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Shakesbeard

[PROTOTYPE] In Stores Today!

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Prototype is a third-person action game developed by Vancouver’s Radical Entertainment (of Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction fame) that features fluid parkour inspired movement and visceral comba-

oh fuck it. Prototype is out TODAY (on 360 and PS3) you bastards! Have you played Ultimate Destruction?

If you answered yes, then high five brother! You’ll be able to jump in and start kicking ass (and face, and tank, and helicopter...) no problem! From the looks of things the controls are almost identical to UD and that is a damn good thing!

If you answered no, then what the hell is wrong with you? It was one of the best action games of the last generation, horribly overlooked by most fans of the genre, and four years after its release runs in sweet sweet 720p (I think) on your Xbox 360! Play it and love it while you weep that you could have been playing it for the last four years you heathen!

Lets take a quick look at Prototype:

  • You can shapeshift, assuming the form of any human in the game. Wanna be a bloodthirsty granny who runs up skyscrapers and elbow drops tanks? Fuckin’ do it!
  • Absorbing people doesn’t just give you a neat new skin and some health, it will also unlock new abilities as you gain the knowledge of your consumed foes. Chomp on an artillery commander and call down air strikes! Scarf down an APC driver and you’ll be able to hijack and drive tanks and such!
  • Tear dudes apart! You can form bigass claw hands, a motherfuckin blade arm, some kinda freaky tentacle whip business, all in your pursuit to paint the town red (…with blood I bet).
  • Open world! Omg! Blitz through NYC taking on a variety of side missions for evolution points (guess what they’re for) and when you get tired of ruining people’s days, actually play a mission or something! But don't worry, the world outside of missions actually looks like fun, since causing a ruckus will call out elite strike teams to slap you down for added carnage!
  • I don’t want to ruin the surprise of the movelist in this game but whatever, it’s FUCKING HUGE. Like, do a story mission and unlock 20 upgrades to buy huge. You can surf on bodies. Surf. On bodies. In the streets of New York. In a business suit (if you want).

If this sounds like a shill, fuck you! I'm just excited!

Seriously, just watch this video and lets all get excited about some killin’ (or, derail and make vague comparisons to inFamous)

"Top Ten Reasons Prototype is totally badass and amazing" - Gametrailers.com

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If I buy it will the lawsuit against double fine be dropped? No? Pesonal boycott continues.

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If I buy it will the lawsuit against double fine be dropped? No? Pesonal boycott continues.

I guess I should have expanded the derail note at the end there...

But seriously, as consumers we can only really vote with our wallets, and I respect your choice. Activision have some terribad ideas about the game industry but at the same time I want to show support for a Canadian dev team that is making something other than a sports game. Tough call!

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It really is. I've planned on buying Prototype for a while, as it really does look awesome, but I also have a personal ban on buying Activision games. Hell, I've had it since I saw what they did to Guitar Hero and decided I didn't want to support that. If I hadn't received Call of Duty 5 as a gift, I wouldn't have played any of their games for over a year.

Prototype looks good enough that I may need to go grab it, and I do feel that same patriotic impulse you have, Shakesbeard, plus Hulk was incredible. I'm considering buying it used though, just so Activision doesn't get my money. Unfortunately, I also hate buying used games because no one who actually worked on it gets anything. Is there any way I can buy the game from Radical without anything going to Activision? Unlikely.

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My personal boycott of Activision only extends to games I'm not interested in anyway. It's a very convenient boycott.

I know the comparison is kind of lame, but I just finished Infamous. Is this really different enough to warrant my attention? Even if so, is it any good?

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My personal boycott of Activision only extends to games I'm not interested in anyway. It's a very convenient boycott.

I know the comparison is kind of lame, but I just finished Infamous. Is this really different enough to warrant my attention? Even if so, is it any good?

I'm wondering the same thing. After inFAMOUS, I don't know if I feel like playing the same game over. Someone please tell me (from experience) that it's different :P

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These open world games man... Crackdown is only two years old.

:hmph:

Sorry, I'm being grumpy, but I can't get excited about more of these fucking things.

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These first-person shooters man... Call of Duty 4 is only two years old.

Sorry, I'm being an arse. And I do appreciate that there are many who genuinely do get fed up with all the FPSes (I don't, really). I guess I just think there's a lot you can do in a genre, so as long as the games have some sort of originality to them it's no real surprise or problem that lots of them share some mechanics and other properties.

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These open world games man... Crackdown is only two years old.

:hmph:

Sorry, I'm being grumpy, but I can't get excited about more of these fucking things.

I don't really understand your complaint. Most successful genres wouldn't go two years between notable releases--two months, even--why would this one?

It would be like saying "These romantic comedies man" or "These country albums man."

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I don't really understand your complaint. Most successful genres wouldn't go two years between notable releases--two months, even--why would this one?

It would be like saying "These romantic comedies man" or "These country albums man."

I'd argue that they aren't a true genre. With several different country albums, you'd be more likely to get a grab-bag of quality and different takes on a similar theme, whereas "Super-power based open world action game" is a much, much more restrictive definition. I'll concede that I should have perhaps outlined that it's this "open world game" type that I'm specifically griping at. Everyone's aware that Prototype and Infamous are hilariously similar, and though they're obviously different enough experiences to be released within a similar time frame and be viable sellers, I can't be blamed as a consumer for my indifference.

The more interesting comparison is romantic comedies, because for a period there was a definite trend and there were too many released in a short space of time. They're still being released, but not nearly at that rate. Sometimes, there definitely are too many releases within one genre, whatever the medium. Or maybe I'm just being an idiot, but I find it amusing that because there are two of these releasing within weeks of each other I'm not inclined to take an interest in either.

