Prototype

[Purge]

I'm surprised nobody has talked about the last two boss battles yet....they are no picnic.  

Nevermind the last; the first boss fight was no picnic. The one where you are dropped into a base with the hunters. I'm surprised I didn't kill everyone by wearing out the walls right near the ceiling. I spent most of that battle running along the upper walls trying to stay the F#$@ away from the ground.

I just lost my powers right now. I've got every single upgrade available and have a ton of points left over (~1.6million).

[Roguetad]

I didn't enjoy that first boss fight inside the base with the swarms of hunters.  It wasn't hard, just annoying getting knocked around like that.  I learned the frustration of trying to pick up dropped weapons on the run during that battle, while having hunters interrupting me every few seconds.

Overall I haven't found the remaining boss fights to be as hard as I've read.  They are more on the annoying side than anything.  Or maybe they took me another try to figure out.  They haven't been awesome fun boss battles, but they weren't Ninja Gaiden hard either.  By the time I started what I would consider the mid to late game boss fights, I had so many tools at my disposal that it was just a matter of picking what worked best and trying again (if needed).   

[Razgon]

I just screamed at my tv....I had a neighbour come knocking on the door, thinking something was wrong...

I...fucking HATE the last boss fight, which I assume is where I am now

Spoiler for Hiden:

Giant worm elizabeth green?

[Razgon]

I quit the game...

Finally beat the damn thing, and now the frigging game froze??? First freeze ever on my Xbox...such a nice place for it to do so

edit: just tried searching for it, and appearently a lot has the freeze issues at or after the boss battle..so nice

[Space Herpes]

I just screamed at my tv....I had a neighbour come knocking on the door, thinking something was wrong...

I...fucking HATE the last boss fight, which I assume is where I am now

Spoiler for Hiden:

Giant worm elizabeth green?

Easiest way for me to deal with that fight.

Spoiler for Hiden:

First round, I would get on a tall building and use a charged up blade arm attack (it's an upgrade to the blade arm).  Once she starts throwing lots of things into the air, I start using the air spike devastator.  I use air thrust to dodge past her green attack balls and then press X+Y before I hit the ground.  It's a fairly small area attack, so make sure you are reasonably close, not on top of her, though.  You don't have to be that close.  Get some health between attacks, even if you are close to full.  It's nice to be able to pull another devastator when she goes limp.

PS.  She is not the last boss.

[Space Herpes]

I'm surprised nobody has talked about the last two boss battles yet....they are no picnic. 

Re:  The last fight

Spoiler for Hiden:

I was getting my ass kicked until I remembered I had that sorta force-blast looking devastator power.   Then it was run around, eat marine, blast, repeat.     It was more effective than my earlier throw-all-the-helicopters-at-him strategy, but it wasn't as much fun. 

Spoiler for Hiden:

I went the direct aproach.  After many tries (and running out of time) I decided to attack his ass directly.  I'd go full armor and use air jumps to move around.  I'd have a brief window to attack him between his attacks.  I'd use a full charged blade frenzy.  If I got it full charged and was close enough, there is a good chance it will stun him.  Then I grab him and mash the X button (does a lot of damage).  If he knocked my health down, I'd use the free devastator attack (didn't seem to matter which I used, though the critical pain would likely do the most damage to him, the tendril attack will take out marines that are shooting at you).  I'd stay away from him and let my health regen.  Usually by this time he's almost dead.  I can take him out with the whip arm or if I have enough health, I'll go in with more blade frenzies.

[whiteboyskim]

I now have this game sitting on my desk unplayed. I spent Father's Day playing Red Faction: Guerrilla but haven't tried this one yet. I should at some point this week.

[whiteboyskim]

Also, just noticed an achievement for killing 53,596 infected. I like how L4D and now this are both incrementally one-upping Dead Rising. Something about that strikes me as funny.

