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You'll "prey" for more!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 27 / 33
Date: July 14, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I am a FPS (First-Person Shooter) junkie and I love the Halo, Star Wars Battlefront and Rainbow Six series games. As of this writing, I have completed Prey on "Normal Skill" and am now working my way through the "Cherokee Skill" difficulty setting. (NOTE: These are the only two difficulty settings available in Prey.)

To state it upfront, Prey blows the FPS genre wide open. The game uses the Doom 3 engine for graphics, and players will be amazed with the level of detail the designers have put into each level. Moreover, many of the items in the environment are interactive (you can flush toilets, change the channels on a TV, etc.), which is reminiscent of the Duke Nukem 3D game that this developer is famous for. In addition, the main character makes snide remarks through the game (just infrequently enough to be funny, and not overdone) just like Duke used to do.

Even if you're not entertained by all the cute gimmicks, you're sure to appreciate the incredible details that have been woven into this title. As you progress, you'll encounter anti-gravity levels, low gravity environments and "wormholes" that warp you from one location to the next. And, like the game design, the plot is equally intricate. Although this game seems like a "guy saves girl" story, there are some very exciting plot twists and the storyline is based on actual Cherokee mythology and uses "The Hero's Journey," a writer's tool for story structure and plot. Speaking of the plot, there's a super-natural horror element that adds a considerable amount of suspense to the game. This, along with the over-the-top violence and adult language, means you probably shouldn't buy this game for impressionable children. However, all of this is not gratuitous and really adds to the impact of the title.

On the Normal difficulty, health power-ups are frequent and -when you die- you're sent to an "Indian underworld" where you must shoot wraiths with your spirit bow, in order to replenish your health and magic energy... Certainly a refreshing twist from every game that sends you back to the beginning of the level. On the Cherokee difficulty, there are no in-game health packs, so you'll have to rely on your abilities with the spirit bow. Speaking of spirits, you're also provided with a hawk who's your "Spirit Guide." The hawk will help attack enemies and, interestingly enough, translate the alien language so that you can read their computer panels and other information.

One thing that other reviewers haven't mentioned so far is that there are "puzzles" scattered throughout the game. Without providing any spoilers, the game sometimes makes you think in order to progress any further. For the most part, these puzzles are entertaining and challenging, but aren't designed so that you must buy a "game guide" to solve them. Often, solving the puzzles requires use of the "old ways" of your Indian ancestry, items that exist in the alien environment, or just good old fashion brainpower. Another nice feature is that the game levels are not so big that you'll find yourself lost, but you may have to explore a little to figure out exactly where to go. These features add to Prey's uniqueness in that it is more of a "thinking man's shooter" than your standard FPS.

If you're in it for the Xbox 360 achievements, this game will deliver. Each time you complete a level, you earn Gamerscore (from 25-60 points per level, which increase as you progress). It's also important to note that 250 of Prey's 1000 points are earned by playing online. There's even 3 "secret" achievements (you don't find out what they are until you earn them) that are quite fun to unlock. All of the achievements are obtainable by the average gamer.

When it comes right down to it, Prey is a game that any FPS-fan will absolutely love for the engaging story and the unique features. In addition, novice gamers that find most FPS games too difficult should consider this the perfect entry-level title. Finally, any sci-fi fan who loved the movie "Aliens," and thinks they could take on an alien invasion like Sigourney Weaver did, should pick up this title and put their money where their mouth is.

