without an astonishing, 9/10-scoring open-world action game, in which you can be just about as bad as you like…

I paid attention to Prototype just once during its whole development. It disappeared off my gaming radar soon after, and yet it ended up doing the equivalent of leaping out of a bush while I was walking down the street at night and sucker-punching me in the face. Hard.

I don’t think any game this year has managed to feel quite so intense, with its fast paced action and visceral ultra-violence. Prototype does an incredible job of making you feel like the most powerful badass the world has ever seen, with abilities that include being able to sprint up the sides of buildings, glide through the air, body slam tanks from the top of skyscrapers, throw cars, and morph your body into various deadly weapons including hammer-arms, blades, claws, whips and huge spikes. There’s so much you can do with protagonist Alex Mercer that it’s often difficult to decide how to approach a given situation. You’re spoilt for choice.

I love the way the game drops you right into the penultimate scene, with all your powers available, right at the start of the game. Sure, after a brief run of carnage and jaw-dropping action it dumps you back to eighteen days earlier with just the basic starter powers, but that opening gives you a taste of what will come. It gets the gaming juices flowing in anticipation.

You know, I often have arguments with people about violence in videogames, defending them to the last and usually winning my case. With Prototype, my whole argument crumbles to dust. It revels in its bloodthirstiness, but I absolutely love it for the sheer damn spectacle of it. It’s not Alex Mercer who’s a bastard, as some people like to claim; it’s us, the players, who become the murderous nut-jobs. The Alex Mercer of the cut-scenes is trying to save the world and find out who he really is. As soon as we take over… well. Look out New York City. There will be blood.

But it’s not all about the violence. (Well, it mostly is, actually. But still…) What we have with Prototype is a beautiful example of game mechanics that work so well and flow so brilliantly it almost touches on perfection. Combat and movement animations blend perfectly, and the free-running functions in that same sublime way as the modern GTA games’ driving just works. You become the character, all movements translated from brain to controller to game world. This is a title in which you can lose hours, ignoring the main story and simply exploring the city, destroying everything that stands in your way, basking in pure, unashamedly in-your-face videogame.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

//Batman: Arkham Asylum (Review – 9/10)
As a huge Batman fan, I found this to be a pure joy to play. At last! A proper Batman game that doesn’t piss all over the source material. Incredible graphics that hold so much weight and detail. A fantastic story that’s compelling and entertaining without being awkward and contrived. Rocksteady obviously put a lot of love into Arkham Asylum, and it shows in the absolute polish to every aspect, as well as a ton of extras to find, such as the interview tapes with all the villains and the Riddler’s challenges. Oh, and what about that bit? I thought my 360 had red-ringed. Brilliant.

//Borderlands (Review – 9/10)
This is probably the best co-op game I’ve ever played. In fact, it’s a game that has to be played in co-op to really get the most out of it. I’d even go as far as saying it’s a bit average in single-player. But in the company of friends, it’s an absolute riot of a game. As soon as the ace intro starts up, you know exactly what you’re in for: a barmy, comic-book Mad Max with a wicked sense of humour and lashings of good, old ultra-violence.

//Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War 2 (Review – 9/10)
I heaped a bucket of praise over this in my review when it was released, and for good reason. Pretty much ignoring the successful formula of the first game and coming up with something new – and, in my opinion, better – was a bit of a masterstroke. Dawn of War 2 doesn’t actually feel like a sequel at all; it feels like the start of a new series in itself – a more personal look at the battlefields of the far future, with a small squad to control rather than an entire army. Well implemented RPG elements further immerse you into the world of Warhammer 40,000.