Prey Review () by The Game Reviews

Prey Review
Written by xTheGunslingerx
Published by CroTech

Get ready for the interstellar journey of a lifetime! Prey launches Tommy into the battle of salvation, as he is ripped from this world. To save the ones he loves Tommy must now embrace everything he hates and rejects; least Earth perish. Venom Games, and Human Heads delivers the long awaited story of Prey. Tommy is a hot headed Cherokee, and all his life, all Tommy ever wanted was to escape his heritage, leave the reservation, and start a new life. His girlfriend Jen is the only reason he stays. But when “The Keepers” arrive without warning, and abduct Tommy, his girlfriend, his grandfather…and thousands others like them across the southwest, Tommy will learn the true power of his people race. On a planet-like ship known only as “The Sphere”, Tommy must fight his way through legions of hostile aliens to save the people he loves. With the help of his grandfather Enisi and his spirit guide Talon, Tommy unlocks the ancient powers of his race, which will be used through out the game, to save the world from utter annihilation. From astral projection to walking on ceilings, Prey will flip you in every possible direction and put your stomach in knots.

Getting attacked by these nasty creatures never get’s old.

Presentation is pretty basic for this first person title. Holding your weapon of choice, place the crosshair over the target and shoot. This is a basic concept among the shooting genre. Gamers have two life bars. One which is Tommy’s life and the other which is Tommy’s “spirit gauge.” The Spirit gauge drains when in “spirit mode” (your astral projection state), or when firing your spirit bow. The game lacks a co-op feature so gamers will brave this challenge solo. Now it’s not as difficult as you’d think. Eventually you learn powers such as “death walk.” When you die, you enter the “death realm.” Bat-like creatures called wraiths will fly around you. Shoot the red ones to restore your health. Once you’ve shoot enough you’ll be pulled back to the very location you died at. Inevitably this makes you practically invincible as you’ll never need to worry about replaying a chapter or restarting from the last “check point.” Besides the “supernatural” turns, you will also be leaping through portals and running on walkways which, travel up walls and across ceilings. Regardless of these gameplay features, the presentation of the game is still your true blue run and gun shooter at heart. I wouldn’t say much more than a 15 minute learning curve, although new weapons and the hovercraft can later add to this.

The graphics of this game may only be described in one word: stellar. These graphics are rendered to grand and often grotesque detail, making characters appearing very real and truly terrifying. Optimizing a modified version of the Doom 3 engine, the game can of course in terms of graphical presentation compare to Doom 3 and Quake 4. (The very engine which will also be used for “Enemy Territory”). The shiny texture the graphics give off, which tends to make most surfaces look too polished, works great in this game as most the environment is organic or metal. Thus giving the “Sphere” it’s sickly, slimy, alien appearance. Stare into the powerful eyes of the Centurions, and watch them burn with an unfathomable fury. There graphics are superb. Tare through flesh, muscle, and blood as you rip enemies apart with the array of plasma weapons. In the sense of cinematics, this game has none, so there are no improved cinematical scenes. About 80% of the game is played within the “Sphere.” However, this does not mean the levels repetitive. Each level has crisp and original designs. You’ll recognize the familiar ooze and slim is coating the walls on a lot of levels, but each one is different from the last presenting you horrific, alien environments.

I’m not sure what to call this creature.