Product Description

You are Alex Mercer, a shapeshifter with absolute mastery over your genetic structure, stalking the streets of New York City, searching for your past.

A secret war is brewing in New York. First, battle below the media radar, then, watch as the virus spirals out of control and the government seizes the media to stop the spread of information.

Face an ever-growing army of infected creatures warped and changed by the virus. As it spreads, more and more of New York falls under its control. The virus overwrites a creature's existing genetics; warping and changing their form into something else, something planned. As the virus gathers its army, rush to discover the secret behind it all; the one thing that can stop it all before the city falls into ruin.

Against both you is Project BLACKWATCH, an elite force of Army specialists ready to stop the spread of the virus at any cost. These operatives have seen it all before, and are eager to track you down and bring you in, dead or alive. They're even willing to execute the final solution in New York, if necessary. Their mandate is complete containment; even if it means everyone in New York must die.

Struggle to define what you will be Man or Monster. Will you haunt the city as a faceless killer or save it from the horrors of the virus? Do you assist BLACKWATCH in its hunt, or join forces with the virus and subjugate humanity? Push your powers to the limit, and unlock the genetic shackles that hold you in check

• Deadly Shape-Shifting Action: Alex Mercer is a shape-shifter with amazing powers of combat, destruction and deception
• A Fresh Take on a Stale Genre: Taking the open-world genre to breathtaking new heights, PROTOTYPE is an original IP featuring Alex Mercer, an all-new anti-hero framed within a conspiracy-drenched storyline that gives open-world/action games a fresh and well deserved kick in the pants

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1013 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: ACTIVISION
• Released on: 2009-06-12
• ESRB Rating: Rating Pending
• Platform: Windows XP
• Dimensions: .28 pounds

Amazon.co.uk
Prototype is a single player, open-world action game where players take control of shape-shifter Alex Mercer. In this gameworld you literally are a genetic prototype hiding in human form. You step out onto the streets of New York with no memory, but limitless potential power. As a terrifying viral epidemic sweeps across Manhattan, top-secret Blackwatch Special Forces move in, transforming it into a war zone. Delve into the mysteries of your origin, the true nature of your power and your part in a conspiracy 40 years in the making.

Battle through an infected NYC. View larger.

Turn your body into a weapon. View larger.

Consume abilities, memories and physical form of others. View larger.

Combat or join special forces units. View larger.

Story
Alex Mercer was once a scientist for the prominent medical research corporation, Gentek, but one day he wakes up to find himself a shape-shifter with absolute mastery over his genetic structure, but no memory of how this came to be. Taking to the streets of New York City in search of answers, he quickly encounters a web of lies and vows to rip the truth from those who have hidden it from him and the world.

A few other things that Alex also learns quickly is that he is not alone in possessing amazing abilities, that there is a secret war brewing in New York City and he is on its front lines. A deadly infection has spilled out of control and the government has seized the media to stop the spread of information and has placed New York under quarantine as martial law is instated; igniting a firestorm of combat, carnage and death. As he roams the city, he faces an ever growing army of infected creatures warped and changed by the virus. As it spreads, the virus overwrites the genetics of those it infects, warping and changing their form into something else, something that seems to have been planned. The answers he seeks appear to be tied to the virus, so he rushes to discover the truth behind it, but standing against him and his goal is Project Blackwatch. An elite army specialist force, they are tasked with halting the spread of the virus at any cost and are eager to bring Alex in dead or alive to determine his connection to it. It would seem that they are potentially both enemy and ally to Alex's cause. Will Alex assist Blackwatch in its hunt, or join forces with the virus and subjugate humanity, pushing his powers to the limit as the genetic shackles of humanity fall by the wayside? That choice is up to the player in Prototype.

Gameplay
In Prototype players engage in 'Deceive or Destroy' gameplay. This allows gamers the choice to either blend in with the population and covertly progress through the story, or fully unleash Alex’s powers, and move through New York City like a walking slaughterhouse, taking control of military vehicles, and causing destruction at every turn.

Although Alex is literally strong enough to fling people and large objects around easily, his most intriguing power is his ability to 'consume' people. In doing this he acquires their memories, abilities, and their appearance. New memories help him to solve the mystery of how he got the way he is, while new appearances allow him to shape-shift into new useful forms at will and abilities allow him to manoeuvre in parts of the game requiring specific skills in specific situations. In addition, Alex's consumption of people also facilitates his ability to transform his physical body and manipulate his senses. Most weapons acquired in this way are outgrowths from his appendages like exaggerated blades, shields, whips and claws used for brutal close combat, but consumption also allows for powerful abilities like thermal vision, which provides for vision through smoke and obstacles, as well as 'infected vision' with which Alex can detect hotspots of viral infection throughout the city.