It's HALO, DOOM and Quake 360 rehashed and upsidedown...That's really all it is

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 18 / 21
Date: August 08, 2006
Author: Amazon User

"PREY - XBOX 360"
I realize I'm going to hammered for saying this. After all I, too, was looking so forward to Prey for a long time. The anti-gravity is a very neat touch and I really loved it. It also has an out-of-the-body experience that helps you to open doors and turn off motion detectors. All that is good, but here's the problem...it is very repetitive(sp?). It just seemed like I was going from one small room to the another...OVER and OVER and OVER again. I played this game for 5 days and never got any different than going from one room to the next. The action was very slow to none. There were only a few different aliens and they got old too. The story is very cool and Art Bell is great in it. I found myself listening to the radio, in the game, and listening to the callers describe the horrible things they've seen. That is a very cool touch, I must admit.
I hate to rag this game because it looks and plays so good. But I've played these games before. It's dark like DOOM, the graphics look like Quake 360 and the Aliens look like Halo. The whole game looks and feels so rehashed I'm suprised more reviewers aren't mentioning that.
You WILL notice these things I've mentioned, but will you be honest enough to admit it? It was hard for me to write this review because I do like the game, I just feel like I've been there and done that, OVER and OVER and OVER again. I may not have played it long enough but after 5 days of walking through a spaceships halls and rooms I just felt like shooting the game itself. My apologies to the fans of Prey. I truly mean no disrespect. Just being honest.

not your generic fps

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 13 / 13
Date: September 13, 2007
Author: Amazon User

i was never that big into FPS. they seem played out at this point. most of them feel the same. the only ones ill get into are either doing all the old things perfectly (Resistance, Call of Duty 2/3) or they're just doing something different (Fear, Bioshock) and Prey deffinitely falls into the latter category.

Aliens will appear out of nowhere from their portals linked together on different parts of the ship. you can use these as well. they're often your only way to progress to the next part of a level.

You can adjust the gravity in different rooms. of you shoot a certain switch on the walls or ceiling you can turn the gravitational pull to that plane, thus making it essentially the floor. there are different magnetic ramps that you often use to get places. they usually end up at leased going straight up a wall, if not turning completely upside down.

this does still carry the somewhat standard FPS formula though. you go through a level from point A to point B while killing baddies. complete each level to make progress through the story. the story is really good though. you're a native american living on a reserve with your grandfather and girlfriend. you're unhappy with your life and want to leave the reserve to persue other things. there's a good bit of native american mythology, which is VERY unique in the games scene. you're all abducted by aliens shortly after the opening scene. the rest of the game involves your attempt at escaping this intergallactic nightmare. there's some shocking twists toward the end though.

the game looks fantastic. there was a lot of attention payed to nearly every little detail. the ship is actually an android, technology mixed with living tissue. your guns are all the same way. everything in the game has a very unique look to it you're not going to see anywhere else. the sound is very good too. good soundtrack with very high quality sound effects. great production values all around.

if you're new to shooters, this is probably one of the best to start with because you cant actually die. once your health runs out you're simply transported to this spirit world where shooting the spirits with your bow will replentish your health, eventually resulting in you respawning not far from whereever you died. on the other hand, ive been stuck for a couple days at a time trying to figure out a few of the puzzles. quite mind bending.

the action never feels really intense because you cant actually die. they should've made the option of dying there. i know many of the fps hardcore wrote this off because of that one thing alone. its still a decent challenge at times, and great fun all the time. everybody with a 360 should at leased give this one a chance. FPS fan or not.

An Interesting Addition to the Horror Genre

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 12 / 15
Date: October 15, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Prey is a horror-survival game with a twist - you're a native american who begins by wanting to get off his reservation with his Cherokee girlfriend. Space aliens help you respect your roots.

The game is incredibly dark, gruesome and mature. The lead character swears constantly, and you see numerous images of children, old people and other random humans being slain in nasty ways. This makes it not a game for kiddies.

Still, for adults, there are a lot of interesting aspects to the game. For starters, the alien spaceship that you end up in is "alive". There are metal parts, but there are also many organic parts to it. The weapons you pick up are usually alive. The "gun" has little moving tentacles on it. Another weapon is a multi-legged creature where you rip off acid-filled bits and fling at enemies.

There's also many physics-challenging areas. There are metallic floors a la Ratchet and Clank so you end up upside down and sideways. There are spheres with gravity so you walk all the way around them. There are teleportation portals to zap you from area to area.

