Prototype

February 21, 2008 - Easily one of the most anticipated -- and full -- conferences at this year's GDC was "Prototype:
Open World, Open Mind, Next Generation Thinking." Hosted by Tim
Bettison (the Executive Producer) and Eric Holmes (Lead Game Designer)
from Radical Entertainment, the hour was an extremely fast paced romp
through the basics of open world destruction, the motivations of the
main character Alex Mercer, and the brutal power that players will have
at their fingertips. The highlight of the conference was when Eric
stopped everything and played the title for fifteen minutes straight,
bashing his way through New York streets, highjacking tanks and
helicopters, and slaughtering Army troops by the dozens. Shortly after
the conference, we managed to get a demo of the upcoming action title,
which should redefine how open world gameplay is made.

Players take on the role of Alex Mercer, a powerful shapeshifter with a
significant problem -- he has no clue who he is. To attempt to regain
his memory and discover the truth of his identity, Alex will need to
absorb the memories of people who possibly know what happened to him.
This can only be done by killing them and absorbing their bodies into
his own, making their personalities part of his. As a result, Alex will
quickly uncover a massive conspiracy that reaches farther beyond what
he could have imagined, and defeat those hellbent on stopping him.


This "web of intrigue," Tim told us, was part of a key design pillar
for the game, and will expand on the story elements and provide a new
way of experiencing the game without removing players to traditional
cutscene exposition. Set on a grid interface, players will be able to
see the web of intrigue at any point in time and get a sense of what
missions you've done and what you haven't accomplished yet. This lends
a new air of freedom to the player, as they can dictate the speed and
level at which they complete tasks and push the game forward.

This new freedom takes the part of the incredible abilities that Alex
possesses. While he appears to be normal, he is definitely anything
but. At any point in time, he can break out into a 60mph run, scale
vertical surfaces and buildings, propel himself forward dozens of feet
and lift objects that are easily thousands of pounds. What makes him
different from any other game character is that he can create or even
combine new powers based on the situations he faces. This means that he
can turn his hands into razor sharp claws and slice a person in half,
perform a ground pound attack that erupts in a pile of spikes at its
intended target, or even turn his arm into a tentacle and whip enemies.
All of these abilities are gained by completing missions, which provide
him with experience that can be used to acquire or upgrade powers.
What's very cool is that once you have a power, you can use it whenever
you want -- no acquiring energy orbs or waiting for power recharging
before you can trigger something.


The last thing your enemies will ever see.



Similarly,
Alex can absorb the bodies of civilians and even soldiers, disguising
himself to look like normal individuals. There are multiple advantages
to this, such as restoring health in case he's been damaged. Another is
that it can allow him to avoid detection by the military, making it
much easier to infiltrate and carry out his tasks. Eric pointed out one
specific ability that Alex can do -- if he imitates a soldier that he's
absorbed -- called a Patsy Move, during a base infiltration mission. By
pointing out another soldier, he can get an enemy squad to open fire on
a hapless grunt, who, in turn, will fire at someone else. This rips the
unit apart from the inside as they're not sure who to believe, allowing
you to proceed along your way.

Speaking of gunfire, you can easily acquire these weapons and use them against your opponents. Unlike most games, Prototype
won't have ammo packs, crates or other replenishing stores. If you run
out of bullets, you can always kill another soldier and get a fresh
weapon. This means that you'll frequently find handguns, rifles and
other firearms around. Other, more powerful items, like RPGs, will be
much easier to fire at targets, thanks to their "Fire and Forget" lock
on systems, which should help cause a ton of damage

However, this isn't a friendly character that's simply looking to right
some wrongs. No, this is an extremely pissed off guy. In fact, during
the conference, Tim and Eric highlighted some of the character's
motivations, such as seeking revenge with brutal methods with only one
desire: to retrieve his memory. To give a sense of the depths at which
Alex will go, the inspiration driven to create this character was
pulled from the dangerous skills and abilities of Darth Maul, the aloof
nature of Travis Bickle from Taxi Driver, and the calculating nature of
Hannibal Lecter. Let's just say that you don't want to meet this guy in
a lit alley, much less a dark one.


But you can't wreak all of this havoc without some kind of group trying
to stop you. We were told players will face a three way battle between
Mercer, the military and a third group known as The Infected. See, New
York has been infected with a mysterious virus (again, adding extra
layers to the web of intrigue), and boroughs have succumbed to this
mysterious disease. The military, attempting to contain the spread of
this outbreak, has moved in and is attempting to assert control,
scanning for infected individuals with unmanned aerial devices and
attempting to quarantine them. While we weren't told specifics, we did
find out that Alex has some kind of connection to The Infected, and
that the Hunters, dog like creatures that chased him around the city,
could sense him and his abilities.

This hectic state of affairs establishes four different zones that are
continually changing within the city, Tim said: secure zones that the
military controls with gates and fences, neutral zones where people try
to live their life as normal as possible, Outbreak zones, where The
Infected have overrun the city, and War Zones, where all hell is
breaking loose. As a result, you can trick one group into fighting
another and then move in to clean up the remains, or crush one side in
a section of the city and see how that changes the dynamic of the
overall game.

Prepare to die.

We
witnessed this during the conference demo, as Eric lured a group of
Hunters to the middle of Times Square, where a significant military
presence had gathered. The streets were quickly obliterated as
Blackhawk helicopters and Abrams tanks attempted to target and attack
the Hunters, only to fall victim to Alex as he highjacked them and used
these weapons against both sides. As more and more destruction was
caused, more troops came into the square and added to a larger body
count. In fact, we were told by Eric during our demo that as the game
progresses and things get steadily worse and worse throughout the game,
more strident military forces will respond to the degrading conditions
in New York. At one point, even the USS Ronald Reagan will sail in and
deploy elite troops known as Blackwatch that have no compunction
eliminating civilians and Infected alike (or shapeshifters, for that
matter)to accomplish their mission. We'll have more on Prototype soon.