[Razgon]

anyone have any good tips for final boss fight? Thanks, and this time, it really IS the final boss fight ;-)

edit: I've given up on this fight for now...just cant beat it, especially

Spoiler for Hiden:

with the timer suddenly coming into play...I hate that - I use blade and armor so far , and havent really seen anything else that would work well here

[TiLT]

Razgon:

Spoiler for Hiden:

Come on, don't give up that quickly! Think! What's your most damaging power? It's the Critical Pain Devastator. Use it, and use it often! Save up at least two doses of it for when the timer kicks in, and you should be able to finish him off with about 30 seconds left on the clock.

[Autistic Angel]

I finished Prototype on 'Normal' difficulty over the weekend, scoring Gold on every optional challenge along the way, and I'm sorry to say that it just didn't live up to the legacy of Hulk: Ultimate Destruction.  That isn't based on some sense of starry-eyed nostalgia, either, because I just replayed Hulk:UD all the way through a few months ago.

Like Prototype, Hulk starts off making you feel powerful by serving up pathetically frail enemies who are incapable of hurting you and die in a single hit.  You toss around a couple soldiers, punch a couple tanks to death, and since there's absolutely no challenge and no danger to it, probably start wondering why people like me praise the game so highly.

It isn't until about a third of the way in that the military starts rolling out "Hulkbusters" and the game really gets underway.  These fast, agile squads can pursue you wherever you go, right up the sides of buildings and tackling you off rooftops, and encouraging the full use of your moveset to beat their teamwork.  Stun one by impaling him on a utility pole, another by hurling a car his way, grapple a third into crazy freewheeling mid-air beatdown that ends with a shattering pile driver -- Hulkbuster fights are some of the best superpowered brawls around.

It's an element that Prototype is really lacking.  Alex Mercer is much faster and more agile than any enemy in the game, so when you want to run, nothing can stop you from regaining full health on the endless smorgasbord of helpless pedestrians.  Want to fight?  Your aerial moves track enemies so well that crushing them with unblockable strikes from above can win nearly any fight in the game.  For all the grapple and slam moves in your arsenal, the large majority of them are only useable against regular soliders who could be eviscerated in any number of more efficient ways.

In Hulk:UD, strike teams would scale up as the game progressed to field stronger and more dangerous enemies appropriate to your power level.  Not so in Prototype: the same squad of choppers you dispatched so easily in the early stages are still showing up to be kicked out of the sky late in the game.  Where Hulk gave you creative new ways to weaponize parts of the environment throughout the game, transforming crushed buses into surfboards and wrecking balls into bionic crush-arms, Prototype doggedly sticks with the same repetitive hijacking mechanic unveiled near the start of the game.  Even the Hulk's more esoteric moves like "Backhand" and "Punt" had their uses against the formidable Hulkbusters, but why would Alex Mercer ever use "Hammerfist" once the faster, stronger "Blade" moves are unlocked?

All these little omissions combine to leave Prototype feeling rather unfinished.  It's like the moveset is loaded with options that were intended for a really dynamic, free-flowing combat system that the half-dozen enemy types just don't support, leaving no incentive to explore beyond the small handful of moves that can dominate every encounter.  Not a bad game, but definitely lacking in the variety necessary to rise above "decent."

-Autistic Angel

[Razgon]

Razgon:

Spoiler for Hiden:

Come on, don't give up that quickly! Think! What's your most damaging power? It's the Critical Pain Devastator. Use it, and use it often! Save up at least two doses of it for when the timer kicks in, and you should be able to finish him off with about 30 seconds left on the clock.

Thanks Tilt - The thing is, I never use Devastators...I dont really know how, and find them very slow...and the X + B? wow - and I have to half dead to do so as well... oh well, I'll try again

[TiLT]

Well, don't complain that the game is difficult if you don't use the most powerful tools at your disposal.

