In the past couple of years, there've been some pretty breath-taking games released. Resident Evil 4, Half-Life 2 and FarCry are just some of the amazing titles to bless retailer's shelves in the 21st Century. These games, when released, were instant classics, and will remain classics until we actually start to be able to feel the sweet squish of virtual Goombas beneath our hyper-technologically clad feet. And so, games developers have come up with a challenge. Games like RE4 and HL2 set the bar pretty high when it comes to what's outstanding and what's average, therefore making it somewhat difficult for designers to take their audience's breaths away. However, Prey has not only managed to jump well over the bar, but has raised it that extra notch higher whilst doing so.
Prey's storyline goes like this. Big nasty aliens come down and abduct our hero Tommy, his girlfriend Jen and his Grandfather Enisi. Anyway, Tommy manages to escape and heads off through the Alien spaceship's eerie corridors in search of Jen and Enisi. However, he soon learns that he has bigger problems than just rescuing the ones he loves
Okay, so admittedly Prey doesn't have the most innovative storyline ever. In fact, it's relatively basic .at first. Later on, things start to get a little more complicated what with spirits and all that shabazz. However, Prey's storyline, however basic, is solid, and will keep you pressing forward through the game just to see what happens next. Now before I go on to talk about Prey's game play etc,. I need to mention the graphics in the game. Remember Half-Life 2? Remember how graphically astounding that was? Forget it. Prey's graphics absolutely kicks Half-Life 2's ass everywhere. I usually don't consider graphics when playing a game because I'm one of those people who prefer game play over graphics, but Prey had me astounded. You can see every little detail in your weapons, in the aliens, in the spaceship, everything looks gorgeous. Never have I played a game before that has had me standing in the middle of a wide-open area admiring my surroundings. If games were based on graphics alone, then Prey would win outright. The game play in Prey is also something that makes this game so great. It's easy to control, as are most PC-based FPS titles, and there's never a dull moment. If you're not taking down a 20 foot alien with two gattling guns attached to either arm (Barrett Wallace eat your heart out), then you're walking up walls or walking through force fields as a spirit. Even when you die, you carry on playing. Confused? Well basically when you die you get taken to a kind of Cherokee limbo, where you must use your spirit bow to kill the "dishonored dead", and by doing so replenishing your health and spirit. It's all innovation in Prey! Oh, and let's not forget the portals! Oh yeah, they can be used as a door and ..as a .and a ..okay, well the use of portals in this game, while interesting, not very well done. I was hoping to see some pretty amazing stuff done with portals, but basically that's all they're used for; cool-looking doors. However, it is weird the way that you can shoot through a portal and pop yourself one in the back of the head. Fun, but if in a real-life situation, not advisable. The sounds in Prey are also pretty cool. You can hear engines running, pieces of flesh squelching and blood splattering, so again the attention to detail is magnificent. The voice-acting in Prey is also brilliant, which is good because bad voice-acting can spoil a game (Final Fantasy X-2 anyone?). Whilst playing games, I always take notice of the game's music, and how well it is used, and Prey's use of music can be compared to that of Lord of the Rings. In other words, it's amazing. The music really shines through whilst fighting bosses, or a lot of enemies at the same time. Overall, Prey is outstanding. Never before have I played an FPS quite like this. The storyline is terrific and really drags you in, and at one point in the game actually had me not wanting to click my mouse to fire my weapon, because of what would happen. And when I finally got the courage to, I felt sorry. The graphics are stunning, the game play is even better and the music is epic. Forget game of 2006. Forget game of the century. Prey simply has to be one of the best games EVER to grace this planet, and, when it eventually lands in the bargain bin in ASDA, it will stand proudly in Game Heaven alongside Final Fantasy VII and Super Mario 64.
Prey's storyline goes like this. Big nasty aliens come down and abduct our hero Tommy, his girlfriend Jen and his Grandfather Enisi. Anyway, Tommy manages to escape and heads off through the Alien spaceship's eerie corridors in search of Jen and Enisi. However, he soon learns that he has bigger problems than just rescuing the ones he loves
Okay, so admittedly Prey doesn't have the most innovative storyline ever. In fact, it's relatively basic .at first. Later on, things start to get a little more complicated what with spirits and all that shabazz. However, Prey's storyline, however basic, is solid, and will keep you pressing forward through the game just to see what happens next. Now before I go on to talk about Prey's game play etc,. I need to mention the graphics in the game. Remember Half-Life 2? Remember how graphically astounding that was? Forget it. Prey's graphics absolutely kicks Half-Life 2's ass everywhere. I usually don't consider graphics when playing a game because I'm one of those people who prefer game play over graphics, but Prey had me astounded. You can see every little detail in your weapons, in the aliens, in the spaceship, everything looks gorgeous. Never have I played a game before that has had me standing in the middle of a wide-open area admiring my surroundings. If games were based on graphics alone, then Prey would win outright. The game play in Prey is also something that makes this game so great. It's easy to control, as are most PC-based FPS titles, and there's never a dull moment. If you're not taking down a 20 foot alien with two gattling guns attached to either arm (Barrett Wallace eat your heart out), then you're walking up walls or walking through force fields as a spirit. Even when you die, you carry on playing. Confused? Well basically when you die you get taken to a kind of Cherokee limbo, where you must use your spirit bow to kill the "dishonored dead", and by doing so replenishing your health and spirit. It's all innovation in Prey! Oh, and let's not forget the portals! Oh yeah, they can be used as a door and ..as a .and a ..okay, well the use of portals in this game, while interesting, not very well done. I was hoping to see some pretty amazing stuff done with portals, but basically that's all they're used for; cool-looking doors. However, it is weird the way that you can shoot through a portal and pop yourself one in the back of the head. Fun, but if in a real-life situation, not advisable. The sounds in Prey are also pretty cool. You can hear engines running, pieces of flesh squelching and blood splattering, so again the attention to detail is magnificent. The voice-acting in Prey is also brilliant, which is good because bad voice-acting can spoil a game (Final Fantasy X-2 anyone?). Whilst playing games, I always take notice of the game's music, and how well it is used, and Prey's use of music can be compared to that of Lord of the Rings. In other words, it's amazing. The music really shines through whilst fighting bosses, or a lot of enemies at the same time. Overall, Prey is outstanding. Never before have I played an FPS quite like this. The storyline is terrific and really drags you in, and at one point in the game actually had me not wanting to click my mouse to fire my weapon, because of what would happen. And when I finally got the courage to, I felt sorry. The graphics are stunning, the game play is even better and the music is epic. Forget game of 2006. Forget game of the century. Prey simply has to be one of the best games EVER to grace this planet, and, when it eventually lands in the bargain bin in ASDA, it will stand proudly in Game Heaven alongside Final Fantasy VII and Super Mario 64.