Features

With open-worlds being a common aspect of games these days, it's only natural that gimmicks are required to make a game stand out from the tough competition. Sure, Grand Theft Auto stands proud at the mountain's summit (waving the victory flag), with its gangster plots, movie themes and gritty action, but occasionally a game will climb up and place itself high up there. Crackdown delivered an action-packed take on the super cop, giving you gravity-defying super strength mixed with gun play, albeit also with repetitive game-play.

With Prototype, the streets are alive with the sound of mayhem and carnage. You are Alex Mercer; confused, no memory, an anti-hero with unexplainable superhuman powers and shoved in the centre of a viral outbreak. As seen in so many movies, once again New York is the city to trash. With the Big Apple as your playground, never before (in an open-world game) has a city been portrayed with so much life. There are so many cars and people on the streets, GTA could learn a thing or two about bringing a city to a more realistic and congested state.

Under threat from choppers and soldiers? We've all been there...

The more you play, the more you learn about Alex and his troubled superhuman existence and, most importantly, the more you become intrigued. As each mission progresses, the more New York becomes overtaken by the hysteria and utter devastation of viral outbreak. The chaos on the streets is utterly convincing and to be in the thick of it brings a sense of urgency and the feeling of "I really don't want to be here", but you're okay, because you have superhuman powers. It's extremely fun unleashing your powers around NYC, even though the city's detail is rather bland and lacks character outside of the infected zones.

Naturally, you start off fairly weak (if you can call it that) and eventually you can unlock and purchase superhuman upgrades. The more missions you complete and damage you cause, the more you're rewarded with Evolution Points, which are used to buy these new powers and skills. As well as the claws, you can acquire the likes of Hammerfist, which can take out a tank in a few punches and cause mini tremors in the ground. Whipfist gives you a long reach and can be used to grab onto and hijack helicopters, of course tanks and helicopters are drivable, but don't expect too much grand theft auto on the streets of New York. Why the hell would you want to drive a car anyway? In Prototype you move around with style - high and long jumping and roof-to-roof gliding.

Anyone got a really big plaster for this guy?

Sandbox missions are becoming a bit dated now, with the same old tasks copied and pasted from each game. Including the annoying timed missions, for instance in Prototype you are required to take out several separate Military Units before they reach a certain area. I can't speak for everyone, but I hate timed missions. Give me all the time I need and I'll take out those Military scumbags, but attach a timer to it and I crumble under the pressure. Another rather annoying mission asks you to go deep in the heart of a chaotic infected street and take out several super armoured tanks. While normally that would be fine, because you're superhuman, in this instance you can't use your superpowers and your normal tank won't last five seconds. Add super strong monsters and helicopters to the equation and it equals pure frustration.