You can use up to three devastators in a row at max health if you're fully upgraded. It doesn't take long to pull off (about 2 seconds) and once it starts, it can't be interrupted (though you can take damage). You can also execute a single devastator when you're about to die if you have purchased that particular upgrade. If you're having trouble holding two buttons at the same time, try not to use your thumb for it. Use your index- and middle fingers.

[Razgon]

Don't you dare turn this around on me! Its the games fault I dont get it ;-)

nah, I know - and I actually didnt think off them, so as I said, thanks- I'll try that out tonight when I have more patience...I really love the game, and its fully with every penny I paid for it..even though I've screamed a bit at it as well..all ads up to the experience ;-)

[Chaz]

I think only one of the devastator attacks requires X+B (which is indeed a silly button combo to require).  The others require holding down buttons that are adjacent.

[kadnod]

It's like the moveset is loaded with options that were intended for a really dynamic, free-flowing combat system that the half-dozen enemy types just don't support, leaving no incentive to explore beyond the small handful of moves that can dominate every encounter.  

It seemed like a few of the moves were just thrown in there as a tribute to Hulk:UD.  If there was a practical use for the bodysurfing or human-punting powers, I didn't see them.  

That being said, I think I got more milage out of the different weapon powers than most folks.  I found myself switching between musclemass, blades and the whip on a pretty regular basis.  Only the claws really seemed useless towards the end.

[Autistic Angel]

It's like the moveset is loaded with options that were intended for a really dynamic, free-flowing combat system that the half-dozen enemy types just don't support, leaving no incentive to explore beyond the small handful of moves that can dominate every encounter.  

It seemed like a few of the moves were just thrown in there as a tribute to Hulk:UD.  If there was a practical use for the bodysurfing or human-punting powers, I didn't see them.

My unsubstantiated theory is that the

Spoiler for Hiden:

big super soldiers

introduced late in the game were originally supposed to be Prototype's version of the Hulkbusters: big, agile opponents who could go toe-to-toe with Mercer and pursue him across the city, and the more elaborate techniques like body surfing, punting, and grapple slamming were intended to maximize damage while staying on the move.  Then, due to any number of possible problems with AI or game balance, they were scaled back into the block-happy QTE brutes we see in the final game.

That being said, I think I got more milage out of the different weapon powers than most folks.  I found myself switching between musclemass, blades and the whip on a pretty regular basis.  Only the claws really seemed useless towards the end.

Yeah: the Claws are completely outclassed by the Whipfist which gives you the same slicing damage with a vastly increased range, plus the ability to instantly hijack any vehicle you like *and* fill your entire health bar by eating one target after another without taking a single step.  Same goes for the Hammerfist.  There's nothing you can do with that power that isn't superseded by the faster, deadlier Blade abilities.

Instead of having five different powers with a few moves each, Prototype really would have benefited from sticking with three powers -- Whipclaws, Hammerblade, and Musclemass -- and developing a diverse moveset for each one.  A tighter focus and a less rigid, more mobile cast of enemies could have brought this game up to a whole new level.

-Autistic Angel

[Chaz]

I just looked through the manual for Hulk: UD, which I've owned but never got to play.  It's amazing how many things appear in Prototype exactly as they were in Hulk.  The control setup is basically identical. 

I think I need to try Hulk, especially since it's backwards compatible.

[CeeKay]

the only bad thing about whipfist is that it seems like consuming someone takes longer since he takes the time to throw them in the air then hit them as they fall and drag them in.  there were plenty of times where I was yelling at the screen 'stop posing you stupid fuck!  you're not a fucking model!'.  in the end I found it quicker to turn off whatever special hand attack I had and just grap people with bare hands.

[Roguetad]

The last 1/4 of the story missions and boss fights were not terribly hard, just really annoying and no fun.  They could have done so much more with those fights, instead of reverting to early 90's boss battle conventions.  There's nothing fun about a boss that has multiple sets of shields separate from a health bar that need to be whittled down from 100% each time before the health bar is affected.  Who finds floaty green boss orbs circa sega genesis fun?  Flying rocks from the pavement, cool.  Thrown cars and bio-splooge, ok.  Floaty green orbs though?  We've been there before...15 years ago.

