Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3560 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: Take 2
• Released on: 2006-07-14
• Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
• ESRB Rating: Adults Only
• Platform: Windows XP
• Format: DVD-ROM

Amazon.co.uk Review
In a nutshell:
Although it was announced more than a decade ago this demonstrates that the best things really do come to those that wait, with the most original and technically advanced first person shoot ‘em-up in years.

The lowdown:
Although it was conceived at a time when 3D graphics cards were still optional the basic idea behind the Prey portal technology is still the same as it ever was, allowing you to instantly step from one world to another in the game. You can even create the portals yourself as you battle grotesque enemy bosses in one area and jump back to another to recover. The game casts you as a Cherokee Indian with a number of magical powers such as spirit walking that let you explore the game world as a spirit, and deathwalk which replaces the normal need for intrusive quick saves with an innovative mini-game set between the worlds of the living and the dead.

Most exciting moment:
Not only is the portal technology amazing but the game’s use of gravity is equally inspired with gravity escalators that run up and across ceilings and some excellent zero gravity sections where you pilot spaceship pods and explore a tiny rotating planetoid.

Since you ask:
Originally intended only for the PC, the Xbox 360 version is being developed by British team Venom Games, who previously created Rocky Legends for Ubisoft, and features an 8 player multiplayer mode.

The bottom line:
Looks like being one of the top predators in the shoot ‘em-up world.
Harrison Dent

Manufacturer's Description
In Prey, gamers enter an unpredictable world where nothing can be taken for granted. Most of the game takes place within a living ship, a giant entity that can sense and react to Tommy's presence.

Prey makes use of Joseph's Campbell's renowned story structure, "The Hero's Journey," for guiding the main character arc. Campbell's extensive work on mythological story progression was made famous when George Lucas used it for Luke Skywalker's story arc in the original Star Wars.

Prey tells the story of Tommy, a Cherokee garage mechanic stuck on a reservation going nowhere. His life changes when an otherworldly crisis forces him to awaken spiritual powers from his long-forgotten birthright. Abducted along with his people to a menacing mothership orbiting Earth, he sets out to save himself and his girlfriend and eventually his planet.

Prey is serious, dark story, based on authentic Cherokee mythology. Themes of sacrifice, love and responsibility are explored and the story dives into emotional territory not yet explored by similar games.

Customer Reviews

Sorry to disagree with most of you, but it's really not that good......
OK. I'll give this game credit. It is more original than many a FPS out there, and I guess it deserves some of your time.
But not much.

You start off playing thinking it's a bit weird, and then it gets better...
Beautiful graphics, original storyline with challenging but not overly hard puzzles, cool guns, cool locations with innovative ideas (the gravity belts and room rotating etc etc) and strange but impressive enemies.

So far so good I hear you say.
Indeed.

And why the poor rating then?
Well, I just got bored of it. It's ever so samey.
Walk into room. Kill bad guys. Activate something to solve puzzle. Enter more bad guys. Kill bad guys. Exit room.
Walk through corridors.
Enter room. Kill bad guys. Activate something...... you get the idea.

You get bored of the rotating rooms, the funny paths that lead up walls and ceilings that you can walk up.
Even the 'spirit world' ends up being a bit tedious.

It just doesn't seem to evolve very much the further you progress into the game, and I kinda wish it did.

Don't get me wrong. It's not a bad game, but it's just not as great as some of the reviews I read before buying it. I guess maybe all the hype made me think it would be exceptional. And it isn't.

Download the demo and give it a try. Just don't expect the full version of the game to add much more to it.

Something to Prey on?
Well I got the game three days ago in a FNAC store. Went home eager to try the game out.

The first impressions are marvellous, with stunning graphics and a smooth feeling to the game mechanics it grips onto you immediately. The story of being a Cherokee indian is a very intriguing one and one cherokee Indian who finds out later on in the game that he has special powers.

