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"Prey" you don't miss this title

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: August 10, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Prey - Circa 2006

GOOD:
- Original gameplay in terms of level design and gameplay concept. In the game your able at certain points to change the gravity, walk on walls as well as ceilings, and portal jump, note this is all done with the greatest of easy and never gets old or forced
- In this game death is not game over in stead you go to a sort of spirit world where you adsorb lost souls to come back to life. If that wasn't enough you can also leave your body at any time during the main game (as a ghost) to kill enemies and solve puzzles
- Online multiplayer use similar environments as single player also note that wall walking as well as portal jumping adds a lot to the fun to the online versus modes

BAD:
- The voice acting is not very good, its okay at times but over all it not well done
- Some environments are too dark to see in effetely (a problem also found in Doom 3 and Quake 4) even with a lighter lit (the in game flashlight). Yes you can bring up the gamma and internal brightness but then the rest of the game really looks washed out.
- Some might consider the story generic, Man and women are kidnapped by evil aliens and the man is fighting his way out to save her and get back home, of course there is a lot to it then that but more then a few people have told me the story is a bit lame
- If you get motion sickness easy maybe this game is not for you because of the fact of all fast switch gravity walk on walls and ceilings ect...

IF IT FITS YOUR TASTE:
- A Sci-Fi First Person Shooter
- Unique weapons with all have a secondary function and look/behave like living creatures
- Not for kids or immature, this game is gory bloody and violent
- Not for people who are very new with First Person Shooter games this game, because of a few tough puzzles and uniqueness of the game most who are new with the First Person Shooter experience might get lost confused very easily

GAME ITS MOST ASSOCATED TOO:
- Quake 4 (Xbox-360)
- Doom 3 (Xbox)
- Turok: Dinosaur Hunter (N64)

ADDITIONAL NOTES:
- This game has been in development on and off since 1997
- This game runs on a modified Doom 3/Quake 4 engine
- There is also a special edition of this game, which comes with a copy of the in game soundtrack
- The team that did the soundtrack for this game also did the soundtrack for Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion (another excellent game for Xbox-360)
- At certain points in the game you can hear the UFO radio show by none other then Art Bell
- There is Downloadable Content for this game in the way of new multiplayer maps and new characters to play as in multiplayer.

This game blows me...away

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: March 19, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This FPS is very unique. A Cherokee Native American is displaced from his plantation when he is sucked into an alien space ship. The graphics and gameplay are akin to f.e.a.r. but the gameplay and level design are much better. There are many gameplay factors that contribute to this game's greatness. The close yet distant voices you hear, the pseudo cutscenes that occur during gameplay, and the warps that defy space and time are mainly why this game is so good.

A whole new world

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: June 30, 2007
Author: Amazon User

The video gameing shelves have literally been drowning in First Person Shooters (FPS since, well, since as long as I can remember.

Doom and Wolfenstein and the like were games the helped usher in this amazing genre and created what would be the "mold" for FPS to come Almost every FPS to come after Doom and Wolfenstein would follow their exact formula, with minor additions or reductions.
And not much really changed over the years in terms of formula and content. Most FPS were basically corridor crawler frag fests designed in a pretty linear fashion. Story line was basically nil, and the intellectual depth was more shallow than the shallow end at your local community swimming pool.
But who needed storyline and depth, right? You usually played some sort of military or warrior who was bent on revenge and death, what else do you need?
Well, there have been many great FPS over the years. Games that have re-defined and re-designed the FPS genre, added humor and some decent story line as well. But nothing had really come out that altered or re-configured the age old formulaic FPS.
Enter Prey.

In Prey, you star as Tommy, an Indian who is hell bent on leaving his reservation, and his heritage in the dust. He longs to take his girlfriend Jenny with him, but she is rather content where she is, bartending at the local watering hole. Tommy's grandfather wishes for Tommy to embrace his heritage, to which Tommy merely scoffs at.
Lets just say that abduction changes everyhing.

The first two levels of Prey are so jaw dropping and eye-openingly shocking, they gave me that oh-so-rare "epic" moment that happens only with a handful of games.
I don't want to ruin anything for future players, but you WILL see humans being tortured, screaming for thier lives, and other such monstrosities.
The premise for Prey is so original and so "outside-of-the-box", that this game gets brownie points based on premise alone.
There are actually many original and inventive ideas in this game.

