When a First Person Shooter is done well, it really is an experience to behold. There have been some greats over the years, from the pioneering blaster Quake to the intelligent Half-Life. An FPS can really be the basis of gaming for many, and Halo in particular showed how essential good shooters are to the industry as it shifted Xbox’s by the bucket load in times where there was little else to make the big black and green box a worthy purchase. With Bungie’s original title planting many Xbox seeds, its sequel was just as influential as it nurtured the seeds causing them to flourish into Xbox Live users, a fundamental feature of the Xbox franchise.
Unfortunately, though Xbox has certainly established itself as the console to be seen on for FPS’, it’s attracted a few along the way that have not maintained the high expectations set. Having been in development for over 11 years, you’d be forgiven for expecting 3D realms’ ‘Prey’ to stand out in the crowd.
Luckily your prayers (sorry, it had to be done) were answered as Prey is indeed more than average, both in the form of it’s unique features and it’s overall quality. Players take the role of Tommy, a Native American Cherokee living on a reservation. Tommy wishes to shun his heritage and the reservation, much to the disappointment and frustration of his traditionalist bar-tender girlfriend and grandfather. The game opens in the local bar (which has the nice detail of an interactive poker machine), but soon they discover they’ve got bigger problems than too much head on their beer as aliens abduct the whole bar!
Though it may not seem so from the used-a-thousand-times alien abduction opening, the story aspect is one of the many positives with Prey that set it aside. In many FPS’ developers may half-heartedly include a bit of story just to a show some effort, but they simply prove interruptions to the killing. In Prey however, you actually care. Of course I’m not going to delve into details, but it is really quite encapsulating as Tommy goes on a traumatic journey of pain and self-discovery. One aspect worth noting is that the aliens’ presence is actually justified, or at least explained, as opposed to the often used evident sole purpose of causing terror. With ghosts being part of Prey, a truly terrifying gaming experience must be endured at times, more than rivalling anything from the likes of Resident Evil.
At its heart, Prey is a solid sci-fi shooter, but it’s the super natural aspects and gravity twisting antics that make it what it is. Due to his heritage, Tommy is granted with the ability to ‘spirit walk’. The innovation is obtained very early in the game and allows the character to have an ‘out of body experience’. Basically, you control a ghost armed with an arrow, and while you have limited arrows you can remain in the state for as long as you wish. In spirit mode you have the ability to infiltrate previously impossible force fields and walk across special ‘spirit walkways’. The situation must always be cautiously assessed too before leaving the body (as you would, of course) as the character’s body remains where it’s left, redundant and thus vulnerable. Inevitably, this aspect proves the basis of most puzzles in the game, many of which are perhaps too basic. When the gift is first bestowed upon you, simple puzzles along the lines of “I can’t reach the switch, I’ll spirit walk to it through a force field” are what face you, and the fact similarly simple puzzles are still present at the end can be disappointing. That’s not to say the puzzles on a whole are disappointing as that’s not the case (I challenge you to figure out the ‘Cube’ straight away), but it does feel at times like more could have been done.
Prey’s other, gravity based innovations add as much to the game as they create disorientation to the player – and there’s no lack of that. Some areas in the game have curious ‘pads’ on the walls and ceilings which when shot flip gravity so as that pad is on the ‘bottom’. It’s an excellent feature, making for some interesting puzzles. In essence, these gravity puzzles aren’t difficult at all, but in actuality you can totally lose your bearings as the screen flips upside down, and it’ll probably feel like it went inside-out while it was at it as you twist your head at the TV to make sense of it all. The laws of gravity are also thrown out the rulebook with the addition of ‘wall walks’ too, which are basically strips on the walls and ceilings that once activated allow Tommy to ‘stick’ to them. Unique portals also make an appearance, like teleporters with ‘windows’, these have been implemented into some cool maze like puzzles.
A controversial inclusion in Prey that could ruin the game for many, but enhance the experience for others is essentially the premise that you can’t die. Whenever one ‘bites the dust’, Tommy’s spirit form is transported to a world with weird flying, erm, ‘things’ floating about. Some are red and some blue. Shooting red ones restores health, and hitting blue replenishes ‘spirit meter’. After less than a minute, your character is returned to where they left off with whatever health they accumulated. There is no limit whatsoever to how many times this can be done, so in effect you’re invincible. For some hardcore gamers this could be sacrilege, with the reality that anyone who can use a joypad can ease through the game (assuming puzzles are tackled) and no challenge really being enforced, killing-wise. Even upping the difficulty makes little difference as though health is less plentiful, unlimited resurrections removes the significance of this. On the other hand, for many this could be a godsend. Backtracking and re-doing is despised amongst the gaming masses, and those who share such feelings will undoubtedly relish the idea of a game with no such chores. Perhaps the best thing for those against it, is to see dying as a shame they must avoid at all costs.
