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Prototype

EMAIL PRINT pc

8.6 User Score:

Generally favorable reviews

Based on 35 critic reviews
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Based on 258 votes
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Game Info

Publisher: Activision

Developer: Radical Entertainment

Genre(s): Action, Adventure

Players: 1

ESRB Rating: M (Mature)

Release Date: June 9, 2009

Summary

You are Alex Mercer, the Prototype: a shapeshifter with amazing powers of combat, destruction, and deception. Consume targets for their form and memories to assume a perfect disguise, or instantly transform your body into an array of deadly biological weapons, cutting your way to the heart of the conspiracy forty years in the making. Stalk the streets of New York City, searching for the life you lead before. Take the form of anyone in your path, using an arsenal of identities to confound, exploit or annihilate your enemies. Mankind is your mask. Wage a secret war against factions with complex agendas of their own, out to capture or kill you. They are your greatest threat and the key to the secrets of your past. Confront them, find those responsible and make them pay. Shapeshifting: Attack with brutal and devastating powers; instantly triggering hundreds of power combinations (Attack, Defensive and Sensory). Disguise: Assume the perfect disguise by transforming into any character and assuming the victim's powers, skills and abilities. New York City is your hunting ground! Jam-packed, vibrant, fully interactive city filled with thousands of people and enemies out to destroy you. Delve to the bottom of a conspiracy that has haunted the American government for decades. Who is responsible for your condition? Only you can find out!

Cheat Codes & Hints: Cheat Code Central GameSpot Guide

Also On The Web: Official Website

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Cheat Code Central

Prototype is one of the best games to release this generation and is definitely the best game to drop in 2009 (so far). Outside of the lackluster stealth and disguising mechanic, the brutal combat, huge open-world, varied challenges, and utterly satisfying gameplay makes this a must-have title for any serious gamer's collection. Get ready to put your life on hold!

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PGNx Media

The insane amount of strength, skills and powers you get in the game is amazing and the game does a great job of making you feel like you’re really in control of a truly powerful being.

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Game Chronicles

Prototype is well worth it and definitely a must have game for any action fan whether it’s on the PC or a console system.

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Games Radar (in-house)

Although it’s beset by blandish graphics and wickedly uneven difficulty, Prototype delivers a fast-paced, relentlessly amoral and wonderfully brutal sandbox adventure in a detailed city filled with cool things to see and do.

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GameZone

It’s smart, stylish, offers tons of fun for your money. The developers should be lauded for their efforts on every aspect of the game.

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Thunderbolt

Prototype perfectly embodies everything you could want from a summer game. It’s exciting, beautiful, liberating, and most important of all, it’s tremendous fun.

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ZTGameDomain

You'll never feel more like a badass and you'll never have a bigger smile on your face.

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PC Gamer UK

Dazzling, vicious fighting extravaganza, with tons of replay value. But you have to work hard to find out what's going on, or to care. [Aug 2009, p.68]

Computer Games Online RO

I wholeheartedly recommend it, with a small caution sign reserved for the little ones, because the game is violent on quite a large scale.

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GameSpot

This open-world action game set in Manhattan is proof that even viral outbreaks can be incredibly fun if they're done right.

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GamingExcellence

The mechanics are sound, but not rock-solid, the graphics are decent, though not great, and the carnage is excellent, though sometimes disorienting, especially with the less-than-stellar camera.

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PC Format

Player empowerment taken to a ridiculous, gruesome and thrilling new level. Just don't expect design perfection. [Sept 2009, p.92]

Vandal Online

It's true it becomes repetitive, and it doesn't stand out for its story, but despite that this is one of the most frantic and fun titles we can currently find on the shelves.

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Gamers.at

A delightfully brutal romp through dismemberment-land - coating Manhattan in mutant-blood has never been this much fun. Definitely one of the hottest games of 2009!

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PC Games (Germany)

A dark and brutal superhero-comic come alive. Prototype offers more than enough room for criticism due to its simple mission-design, unlovely graphics and boneheaded AI. Nevertheless it also copes with creating the intensive atmosphere of a city on the brink of disaster and of the player being the ultimate superhero, therefore resulting in a gameplay experience that is by far greater than the sum of its parts.

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3DJuegos

Prototype is the story of a very good videogame that asks for a little more polish in every aspect to transcend and become something special. There is no reason to avoid it, it's a great action flick, but as a project it had enough potential to achieve the classic range with a more inspiration and charm in its development.

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Gameplayer

As far as we know there’s no other game on the market that allows you to swallow a human for health, while being chased by a mutant twice your size, hurl a car at a helicopter, hijack a tank, cleave a soldier in twain with an enormous biological blade, transform into an invulnerable steel behemoth, tear apart vehicles with your bare hands, stealth consume and mimic any NPC in the city, and run up the walls of any building in Manhattan. Surely that’s got to count for something, right?

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SpazioGames

Prototype is a great example of a charismatic and enjoyable game, with good gameplay and durability at high levels. Unfortunately the little flaws in the implementation of certain aspects of the technical compartment will weigh more than the many merits for the less attentive user. The title has no multiplayer mode, but the single player experience won't make you miss it. We suggest the fan of free-roaming action to buy this game, the high level of adrenalin and violence won't let you down.