The story line is very well done. Actually, Prey features one of the best storylines in the FPS genre. There is so much depth and intellectual deepness to the story, which is both frightening and intriguing at the same time.

The graphics are really spectacular. The Doom 3 engine is used, and you can really see it shine on the Xbox 360. The architectural and decor theme used in this game is so dark and alien.
This is especially apparant when you reach the "ship", which is a living, breathing organism unto itself. Some of the walls are made out of breathing brain like matter that shines when light touches it. The metal parts of the ship look just as amazing as well.
Character models look really great, movements are believe-able and bodies don't look "awkward".
And since Prey utilizes the Doom 3 engine, you get lots of shadow and light contrast, which looks really awesome.
The ship is a massive, massive construct that is both artificial and living. This ship is so huge, there are rooms that house planet like rocks that have their own gravity.

Weapons in Prey are very original and cool. Instead of the typical weapons found in most shooters, Prey features both organic and non organic weapons. And example of an organic weapon would be the creatures that substitute regular grenedes and the hunter rifle. Non organic weapon would be the Leech gun that shoots energy and Tommy's trusty wrench (melee attack).
Another neat feature that makes Prey even more original, is Tommy's Zippo. Instead of a flashlight, he has his trusty Zippo lighter for illumination into dark areas.
Instead of health packs, there are spores scattered throughout each level that emit a healing gas. This heals a small portion of health. There are also health basins, which are very interesting looking. They heal a large portion of health.

If you die, fear not because you will enter the Death Walk. In the Death Walk you are transported to a dimension filled with bird like spirits. Here you must use your bow and kill these spirits. There are two kinds, red and blue. Red replenishes Tommy's health, while blue replenishes Spirit energy. This Death Walk sequence is timed, as Tommy's body slowly lowers toward a hole in the ground during this process. Once it reaches the hole, Tommy's Spirit is sucked back into his body and you are transported back to where you died. This is a very unique and original concept, but kind of detracts from the overall play because it can encourage rather sloppy playing. It doesn't really feel like there is a consequence to wildy running and gunning.

Another very cool concept are the gratiy switches located throughout the ship. Once hit, they will shift the whole room around so that the ceiling will become the floor and the floor the ceiling. Or the wall will be come the ceiling and the ceiling the wall. It makes for a very unique experience. There are also magnetic pathways that trail the ceilings and walls. Once activated, Tommy can walk on these to access other areas.

Prey also presents a new take on doorways. There are traditional door ways, and then there are the portals. These portals are like tears in the very fabric of reality. You can see them from only one angle, if you walk behind one it will appear that there is no portal. These portals lead to other areas of the ship. They look really cool and add so much to the overall immersion feel.

Tommy also gains the ability to Spirit Walk later on in the game. When Tommy activates Spirit Walk, his spirit leaves his body, and he can use his spirit to pass obstacles or attack enemies with his spirit bow.
The spirit walk is a completely original feature, but is mainly used for puzzle solving and the occasional "find-a-way-to-turn-off-the-motion-sensor-lazers" type puzzle.

There are quite a few puzzles to solve in this game. They range from easy to hard, and you will have a blast figuring them out.

The enemies range from sentry type aliens, hounds, flying creatures, half machine and half organic creatures and mutilated human slaves that are put to work for the aliens called, well, The Mutilated.
There are also bosses through the game, which are usually over the top half machine half organic abominations. Most of the boss battles are epic in scope and are very fun.
There are also hazards that will harm Tommy should he encounter these. Cilia jut out of the ground and the ceiling and emit damaging acid upon contact. Tommy can shoot them and they will retract for a short time, but they will reappear. Vomiters spew forth acid waste, which takes out a good chunk of health. There are also egg spawners which shoot out eggs that can be blown up. If left alone however, these eggs with hatch into hound type creatures that will hunt you down.

The enemey AI however is rather lackluster, sometimes an enemy with not move an inch while you are shooting them to pieces, other times they will bounce around like a rubber ball. And you are never really bogged down with enemies until later on in the game, so most of the first few levels feel like a cake walk. For the most part, the only negative aspect of Prey is the enemy AI.

