Chances are, you're already expecting some kind of exclusive DLC/boondoggle from Activision's big releases. Prototype 2's not going to disappoint you, then.
Radical Entertainment's open-world action game will be getting something called a RadNet Edition. The twist here is that the RadNet Edition won't cost you anything extra. (However, you will need an internet-connected platform to take advantage of the RadNet program.) This fancy version will come with a one-time use code that allows for access to special challenges, unique mutations and competitive score events tracked on leaderboards, as well as avatar items and dynamic themes. Only the first wave of Prototype 2 will be RadNet Edition copies, meaning that you can only get the content by buying it new. If you participate in all the challenges, you'll unlock a super-special shape-shifting mutation that Activision's keeping under wraps. My guess is that it'll be the ability to play through Proto2 as Alex Mercer.
Activision's claiming that the RadNet content will only be available for seven weeks after Prototype 2 comes out so, if you want the perks, you need to get the game as soon as it comes out and check in every week. It's not quite as pernicious as Call of Duty Elite pay-to-get-stuff-first since there's no added cost and RadNet essentially amounts to a loyalty program.
In Prototype 2 Sgt. James Heller is infected with a mutagen that gives him access to an amazing variety of super powers. One would think Best Buy and Radical Entertainment could come up with a preorder incentive more compelling that vehicle armor.
But no, placing five dollars down at Best Buy gets you Sgt. James Heller's Hardened Steel Vehicle Armor, a special power that somehow makes military vehicles Heller enters tougher than normal military vehicles. Why? I don't know. Maybe he extends some sort of carapace over the vehicle, or his tendrils are inside rapidly repairing any damage that might be done to it.
Or Best Buy needed a preorder incentive and this was all they could come up with. Makes for an exciting video, doesn't it? And all GameStop got was the ability to kick enemies in the ass. I am driving to Best Buy right now.
At the end of the first Prototype, the island of Manhattan suffered tons of property damage after hoodie-wearing protagonist Alex Mercer completed his quest to dish out viral justice. From what we've seen of Prototype 2, the city's become NYZ, a massive hot zone seething with poor, Blacklight virus-infected citizens that new hero James Heller needs to hunt down. So, what happened between then and now?
You'll be able to find out in a new digital mini-series from the publishers of Hellboy and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Set for three single-story issues releasing bi-weekly from Febuary 15th on, the Prototype 2 comics will deal with the post-Proto 1 doings of Alex Mercer, a group of ordinary folk trying to escape the infected hell that the city becoming and a glimpse in Sgt. Heller's backstory.
The comics are being made in partnership with Prototype 2 developers Radical Entertainment and will be available on Dark Horse's digital site. You'll probably be able to read them on the publisher's iOS app, too.
I did not like the first Prototype. Radical's open-world action title put you into the mutated skin of a super-cannibal that ate people in his quest for vengeance. Playing as aggrieved scientist Alex Mercer made me feel creepy, as I generally am not interested in eating people. The story and the reasons it gave for eating other humans didn't make much sense.
Turns out that Radical glommed on to those facts. In an interview at Gamasutra, design director Matt Armstrong talks about the Activision dev team's re-evaluation of the first Prototype:
"It was clear from the outset we needed to tell a story more people could understand, ideally with a protagonist that was more relatable as well, with a motivation clearly understandable to the player," he added. From Prototype 1, the team learned it had to present mission challenges in better context. "There was a massive missed opportunity to take the world that we've built and start to give it a lot more in the way of personality."
I was surprised when Prototype 2 was announced, given the stumbles of the first game. More than any pre-order ability or urban hunting mechanics, the statements above get me excited for Prototype 2. The idea that Radical will get a second chance to improve the Prototype universe is a rare chance and, from the interview with Armstrong, it seems like they're trying to make the most of it.
Interview: What Prototype 2 taught its design director [Gamasutra]
Everyone hates pre-order exclusives. Yes, everyone. I've never heard a person say "I'm so glad I plunked down $5 before Game X came out, so I could get Different Colored Gun and/or Different Ability That Really Doesn't Change the Experience That Much."
One of the realities of this kind of thing is that retailers drive it. With the promise of increased shelf space and promotion or the threat that they may not carry a game at all, they can muscle dev studios and publishers into creating incentives that might entice buyers to pick, say, Best Buy or GameStop.
That brings us to this Prototype 2 pre-order exclusive. You can inject the soldiers hunting Sgt. James Heller with the game's lethal Blacklight virus and weaponize their infected bodies to cause more open-world mayhem. The clip makes the Bio-Bomb Butt Kicker ability look operatic and impressive but the thing that strikes me is that it's essentially a custom animiation that makes your antagonists present their asses to you over and over again. Brilliant meta-commentary on developer/publisher/retailer relationships or average dose of slapstick humor? You be the judge.
The developers at Radical talk about how you'll be stalking James Heller's prey in the upcoming open-world sequel. Eating enemies also gets in this behind-the-scenes look, which also offers new looks at combat and quests, too. You'll get your chance to hunt through Prototype 2's ruined New York City when the game hits on April 24, 2012.
Sgt. James Heller from Prototype 2 is not a white guy. He's a black guy. But he didn't begin his life that way.
"We started off with an amalgamation of Hugh Jackman and Clint Eastwood, and the resulting render looked remarkably similar to James Marsden—so we were like 'Okay, scratch that one out,'" Ken Rosman, head of the studio that developed Prototype, told the Oficial PlayStation Magazine.
"As we were going, there was something about a concept sketch of some ethnicity or other that wasn't just the the generic Caucasian guy and we were all drawn to it," he continued. "We started riffing on that character and ended up with Heller."
According to Rosman, it had nothing to do with race. What's more telling, however, is how the default for this character (and so many video game characters) was a white dude.
Check out Kotaku's previous Prototype 2 coverage.
Prototype 2 hero's race tricky to talk about, "nobody wants to touch it" [OPM]
Fourteen months after the events of the original Prototype, New York City has become a place filled with danger, disease, and corruption. What took it so long?
Having only been in the city twice in my life, my opinion mainly comes from television and movies. So I know that for every sexually based offense handled by the brave men and women of the special victims unit, there are millions of people ready to sing "(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher" at a moment's notice should an evil god project an inpenetrable shell over the Manhattan Museum of Art.
Perhaps that's the key to ending the situation in Prototype 2's New York Zero — all the flavor, none of the calories.
Activision commissioned TwitchGames, makers of Slice HD, to create a Prototype 2-themed minigame available now for iOS devices on the iTunes App Store. It's a big free ad for the upcoming game, but it's also a small free game that utilizes the multitouch interface in a challenging way.
Like Slice HD, your job is to move blades out of the way to expose an "eye" target. In this case, the blades are the notorious arm-blades swung by Sgt. Heller and the other shapeshifters from the franchise. Being a multitouch game, you'll find yourself holding blades back with four fingers and using your nose to swipe the eye. It's a solid challenge. If you have an iPhone or iPad, run go get it.
ProtoSlice [iTunes]
