We're not saying that Grand Theft Auto IV will suck. In fact, we think it’ll be one of next year’s must have titles. It's just that there's another awesome open-world action title set in New York (the real one) in the works that might make Rockstar take the backseat in 2008. The game's called Prototype, and even in its early stages of development, it looks ready to outshine GTA IV in almost every way. Yes, we're being serious.
1. It's new
And we’re not talking Roman numeral four new, we mean brand new. Sure, GTA IV has a new main character and all the extra bells and whistles we’d expect from the next GTA. But we’ve jacked cars, assassinated lowlifes, and climbed the crime ladder before.
Prototype offers something fresh with its protagonist Alex Mercer, who finds himself wrapped in a web of mysteries. Mercer wakes up with no memories and almost unlimited powers that allow him to shape shift, consume the memories and abilities of victims, and of course, ram a fist through someone’s throat. A dangerous virus infecting the populace of New York that turns people into monstrous mutants, and a government conspiracy to cover it all up spices things up further.
2. You can feel the dark side flowing through every one of Mercer’s moves
The Rockstar Advanced Game Engine (or RAGE) will allow - among other things - GTA IV’s Niko to change the way he moves as he travels over different terrain to make movement more realistic.
But before you get all excited over the subtleties of walking over grass instead of asphalt, understand that Niko will never look anywhere near as crazy as the way mad man Mercer flings himself about the streets of New York in Prototype.
Every one of Mercer’s motions is soaked in pure aggression. Whether he’s digging his heels into the pavement as he sprints past traffic or flailing his arms as he catapults himself into the sky, Mercer’s movements indicate real rage, the kind that can’t be captured by a nice sounding acronym for a game engine.
3. Mercer is dressed to kill
Look, we like playing Barbie with our game characters as much as the next guy - and make no mistake, that’s what you’ll be doing every time you doll Niko up with a new set of threads.
But when it comes to altering our avatar’s appearance, we’d prefer something more utilitarian, like a pair of giant claws for shredding flesh, or a thick biological suit of armor that soaks up bullets. These are just a few of the shape shifting powers that Mercer will gain access to throughout Prototype.
4. Mercer makes Marcus Fenix look like Mickey Mouse
We have fond memories of slapping dead pedestrians over the head with a rubber dildo. But while the GTA series has always been known for its violent nature, be prepared for guts and gore like you’ve never seen in Prototype.
“We want to use this next-gen opportunity to create new ways to kick some f*cking ass,” explained lead game designer, Eric Holmes. Expect Mercer to deliver brutal beat downs to his foes that make Gears of War’s curb stomps and chainsaws look tame in comparison.
5. Mercer travels in style
After tearing through the streets of San Andreas with the fuzz hot on your tail, the prospect of hailing a taxi and sitting in the backseat in GTA IV sounds a little anticlimactic.
But you won’t need to bother with catching cabs or jacking cars in Prototype to get around New York. With incredible strength and cat-like agility, Mercer can outrun traffic, scale walls, and leap from buildings without wasting any time.
If we’ve got to choose between waiting through rush hour traffic from the backseat of a cab in GTA IV and using cars as stepping stones as we charge down the street as Alex Mercer, we’ve got to go with Prototype.
6. Consuming people gets the job done
You can’t solve all your problems with guns or fists to the face. Both GTA IV and Prototype will feature problems that require a bit more finesse. But while GTA IV will have you filling out resumes at internet cafes for the game’s more subtle missions, Prototype charges you with consuming people.
When you consume someone, Mercer absorbs that person’s abilities and memories. Consume a high-level officer, and you could wreak havoc on a military controlled checkpoint by issuing phony orders. Consume an important character and their memories may fill in pieces to the puzzle behind Mercer’s mysterious past.
It’s not a pretty sight. After Mercer destroys his victim, he dissolves them into a bloody mess of muscle tissue and veins before sucking the gory goop back into his body.
7. The infected are scarier than mobsters
Mobsters are scary. In GTA IV’s crime-ridden streets, you’re always moments away from getting “whacked,” “snuffed,” or “taken care of.” But if you think you’d stand a chance against Prototype’s frenzied infected with anything less than Mercer’s superhuman powers, then “fuhgetaboutit.”
During a brief demo, we saw Mercer fleeing from a group of infected – who look like a cross between an ape, a boar, and your high school gym teacher. The infected are frightening and much more than any wise guy could hope to handle on his own.
8. New York won’t just have character, it will be a character
GTA IV’s representation of New York looks amazing. But Prototype’s developers aren’t settling for a realistic recreation of the Big Apple. They want Prototype’s New York to be a living breathing character that will evolve over the course of the game.
Expect the territories to change hands between the military and the infected as you use Mercer to play both sides against each other. These conflicts will leave their mark, so expect the character of New York to show severe scars of battle over time.
9. Board helicopters like the T-1000 on crack
You can fly helicopters in both GTA IV and Prototype. Niko will probably need to take his Ovaltine before boarding a chopper in a calm and orderly fashion. But Mercer just doesn’t have the time for that. He only likes to board helicopters that are in the air and firing missiles at him.
10. It’s fantastic and realistic
We can’t wait to play both GTA IV and Prototype. But despite our love for Rockstar’s road raging franchise, we can’t help having more interest in playing Prototype. Can you blame us for wanted to suck bloody bits of marrow and meat into our bodies instead of filling out resumes or wanting to wall run and soar across the skyline instead of catching cabs?
It may seem like our greater interest in Prototype is a simple matter of preference for fantasy over reality, for a superhero over a hero. But it’s the way, Prototype’s plot, which promises to draw on current issues like natural disasters, epidemics, the over extension of government power, abuse of the media, and civil unrest that gives the game both a fantastic and realistic draw.
“It’s really important that we situate [Prototype] in a reality and add this one fantastic element of this real-time shape-shifting power. Not set it on the planet Mars in 2050, but to actually make it real to people,” explained producer, Tim Bennison.
We’ve got a lot more to say about both [GTA IV] and [Prototype], don’t forget to check out the latest screens by giving the Images tab above a click.