Boss immunities and boss shields are lame, and often times fly in the face of what the player has learned up to that point.  In prototype, the bosses aren't really hard, they're just not fun.  The E. Green fight could have been a really cool set piece, but when I actually started playing it I fully expected to hear 16 bit boss music.  Timers during boss battles are lame too.  Again, not hard, just not fun.

Everything else in prototype has loads of fun smeared all over the place.  It was a really fun ride, minus the boss fights.  Who cares if the boss fight only lasts a couple of minutes?  If the boss fight was fun and intense, I'm good.  I don't need the fight to drag on for 20-30 minutes to make it feel epic, that only leads to all of those artificial conventions like shields, temp damage and power immunities, and phased boss fights (phase 1...blow off the arms, phase 2...kill the eyes, phase 3...blow off the feet, phase 4...blow off the shiny metal thingy on its back, phase 5...ok now you can hurt some of his health but be quick because his arms will grow back and you have start at phase 1 again).

      

[metallicorphan]

can anyone tell me how far i am into the game,i have just fought some specialist guy with black/gray hair in one of the Hive's

i got the Errand boy achievement for it(Specialist boss fight)

i am pretty bored of the game(after coming back to it after a week away),and thinking of just quitting,but if i am near to the end i may as well finish up....its been a disappointing game for me

i looked at the IGN walkthru,to see how far i had to go and it only goes up to mission 8(its in progress)..and i am passed that..how many missions are there?


EDIT:and Razgon,the game froze for me also straight after that boss fight(i just did),so i had to do it again

[Roguetad]

can anyone tell me how far i am into the game,i have just fought some specialist guy with black/gray hair in one of the Hive's

That fight is closer to the beginning.  I think I had just picked up the whip fist power for that fight and was slamming him in the face with hit.  It might be considered early mid game?  Maybe I'm blocking out other stuff too, it just seemed fairly early. 

I definitely wasn't bored at that point, so if you're already bored, that's not a good sign.  You do get some cool powers and combat abilities later in the game. 

[Purge]

That is when you lose your powers to transform. I'm almost out of those missions.

I think that rather than getting rid of the claws and hammerfist that they should have instead offered new and inventive upgrades... imagine using a momentum spin with the fists, or being able to do the drop with more effective damage. Also, being able to buy upgrades to speed it up.

As to the claws, multiple ground targets would be nice, or even a "slice and dice" option where you could chop people without slowing down from a full run.

[Eco-Logic]

I'm on the E. Green boss fight and find it annoying and hard.  I'm going to stick with it and beat the game.  I still loved the ride, but won't be replaying it. 

[Chaz]

You know what I hate? Web targets with suicidal tendencies.  It's not uncommon that I'll be closing in on a web target, only to have them throw themselves in front of a moving vehicle.  I can't say I blame them, as their next stop was going to be in my belly, but still, annoying.

[Razgon]

You know what I hate? Web targets with suicidal tendencies.  It's not uncommon that I'll be closing in on a web target, only to have them throw themselves in front of a moving vehicle.  I can't say I blame them, as their next stop was going to be in my belly, but still, annoying.

I've seen a few times web targets being killed by the infected...and as much as that annoys me, its also pretty great actually!

[Roguetad]

My total time played at the end was 21 hours.  I stopped doing side challenges about about half way through once I upgraded the powers I wanted.  I was starting to get burned out, and was begining to think of playing other games, so I just stuck with the story missions all the way through to the end.  If I needed more xp points I would just take down a couple of bases and hives and then start the next story mission.

