Prey (2006)

What a pleasant experience! Tons of variety and doesn't overstay its welcome. Very cinematic without overbearing you with too much narrative and stopping the game dead in its tracks.

Though it has some blemishes, like the fact that you can't die made my playthrough a little less challenging than I would prefer, even though it was explained story-wise. And boss battles don't work when you can just spawn right back in. It does have "dynamic" difficulty but the game did not react in any noticeable way to the fact that I'm destroying everything in my way and didn't ramp up anything.

The visuals in this game, oh man! I'm not talking about the graphics though they are fine. But the visual style is awesome. The game bombards you with all sort of setpieces that I won't spoil, but there are tricks with gravity, interesting puzzles, bizarre enemies and weapons that are interesting to shoot from and look at.

It's heavy on body horror and bio horror, actually more or less on par with modern games with it's depiction of violence.

As a sci-fi shooter it's way more interesting than Quake 4 or Doom 3 (both run on the same engine as Prey and came out around the same time) even though the core gameplay mechanics may be less balanced and less precise. The couple of big reveals and surprises throughout the game keep you on your toes.

Ah yes, a trip back to mid 2000's FPS... I was not sure what to expect here but Prey has enouhg going on it to be enjoyable. The initial opening level is a rather interactive bar with a jukebox that lets you play real bar music by real bands. (Been a while since i've heard MxPx) slot machines and other time wasters. Once the game gets going it feels a slight bit like the Doom reboot from the same era (you're clearing room after room that have spawn triggers and such) The weapons are all pretty cool.

Overall this was a nice game that draws inspiration and is at time reminiscent of a smorgasboard of franchises, games, movies, etc, so i found it hard to dislike it.. Yes,. It's a bit dated, and comes from a lackluster era for the FPS genre, but It's main flaw is that it's a tad short, yet in the end managers to almost feels a bit long (The last third of the game feels like a drawn out stretch) and the story builds into and ends up in some pretty goofy places.

Recommend for fans of: Half-Life series, Doom series, & Resistance series.

Prey is one of the few games that spent time in development hell and came out pretty damn good.

PLOT

The game stars Domasi “Tommy” Tawodi (the rare Native American protagonist that isn’t a walking stereotype) who is abducted by an organic spaceship called the sphere along with his girlfriend and grandfather. Shortly after being abducted, Tommy is broken free by a mysterious ally and witnesses his grandfather's death. Tommy is then transported to afterlife-like place called the Land of The Ancients and shown by his deceased grandfather that he now possesses spiritual powers that he can use to rescue his girlfriend and destroy the sphere.

What saves "Prey" from being a run of the mill first person shooter is its creative art design, unique world building, and varied puzzle mechanics.

*Creative Art Design-The sphere is an organic spaceship hosts a great number of alien species for Tommy to fight.

*Unique World Building-While Tommy is traversing the sphere he overhears radio transmissions from a paranormal radio show hosted by Art Bell which gives insight into the shere's actions on Earth (F.Y.I. Art Bell and his Coast to Coast AM radio show actually exist. Art even voiced himself!). Also the game's ending opens up a lot of possibilities for Tommy and Elhuit going to meet the beings that are interested in the destruction of the sphere.

*Varied Puzzle Mechanics-Tommy has the ability to spirit walk to bypass force fields and use hidden paths, wall walk using magnet walkways and gravity switches to help solve puzzles, death walk which allows Tommy to come back from death after a short mini game (whether this makes death cheap or not depends on your personal play style), and use portals to transport himself all around the sphere.

The only criticism I have for "Prey" is that its probably a little short for the average gamer, but I was trying to play through the game quickly so this doesn't bother me that much.

Its because this game was such an unexpected pleasure that I am doubly disappointed at the cancelation of the Blade Runner-esque "Prey 2". I don't know why such an awesome game (that was almost completed mind you) was cancelled, but I hope whoever signed that order gets knots in theIr dental floss.

Rating: ★★★★