I did like the intriguing mix of graphics - it gave its own "flavor" to this genre. The weapons, especially, really intrigued me. The sound in general is full of screams, squishes and cries for help, to help you feel that you were racing against time to rescue people. There wasn't an unnatural "throbbing soundtrack" most of the time, although it did come in in certain scenes to help add some mood.

In keeping with the Cherokee theme, they do include elements from Cherokee mythology including spirit guides, special abilities and puzzles to solve. You could consider this a gimmick that could have easily been explained in many other ways, but still, I like the fact that they tried. After all, there are probably 80-quadrillion games out there involving Japanese or Chinese myths, but I could probably count those involving Native Americans on one hand.

This game doesn't shatter any new boundaries, but it was fun to play.

Native American Doom

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: March 13, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Graphics: Excellent.
Sound: Great.
AI: Excellent. Good variety. Some enemies duck-and-cover, etc. Some are fearless and charge on sight. Some are mindless and pay no attention to you.
Physics: Excellent.
Maps: Excellent. Rich, creative unique environments. Derivative of but improvement over Doom3 engine. Walk on walls, ceilings, spirit-walk through walls and over nothingness. Portals appear anywhere. Just walking through the game maps becomes a very original, sometimes disorienting experience instead of the regular doldrum "just get me to the end of this boring level". Nice merging of the earth bar with the ship. Excellent nod to Art Bell (real-life talk radio host that used to talk about aliens a lot) by having his show broadcast throughout the ship/game. Very very well done.
Gameplay: Excellent. No frame-rate drops. Excellent load time. I was never lost or trapped to the point where I had to consult the internet to figure out where to go and no scripted events failed to activate. Game length was long. Save-anywhere ability. Good variety of enemies and challenges.
Items/Weapons/Vehicles: Excellent. Unique biomechanical alien weapons which are alive, spiritual weapons charged by souls - very creative. Lighter instead of flashlight (original).
Story: Excellent. Compelling, engrossing story, a sense of urgency to complete things, you care about the characters and want to see where the story is going. Acting/voice acting was good.
Multiplayer: Average. no offline. Offline people deserve more - don't soak us for more cash.
Overall: 5/5. Game is a unique standout with it's native American Indian theme meshed with Alien tech and 3-D gameplay. One of the best 360 games for 2006 - must have. Clearly deserves better than the reviews it's getting.

Very short game

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: October 03, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Although Prey does include very innovative elements to the game, elsewhere discussed in these reviews, I did find the game to be rather short and not terribly challenging. It's an entertaining game, but I would strongly recommend renting this title versus buying it. The first time I reached the last chapter of the game I thought I had about 50% more gameplay to go (at least). Disappointing considering how much fun the game can be.

Great story, great FPS

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: September 18, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I played the downloadable demo and thought the game was good enough to warrant spending $30 for the full game.

The draws for me were the interesting twists on the classic first-person shooter... things like the gravity-defying walkways that allow you to walk up walls and along ceilings, giving you a different perspective on your situation; the very organic appearance of everything, include the various guns you use (one appears to be partly a living organism, and the other is the cybernetic hand of a massive beast complete with implanted cannons); the clever puzzles where you have to enter "Spirit Walk" mode in order to find ways around obstacles; and the interesting mechanism for dealing with dying in the game (you enter the Spirit World where you must shoot your bow and arrow at bird-like creatures to refill your health gage before your spirit gets sucked back down to the mortal plane). Beyond that, I thought it was going to be a pretty lame story of alien abduction. I don't want to ruin the story for anyone, but the story and especially the endgame is simply spectacularly written and leads you very cleverly into an announcement for Prey 2... a sequel that will hopefully live up to expectations.

The game includes multiplayer capability and achievements, but I'm not a big multiplayer person so I can't really comment on how this game stands up as a multiplayer game, but the few times I've gone online it was fun, but nothing really special or unique in terms of multiplayer modes. You can choose your character appearance and a variety of options regarding the match settings, but I don't recall any multiplayer features that seemed like they were extraordinary in any way.