If you like collecting achievements, you get one for each level you pass in Prey. There are a host of achievements to unlock via multiplayer as well, and some secret ones.

The controls are standard FPS fare, and will be easy to remember and use.

I have not yet tried multiplayer so I cannot comment on that.

As far as the single player version goes, Prey offers a top notch gaming experience that will keep you engaged until the end, however the multitude of levels seem somewhat dragged out and extended beyond what it should be. There are about 23 levels I believe. The AI is decent, but not the best.

Imaginative, bizarre and truly brilliant

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 5
Date: July 15, 2006
Author: Amazon User

This is a little like a number of other games I've played before, and yet quite unlike anything else. The addictive mix of intensive FPS elements with puzzles, alien environments, the use of out-of-the-body and even `fight when you're dead for the chance of rebirth' combat is so completely weird as to be utterly engaging. Plus the story isn't bad too (while we're not talking a Pulitzer Prize winning level of depth, it is much better than many recent games), the graphics are incredibly impressive for their scale/ambition, and both the voice acting and scripting actually have real heart and intelligence for a change. Basically, I'm hard pressed to find anything to complain about with Prey, although it's true that the 1 player experience is a little short, but with online multiplayer extension you can easily overlook that.

So, if you own 360 and you've been waiting for that one game and that one moment of "this was really worth the cash!" then your journey will probably start here. Thankfully, Prey marks the turn towards the glut of solid releases which the console has been crying out for, so even better is yet to come as Sam and the others will be here real soon...

Just OK.... Nothing to write home about

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 3 / 5
Date: July 21, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Let me start by saying that this game is not 'bad'.
Its just nothing special... The graphics are good and so are the physics but it is not that long and is very easy to beat. The multiplayer is not very good at all so its mainly the story mode. I really liked the indirect puzzles but I think they should've had more boss battles. There are only a few and they aren't that spectacular. I would rent it first and if you really like it then buy it when it gets cheaper...

Prey isn't worth $50, but its still worth playing

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 3 / 5
Date: August 18, 2006
Author: Amazon User

You control Tommy, a Cherokee Indian who wishes to leave his reservation to find a bigger & better future for him & his girlfriend Jen. On the flip side, Jen doesn't wish to leave the reservation & her bar. So, after Tommy tries convincing her to leave & fails, and after he beats up two drunks, Aliens come and began invading the planet kidnapping everyone inside the bar and surrounding area. It's up to Tommy to save himself, his people, his girlfriend, and his world.

Its a simple first person shooting game with a small armory of weapons which include an assault rifle, a heavy machine gun, rocket launcher, grenades, etc. However, all these weapons are "organic weapons" meaning that, for example, instead of it being a normal frag grenade its actually some small alien that you rip the leg off and throw so it blows up... in other words your ammo is living just like in Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath. You must press buttons, crouch, jump, and all those goodes. Early in the game you are given the ability to have your spirit leave your body, who is equiped with a properly named "Spirit Bow", and run around through force fields and what not.

What seperates Prey from other standard FPS? Well for starters you can walk on walls (which was pretty nifty even if it did give me vertigo) and it helps give way to fighting enemies - for instance sometimes you'll be shooting at them upside down. Secondly, you can rotate certain rooms by shooting these pads. Finally, when you die your spirit goes to some spirit realm where you can shoot these blue or red wraiths to regain health and after a little while you come back to life. Though that part was pretty cool and helped in some points, it really did take away from the challenge.

Throughout the game there are these spore things on the floor that if you walk over them you regain a little bit of health. Ontop of that there are these health station things that give you more health then the normal spores.

So what were it's problems you ask? Well, like I stated early you can always come back to life no matter what - even though it was cool, it made the game far too easy. Secondly, the game is pretty short - I had it beat in two days. Finally the ending was unrewarding: Tommy saves the world even though Jen dies, he goes to the "Spirit World" and talks to his dead Grandfather & Jen's souls, then you see Tommy rebuilding a bar that resembles Jen's and this alien chick walks into his bar (you meet her in the middle of the game) and she explains that other "good" aliens heard what he did and they want to meet him and a space portal opens up..and guess what? Tommy steps in and sets the stage for a Prey 2.

