Points about Infamous and Prototype: One year later

Last year, about the same time, two games came out with a similar concept. One of these was a PS3 exclusive named Infamous and the other game was a multiplatform game named Prototype, the games were developed by Sucker Punch and Radical respectively. For some completely odd reason people could not accept the similarity between both the games, at a distance without footage and information, both games could be perceived to be basically the same. But at a face distance...they were totally different if not for the closed city scenario, superpowers and the duration within the enclosed city. I was one of those seemingly rare types that liked both Infamous AND Prototype. Let me explain why in several documented points;

1. Infamous was Uncharted open world, Prototype was Crackdown 2 before Crackdown 2.

The reason why I bring this up, is because both games had completely different gameplay. Whilst Infamous played like a mixture between GTA, Uncharted, Assassins Creed and Jet Set Radio, Prototype played like Crackdown and Destroy All Humans. Infamous is more like Uncharted in my opinion mainly because of the focus of over the arm third person shooting and the platforming all the way throughout the city with scripted areas of platforming too.

Prototype on the other hand played much like Crackdown, it was a game where you had numerous enemies around you and brute force was the way to dispose of the enemies, even throwing cars, a lot of the game encouraged you to jump rooftop to rooftop to reach missions and races. When Prototype wasn't being Crackdown, it was being a good replacement for Destroy All Humans in parts of the game where you had to disguise yourself as military personnel in order to enter an army base and essentially sabotage it from the inside and obtain information.

2. Infamous was about a man cursed With new found powers, survival of the fittest and his morale, Prototype was about a man becoming something else and had no choice but revenge, no matter the cost.

You could play Infamous good or bad. However the title of the game kind of swerved you to play the bad side of Cole first of all, the ending never really changed no matter what, but you would access new powers and would also have the police onto you and not just the gangs. People would react differently around you and would either respect or fear you. Empire City in Infamous more or less stayed the same over time, except for you turning the sectors electric back on.

In Prototype, you were infected with the virus which was basically causing the whole city to be zombiefied. You begin to discover your past an an employee of an dodgy genetics company and get twisted up in a city wide biohazzard quarantine. Gradually over the game the city got in a worse and worse state, you had no choice how to play the game in good or bad, you weren't exactly evil, you were forced to be badass and just more or less, a victim of the viruses effect and the army's paranoia. Alex could kill innocents and not have it affect your status at all, which was even looked down upon in Crackdown.

3. You could choose how to play both games in different ways.

In Infamous you had the choice of good or bad as I said up above. You would be one or the other. By choosing one side you would slowly start locking yourself out of missions and powers either morality could get. This gave you the option to play the game twice and the look of Cole would change as you changed sides, the dialogue would even change relating to this, but didn't really affect the plot in any major way.

When it comes to the gameplay in Prototype you can more or less, halfway through, play the game whatever style you want. The different forms of the protagonist, Alex gave you a lot of choice in what gameplay style you would like to play, you could steal vehicles such as helicopters or tanks, you could use military weapons, you could be stealthy and consume enemies and use their stored forms to confuse others and accuse them of being you causing them to be shot on the spot or you could just run up buildings, crash and smash around like the Hulk or melee with a massive sword. It was up to you what you upgraded and what you didn't, it was up to you what form you would use the most and all the forms changed up the way you played the game, it was all very well balanced, especially the fact that no matter how strong you were, the enemies always managed to damage you. You would constantly have to change tactics in areas and with what type of enemies, it was all about manipulating the army and the virus'es monsters against each other.

4. Infamous has a story, Prototype's was a note on the back of a soggy beermat.

For those who have played both, you want an engaging set of characters and plot? Infamous is the one, it has a great ending that sets up for the sequel and explains why you can play the game in both morales.

Prototype just happens, it starts building up to somewhere, but at the end of the game, it just doesn't feel like the game has finished. Nothing really gets resolved. It all makes very little sense. The game has a wafer thin plot, to make things even more confusing, vague information is collected as you kill and discover more about the background of Alex's situation and the virus, but none of it makes no sense what so ever.

So now we got this all cleared up, I'd just like to find out why people seem to dislike Infamous to Prototype, both are great games in their own right and both of the games graphics are pretty good for what goes on screen. So why the hate? Even this much later after release?
I personally enjoyed Prototype more, it was a great stop gap for Crackdown 2 (of which I still haven't had a chance to play). It took me a while longer to get into Infamous as I bought the games about the same time. Now I look upon them, I like both games equally and would love a Prototype 2. Not just because Infamous 2 has been announced and detailed, but also because Prototype was a hell of a lot of fun and I'd like to see the vision of the original game improved, especially the graphics and story side. It would be great for both games to contend and to play two excellent unlicensed superpower sandbox games once again.