It's kind of a double edged sword though, because the story missions and boss battles are the weakest part of the game...or most annoying part.  The overall gameplay experience was fun for me, but it did start to wane towards the latter half.  There's no way in hell I'm playing the story missions again.  I may zip around killing stuff and completing challenges in free roam, but more than likely I'll be moving on to the next game in my backlog.  

I am looking forward to a sequal...if they listen to the critical feedback and improve on the story missions, power development, and boss battles.  They have the foundation for a really good game.  My first suggestion for a sequal would be to lose the shiny-fancy leather jacket over perma hoody look.  I shudder when I think about what nasty hair splooge he must have to keep his hoody affixed to his dome like that.

Final Boss Fight Tips:

Spoiler for Hiden:

They made this fight hard by letting the Supreme Hunter do an ass load of damage with each hit, and they gave him access to your devastator attacks.  The good news is that the fight is more tedious than it is hard.  The developers were nice enough to stock the area with a buffet of soldiers and a seemingly endless supply of attack helicopters.  The soldiers are for eating...of course.  I had the most success running around and staying away from him (to avoid his devastator and regular attacks) while maxing out my health (consuming soldiers) and using critical pain devastators on him (the 2 fingered X+B attack).  I used air dash a lot to mix up my running pattern and to change direction.  The crazier I ran and zigged, the less I got hit.  

The bad news is that everything will be trying to get you, including helicpoters, jets, the boss, etc.  I think it's best to keep moving.  It is possible to stun the SH with a fully charged throw, but I was never fast or aware enough to move in quickly to land some shots.  I actually used that time to consume soldiers and get my health up.  

The most important tip imo is to ensure you have your health maxed when the SH is just under half health.  You're going to need all of that blue for some quick critical pain devastators.  At this point I saved my devastators and used the muscle mass power running around throwing evrything I could get my hands on at him.  There are some bomb racks conviently left on the deck that have single bombs that can be thrown at him for good effect.  When the count down begins, lock on to him and unleash back to back critical pain devastators.  For me that meant holding the left trigger and then using 2 fingers to mash X+B.  His health will plummet, and you should have enough time (I had over a minute remaining) to finish him off.  I picked up more stuff on the deck and threw it at him until he died.  There's a riskier option:  after your last devastator, get in close and go to town on him, he will bring you down to your critical mass save, and then unleash that free devastator on him.  I was too chicken to try that, but I'm betting it would be the fastest way to finish him off.

[kadnod]

For folks who finished story mode:

Spoiler for Hiden:

  Anyone else think the plot twist at the end was confusing? When I first beat the game, I figured that the Specialist had really been Elizabeth's kid the whole time.  But, after searching around the Intrawebs, the final baddy is really suposed to be the mega-hunter you fought earlier.  That didn't make much sense to me.

I think the devs missed a bit of an opportunity here.  The big, bad, black ops guy having a crisis of conscience was a remarkable development.  Adding "But he's secretly a monsta!" at the end was unecessary. 

On the other hand, I thought lots of the Web revealed plot stuff was very well done.  It kept my interest and was a really great way to tell the story without having tons of NPC exposition. 

[Autistic Angel]

I am looking forward to a sequal...if they listen to the critical feedback and improve on the story missions, power development, and boss battles.  They have the foundation for a really good game.

I'd like to see a lot more fluidity in the combat system, with enough variety in the attacks and the smooth transitions between them to replace these rigid combos with a much more freeform experience.  Great melee-heavy combat games like God of War and Ninja Gaiden offer up a broad catalog of different moves and the incentive to experiment against an array of distinct enemies.  Devil May Cry even gives the player the ability to instantly swap weapons in the middle of a running combo.

The fighting in Prototype feels stiff and myopic by comparison.  Too many attacks end with a second or two of recovery time that interrupts the flow of combat.  There's only a handful of unique enemies, they only have two or three attacks apiece, and they lack the power, speed, and numbers to pose an interesting challenge.  It just isn't enough to sustain the whole game.

Like you said: here's hoping for a superior sequel!

