Reviewed: July 29, 2006
Reviewed by: Mark Smith

Publisher
2K Games
3D Realms

Developer
Venom Games
Human Head Studios

Released: July 11, 2006
Genre: Action
Players: 1
ESRB: Mature

9
9
9
9
9.2

Supported Features:

You bet! Prey is going to rock your world, the universe, and even the afterlife with stunning visuals, classic FPS gameplay, and some inspired level design, all expertly woven around a terrifying tale of alien invasion, and mixed with a dash of Native American folklore.

Prey doesn’t waste too much time with backstory. In fact, if you don’t read the manual you’ll probably miss out on much of what motivates our hero, Tommy, a Cherokee garage mechanic stuck on a reservation where his girlfriend tends bar and his grandfather offers unsolicited advice on how Tommy should live his life. We quickly meet all three of these characters just before Tommy bludgeons two unruly bar patrons with a pipe wrench for putting the moves on his girl. But before he even has a chance to consider the ramifications of those actions an alien ship flies into the reservation and sucks the bar and everyone in it with a tractor beam.

After a very cool on-rails segment not unlike the opening to Half Life, Tommy breaks free of his bonds, witnesses the gruesome death of grandpa, and must set forth to save his girlfriend…perhaps the world.

Portal technology not only gives the designers a valid reason for spawning monsters out of thin air, it also provides ample opportunities for challenging level design and unique puzzles. Picture a portal almost like a window into a new area of the map, or possibly a new map entirely. You can see people and monsters on the other side and even shoot at them. You can walk around that 2D window, even behind it, and remain in your own area, but once you pass through you are in that new area, and the way back might not always be the way you came in.

Variable gravity also makes it’s debut appearance in a FPS with glowing walkways that you literally stick to, so as you walk around these curving and twisting paths on walls and ceilings, the levels reorient themselves so you always appear to be standing on the floor, even if you are upside down on the ceiling. This unique feature really sells itself during multiplayer battles when you can literally have people on ceilings and walls fighting people on other walls or the floor. This is truly 3D gaming in its purest definition.

Weapons are for those most part, totally alien and totally organic, or at least a hybrid of organic and mechanical. They are usually revolting to look at with sickly pulsating designs that drip with ooze and slime, some even appear to breath and move about while your hold them. Despite their grotesque design, each weapon offers powerful and unique capabilities unlike anything we’ve seen in a FPS to date.

Despite all the futuristic sci-fi action themes, Prey is firmly rooted in some pretty cool Native American themes including Spirit Guides, and an interesting afterlife theme that actually showcases itself as a playable level each time you die. Rather than simply dropping back to a menu and reloading a game, when you die you are taken to a desolate rock island where you have 360-degrees to shoot your bow and aim for red and blue spirits, each filling either your health or spirit energy meter before you are returned to the real world. Each trip to the afterlife takes less than a minute, about as much time as it would take to reload a game and not nearly as invasive.

Tommy will soon team up with his Spirit Guide, a very cool hawk, that will not only lead the way in some of the more complex levels, but will also fight, quite well I might add, for you when you need some extra assistance. This hawk also has the uncanny ability to decipher the alien language, which will help you figure out a lot of access code puzzles. Tommy also has a few spiritual tricks up his own sleeve including the ability to switch to spirit form and use his ethereal bow and arrow. While in spirit form the levels may shift subtly to offer new routes or gameplay opportunities.

Despite the rich story potential, Tommy comes off as a dick. He’s rude to his grandfather, at least until he dies, but even then he complains to the ghost version of grandpa. He is totally focused on saving his girlfriend, but it seems more for selfish reasons than anything else. He certainly doesn’t care about saving the human race or anyone he encounters on the alien ship. Everything heroic Tommy does is done begrudgingly.

Multiplayer rocks like no other in Prey, partly because of the killer level designs, but also because of the unique weapons, flyable spacecraft, and the ability to Spirit Walk in multiplayer – just make sure your corporal body is well-hidden before you go traipsing off as a ghost. There is nothing more satisfying or easy than snuffing out a chanting Indian hiding in the corner while his ghost is three rooms away.

Levels are a mix of technology and gross organics. Some levels will have you squeezing through a pucker orifice then sliding through a narrow sphincter on your way to whatever might lie at the end. Walls ooze with slime then suddenly merge into glistening metal walkways or glowing anti-grav pads.

Special effects run rampant with massive lighting and shadow effects. The game is dark, but not as dark as DOOM or QUAKE and much more colorful. There are some really moody areas and truly terrifying moments like the first time you step out onto a platform and see a jumbo jet that has been sucked into the city-size alien ship, or the twisting walkway that leads past a school bus full of children, now turned into ghosts who want to hunt you down.

The framerate is flawless giving you a great sense of speed and motion, and fueling the sickening sense of vertigo when entire levels start to spin on their axis when you walk around those anti-grav paths. The trick is to keep looking forward, much like going through a loop on a rollercoaster. Even so, it can be quite disorienting, especially when puzzles start to mix in gravity paths and Spirit Walking.

Character design is excellent but nothing compared to the hideous and inventive creatures you will encounter. Things just keep getting weirder and weirder all the way up to the surprisingly grotesque boss fight at the end of the game. Movies are all handled with in-game engine graphics and Prey offers full support for HDTV resolutions.

And then you have the jukebox that plays all sorts of classic hits from the 80’s and 90’s. It’s all selectable in the bar and you might spend more time listening to all these old favorites than you should. At least it gives you something to listen to while you play those video games. Once on the alien ship you will get to hear the aliens monitoring Earth radio stations, and it’s quite humorous to hear all the call-in reports about aliens invading from all over the country.

The voice acting is topnotch, especially grandpa. Tommy does a good job too but his character is so unlikable that you are almost instantly put off by him. By the end you start to like him again. There are some really creepy voices and sounds for the aliens and monsters, especially the final boss.

Sound effects are excellent even if they do mostly consist of growling aliens and inventive effects for alien weapon tech. There isn’t much going on environmentally speaking other than mechanical and electrical hums of computers, and some sickly squishing noises in the organic stages. It all envelops you in a Dolby Digital mix.

Multiplayer is where this game truly shines and I found myself playing online even before I finished the solo game – something I almost never do. The levels are a blast and the various game options and level mods are challenging and full of experimentation. Just when you think you have the lock on a level, somebody will join your game and teach you what you didn’t know about variable gravity combat. I’ve easily had as much fun playing Prey online as I ever did Halo.

Prey offers up a good selection of Achievement Point objectives, equally spread across solo and multiplayer. Each chapter completed in the solo game rewards you with some token points and finishing the entire game on Cherokee level gets you some bonus points. In multiplayer you are rewarded for scoring 25 kills with each weapon as well as collective solo and team kills in online play. It’s certainly an ample incentive for an already-fun online experience.

Prey comes in two packages, the standard game and the Limited Edition, which costs $10 more and comes in a metal tin with a coupon to download the soundtrack, an art book, and two of three possible collectible pewter figurines. If you are really into art or tiny metal figures then the $10 might be worth it, but I found the case design, not only awkward, it actually damaged the first two copies of the game I had. I ended up opening up copy after copy in the store until I found one that didn’t have a scratched disc – took three tries. Give me the Halo 2 or Perfect Dark Zero metal case any day please.

With portal technology, out of body gameplay, and a killer pet hawk, plus the most vile and despicable enemy the galaxy has ever seen this side of the Borg, Prey will dominate your 360 gameplay time for weeks and months to come, and with the promise of future content, possibly years.