Prototype Revealed: Crackdown Killer?

[Scott]

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Prototype revealed: Crackdown killer?

Massive free-roaming explosion-fest from Radical Entrainment comes to light

The latest entry in the free-roaming blast-em-genre has been revealed in the pages of UK Official Xbox Magazine.

Dubbed Prototype, and from Scarface dev Radical, it'll put you in the demented shoes of Alex Mercer, a genetically engineered hoody who can, among other things, slash baddies in half and climb up the side of skyscrapers.

Put him in the middle of a bustling New York (we're already debating in the office whether it's prettier than GTA IV's Liberty City) where a human-mutating virus has caused a battle between mutants and the military, and you've got something that's a bit like Crackdown meets The Darkness.

Vivendi is wheeling out the "living, breathing world" line for Prototype's version of New York, although we have to say the amount of NPCs visible in the screenshots is ridiculous.

If they can actually manage to put some decent AI on Prototype's pedestrians, it'll at least be very impressive technologically.

Alex's big bag of tricks include super-human strength, the ability to cover himself in scale-like shields and the ability to send matter through the ground, impaling baddies on giant spikes.

He can also shape shift into the identity of his victims, which OXM notes can be used to take the guise of an army officer and call in air strikes.

It's still a ways off (it's currently penned for winter 200, but if Radical can emulate the freedom and outright fun factor of Crackdown, it could be on for a winner.

Oh, and is online co-op too much to ask for?

Andy Robinson computerandvideogames.com