Prey review

The hype surrounding Prey's unique mind-bending environmental manipulation may end up being the game's biggest pitfall. There was no way it could match the developers' ambition and it doesn't; but that's not to say Prey doesn't have a number of fine qualities. It's very rare that we get to control a Cherokee (the only other example we can think of being Turok) and even rarer that we get to delve into the spiritual side of their beliefs (even though it does soon enter complete and utter madness). It makes a change from the beefed-up action heroes we've come to expect from these Doom 3-inspired titles.Prey starts as the main protagonist Tommy, his girlfriend Jen and his grandfather Enisi are all in the bar at a Cherokee reservation. Naturally everything goes a bit pear-shaped and, following a bar fight with a couple of drunk patrons, you soon find everything around you (including yourself) sucked up into an alien spaceship, all while Blue Oyster Cult's 'Don't Fear The Reaper' is playing in the background. That's just the tip of the musical iceberg; with Oblivion music maestro Jeremy Soule at the helm, the orchestral scores are - not surprisingly - breathtaking, really managing to take you into the world of Prey.It's from this point in the game that the weird stuff starts to happen, and after finding yourself sucked up into the heavens, you have to witness a grisly-looking (but jaw-dropping) sequence involving spikes, organic looking machines and a sort of roller coaster ride through the interior of the ship. All the while the action unfolds entirely through a first person viewpoint, with no traditional cut scenes (much like Half-Life 2), which really puts you into your character's shoes; it's all very reminiscent of a similar scene in Quake 4. Shortly thereafter, wall-walking comes into play. As mentioned, the way you can manipulate environments doesn't quite meet people's lofty expectations. Switches, which can turn the room upside down or to the side, are fairly frequent but the main brunt of wall walking comes in the form of tracks which your player can move around on, with much nausea to follow. But all of these are simple puzzles which require little thought with no freedom to experiment with the environment and no alternate ways of completing each task - it turns Prey into a very linear affair.This is not to say Prey is a bad game; the closest comparison we can think of is with a massive explosion-packed popcorn movie. It's a ride from start to finish, and although the game somewhat hits a rocky patch half-way through (when you realise it's like you've been playing the same section over and over again), the ending certainly makes up for it, as your one-man war against the aliens comes to a head with nothing able to stop you - not even death.Yes, the inability to be sent to the grave is another feature that was publicised prior to Prey's release. Whenever you find your energy depleted, you enter the spirit world. Armed with your bow, you simply take part in a shooting gallery, firing at all the ghostly apparitions you can see. Each hit gradually recharges your spirit or health (depending on colour) before you eventually get sucked back into the real world. Depending on how you look at it, this could either be a curse or a blessing: on the one hand it makes the game awfully easy, even on the harder difficulty; but on the other hand, without this ability, Prey would be fiendishly difficult and frustrating, as situations may arise where you may find yourself getting shot to hell. Although Gamestyle managed to complete the game in a weekend's play, we're more inclined towards preferring ease over frustration in this case.The last original concept we have yet to touch upon is the spirit walking. With a press of a button you can separate your spirit from your body; this is a crucial gift in allowing you to progress, as you need to pass through force fields and disable them, allowing your corporeal form to follow. The Spirit Bow - a stealth weapon, essentially - is another useful feature of your spirit form. It's a weapon that provides much enjoyment in the single player mode, but enter the online game and it becomes as useless as the wrench.To say the online game is a bit messy would be like saying Superman 64 is a bit broken. Even when playing against only one other player, there is still more lag than normal Halo 2 match. Try playing against eight and the whole game completely unravels, latency everywhere, everything that online FPS fans have come to hate. Hitting your opponent is more luck than judgement, and it's even more irritating when you get 'trash talked' by someone who thinks the game requires no more than just a shoot-in-every-direction mentality. If you want fast run-and-gun gameplay then you may want to try Quake 4 instead.Like a Michael Bay movie, Prey is about non-stop action with less emphasis placed on plot and more on shooting anything that moves. A demo is on the Xbox Live Marketplace, so it may be worth checking that out before taking the plunge, if you can. Just bear in mind that what you see in the demo is all you get; don't expect anything more and you will find a fun, entertaining thrill ride that doesn't let up 'til the very end. It'll be interesting to see what ideas they bring to Prey 2.