There's been a strange amount of hype/flame-warring about inFamous and Prototype so I decided I'd have a go at doing a sort of....comparative review(?)
Both games are open-world, third-person view, (gruff voiced) super-hero (or anti-hero) games. Alex Mercer, the protagonist of Prototype uses his own body as his weapon, morphing it into whatever he needs. As well as morphing, he is virtually bullet proof and can.... run up walls? Cole McGrath, the protagonist of inFamous uses lightning and parkour abilities.
Prototype
First of, graphics of Prototype were reported to be better... BUT the whole city is very generic, the tree leaves are highly pixelated and the water looks horrendous, as if they just added a frozen texture.
The story is very mediocre, it's your typical uninspired, crude, gory, action-packed, brainless conspiracy story. You are an amnesiac super-soldier out to get revenge on whoever improved your body... even if you have to kill many innocent people by doing so. Ok, so they fell at the first hurdle with the amnesia, and then again at the super soldier bit.... and the pointless "revenge". The story is an absolute fail. Oh and another thing.... "weaponised cancer"? Are you suggesting it doesn't already kill people? Looks like someone's getting the Darwin award.
The pacing isn't very good either, they give you all your powers for the first 15-30 minutes and then they take it all away from you and go back 18 days to when you woke up with no memories. It's not even clear when you'll get the next power.
There's barely more to combat than mashing X/Square and Y/Triangle buttons, and you can get virtually anywhere by pointing the left stick in a given direction and holding RT/R2. It's not that the combat is basic; far from it... it's just that there's very little skill, strategy or stealth to the game. Even when you are given stealth missions, the enemies you are trying to blend in with don't seem too bothered when you start running up a wall or dusting yourself off from a 20-story drop.
Having said this, there is something addictive about (Prototype) smashing through the city as this super-badass mutant and hacking through countless innocent bystanders and military personnel... in a totally non-psychopathic way :P However it has nothing going for it in the long term, mindless awesome violence can get boring after a while...
inFamous
inFamous uses a combination of 3rd person... lightning strikes with melee attacks. Part of the joy is finding and discovering these powers for yourself so I won't go into any more detail.
The pacing hits all the right reward-buttons, every time you turn the generators on for an area, you get a new power and it gives you a chunk of platforming in the sewers to test if you can get the hang of your new power.
inFamous looks much better than Prototype, both in the cutscenes and the gameplay. I really like inFamous' comic style of cutscenage, the city has a great Spiderman-esque, gritty feel to it and the lightning effects are never less than beautiful.
The game has a very interesting super-hero/comic story with the dark elements of a super-hero film. The main character, Cole; is caught in an explosion which killed everyone in the area but gave him electrical and mobility super-powers. People near the explosion are infected with a plague. Cole has to decide if he is going to use his powers to help rebuild and protect the now quarantined city or to use his powers selfishly. Cole's best friend Zeke is a very funny character if at times cheesy.... however the comic-cutscenes and the game show a little inconsistency in his personality. However inFamous' story outranks Prototype's by far. Another thing I like.... actually I like this about any game... a morality system. This always adds another lay of depth and a reason to play through a second time, and depending on whether you play morally good or bad in the game, you'll unlock different abilities, cutscenes and slight changes around the city.
Which is more than I can say for Prototype, which just makes me feel like a heartless, disgusting freak with not a friend in the world.
Getting around the city of inFamous is really fun. It boggles my mind how much work must have been put into programming all the building parts Cole can grab onto and balance on; as well as making this all work really well with combat (e.g. shooting lightning while hanging off a building). It's a relief that they didn't fall for the Resident Evil 5 mistake of making the character unable to shoot while aiming.
My two complaints about inFamous are:
1. the use of the word "Karma" is a bit misplaced, seeing as zapping an innocent bystander doesn't cause misfortune upon he who zapped
2. The concluding cutscene was (in my opinion) a mistake and I sometimes feel that I wish I'd switched off my PS3 right after defeating the final boss.
Conclusion
It depends what kind of game you're looking for.
If you want cheap-thrill, big bang game and you're the sort of person who plays a game for only a week or two you should RENT Prototype. If you are looking for a well-though-out, polished, interesting game which will take you quite a while longer to complete, BUY inFamous.
