If you get to play as many games as we do and for as long, you reach a certain point where you can kind of guess with a certain precision how a game will turn out to be just by watching the trailers, seeing some screenshots, or even by learning its name or developers. However, Prototype, or [PROTOTYPE] if you enjoy brackets on a daily basis, managed to throw me and a colleague of mine off-guard. Simply put, it is better than I expected it to be, and less than he expected. What does that mean, or how does this affect you? Let's find out together...

Prototype is the story of Alex Mercer, who has impressive shapeshifting abilities, a true superhero. Alex has one flaw however: he can't remember his past. His amnesia could be because of the transformations he suffered or because of the experiments he endured. Nevertheless, he finds himself on the morgue one day, from where he escapes and begins to explore and test his powers further.

Our hero soon finds out he can absorb an entire human body into his own. Feeding this way he regains a portion of his life but most impressively he learns the assimilated person's thoughts and feelings and can even transform into an exact replica of that person.

Gifted with all these powers, he decides to try to put an end to a ravaging virus that is spreading fast, turning population into living zombies. The army is also trying to contain the situation, which means you'll be having troubles from two fronts: them and the zombies, that aren't as chaotic and "brain seeking" as thought first. It appears they are organized by hive minds. Several central hives can be spotted on your city map as well as the most important army centers in New York City.

Alex soon finds out that by assimilating key persons he can learn whatever skill he wants and can infiltrate any facility. Everything military from machine guns and rocket launchers, to tanks and choppers can be obtained by assimilating specially trained pilots or soldiers.