Just finished it off - so let's get the quick and dirty review out of the way:
Good:
The open world environ is actually really nice, and I was struck by the subtle changes over the course of the game to the world itself as more and more of the population become infected. Traversing the world itself is almost completely effortless with the 'adaptive parkour' feature they've been shilling, but with the character forced into doing multiple flips and poses during their run, it ends up with a protagonist that has difficulty running up thin objects due to the developers wanton need for 'awesome'. Combat itself is intuitive and easy to work with, and you legitimately feel like a badass when performing some of the more advanced, crowd clearing attacks.
The missions themselves have a good overall pace and flow, and you rarely feel as if you're dragging ass. However, the addition of a stealth/concealing your identity aspect could have used a better implimentation, as later in the game you're almost solely switching from identity to identity just to clear the airspace around you while attempting to complete a mission.
Upgrading your character is a non issue, and it works for the most part. Some abilities are useless and should be overlooked, but for the first time player they're forced into spending their hard earned points on moves based on the description or how a simple thumbnail screenshot looks. Life regen upgrades are almost pointless, as they never really kick in when you need them - nor do they regen fast enough. The patsy skill is almost completely useless as well, for the sole reason that when you're actually running from heavy fire and you attempt to perform a patsy (or to consume, or to enter a vehicle, or even when performing your 'ultimate' attacks), your attack/move animation is completely open to attack and will be interrupted on numerous occasions. Many times have I had my attempt at a move compromised due to this glaring flaw (it's aggrivating to be attempting to regain life via consumption, only to have your character take MORE damage than you would've received due to this design choice)
Bad:
Lack of replay value is apparent, unless you're a complete-ist type. Any player should be able to blow through the story mode in around 10 hours, barring side-quests and or time spent upgrading skills. The option to replay the game with all powers carried over after finishing it for the first time is a plus, but given that so many 'sandbox' titles are out there that offer a far more robust experience, this one won't stay in your library long. Lack of co-op was initially forgivable, but after playing Crackdown, Mercs 2 (bleh), and Saints Row 2 - it's apparent that the co-op option is a massive bonus to the overall fun of a sandbox game, regardless if it doesn't flow well with the narrative (which is the excuse the developer gave for this feature being cut last year).
Ugly:
Lock on feature at first is fairly intuitive, and ALMOST good. But the further you get into the game, the more the game restricts what you can target due to a built in 'prioritizing' feature that forces the lock on only to focus on prime targets (military, hunters, etc). This serves to be a major detriment to the game, especially when the lock on priority decides that it's better for you to target an incoming helicopter that's over a mile away instead of the boss or monster that's directly in front of you. This happens far too often for it to be a passable offense - which leads me to the next issue.
The boss fights in Prototype are either horribly schtick in their design or just outright retarded. In one fight you're thrust into an encounter with a large monster (which can knock off 50% of your health with one attack), in a fairly confined circular environment, that's filled with countless other enemies (some of which cannot have their attacks interupted, regardless of munitions and/or damage output you deal). This is not only a cliche that we've seen countless times in gaming over the years, but with the aforementioned lock on issues, it creates a fairly frustrating scenario.
A later boss fight infuses the game with the worst logic seen in a boss battle in my recent memory, wherein there are multiple military personnel attacking said boss - but no matter the amount of attacks levied, the boss itself continues to keep you on auto target with attacks that have lock on property. To say this is assinine is moot - but it has to be noted that not only are the attacks fully locked on, but I was struck by these projectiles through solid objects (read: buildings) on multiple occasions. It took what should have been a fun "holy crap this boss is huge like xbox" encounter and turned it into a sloppy sophmoric mess of an attempt.
End Result:
While I did get a fair bit of enjoyment out of it, the title is lacking in longevity and is SEVERELY hamstringed by several specific design choices, which take the player out of the experience completely. This is a rental at best, and I'd advise you guys to either wait for a solid price drop or to pick it up used if you're die hard set on having it in your collection.
XBL Gamertag = XMrWhitefolksX
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