by: Andrew Thornton

January 15, 2008

Prey is the first truly unique experience that I've had with my Xbox 360. That alone is reason enough for me to recommend this game to anyone. Though it does feature some problems, Prey's ten years of development do pay off. A variety of truly new mechanics for any first person shooter, these new ideas might not work that well for multi-player gaming but the single player is a ride I'll never forget.

You play as Tommy, a Native American who is kidnapped from his home by space aliens. He must then find his girlfriend while learning the ways of his people. The story is functional but it gets old fairly fast. Plus, I think I can sum it up in one phrase: Indians in space. Something about it is just hilarious - I know it isn't politically correct but the core idea of the game is a bit funny.

The gameplay is where Prey truly shines though. This is a game that pushes innovation in the FPS genre. The problem is that it's too reliant on those same innovations. After you're in space, you go through a lot of hallways and rooms trying to find your way to your girlfriend Jen. The levels quickly grow repetitive but an occasional scenery change thanks to spirit worlds and a few fantastic rooms do keep a little variety in the game. Most of the levels are actually puzzles that you must use your powers to find your way through. You have a spirit walk where you can leave your body to press switches and such to move platforms or open portals, or you have to turn on a gravity strip which allows you to walk on certain walls and ceilings. All of this is cool but the game becomes overly reliant at times on these same mechanics. Navigating a tricky room for the fourth time in an area only to be rewarded with another portal to go through gets a bit annoying eventually. The game's biggest flaw is also to do with your powers: Tommy can't die.

That’s right - you can't die in Prey. When your health is depleted, all of your spirit energy is taken and you're given about a third of your health back, and sent to a spirit world. While there, you must use your spirit bow to shoot red and blue colored ravens that are flying around. The red give you health and the blue give you energy. You can theoretically spawn in the same spot you died (or near it, depending on the situation you died in) with full health. This takes all challenge out of the game. If you keep trying, you will beat this game. It's cool at first but in time, the lack of difficulty really starts to make the game slide on by.

The enemies you fight and the weapons you use are exciting and varied. A variety of aliens ranging from tiny little pests to fast, large, strong creatures will come at you throughout this game. Also, the bosses you face are very well done, challenging you to vary your style of play. The weapons you use (all of which happen to be living creatures which is a unique but useless twist) are also well done, each of them having their uses up until even the very end of this game (of course, the later guns are better but not in every situation; you'll switch between them frequently). A few more weapons would have been nice though. I also wish a few of the later levels didn't feel so rushed. I feel as if the development team needed to finally get this game out so they rushed through the end. The last few sections don't have nearly the variety that the early ones do. Three enemy rushes in five minutes? Come on.

The multi-player in Prey is fine but nothing to write home about. If you buy the game, you might as well play it and you'll probably have a good time but it isn't anything you haven't played a hundred times before. It becomes a fairly generic time as a lot of the innovations of the game are less used in multi-player. One thing I will say though is that the balance of the weapons is really well done, and all can be used to win against any other and none are necessarily better than the others. They're almost too balanced, actually, and I’d like to see a bit less balance as in real life.