Key Features:

• Fast and Deadly Combat - Shape-shift your body to the situation at hand ... from claws to blades to hammers to whips, as you choose the right weapon for the situation. Change to shield or armour for defence or use advanced sensory powers (thermal vision, infected vision) to track your enemies.
• Over-the-top Locomotion - Seamlessly and fluidly bound from building to building, run up walls, bounce off cars and everything in your path. Adaptive parkour lets you move freely through the open-world environments of New York City.
• Unique Disguising Abilities - Consume anyone at anytime, take on their appearance and assume their memories and special abilities.
• Deep Conspiracy Driven Storyline - Wake up with no memory of the past ... just mysterious powers and a link to a town in Idaho. Delve into the mysteries of your origin, the true nature of your power and your part in a conspiracy 40 years in the making.
• Parkour Inspired In-game Movement - Alex Mercer's movements are inspired by Parkour, a mostly urban activity bordering on both art and martial arts that aims at moving the human body from one point to another as smoothly, efficiently and quickly as possible. Recent examples of it gained worldwide attention in chase scenes in the 2007 film "Casino Royale."

Customer Reviews

Good Game Intersting Story
Prototype is a interesting game, it has a very complicated story, the guide is also useful in getting the most out of the game. It has good graphics for a game of its size, , the abilities and styles you can play the game in are very fun and you can spend hours "experimenting" with them on the local population. Overall the game play isn't that varied but that didn't bother me as what was in the game was fun so adding pointless variation would probably lesson the game. You can play the game is different ways ,e.g. Stealth, all out action. The game dose have quick time events these only exist with Supersoldiers in combat and when hijacking vehicles.

The basic controls are very simple, learning the combo's dose take to time but i got used to them very quickly. You are able to customise the control and you can play the game with a 360 controller. If you have played Crysis you will be able to understand the basics of the game as the changing of powers uses a very similar system. As you progress you unlock new challenges which I found to be fun quite a few were challenging. They are best training missions and allow you to improve your skills in the game.

I've found the game to be very stable, in fact on of the most stable games I've played its has yet to crash on me.

Will you like the Game?

Most likely yes, if your into this sort of game you will like it, being on the PC I've found its defiantly worth the money, after playing on my mates 360, and PS3's the PC one is defiantly the best due to its much lower price and you don't need a massively powerful machine to play it, as you can carry on you statistics and powers after you complete the game it dose have replay ability, I've played it thought twice for fun, its generally a fulfilling experience.

What i think
The game is quite fun, there is plenty to unlock and the missions are often quite difficult and fun. It does get quite repetative like most free roam games but keeps you coming back. I recomend you double check your system requirements as i had afew problems when the video clips were playing, and the menu was extremely jumpy which meens you dont fully appreciate the game as all the unlocks are accesed via the menue.
All in all i am pleased with the game and if you like free roam games i sugest getting it as it is unique.

Brilliant.
A totally new idea, I love this game. Games built from films just don't work out that well; this is what gaming should be about, everything about it is just so much fun. I knock one star off the rating for one reason alone, that is that the Hard level is locked away from the first launch of the game. I hate playing any game at less than hard.
A new idea, a complex conspiracy type story, amazing shape shifting, the ability to consume and then pilot any vehicle or operate any weapon (Though why you would choose a weapon over your own abilities is anyone's guess). Tough long battles to complete missions is one of the games hallmarks, it almost wears you out having long running fights that can take a while, especially with the Boss Baddies. The ability to evolve new abilities and upgrade your character is another favourite thing I enjoy in games. The Hunters were initially a very dangerous enemy, now they're just dead meat before they even engage with me. You can turn huge areas of New York into a butchers yard in minutes with dismembered corpses lying everywhere.
I have noted that people are experiencing problems with this game, and others I bought people are reporting issues. I experience no problems whatsoever, no matter whether they are Windows upgrades, No issues with games, no issues with any software period. Do you buy machines like Dells? Or do you BUILD them! I design my own systems and build them myself allowing me to choose high performance, high quality parts all the way. I'm not constrained to cost cutting that manufacturers will most likely use in the components they buy, thus I have no problems. I would recommend this approach to anyone suffering from problems.