Essentially though the story is quite similar to other games and, apart from the fact that you want to move out of Texas and that your girlfriend wants to stay, the main story is the same old formula, become a hero and save the world from aliens. Although this story is considerably better than most shooter's out there, a story of a shooter is by and large not what makes a good FPS.

There are around nine weapons to choose from and you may carry all of them at the same time much like in a Quake game, however you will have to pick these weapons up as you progress through this game, they are thankfully not all available to you from the start.

This game is happenning in our space of time but since your character was took by aliens into a spaceship the weapons, apart from your melee weapon which is a simple screwdriver are quite futuristic and the weapons do remind you slightly of quake with a rocket launcher and chaingun. Some of these weapons are quite interesting such as a weapon which can freeze enemies with ice to kill the alien.

There are several creatures in the game whch you must kill, unfortunately there are not many different types of creatures, only around 5 which is not bad but soon enough the game does become fairly repetitive and the game is no longer as interesting as before. No boos fights, but nobody really expects that foma FPS.

Many people noted that Prey had special features, well yes, at first these special features are quite revealing and interesting but soon enough the surprise factor wears off and you no longer feel like it's something that special. I'll try to explain a bit more on these special features which only Prey has to set itself apart from other FPS's.

The first special features is the fact that you can turn gravity around... This isn't easy to explain, basically there are ways in which you may make the gravity come from another direction so instead of standing on the floor you stand on the ceiling or on the wall. There are many area's where you may do this. And there are also some staircases of anti gravity... basically these staircases will be a route or trail for you to follow and these trails go up walls and ceilings and this is the only way for you in some cases to reach another part of a game, if you jump off the trail though you will immediately fall off and land on your feet but right underneath where you were walking. OK, it's hard to explain but basically this feature is probably the only really interesting new feature of Prey.

The other feature are the "portals" if you may. These portals are basically doors whch lead you into a completely different place and not just the next room of a corridor. Now this could have been much more interesting unfortunately they didn't capitalize on this feature. Since the game is extremely linear there are normally no more than one portal to go into and I just have this huge feeling that Prey could've been perfect is only there could be some type of problem solving involved with these portals to have to enter two worlds to do two things before moving on instead of the typical enter this, kill this, move to next. 2K games might as well have made these portals doors in my opinion.

The third and final special feature is the fact that as an Indian you may use the special spirit powers which could have also been made much better... These powers only ever turn out useful when there's a "forcefield" which you can only enter in your spirit form or if you die. Yes if you die you don't annoyingly start the entire mission over but instead go to your spirit land and kill some birds to regain health, luckily this will only take you twenty or so seconds and it is probably more entertaining than starting the entire mission from scratch. This does however reduce the fear of dying and makes the game feel so simplistic and easy that there are basically no penalties for dying...

As for multiplayer, well don't buy this game for multiplayer, it is nothing like most of the current active multiplayer games such as Call of Duty, Battlefield, halflife or Unreal. And if you buy this game just buy it for the ten or so hours of single player campaign.

Ultimately, prey was a game which was mega hyped and which everyone wanted. And a game which in my eyes could have been so much more. Instead it is still a rather fun play through but when those "special features" aren't that "special" anymore the game is just another FPS to finnish. And without any real value in keeping this game for multiplayer it is still an OK game but no better than say, Sniper Elite. Prey is a game which could have been ground breaking and which had the potential to be ground breaking but unfortunately Prey didn't use the groundbreaking features in a groundbreaking manner.

PREY
Despite some negative reviews I think this game is well balanced FPS with some puzzles thrown in, but maybe slighty too easy for experienced players. The graphics are great and I loved the fact you can walk on the walls and that enemies can spawn above you. This keeps you on your toes and is fairly unique? (Tribes Vengence only other that springs to mind I have played). Get yourself a second hand copy and you wont be disappointed! I'm running P4 3.6Ghz, 2Gb Ram, Sapphire x850xt.