jeriendhal | Prey: Full Review

In the Eric Burns' Websnark entry that I linked to, he comments on how heroes aren't allowed to be very heroic these days. That is, standing up for the idea of being the hero, and making it work. The same rather applies to Prey.

I'm mildly pissed at Prey. Not of for occasionally excrable voice acting (that's rather par of the course for a shooter), but for the story. Yeah, I know, asking for Shakespeare in a shooter is silly, but you can have a decent storyline. The primary example in my experience is Star Trek: Elite Force. It was a FPS set in Voyager ferchrissakes, which ought to have been a double penalty. But y'know what? It had a compelling story that moved you along, had likable characters, and frankly was better plotted than the average ST:V episode.

Prey? Not so much. The basic premise is pure action movie. Guy gets kidnapped by aliens, along with Grandpa and girlfriend. Grandpa dies and comes back as a spirit to give Ancient Indian Wisdom, and guy must rescue girlfriend and save the day.

Except he doesn't.

At about two thirds through the game, Tommy, having rescued his girlfriend once, has her snatched away from him again and goes chasing after her, taunted by the voice of Sphere, who promises to lead him to her if he'll just become part of the ~~Collective~~ Hive. He finds her again, only to find she's become a mutated Boss monster. After a pissing tough fight, he blows up the mutant half of her..

...and then puts her down like a dog.

Sounds fun huh? I didn't think so either. Only after he screws up and loses his girlfriend does Tommy ask Enisi for the additional training that Grandpa wanted to give him. Then it's all Vengeance is Mine, Sayeth the Cherokee. A couple of boss fights later and it's all over. Girlfriend comes back briefly as a spirit to say buh-bye, but by then there's no reason to care. The world is saved, but Tommy is alone, and all he has to show for it is a patched together bar back in Oklahoma (stick through the end credits to see it).

Meh.

Other than that, as an action game Prey does okay. The highly touted gravity effects and portal technology are basically a visual gimmick. They looks nice but after a while you don't notice them. The "Death Walking" ability allows for some interesting puzzles, as you use your out of body ability to reach buttons you otherwise couldn't press, but the Spirit Arrow attack is nigh worthless except at the beginning of the final Boss fight. There's also a bit of a cheat when you die. Instead of reloading the game you go to a penalty zone where you shoot at spirits with your bow and arrow to build your health back up before you get dropped back into combat. It's non-sensical, but it lets you get through the game without constantly re-loading or cheating and going into God Mode.

The other weapons are variations on theme we've all seen before. Rifle with Sniperscope, grenades, grenade launcher, chain gun, and Last Ditch Wrech Beating action. The one fun innovation is the Leech Gun, which allows you to change its attack depending on what energy it most recently sucked down.

So. Combat = Okay. Puzzles = Middlin' to Annoying. Voice Okay = No Surprises (though Jen gets really annoying later on, as you're expected to care for her, despite her lousy line reading) Plot = Crappy.

Worth $45? Ehhhhhh....