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Cynamite

Motivating until the very end thanks to Alex' many skills. However there could be more detail in the graphics, the side missions are repetitive, and the AI could be much better. All in all a fun game, though.

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Worth Playing

Prototype has a few flaws. It seems to forget what it's good at with all its focus on the sprawling overworld, and the open-ended gameplay has no real purpose other than prolonging the progression of the game, but it's still a remarkably well-made package.

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Play Magazine

Although it lacks much of the polish we've come to expect from sandbox style titles such as GTA IV and inFAMOUS, navigating Prototype's world—while leaving a chunky bloodbath in your wake—as the remorseless Mercer packs more than its fair share of guilty-pleasure thrills.

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LEVEL (Czech Republic)

Fast-paced action game offers limitless possibilities to crush kill and destroy anything in your way. Prototype fights boredom with great success, until the very end of story and only dumb NPCs and a couple of graphic issues prevent you from achieving a better score. [July 2009]

DarkZero

It is absolutely the best game for wasting away those hot summer days. If you’re a fan of superhero games or just love gratuitous violence, you can’t go wrong with Prototype.

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Absolute Games

It may not be the most good-looking or exciting action game ever, but few games convey the feel of a dying city which is at the mercy of a single creature.

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GameShark

Prototype is at its best when it lets you just rip into missions using whatever approach you see fit, which is thankfully most of the time.

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InsideGamer.nl

Expectations were high for Prototype. Based on what we saw before the release this was logical. In the end, the game turned out to be pretty good, but nowhere near what we expected. The developer did a good thing with respect to the awesome action, the superb superpowers and the chaos in New York, but failed to deliver a decent story. Also, we’re disappointed with the amount of variation in the game.

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IGN

Prototype is a game with many cool features. However, it lacks many of the finishing touches that make for a great and memorable game. To say the graphics and game engine need work is a massive understatement and many of the missions are cookie cutter in design without any real focus or attention to detail.

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PC Zone UK

The plot is a bit of nonsense and the NPCs' AI is dumber than a bag of hair, but slashing up civilians with the Claw is always amusing. [Aug 2009, p.68]

Total Video Games

Although it has everything you'd want from an intense, action-fuelled open-world title, the overall feeling with Prototype is that it tries a little too hard.

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PC PowerPlay

The game suffers from a major lack of restraint - next time they should focus on a smaller, more varied city with a limited set of better-balanced powers. [Sept 2009, p.70]

GameStar

We expected much more from this game. It's a bit short with just 12 hours from start to finish, but it has a certain charm. It's fun to play around with abilities and upgrades and the story is entertaining, but the game itself is just slaughter and violence with a lack of variety.

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1UP

On a theoretical level it achieves a significant design accomplishment in pulling everything together into a cohesive package. As the person holding the controller, though, it stumbles too often on its inability to turn its potential into a consistently fun game.

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Total PC Gaming

A fun sandbox game in small doses, but it's ultimately far too limited to keep you hooked long term. [Issue#22, p.54]

GameSpy

Prototype's combat and world traversal alone can provide more than a few hours of entertainment, I just can't get over how cheap a lot of the game feels. Whether it's the dated looks, its frustratingly difficult latter portion, or its awkward storytelling, Prototype often feels like a budget title that unfortunately doesn't have a budget price.

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Gameplayer Sweden

Prototype isn’t the type of game that shines despite of all it’s flaws. No, Prototype is the kind of game that surprises us that it isn’t in a worse shape just because of all it’s shortcomings. A mediocre game that tried so hard to be cool that it got lost in shallowness.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this game is 8.6 (out of 10) based on 258 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

rex gave it a4:
I wont be tl;dr with this so heres the skinny. Game was over in 3 hours. Finished it the night I brought it home. The devs made up for the short story by flooding the game with Mercenaries styled minigames. You can pretty much get all the worthwhile superpowers within an hour of casually playing. I consumed the identity of middleaged woman and nobody cared I was running up the side of the chrysler building. I picked up a truck and the dude inside it was totally cool with it. These "Territory wars" the military and infected have only happen when your involved in it and the gameplay during that is rinse and repeat to the extreme. --- I hate havin' to nail on this game, Ive been following it since I heard about when it was first being developed. I was real giddy about getting it the first day it came out. It was insanely FUN for about 2 hours, and then it ended an hour later. Great concept, just didnt pull it off. Hope they try it again.

