Preview: 'Prototype'

It seems that New York is the most hazardous place in the world. While soaps have their fair share of geographical misfortune (how many attempted murders can happen in a single street?), no other place has had as much carnage and destruction in popular media. With its streets crammed full of cars and people, towering buildings and its instant recognition around the world makes it the perfect stage for an epic disaster.

Prototype bucks no trend, and for once does the setting justice. A war is breaking out in the streets of Manhattan between a parasitic organism and the army, desperately trying to stop it mutating its citizens at any cost. Enter Alex Mercer, a scientist caught in the middle as an infected who’s managed to retain both human and parasitic qualities to use at his will, fighting for survival and the truth in a city under threat.

Also trapped in the carnage are the helpless citizens trying to survive, and the opening scenes capture their plight, dozens of cars and bodies lay strewn as down dense streets as far as the eye can see, people scrambling to escape from both horrible creatures and the army’s boot of authority. The sheer amount of activity on screen is breathtaking, with people getting torn apart left and right, scrambling into cars and ploughing down others to make their escape, and bodies getting crushed by rolling tanks, all in real time. While other games are just as sandbox in nature, the sheer amount of activity on screen and the ability to intervene and help or hinder these individuals is both involving and technically impressive.

The carnage provides ample opportunity to see what Alex is made of. As part-human and part-parasite, he can shapeshift into several different forms, each with their own powerful attacks. Clawed arms can rip through flesh like a knife through butter, rock arms can smash tanks into pulp, and transforming his arm into a giant claw can dice enemies in an instant. At this point Alex is fully manifested and a bane to both warring factions, but the story flashes back to before the mass panic, with him lying dead in a morgue, soon to awaken and discover his powers from scratch.

The first few missions guide show you what you can do in this sprawling sandbox, now a much more serene and orderly paced New York to help you get the hang of things. Just like Spider-Man: Web Of Shadows, you can scale walls and buildings by running up their sides, except here you can’t stick around; halting on the rise will cause Alex to fall. Once you make it to the top, you can survey where exactly the next objective marker is and the best way to get there, whether it be hopping between rooftops or dropping back down to street level with an almighty smash, sending people and cars flying in your landing radius.

At the marker, the army have caught up with you, and you’re given the chance to take out helicopters with a spot of taxi throwing. With the whirly bird locked on, Alex can pick up cars or tear up roadside installations to chuck at the chopper before its troops abseil out, saving you the hassle of fighting them, and providing a physics showcase as the burnt-out vehicles crash to the ground and realistically roll around. Individual enemies can call for backup over their radio, highlighted by an icon over their head, but providing you take them out beforehand you can halt their arrival completely. Every enemy kill and completed objective earns points toward skill trees to develop different powers and abilities, such as running faster and leaping further to reach even the furthest rooftop.

As part parasite, Alex can absorb people in seconds to top up his health, and also gain access to their memories to help the mission. While some will tell you where to go next, key characters provide a cutscene of their life playing out, from childhood, to graduation - their life literally flashing in front of your eyes - giving you some emotional gravitas to the monster you’ve now become. You can also shapeshift and blend in; one mission has you picking out a lone sentry using the map, allowing you to take their appearance and walk into the army base undetected. A gauge constantly shows the presence of enemies around you and whether you are being watched, which rises with suspicious behaviour and goes berserk if you show your true self.

Once the introductory missions are through, you can then explore Manhattan as you please and observe the changes in the city as the story progresses. Not only does the map show mission locations, but it highlights the colour-coded boundaries of the army and the parasite infestation. Developer Radical Entertainment claims that warring factions will fight openly on the streets where their boundaries overlap, and while you cannot erase the enemy completely, it is possible to support one side to help them spread their influence in the city.

While at first Prototype looks to be another sandbox game set in a urban playground, it seems to have made excellent use of the surroundings for both the story and the gameplay, leading to some awesome real-time spectacles. It will be very interesting to see how the parasite powers and shapeshifting work in missions and how they develop throughout the game, with the opening stages showing that there is a lot of scope of completing objectives. With its unrelenting take on mass panic in the city and clever use of powers, this is set to be a real summer blockbuster.

Prototype will be available on 360, PS3 and PC on June 12.