-Autistic Angel

[Autistic Angel]

Spoiler for Hiden:

On the other hand, I thought lots of the Web revealed plot stuff was very well done.  It kept my interest and was a really great way to tell the story without having tons of NPC exposition. 

Agreed: the Web of Intrigue cutscenes were among my favorite parts of the game.  Very well done!

-Autistic Angel

[Roguetad]

Spoiler for Hiden:

On the other hand, I thought lots of the Web revealed plot stuff was very well done.  It kept my interest and was a really great way to tell the story without having tons of NPC exposition. 

Agreed: the Web of Intrigue cutscenes were among my favorite parts of the game.  Very well done!

-Autistic Angel

I really enjoyed the WOI cutscenes too.  They had kind of an X-Files feel to them...crossed with 28 Days. 

Thoughts on the ending:

Spoiler for Hiden:

I completely agree on the ending twist.  I also thought that the blackwatch commander was Green's son.  How cool would that have been?  At a minimum, the blackwatch commander turned Mercer sympathetic would have been a better story than...oh he's a monster...that you already fought! 

They show in a cutscene with Green that Mercer steps in the pile of bio goo that she vomited.  That viral goo took some of Mercers viral dna when he stepped in it, which gave it some of his powers.  They talked about "imagine what the cancer must have felt when they ripped a part of it out".  I think the supreme hunter was that cancer.  It had a missing spot on it's back too.  The whole idea is silly, and the Green baby storyline would have been much cooler. 

They could have done so much more with Green too, as Mother.  I thought for awhile that Alex was her baby.  That would have been interesting too, especially if they had a few missions where they both worked together.  I agree though, they missed some good opportunities in the storytelling department.

 

[Bullwinkle]

I'm not a fan of the web of intrigue, I have to say.

They remind me too much of the cutscenes from Black (maybe there's a similar actor, even?), and while I enjoyed them in that game, they just feel dated and forced to me now.

I don't really love the system, either.  It's too random, but pretends to be structured.  Also, the select button should be my map.  I have to go through two extra steps every time I want to go to the map, because I always go to the WOI by accident.  How often do you really need to go in there?

[whiteboyskim]

Alright, how the hell do I destroy the infected water towers before they blow?

[Razgon]

Alright, how the hell do I destroy the infected water towers before they blow?

whiplash thingie works, jumping up and pressing Y to hit drop down with special attack, following up quickly with claws works as well..

another way is to stand on a nearby buiding, grabbing the infected that comes along, and throwing them at the water towers...thats probably the best way, actually..you'll break it quickly, or get it enough down, that if you jump attack it, it will be destroyed quickly

[TiLT]

Alright, how the hell do I destroy the infected water towers before they blow?

Using the whip is all you need to do. It's completely safe and you can take all the time you need.

[whiteboyskim]

Then I don't seem to have access to a whip yet. I'm on the first mission where you have to destroy infected water towers to gather DNA and I've purchased multiple upgrades but don't see anything relating to a whip.

[TiLT]

Oh... In that case, run directly up to a tower with hammerfist and charge up its attack once to attack at full strength, then follow up with a regular hammerfist attack. That should be enough to take down a tower. That's what I did during that mission. I failed to destroy several towers in time, but when that happened I just ran off to the next one.

[Razgon]

or, just throw infected at the towers - works like a charm

[metallicorphan]

right did a few more hours today i am currently

Spoiler for Hiden:

i have just been protecting the doctor from the infected(they were smashing on the wall,the wall had a health bar)

and then i took the doctor back to his morgue

and i lost my powers a few missions ago

[hepcat]

Spoiler for Hiden:

  Arrrgghhh!  The mission in which you have to stop the helicopters from leaving the quarantine area is friggin' annoying.  I've tried hijacking them with whipfist, shooting them down with other helicopters, and simply hurling crap at them...but I always lose one of them eventually.  Is there a trick to this mission I'm missing?