Play Prey

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 6
Date: July 11, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Prey is a bona-fide 5 star game. Play it soon because everyone is going to be raving about it. The SUMMER BLASTER for 2006 is HERE! Basically it is Turok meets Doom 3 on steroids. If you like first person shooters (fps), then getting Prey is probably the next best move you will make next to owning Half-Life 2: Episode 1 and F.E.A.R. The future of fps in space has not outlived its lifespan. If you liked Doom 3, which was the last good adrenaline pumping monster mash on Mars, then you will love Prey. Prey is back to basics again, whopping up the graphics considerably, brilliant lighting effects and a frightening story to boot that isn't afraid to have lots of gore and shocks around the corner. It has a certain feel of HALO about it too with its alien-type weapons. You play an Indian who has been beamed up off his reserve into a spaceship where the aliens are eating up the humans. Prey has awesome in-game action sequences and is quite shocking for the sum of its fiendish parts. You have an old Indian trick out-of-body-experience (OBE) which helps you to reach areas in the rooms you can't normally get to. The rooms also rotate when you shoot switches which offers various level puzzles to get through. Most of the time you totally loose your orientation which makes the play even more fun, especially when portals start opening after room rotations. Duke Nukem lovers will also enjoy the fun on display. An alien's severed hand to open doors is a nice touch. Art Bell's radio talk-show of the aliens invasion is broadcast at various junctions in the game. You don't die either. Well you do, but you are given unlimited chances to regenerate your blue or red health by shooting at blue or red birds in the land of your ancestors. It is a great idea and works. The Boss fights are massive. You even get to fly some aircraft with fire power. Running along anti-gravity tracks around rooms upside down and across walls while unloading your gun into the screaming aliens that have driven people insane who are crying banging on doors is probably reason enough to own the thing if it wasn't for the photorealistic gfx. Slime on the wall has never looked so real. The end boss battles are amazing. The graphics are simply outstanding. This is a high quality fps that deserves your time and CPU power. Prey it today.

*ADULTS ONLY*: contains VIOLENT GORE and BAD LANGUAGE.

Keeping the FPS genre moving forward...

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 7
Date: July 25, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Prey is a very well put together first person shooter for the 360. For all of the "innovations" this game claims to have, some seem gimmick and some really move shooters forward. This is not negativity at all because ANY innovation is really a welcome change to this genre. Gameplay is pretty straight forward but enough fun to keep your interest for the 7-10 hours of single player gameplay this title manages. I'll dig a little deeper.

First off is the story. Prey's story is basically aliens come to earth and abduct humans. Of course much later in the game you find out why. It is an interesting take on the alien story everyone's heard a million times before. Now, while the story is good, it doesn't really take off until about chapter 19 (there are 22) and then things finally start falling into place. I won't ruin any of it but you should at least rent this game to experience the twists. I'll admit, at first I thought the Cherokee take on the story would be cheesy and poorly implemented but they really did a good job with the characters and Tommy's powers seem more believable than completely ridiculous.

Gameplay is fairly standard and this is really where innovation takes place. The major change from every other FPS you've played is the gravity. Some players will become dizzy trying to orient which way is currently the right side up. Most of us will find this to be a welcome addition which adds complexity and variety to the game's puzzles and fire fights. The game boasts vehicles and interactivity with environments. This is true but if you've played more than the demo you'll know that the interactivity ends after you leave the bar. From then on out, you only interact with doors, walkway activators, and force field activators. As far as run and gun factor, you may need to take cover sometimes but for the most part you can fly around corners and run straight at enemies without much trouble. After all, when you "die" you come right back which is another welcome change instead of restarting an entire level. Oh and the portals? You'll have to see them to believe them. While the game remains linear like most of it's kind, the portals are a fun way to change location, adding variety and depth to the game.