Nathan gave it an8:
Shortly after I began playing [Prototype] I was launching over buildings having a gory hack and slash ton of fun when I began to notice the billboards. The ones that jumped out at me were the "DC" comics logos. At this point a person playing this game needs to realize that [Prototype] is a comic book adapted to a video game. Yes its gory, heavy on action, hordes of enemies, and lots of explosions. Like a comic book it relies on the visual to draw you. With this in mind one realizes that the graphics are not 'cutting edge' (which has never been a selling point for me anyway) but instead have a stylized feel to them that fits the comic book theme. The game play mechanics are actually varied and interesting. It has been said by many that there are only one or two 'good powers' and seeing as each power is suited to a particular game play style that may be true and not from person to person. I tried to vary styles and found that using the appropriate power in the right situation made battles much more visually pleasing and easier to handle. AI has also been put down by some reviewers, and to this I do agree, common enemy AI is rotten, while the late game big bads are almost painfully good. This can been seen as a stylized choice on the designers again to build that comic book superhero theme. The super(anti)hero is superior to common soldiers and zombies. and only slightly better than the best both sides can throw at him, a familiar comic theme. The final point to follow is the story, which actually suffers badly under the comic book style. After fully completing the story and the 'web of intrigue' story mechanic I believed I understood what was going on, but could not be certain due to the disjointed narrative. Further in keeping with the comic book style there is mention of a opposing superbeing/nemesis which may be a character you have met, the final boss, or more likely the nemesis that will appear in sequels or in an actually published comic. I actually expected to have an ending cut scene of this being declaring his vendetta like a comic cliffhanger. Overall [Prototype] is a good game, but fits best to those who enjoy comic books or who enjoy playing a super being against a horde of minions like a bad action flick.

Jesse gave it a2:
This game is just bad. Awful! The people who made this game do not know how to tell a story properly. Never mind what kind of story. They just don't know how to tell one properly period. I felt like I was watching a direct to video sci-fi B-movie, and even that statement is giving it credit it does not nearly deserve. Bad voice acting, a game engine that looks like it came out ages ago, and a character that is impossible to identify with (unless your a mass-murdering sociath who'd enjoy mowing down truckloads of civilians on your questionable path of revenge. Seriously the main character is a bloody ignorant jerk, why am I going to invest in someone as repulsive as this lowlife?! It was horrible. I made it through about four or five levels before it became clear to me that not even the gameplay could redeem this ... this indescribable turd. It was amusing using some of the powers, however that sweet taste quickly turned to a used kitty-litter box in my mouth as I realized I was facing the same. old. enemies. over. and. over. again. Using. the. same. combos. over. and. over. again. There are so many usless upgrades, you'll settle into using the handful of useful ones and--BAM! Boooring. They didn't introduce new enemies with variable attacks, they just threw more and ore of the same units at you. and the city ... I can't believe this company is using that as a marketable feature! It is so bland and repetitive and lifeless. Good lord, what happaned to having some standards people? I think most people would enjoy just about anything nowadays. There's no way in Biggest dissapointment of my year in gaming. I am flabbergasted at the score this game has gotten, but I guess the critics have not had enough decent games this year and their perspectives have become skewed or something. I can't explain it. For a big-budget, hotly anticipated release, this game gets: Ugliest Game Engine of 2009. Worst Voice Acting of 2009. Biggest Jerk-Wad Player Character of 2009. Most Inept Storytelling Mechanics of 2009. Barf!

Jones A. gave it a7:
It's good, not-so-clean, mindless fun; it's a gory version of GTA without the story and elaborate atmosphere, but it packs in a lot more hack&slash action. The graphics are nothing to write home about, lightweight enough to run on older cards with ease, but detailed enough to make this worth-while.

Nikola N gave it an8:
Prototype is a really well thought out game. It takes place in Manhatten after a virus really messes up everything. You start out by trying out some of the powers you can get. You can unlock the powers throughout the game. The graphics look pretty good, but it still looks a little dull. The game could take about 6-8 hours to beat if you don't do the side missions. The only replayability you can find in the game is using the Easy+ or Normal+ gamestyle which lets you playthrough the story with all the powers you've unlocked, or you can go through and beat the side missions. You'll probably play this game for about a few days and give up on it. It's a very nice game overall.

D. S, gave it a9:
This title, while very,very entertaining (in fact, maybe the most fun title scince GTA) , is not recommended for a number of reasons. 1. TERRIBLE graphics (sorry eye candy junkies) 2. Can get old very quick for some, so you must have high tolerance for repetition. 3. VERY EASY (I was very dissapointed in this aspect) 4. For console players controls (for me) were UNBEARABLE (I highly reccomend keyboard&mouse) And thats about it. If none of these things apply to you, you MUST buy this title. If not, AVOID.

Ben L. gave it a6:
Brilliant game if you want to hack and slash everything. But there's so much more that could have been done in regards to story line. You have a whole free roam city similar to say Grand Theft Auto 4, yet so many people wandering around minding their own business while the military and zombies etc. are running riot. Makes no sense! Hundreds of taxis all parked up in the middle of infected zones, half of them with inanimate people at the wheel. Still, makes no sense! You can pick up cars, and still the people in those cars don't seem to care. The playability isn't too great. I enjoyed the game the first time though, was given the ability to start a new game with all my powers, but just couldn't find a reason to start the game again. Brilliant graphics, brilliant concept, but I think GTA 4 has already set a bench mark for free roam cities. Unless this can be matched, or topped, along with the concept of Prototype, I'm simply not satisfied.

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