I will admit, the idea of aliens coming to earth, taking humans and feeding them to their powerful leader is always a cool idea and Prey sure does it in a cool and violent way. You see bloody humans, you'll see humans cowering in dark corners mummbling to themselves from insanity, you'll see many humans being hunted and killed right in front of your eyes, hell you'll even see CHILDREN getting killed. So thats definitley cool and adds points thanks to the violence factor.

As for online play, I don't have X-Box Live Gold so I can't review it. Sorry guys.

The graphics are the same as Doom 3 or Quake 4.. so by now I'm not really impressed, and everything is pretty damned dark. Sure everything looks cool and half organic-half metallic, but it's an engine thats been used up. Use Oblivion's engine, then I'll be impressed.

The music & sound FX were pretty right on. The guns sounded powerful and satisfying, and the music changed from actiony to Indianish when you went into your spirit mode. The best part about all this was the voice acting. Tommy had such personality and acted so real that I connected with him on a personal level, and the way he interacted with other characters was cool as well. Like for instance if you found a crazed human and killed him, Tommy says "It's better that way friend." or sometimes when he gets hit he will curse. I liked it.

To sum it up, I do not think this game was judged fairly. It has its moments of repetivity & easiness, but its really fast paced, has a cool story, the main character is almost as cool as Duke Nukem himself, its violent as hell, and the action is pretty awesome. I give it a solid 8 with a recommendation of renting it.

Too Repetitive -- Does Too Many Things Badly

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 3 / 6
Date: September 10, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Prey is definitely not worth the price. There are many other FPSs that are much more satisfying and fun. I found that the puzzle elements were more annoying than fun, and the skirmishes were too few and far between.

Part of the fun of other top-notch FPSs (Halo, Half-Life 2, etc.) is exploring the vast landscapes of the various levels. For the most part, this entire game takes place in dark, tiny hallways on a spaceship (that all look the same). The voice acting was OK, but the foul language seemed forced and unnecessary.

The wraith mini-game that appears every time you die also gets very old very fast. It also partially removes the significance of dying. During a boss battle, I really was not that upset when I died, because I knew that I would be put right back in the same place with practically full health and spirit powers.

Also, make sure that you have a book nearby, so that you have something to read during the extraordinarily long load times.

I recently played Painkiller: Hell Wars on the Xbox, which has a completely ridiculous/bad storyline, but the gameplay was so clever, diverse, and intense that it made it such a far better FPS gaming experience than Prey. Rent Prey or avoid it all together.

Wow! Totally Addicting and Immersive

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: July 18, 2006
Author: Amazon User

This is the most visually stunning game I have ever played. Like it much better than DOOM 3 because it is not as dark and you dont have the flashlight issue. Not as much of a firestorm game as the Halo series (which I love). It really is an amalgam of Doom 3, Halo, and Halflife 2 (with the puzzles).

Get it. Best FPS for 360 by far so far!!!

Very average

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 3 / 7
Date: October 26, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I like blowing away creatures from beyond as much as the next guy but all the "new" and "special" things about Prey just make it seem hokey not innovative. The story line is all but ridiculous and the the weapons, environments, and enemies are at first interesting but soon become silly. It's also a VERY short game. I'd rent it or get it on gamefly. Don't buy it. Not even for a discount on eBay. If you want a great FPS pick up Call of Duty 2 or Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter. If you want to kill aliens the get Quake 4. Leave Prey on the shelf.

Revolutionary Game...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 8
Date: July 12, 2006
Author: Amazon User

**Warning** I have only experienced the demo of this game, and my review may not be completly helpful, as the information may not pertain to certain aspects of the current title.

I downloaded this demo from xbox 360 marketplace and was instantly impressed from the start. The graphics instantly shoot to please. The story starts off dark and mysterious and ends up evolving to become better and better. There are amazing elements in this game, the way gravity has almost no effect on where you are... You may fight enimies upsidedown while they are on the ground below you.

The weapons are very ceatively mastered. The alien (rifle) that was the first weapon I found was semi-automatic and fired as fast as you could pull the trigger, but by aiming, it brought up a scope that fired 3 rounds at once and could kill most enimies in 1 shot. Creative distinctions such as these are what pull Prey ahead of any other (shooter/alien) game I have seen for the 360 to date. Definitley a worthwhile purchase.

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