Vehicles shouldn't have been pluralized because you only get a small transport space ship to fly around complete with blast cannons and a tractor beam to move objects from your path. The weapons, while being somewhat different from the standard affair, are extremely similar to the usual weapon load. There are guns that have a grenade launcher, sniper scope, a gun that is similar to the shotgun (using acid rounds, which is really cool). The most unique weapon draws from 4 different sources from the environment which include a red blaster cannon, a type of frozen mist projectile that (you guessed it) freezes enemies, lightening, and a wide beam that fries and explodes enemies if held on them long enough.

Concluding this lengthy review of the components that make up Prey I'd like to say I did enjoy the single player game very much (watch ALL the credits). I haven't given the multi player a run through yet but (free time permitting) after the reviews from friends and online it's not something I'll run to try. You'd be best to rent this game if looking for a good FPS and single player story to occupy your weekend. At $60 it's still on the expensive side for what you're getting but if you're a shooter fanatic then this is a must add to your extensive library. Hope this info helps your purchasing decision making! Happy shooting...

An essential FPS for the 360

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 8
Date: July 12, 2006
Author: Amazon User

The game info pretty much summarizes the plot: you're a Cherokee man who gets sucked up into a spaceship along with your girlfriend and grandfather. Somehow you escape, and get to roam the organic ship hoping to free your girlfriend before she gets skewered & pureed. SPOILER: Grandfather's not so lucky.

In my mind, there are several things that really stand out about this game:

GRAPHICS: The graphics in this game are beyond impressive. In the first scene, you're in a bar that LOOKS COMPLETELY REAL. Even the drink specials written up on the chalkboard look 100% convincing. Take a minute and go play video poker, or mess with the jukebox. Other humans look real, too, especially when you mercilessly bludgeon them with a wrench and they start shaking uncontrollably.

MUSIC: Some great old songs play throughout the game. My personal favorite was Blue Oyster Cult's "Don't Fear the Reaper" which plays as you and your posse get sucked up into outer space (appropriate, yes?). It could've used more cow bell, though.

STICKY WALLS: there are special walls throughout the game that you can walk on; you might hang from the wall side or follow it up to the ceiling. If you jump, you go straight down to the floor. Keep in mind that you might be getting shot by foes on the floor below you.

GRAVITY EFFECTS: Because you're in a space ship with artificial gravity, you'll find some rooms that have an adjustable gravitational surface. You'll think you've reached a dead end... until you switch gravity & turn the wall into the floor. Expect your character to vomit the first time you encounter this (a detail that I thought was a nice touch).

SPIRIT WALK: Throughout the game, you can leave your body to spirit walk. Your spirit can walk through force fields (etc.) to turn switches that you ordinarily couldn't reach. Or if you're pinned down by hunters/snipers, you can send your spirit to invisibly approach and take them out.

DEATH WALK: Whenever you die, you are given a chance to replenish your health & spirit meters by shooting wraiths (the dishonored souls of the dead). This is one of the coolest features of the game.

TALON: Fans of the movie "The Crow" will appreciate the spirit guide your character has. The pet hawk from your character's childhood returns to act as your spirit guide. He helps you find your way through puzzles & apparent dead-ends.

Anyway, I've only played a few levels but that's what I've found so far. I can only come up with a few cons:

ENEMIES: So far, it seems like you only have 3 basic enemies. The ship occasionally craps out these little lizard scavengers that will attack you (they're more annoying than dangerous). You also have the alien hunters who seem to come in small numbers (or with a few hounds) and are easily beaten. The ship itself appears to be the most dangerous of your enemies because it's constantly spewing acidic vomit, or crapping out explosive pods, or grabbing you with tentacles. None of this is really a con; I just want there to be a few Halo-like scenes where you've got a score of enemies to kill.

TALKING SCENES: A few scenes towards the beginning can be a little slow. Grandfather was trying to talk to me, so I thought I'd play video poker while he blabbed on. But he stopped talking and waited for me to return to the bar to talk to him. Very realistic, but I really just wanted to skip ahead to the alien killing.

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