• Posted May 7th, 2012 at 12:15 EDT by Adam Dolge
• 4 Comments

(continued from previous page) ...well-timed dodge or block is all you need to win. After you beat them, you gain their powers. That’s the basics of nearly every extended mission: go find a bad guy, kill him/her, gain the powers, and demonstrate you know how to use powers against a swarm of enemies.

Luckily the missions are not all the same, but the variety isn’t too crazy, either. Outside of the basic “go kill this guy” mission, you’ll have to consume scientists to discover more of the story. Consuming is your other primary power. With the tap of the button you can consume just about anyone in the game. You’ll take their identity and heal yourself a bit in the process. There’s a bit of a stealth element to consuming as you can’t perform it if the person is being watched. These stealth sections are a great break from the killing. There are even some vehicle combat missions to help keep the variety alive.

The story unfolds largely through stylized noir-style cut-scenes. Without giving much away—and, really, there isn’t much to give away—Mercer wants Heller’s help in destroying Gentek, the company that made the virus, and Blackwatch, a military group. The story is very predictable and never really brings you into Heller’s personal world. You can feel bad for him, but that’s about it. The story isn’t going to win any awards, but it also isn’t bad enough to make you not want to play. There is an RPG element that allows you to upgrade your abilities, so at the very least you’ll want to see how far you can take Heller’s abilities.

There’s a pretty glaring issue with the consuming someone’s identity in Prototype 2. While you get a glimpse of the victim’s memories—a nice touch to help tell the story—the A.I. ends up being, well, dumb. If you get caught in Heller form running around, Blackwatch will come after you. But, if you consume a scientist, pilot, or random citizen, that same Blackwatch security won’t blink if you run up a building in front of them. “Oh, that’s completely normal seeing an old woman running up an apartment building. I’m definitely not going to tell my supervisor about this one.” Unfortunately the A.I. as a whole is pretty poor.

While Prototype 2 has a ton of side missions, collectibles and challenges to keep you busy, there isn’t a whole lot of a reason to come back for a second helping. That is partially because the game lacks a morality system, like inFamous. It’s hard not to compare these two games, and it’s clear inFamous did a better job of morality. It’s not a huge miss for Prototype 2, but hopefully the third installment will not only have a stronger story, but also a system that is impacted by your decisions.