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I was super interested in both InFAMOUS and PRototype because I heard they're sort of like Crackdown (it being my favourite xbox game ever), but after Crackdown 2's announcement, well not so much.

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I have to say that I'm somewhat interested in this game, but only because of the Hulk: Ultimate Destruction connection.

After the tank scene (

putting it upon one's head for super-secret infiltrations

) in that game, I have the urge to see what kind of brilliance they'll put in the new game.

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Everyone's aware that Prototype and Infamous are hilariously similar

From what I've heard, they're similar in premise but not execution.

though they're obviously different enough experiences to be released within a similar time frame and be viable sellers, I can't be blamed as a consumer for my indifference.

And I can't be blamed for my indifference to sports games, but I don't see any problem with the frequency with which they're released.

Besides, two years is a pretty long time in gaming. I can understand comments about the proximity of Prototype to inFamous (of which there have been plenty), but Crackdown seems completely irrelevant to this whole thing.

The more interesting comparison is romantic comedies, because for a period there was a definite trend and there were too many released in a short space of time. They're still being released, but not nearly at that rate.

But this isn't even like that. It's not like we're being besieged by one open-world superhero game after another; we're just happening to get two apparently similar ones at once. It's more like when 3:10 to Yuma and The Assassination of Jesse James came out within a couple of weeks of one another. They were apparently similar to one another, but hardly a genre we were drowning in, and the films themselves were actually sufficiently different to be individually interesting. They were also both good, but I don't yet know whether the analogy stretches that far, not having played Prototype.

I obviously won't deny the similarities in premise, to the degree that it's probably slightly embarrassing for the parties involved, but I see it much more as an unfortunate coincidence than evidence of the industry's shameful lack of imagination (which isn't to say that that isn't a problem).

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All good points, but I suppose at this juncture I'd struggle to further explain my complete ambivalence to both games, though I really meant what I said. The Infamous demo was incredibly "meh", and I can't see Prototype being any different in that respect, though they seem to have both garnered bewilderingly great reviews. I've gotten into a habit of making what I feel are decent arguments before having them absolutely ripped to shreds.

This internet man :blink:

[And I suppose my point about Crackdown is that these must have both lifted ideas from that game. If their dev cycles were two and a half years, we know exactly what they were doing.]

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Your ambivalence is fine, I just think it's more to do with your feelings on the games' content than their prevalence.

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hmm... could be interesting, what kind of DRM does the PC version have?

edit: nevermind, found it, it's SecuROM 7, but without any activation. Now... if there only was a demo I could download.

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So I ended up picking it up on a whim. I'm having a blast with it so far. While I'm not the biggest fan of the Abilitease , it starts off awesomely. If you liked Crackdown, it's definitely something to hold you over until 2 comes out. It's like Crackdown, but you're actually more insanely powerful.

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Never played crackdown, and I'm still pondering about wtf the game is about. From the footage it pretty much looks like you're invincible. Maybe I'll give it a try tomorrow.

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Abilitease

Boom!

I'm thinking I'll get this when the price comes down a bit. I've been interested in it since I first started hearing about it, but I've heard it's a bit wonky in some respects, and I've got plenty of other stuff to be playing right now. Also, it probably wouldn't hurt to put some distance between it and inFamous, even if they aren't as similar as they at first appear.

I am definitely interested, though.

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Never played crackdown, and I'm still pondering about wtf the game is about. From the footage it pretty much looks like you're invincible. Maybe I'll give it a try tomorrow.

It's totally a bargain these days. I used to love open-world games (particularly Mafia and Vice City), but after experiencing what it's like to have superpowers in Crackdown, I just can't get back to games like GTA where I have to go back to being wimpy weakly human.

Oh yeah, don't forget to get the free DLCs too.

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I watched the quick look on GiantBomb and they died plenty in that even though it was a save after the main campaign had been played through. Died quite a lot actually.

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Played it for a few hour today, I didn't like it in the beginning, but after the abiliteasing was over it became better. But it's still quite chaotic. What does suck is that the performance of the PC version is quite terrible. The sound during the cut scene is quite broken. There's a long thread about it on the prototype forum, but not viable solution.

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All good points, but I suppose at this juncture I'd struggle to further explain my complete ambivalence to both games, though I really meant what I said. The Infamous demo was incredibly "meh", and I can't see Prototype being any different in that respect, though they seem to have both garnered bewilderingly great reviews. I've gotten into a habit of making what I feel are decent arguments before having them absolutely ripped to shreds.

This internet man :blink:

[And I suppose my point about Crackdown is that these must have both lifted ideas from that game. If their dev cycles were two and a half years, we know exactly what they were doing.]

What is this, I can't even-

You know, I was ready to go all white knight for these games (inFamous, Crackdown, Prototype) but I think you've thoroughly done the work for me. People can't really shred your argument to pieces if you don't present one from the start.

You essentially said "harumph what's with these open world games they're getting good reviews when I think they're crap!. I'm basing my opinion of a game off of a DIFFERENT GAME'S DEMO. *arms folded*"

Whatever man, it's all good. I've been playing Prototype and it's a blast, exactly what I was hoping for when I finished Hulk: Ultimate Destruction way back when. It's fast, visceral and engaging with a ton of action and great performance (on the 360, sorry PC folks...).

Question for people who have actually played both Prototype and inFamous: which did you prefer and why? It's a pretty common debate these days and I'm curious to see what fellow Thumbs come up with.

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Maybe I should just admit I was being unreasonable ;(

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