Just finished beating Prototype 2...
I obviously can't speak for others but for me, Prototype 1 probably ranks in my Top 10 favorite games of all time. The series was overshadowed by it's more lauded competitor inFamous, and while I will agree that as an overall package and sum of all parts that the inFamous series was better overall, for me Prototype was more memorable because it was just more fun to play. The wide variety of personal weapons along with the pervertedly inhumane way they were applied to enemies just made the game more satisfying as opposed to just shooting lightening bolts up everyones' butt.
The sequel plays it rather safe by being more of a refinement of the original as opposed to a drastic overhaul. It falls into that common review of "If you liked/disliked the original, you'll like/dislike the sequel," which isn't a bad thing if you liked the original. And since I did very much enjoy the original I also very much enjoyed it's sequel, although I'm not sure if I enjoyed it more. The main draw is the combat and control. You can leap huge distances with a single jump, run up walls, float great distances across the sky, and once you actually need to kill something, oh boy.. Do you pick your "Freddy Kreuger-esque" nails that slice and dice opponents, or do you pick the standard blade arm, or maybe the bladed whip that nicely separates enemy top halves and bottom halves? This is just a small sample of all that you can do, but luckily the gamed doesn't overburden you with killing options. You can almost feel how painful the moves are that you are executing and I (in my own sick way) found that made the game much more personally satisfying.
While various combat mechanics and side quests were improved upon, the actual story and the players involved took a step back in my opinion. For the uninitiated, the basic plot of Prototype revolves around Alex Mercer, a worker at a company called Gentek that releases a virus in Manhattan that basically has the same effect as the viruses that the Umbrella corporation was known for, while also giving Alex incredible powers that he uses to fight the virus creators. While he ends up saving the day in the first game, for the sequel he actually becomes the antagonist in the sequel. The same virus that infected NY in the first game is actually released again in this game, except that it takes out other parts of the metropolitan area besides just Manhattan. Alex also decides to infect a war veteran named Heller in the sequel in hopes of making him some sort of right hand man to help take down those responsible for creating the virus.
As you can tell, this isn't exactly a deep or even very original plot (although I did leave some details out as to not be a spoiler). In addition, as weird as this may sound, the implausability of the plot is a little too much to deal with at times. The game hardly feels the need to even give an explanation at times. New York is basically under the control of a Private Military Corporation that is so over the top evil that you can't even really take it seriously. On maybe 1 or 2 occassions a member of Blackwatch/Gentek would question the ethics of what they were doing to the population, while other times the people are so evil that you start to wonder if they're actually the Daleks in disguise. Why isn't the National Guard here? Where is the support or protest from some of the NYC Neighbors? Beyond just that, the people involved aren't exactly deep or ambiguous. It's not hard to tell who is going to turn on you and who are more than meets the eye.
Still, as I pointed out before, it's the action and gameplay that are the main draw and in that department the game is very successful. I suppose the only real question is if you should play Prototype 1, 2, or both. Well ideally I'd say play both, but if you're stuck with only 1 of them I'd pick the sequel. The upgrades in gameplay and balance more than make up for the downgrades in story and character work. Also, to be fair, it's not as though the story and such in Prototype 1 was that great to begin with. Yes it was better, but as a great game commentator once said, "
Better does not equal good." Also, the sequel includes a nice wrap up of the previous game for you to watch that basically sums up all you need to know about what you missed.
In conclusion, Prototype 2 deserves your attention. It's probably the closest you'll ever come to feeling like a super hero, and unlike some heroes, there's no "moral code" holding you back from jumping on a guy and literally beating him to death with fists the size of tires from a monster truck. I give it an A-.
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