I liked the demo and I was intrigued to see the rest of the game, how the game worked, the enemies to discover and the new gameplay and mechanics. When I rented it and finally got to play it, I was underwhelmed. The game was so much different when I played it, although almost the same, but still. The game felt so weird. Hello and welcome to this confused abstract review.
First off, I want to talk about the story. It's completely obvious that the game has a backstory, but what about you? What are you doing? What is your goal? I know you are to blow up the station, but other than that, the game feels hollow. I try to accomplish something and I ask myself why am I doing this? Am I suppose to trust this robot that is me or trust the brother? It just is never revealed to you, it is never a prime directive like how Dishonored had it. It just makes the game feel so empty. I do enjoy the game's atmosphere and the world the game is in, but I just don't know my goal in all this.
There is no unique characters for you to love besides your brother and yourself. I know this game is suppose to make you feel alone and afraid, but that just feel doesn't feel right. The characters presented aren't even that likable either. "But StarterPack, Bioshock and System Shock didn't have many characters." Yeah well, those games had memorable and likable characters. What you might ask? Well, there is Ryan, Fontaine, Atlas and Tenenbaum, all characters perfect and well made for the game's story and what made the game more interesting. System Shock had Shodan, a great character to have in a game about being alone, the only thing to speak to was this AI that is torturing as you try to survive, mocking your life and very existence. This game, Prey, has no defining character to be had. "What about Doom 3, they had no good characters!" Well, that can be argued. The game had some "important" characters for the game's "Story" (although not very present in the game), but at least they let you know you're not alone. And feeling alone is just boring. It's not exciting and it's not fun. I mean, yeah in Bioshock you had the splicers to accompany you, but at least they felt human and that's what was left out in the game.
The game had no humanity in anything that the enemies gave you, they have no emotions or feelings for you to empathize with. Hell, they even tell you they don't feel emotion! Bioshock had a sense of humanity in it, each enemy representing a depressing failure. The show girl who wasn't noticed, the drunk that just wanted to talk to you and even the businessman who lost everything he had, they all had something to them that felt like human and having an enemy to understand is more amazing than knowing a character. "Doom 3 didn't have human enemies." Actually, you can relate to the demons, not emotional way, but you can see what they were doing. They were demons from hell that tortured souls of the damned, you know this and can relate to it in a religious standard. These Typhons are emotionless and have nothing to relate to, they are just a blank character that aren't very interesting although look great.
Aside from that, the enemy artstyle is awesome. I am enjoying so far and is actually interesting to watch. I do wish they were a bit more interesting than just a black blob with glowing white eyes. If there was more design to them like how they look in different areas would sound nice like in a sewer system, the Phantoms and mimics look sloshy and withered, with a droopy face and deformed body sounds interesting, but I guess the regular phantoms will do. I would have loved to see what the elemental phantoms would like in that environment.
And the way you have to approach some enemies are strange to me, Mimics are fun, but too fast. You can try to shoot them, but they're hard to shoot. "But they are like the Headcrabs!" Yeah, but no. They attack with a strange slow pace and pounce on you. The mimics just run dramatically at you and attack or try to hide. The easiest way is to attack head on with the wrench, but are a nightmare to handle. "Why don't you use the Recycler?" Well, those things I use too much in the game, and they come in such low supply. You might say that it's reasonable, but I don't know, when the game gives you nothing but hordes, it's a bit unfair. What is strange is how they just are too fast for the player. I know they are suppose to be creepy and able to get behind the player and hide, but why make them so difficult for the player to attack.
I know the player can sneak past the mimics or ignore them completely, but the game doesn't get a good balance for the player to grasp on that. The player is always followed when noticed and it is difficult to get away from an enemy that is searching for you. I would have liked it if the player was given a better chance to get away from them. There is some shock weapons to stun them, but they take so long to charge. What do you want from me game? To attack the damn Phantom? There are perks for the player to sneak better, but who would want that when you can upgrade something more useful like hacking, repair or leverage. Leverage doesn't sound very useful, but the game has a lot of areas blocked by heavy crates that require level 3 leverage.
I do like the leveling system although confusing. The game allows the player to upgrade his human abilities and Typhon abilities. You can go all out Typhon, but that will attract a super typhon that will hunt you until die. Sounds awesome, but strange to hide that enemy to the player. You will also be identified as alien, so every turret will start attacking you. Cool in my opinion, but I don't know the consequences of the human abilities, though. I think it's just more beneficial to put time in human abilities since there is no consequence besides not having typhon abilities, but who cares, just make your shotgun the best thing in the world and make that your primary weapon, can take out a Phantom in one shot up close.
The weapon upgrades are the most satisfying thing in my opinion, since they up your arsenal making each kill feel so good. To me that's what makes the game very satisfying, the weapons and how they are used. I love them. Even the best weapons like the Q-Beam are limited in the game and have so much to them in the game's mechanics. Some of them carry some thinking for them to be correctly used, but that (to me) is what makes that so fun. I love planning things in games so much and that is the only redeeming factor of this game. I love how to plan things in this game, but the way the game has been laid out is so bad. The terrain is beautiful and very artistic (I'll give it that), but they are awfully laid out. I wish they put some time in the map design to make it more immersive to the gameplay and player friendly, I really do since their previous game did so well with that, taking the player's abilities and giving you a playground for you to play with as you carry all these simple yet unique mechanics.
This begins so slow, with the player going on a more linear path. "But StarterPack, the game is free-roam!" Yes, but that doesn't make it less linear. Now, when I say "Linear" I mean that the game makes a clear path for the player to walk on. You have one choice and that is to kill these mimics and phantoms as best as you can! I really don't like that. The game, as you progress, gets less and less linear as you unlock more abilities and perks, but still, it was a rocky start. Made the game so hard to play in the beginning. And I don't understand why the player is give the typhon abilities so late. I don't know if I already said this, but they should have at least made the typhon abilities early to the player to learn and get use to. When you compare this game to Dishonored, that game had the player unlock his abilities when the game was finished with the climbing tutorial. This game has you fight for it in the first 3 hour of the game. That's not how you introduce the player a new mechanic, that just bothers me so much!
Overall, the game is a guilty pleasure for me. I don't like it, but I have fun with it. The game's directive is so off and the story is not shown to the player enough. You can argue that the game does have a story, but what I'm saying is that the game is not showing enough of it. If I was to rate it in a harsh manner, I would give a 6, but since I like the game's weapons and planning I would give it complete 8 out of 10. Not the best and is not a good representation of the original, but overall it's good. To me at least. Well, I hope you enjoyed this abstract review and 'til next time...
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