Movement and Play Control

Overall, the play control in Prototype is excellent and very responsive. The vehicle controls start out a little sluggish, but once you get all possible upgrades, it gets much easier. The move selection in this game is very rich and you have numerous different powers to choose from, though a few of them are there just for show, such as super strength or the HammerFist power. You will probably end up using Alex’s Blade power (for maximum damage) or the WhipFist power (for maximum reach) most of the time.

Something I found annoying was the tendency of the character to get stuck running, which made fighting on the move a bit tricky. It also made the completion of some side-quests more difficult, because trying to turn or change directions sharply while running, frequently resulted in falling off a building and having to start the mission over. Let’s say you are running toward a group of enemies or a piece of enemy armor, and you do a running attack like a jump-kick. You expect that once the character recovers from the move, you can start following up with combos or other ground based attacks, but the character recovers and keeps running so all you get is another jump-kick.

Game Progression

The game can be finished within about 10 hours, or take much longer if you do all the side missions. There are lots of side-quests to do, which train you in the moves you need to master, as well as provide the opportunity to earn credits to buy upgrades. Depending on how close you get to a stated goal of the side mission (such as: timer, or number of units killed), you get awarded bronze, silver, or gold medals.  Every action by Alex that kills a military or infected unit, or destroys military hardware generates credits. The side missions started out fun and mostly easy, and gradually get harder as you progress. New side quests are unlocked as you follow the main quest line. Some of the vehicle missions get very difficult because of your limited ability to dodge.

Fun Factor

This game was a lot of fun. Because of the excellent play control and freedom of action, you can complete missions several ways. For example if you need to destroy something, you can jump into a tank, or hijack a helicopter, consume an army unit with a bazooka or use any of your own array of powers. The different missions take part in different parts of the city, so it helps to make some of the repetitive side missions more palatable.

Replay value

The replay value is diminished because you get most of the powers on the first run through the game. By the time you can run it on normal+ or hard+, you already have most of the upgrades. Unless you want to see the ending sequences again, or just prove to yourself that you have mastered the moves and want to try hard mode,  you will probably only play this game once.

Difficulty

The game starts out very easy. You are considerably more powerful than anything you face, and if you listen to the instructions and start learning the moves in the first few missions, you will find the game pretty easy at first. Once you have more of your moves and have progressed towards the end of the game, you will start getting harder missions where more enemy units come at you non-stop. An experienced gamer will find this game fun, and only frustrating at some of the final missions.

Graphics

Without counting pixels the game looks good. The building models are seamless and well designed, and you can see a fair bit into the distance. There are no glitches or artifacts that affect game-play in a noticeable way. The only problems I noticed were the blue/red orbs you need to collect for more bonus credits. Whether you can see them or not depends on your position, your viewing angle, and whether you are above or below the object. You therefore end up scanning the horizons while parked on different rooftops to see if any orbs are around. Some sort of detector would have made this easier and less of an Easter-egg hunt.

Biggest Pro

The game is fun. The missions are fun. Driving the vehicles is fun. Flying around is fun and stealth-consuming people is fun. Lots of fun.

Biggest Con

A few minor things to knit-pick at, but that is just for the sake of thoroughness. The problem with seeing the orbs I mentioned before will make it really hard to find all 200 of them. Should have made the devastator moves a little easier to do.

To Buy or Not To Buy

The answer to this question is a resounding yes. The game was immensely fun. Leaping from building to building chasing down helicopters, riding tanks and helicopters, infiltrating enemy bases, and pulverizing someone to a pulp before absorbing them, are just some of the fun things you get to do. Some of the challenges are very difficult to complete, and require repeated attempts with different tactics, which just teaches you different nuances of the game. Don’t miss this title.

I have not experienced almost any glitches with this title. That in itself is a rarity among games these days, as publishers rush titles out the door, in some cases, wayyyyyy before they were ready.

If you have played Prototype already or are planning to buy it, please leave your comments and opinions for the benefit of others.

As a rule, if you are installing pirated software or searching the web for serial numbers or serial number generators, you would be extremely foolhardy not to have a solid anti-virus program installed, with the latest security updates. And I don’t mean Norton Anti-Virus, which in my experience is complete crap. If you like to try software before you buy it, and decide to download anything pirated, make sure you scan the install files/media before starting, and have your anti-virus program fully updated and running while you try the install. Even that is not a guarantee and so reputable sites are really a must.

Microsoft has chimed in with a predictable version of “we told you piracy is bad”. Would be funny if they are the ones that actually purposely leaked the infected copy to teach people a lesson and get people to stop trusting torrent sites.

http://www.nytimes.com/external/idg/2009/05/04/04idg-leaked-copies-of-windows-7-rc-contain-trojan-14500.html

While most of us squirm at the site of a bee heading toward us, while enjoying that beer in the backyard, it’s important for us to realize that those bees play an extremely important role in the horticultural process. Without bees carrying pollen around, crops would suffer and many agricultural farms would die off.

A few years ago apiarists (bee farmers) noticed a serious decline in bee colonies along with the death of many colonies. Recently, some scientists from Spain discovered that the cause of the decline in bee colonies was directly linked to a fungal virus being contracted by the colonies and not cell-phone use, as some idiot scientists speculated.

After determining the type of fungus and fumigating several test colonies, scientists have determined that the virus is curable. No need to worry people. The bees will be back in full force this summer!

http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=3157