Prey is an odd game to review. It looks great and introduces some nifty new gameplay mechanics, but when you actually play it, it is hard not to feel a little under whelmed. Sure, it has the portals and wall walking and spirit walking stuff, but they don’t really change the standard FPS formula. There is nothing really wrong with it, but it isn’t anything special, either. Prey is decent and well worth a rental just for some easy achievement points, but is pretty forgettable overall.
Quick Hits
- Title: Prey
- Platform: Xbox 360
- Publisher: 2k Games
- Developer: Venom Games, Human Head Studios
- ESRB: “M” for Mature
- Genre: First-Person-Shooter
- Pros: Great graphics, innovative new gameplay mechanics
- Cons: Too easy, gets repetitive, shuttle sections are annoying, so-so multiplayer
Story
Prey tells the tale of a Cherokee Indian man named Tommy who wants to take his girlfriend Jen and leave the reservation. The night he finally gets the courage to try and put his plan into action, a strange light fills the room and Tommy, his grandfather, and Jen are sucked up into an alien spaceship. Tommy gets free and then sets out to try and save his loved ones only to discover the aliens are even more sinister than he first thought. The aliens invaded Earth in search of food and you find grisly evidence of this fact all over the ship. It is disturbing and cool all at the same time and when you see things like a passenger jet sucked through a portal or vents that spew human body parts at you Prey is pretty darn awesome.
Gameplay
2K Games
At its core, Prey is a pretty standard FPS, but there are a few new gameplay mechanics that stand out. First of all, the ship is filled with portals that allow you to quickly move from one part of the ship to another. The aliens use these portals as well and will use them to appear all around you during combat. Another cool feature is that you can switch gravity and even walk on some walls. There are a handful of puzzles where you have to shoot special switches on the floor/walls/ceiling to switch the gravity in order to pass and these sections are pretty cool. One section in particular I liked has you working energy through a maze by switching the gravity in order to power a walkway. You will also find specially marked walkways that let you walk on the walls and ceiling in order to get around. The other major gameplay feature is Spirit Walking. You use your Cherokee powers to separate your spirit from your body in order to walk through force fields, walk on spirit paths over seemingly bottomless pits, and sneak attack enemies with your spirit bow.
Unrealized Potential
That all sounds cool, right? But in practice it isn’t really all it is cracked up to be. You would think that having portals and gravity switching all over the place would open up the level design and let you do some serious exploring, but that isn’t the case. Basically, if you see a portal in front of you that is the one and only path you can take. There are a few exceptions, but those portals usually just take you to a side room with ammo and health. Also, if you see one of the special gravity walkways, that is the one and only path you can take. And whenever you can use your spirit walk ability there is always a marking nearby telling you to switch to spirit mode. This all just rips the exploration and fun out of the game and all you are really left with is the same FPS we have been playing for years now. It makes the game too linear and too straightforward and even though it all seems really, really cool when you first start playing, by the end of the game you can’t help but feel bored with it all. Occasionally the action is split up by sections that let you fly a shuttle around but these levels are plagued by the same simple level design as the rest of the game so they aren’t that great.