[lh_swe]

I am more of a Infamous man myself. I never really got into Prototype, it was fun to begin with but the lack of a compelling story and interesting world to explore were real buzz-kills for me.

[Eiffel]

I loved both games. I liked Infamous for it's story and overall style. I loved Prototype for it's character and it's gameplay.

To each their own. Both games are very good.

[WildArmed]

The sense of power was covered better in prototype than in inFAMOUS.
But the Boss battles were bland as ever (with half an hour of jumping around throwing sit or doing body slams).

I personally prefered inFAMOUS (my 2nd runner up to GOTY 09..)

Prototype fell off my mind too fast.. i almost forgot I played the game.. I just wish it was more memorable.

I do hope we see a prototype 2, I'd really like to see how they would improve it after seeing infamous/batman (both super heroes games).
It'd be one hell of a game, and it's sad if we dont see Prototype 2.

Because every franchise atleast deserves a second change.. a second change to get it right.

[Eiffel]

No doubt we'll see a Prototype 2, I remember beating the game.

----Spoilers----

Alex Mercer at the end talks about what has happened and if you completed all the memory segments, you find out Elizabeth Green had a child, being the sole survivor of the viruses previous experiment, the child was being transported while Elizabeth Green was under Blackwatch's containment, before you let her out. And at the end Alex Mercer states. "My work is almost done."

So no doubt the sequel will revolve around Alex Mercer and Elizabeth Greens child.

[clank543]

Prototype was a fun little rental and one time experience while Infamous has staying power and the ability to turn into a series. There was so much controversy about this last year largely because the 360 had NO exclusives coming out around then while the ps3 had one from a pretty big developer.

Personally, Infamous is just more polished and more fun to me, but thats just an opinion.

[andron]

The fanboys hijacked the whole issue at the time and made it into a inFamous vs. Prototype fight.

I like both games and your right they are different gameplay and story wise. I spent more time with inFaomus becasue it felt fresher and more involving than Prototype. Another issue was that Prototype in some regards felt a bit like the Hulk game the devs made before...

[will_c_75]

I loved Infamous, to me it was my game of the year. Got Protoype at a recent Gamestop sale. Protoype is fun but it doesn't have the staying power. When I put it down I can easily walk a way, but I go back. Infamous had me marathon gaming to finish it. It also seems like Activision, wanted to use their Marvel licence, but couldn't figure out a good plan, so they threw them all in a blender and Alex Mercer was born.

[Cajun Chicken]

Well, actually, that's the point of Prototype. It was a way to get around needing an expensive Marvel license to make a destructive superhero game, it also gave Radical a lot of free creative space, so they did mix up a lot within the gameplay as if in a blender.

One can only imagine what more could be accomplished with additional creative ideas in a Prototype 2. It's a new IP, so they can do whatever they want to do with it without getting messages from Marvel about something not being 'inappropriate'.

[UnSelf]

@Cajun

its amazing how me and you have more in common than we both actually thought.

if u can recall or at least go through ur commenting history, ull see that before, during and after the release of both of these games i constantly praised u for ur overall consistent enthusiasm towards prototype and for ur justified unbiased approach towards both games.

this blog said practically any and everything i was gone make my own blog about and yes, I too, a ps3 evangelist since the psx days, did enjoy more, plat'd, and put over 100 hrs into Prototype

[Cajun Chicken]

Thanks. I'm currently playing Crackdown 2 and it is more or less just slipping into more Crackdown, it's very faithful, but it would have been nice to have a new engine and graphics, I'm liking the new mission layout and renegade orbs. But I guess with the time scale of development its a pretty good accomplishment, it's also not as 'Prototype'y' as I'd originally imagined.

Still saying that. Prototype 2 could EASILY shame Crackdown 2 for sequel standard, there's so much that could be worked on to make it all rounded.

[DelbertGrady]

I loved Crackdown 2 at first but at the same time it makes me angry at Ruffian for making it so similar to the first. It's basically the same identical cityscape, with the same missions, but with moving orbs, a flight suit(which sucks) and freaks(zombies) thrown into the mix. Also, the levelling of the cars in the first one was pulled off much better.

What makes me angry is that we might never see a Crackdown 3 because of Ruffians lazy approach with Crackdown 2. I believe RealTime worlds could do wonders helming the production of a new Crackdown game.