Both games are open-world, third-person view, (gruff voiced) super-hero (or anti-hero) games. Alex Mercer, the protagonist of Prototype uses his own body as his weapon, morphing it into whatever he needs. As well as morphing, he is virtually bullet proof and can.... run up walls? Cole McGrath, the protagonist of inFamous uses lightning and parkour abilities.
Prototype
First of, graphics of Prototype were reported to be better... BUT the whole city is very generic, the tree leaves are highly pixelated and the water looks horrendous, as if they just added a frozen texture.
The story is very mediocre, it's your typical uninspired, crude, gory, action-packed, brainless conspiracy story. You are an amnesiac super-soldier out to get revenge on whoever improved your body... even if you have to kill many innocent people by doing so. Ok, so they fell at the first hurdle with the amnesia, and then again at the super soldier bit.... and the pointless "revenge". The story is an absolute fail. Oh and another thing.... "weaponised cancer"? Are you suggesting it doesn't already kill people? Looks like someone's getting the Darwin award.
The pacing isn't very good either, they give you all your powers for the first 15-30 minutes and then they take it all away from you and go back 18 days to when you woke up with no memories. It's not even clear when you'll get the next power.
There's barely more to combat than mashing X/Square and Y/Triangle buttons, and you can get virtually anywhere by pointing the left stick in a given direction and holding RT/R2. It's not that the combat is basic; far from it... it's just that there's very little skill, strategy or stealth to the game. Even when you are given stealth missions, the enemies you are trying to blend in with don't seem too bothered when you start running up a wall or dusting yourself off from a 20-story drop.
Having said this, there is something addictive about (Prototype) smashing through the city as this super-badass mutant and hacking through countless innocent bystanders and military personnel... in a totally non-psychopathic way :P However it has nothing going for it in the long term, mindless awesome violence can get boring after a while...
inFamous
inFamous uses a combination of 3rd person... lightning strikes with melee attacks. Part of the joy is finding and discovering these powers for yourself so I won't go into any more detail.
The pacing hits all the right reward-buttons, every time you turn the generators on for an area, you get a new power and it gives you a chunk of platforming in the sewers to test if you can get the hang of your new power.
inFamous looks much better than Prototype, both in the cutscenes and the gameplay. I really like inFamous' comic style of cutscenage, the city has a great Spiderman-esque, gritty feel to it and the lightning effects are never less than beautiful.
The game has a very interesting super-hero/comic story with the dark elements of a super-hero film. The main character, Cole; is caught in an explosion which killed everyone in the area but gave him electrical and mobility super-powers. People near the explosion are infected with a plague. Cole has to decide if he is going to use his powers to help rebuild and protect the now quarantined city or to use his powers selfishly. Cole's best friend Zeke is a very funny character if at times cheesy.... however the comic-cutscenes and the game show a little inconsistency in his personality. However inFamous' story outranks Prototype's by far. Another thing I like.... actually I like this about any game... a morality system. This always adds another lay of depth and a reason to play through a second time, and depending on whether you play morally good or bad in the game, you'll unlock different abilities, cutscenes and slight changes around the city.
Which is more than I can say for Prototype, which just makes me feel like a heartless, disgusting freak with not a friend in the world.
Getting around the city of inFamous is really fun. It boggles my mind how much work must have been put into programming all the building parts Cole can grab onto and balance on; as well as making this all work really well with combat (e.g. shooting lightning while hanging off a building). It's a relief that they didn't fall for the Resident Evil 5 mistake of making the character unable to shoot while aiming.
My two complaints about inFamous are:
1. the use of the word "Karma" is a bit misplaced, seeing as zapping an innocent bystander doesn't cause misfortune upon he who zapped
2. The concluding cutscene was (in my opinion) a mistake and I sometimes feel that I wish I'd switched off my PS3 right after defeating the final boss.
Conclusion
It depends what kind of game you're looking for.
If you want cheap-thrill, big bang game and you're the sort of person who plays a game for only a week or two you should RENT Prototype. If you are looking for a well-though-out, polished, interesting game which will take you quite a while longer to complete, BUY inFamous.