Tommy is a Cherokee garage mechanic stuck on a reservation
going nowhere. His life changes when he and his friends and
family are abducted and held captive onboard an alien mothership
orbiting Earth. He sets out to save himself and his girlfriend
and eventually his planet. Playing as Tommy, you must enter
an unpredictable world where nothing can be taken for granted.
Most of the game takes place within a living ship, a giant
entity that can sense and react to Tommy's presence...
If
you are of a paranoid disposition, or take mind altering drugs
on a regular basis, I suggest you steer clear of Prey.
For the rest of the normal population, this game is one hell
of a scary mind trip that will seriously mess with your head.
The
game opens with you playing as Tommy as you wander around
the local bar where your girlfriend works. This in itself
is quite entertaining as you can change the music on the juke
box as well as play a number of games machines. Then, before
you know it, you and your friends are abducted by an alien
race and transported aboard their mothership. While you've
no idea what they want, it's a safe bet they are hostile.
The
sequence where you are held captive aboard the spaceship is
interesting too. All you can do is look around, but it feels
like you are on a cross between a roller-coaster (like Alton
Towers's Nemesis) and ghost train ride. Then you are
freed, by a mysterious disembodied voice, and can explore
the ship on foot.
As
you wander around the ship you'll be able to pick up different
weapons as well as alien creatures that you can use as grenades.
You
can walk through living walls (that open when you approach
them) as well as unlocked alien doors. Occasionally you'll
also find portals that can transport you to other parts of
the ship. In fact, a couple of these portals transport you
into a different part of the same room and you can actually
look through the portal and see yourself across the room -
this is something that has to be seen for it to make sense,
but it's quite a messed up feeling when you suddenly see yourself
from across the room.
Gravity
can be manipulated too. You can walk on gangways that allow
you to walk up walls and on the ceiling, and you can also
shoot certain control panels so that the gravity shifts in
a different direction. This helps you access other parts of
the ship.
On
a negative point, I did feel as though I was being shepherded
everywhere. You can't really explore the ship fully - you
just go in the pre-set pathway that is laid out for you. But
to be honest, as the alien ship looks the same wherever you
are, I'm glad you couldn't really go exploring otherwise I'd
have run around in circles for hours.
Then
there's the native American spirits side to the game. You
discover that you can leave your body and travel to areas
that your physical body can't go to - this comes in hands
for moving past forcefields. And, when you die, you find yourself
in the spirit world where you have to shoot down as many floating
sprits as possible so that you can return to the spaceship
and continue on your journey. I found this part of the game
a breath of fresh air from the usual gorey death that means
you have to restart that level. Here, when you die and are
then brought back to life, you start in the same position
you left off from.
There
is a slight danger that you'll start to tire of the similar
looking surroundings and alien life forms that you encounter,
but to be honest new elements are constantly drip fed to you
to try and keep the gameplay feeling fresh.
Visually
impressive, with a gameplay like you've never experienced
before, Prey is one hell of an engaging offering. In
a market overflowing with games that just repeat all that
has gone before, Prey injects some much needed originality
into the first person shooter genre.
Nick
Smithson
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