In 2006, there appeared the game Prey, which tells the story of a Cherokee Indian named Tommy, confronts the evil alien invaders. The plot of the game ended the most interesting place, so many were looking forward to the sequel. The years went by, and the continuation did not appear. In 2009 the rights to the franchise were sold to the publisher ZeniMax, and two years later it became known that the development of Prey 2 stopped. Only in 2016, Bethesda announced to his fans that the series it was decided to start with a clean slate, leaving the history of Indian Tommy in the past. For the development of a “reboot” replied the American division of Studio Arcane Studios. May 5, 2017 Grand Prix went on sale, and I hasten to share with you my impressions of the game.
Events updated the game Grand Prix takes place in an alternate universe. The history of the world has evolved in a somewhat different way. I’ll try to briefly describe the key events that precede the start of events shown in Prey. In 1958 the Earth’s orbit was launched Soviet satellite “Raven-1”, but soon after communication was lost with him. The astronauts sent into orbit to repair, faced with an unknown form of alien life — typename. All participants of the space mission are killed, and information restricted by the Soviet government. Frightened by the prospect of an alien invasion, Nikita Khrushchev concludes a partnership agreement with American President John Kennedy. In 1963, a joint effort of specialists of the two countries is being built around the infected satellite space station “Cage”, isolating it from the outside world.
The Soviet secret services planned the assassination of Kennedy has failed, and that put an end to scientific cooperation in space. Khrushchev resigns, and the US gets the sole right to conduct experiments at the station “Cage”. It was there that he created the materials of new generation, made numerous breakthroughs in medicine and biology, and laid the foundations of nanomodification. In 1980, the year the station was an incident which resulted in the death of two leading scientists. After that it was decided to cease all research and station to freeze. “Cage” is interested again only in 2025. It was acquired from the us government, several international investors led by TranStar Corporation. The station was completely redesigned and largely improved. So in 2030 was commissioned station “Talos-1”.
Station from Earth were transported by the best scientists. They managed to create the first ever “neyromod” — the modifier of human consciousness, allowing the moment to be a talented composer or artist, to learn some foreign languages or even to learn kung fu. To install neyromod, you only need to bring a person of a special device montausier two fine needles into the corner of the eye. If you want to part with his new talent, there is a special procedure. However, remember that if you delete the neyromod, your memory will be erased until it is installed. In fact, the person regresses to a certain “save points” — so that’s a side effect. That is why rich people who buy themselves neurology, rarely agree to part with them. Who in their right mind wants to lose years of memories? TranStar Corporation was bathed in money and glory, continuing to produce so popular on Earth products.
The main hero of the game is Morgan Yu (your choice it can be male or female) – one of the two heirs of the founder of TranStar. Morgan, along with his brother Alex performed at the station “Talos-1” all sorts of experiments with neuromodule, exploring their impact on the human body and trying to minimize unpleasant side effects from the removal of the modifications. During one experiment, everything naturally goes to hell. Escape to freedom is the same Tiffany that killed the Soviet cosmonauts and American scientists. Part of the staff manages to escape in shuttles and escape pods, but those who escape failed, waiting for an unenviable fate. Because Tiffany use human flesh as cellular material for their reproduction. Within hours, the station turns into a deserted reminder of the past achievements of mankind. And only Morgan Yu is able to deal with the consequences of this terrible disaster.
It is worth to mention that the space station “Talos-1” is the least important personage of the story than the protagonist. So carefully crafted space game locations I have, perhaps, in a video game never met. But, in fact, Prey is the first sandbox game that unfolds in space. Yes, we’ve seen tens of space stations in other games, take series Dead Space or Mass Effect. But in Prey sample 2017 everything is thought out to such detail that just amazed! “Talos-1” is divided into several segments, like hardware laboratory, Department of nyromodal, residential areas, power station, Shuttle Bay, sales, storage, cargo compartment, and many others. Each location is created with much love and carefully considered. It’s all very logical and interrelated. If it’s a cargo hold, it will necessarily lead gateways for docking cargo ships, and if it is a unit of life support, then it really will purify the air and water. Initially, research will be accessible to only a few segments of the station, but eventually you will open their way to all corners of the giant space sandbox, and will be able to enjoy it fully. In addition, periodically you will have to go into space to solve those or other problems, so the game does not limit you exclusively to the walls of the “Talos-1”.
To confront the alien threat an unarmed man there is no meaning. That is why our main character gradually obsessives all sorts of guns. Here, you and classic gun with a shotgun and a futuristic beamer that breaks down matter into individual atoms, and toy “Datecomm” that allows you to shoot plastic cylinders to remote switches or distract enemies, and totally chic GIPS-gun, firing instantly solidifying the foam mass. With this gun you can not just stick a plaster alien, obezdil them for some time, but to sculpt something that looked like a ladder, when, for example, you can’t climb some hills. This gun will help you to localize the fire, slapped the site of leakage fuel from pipes, or to isolate the broken typename switchboards, to protect themselves from electric shock. In addition, the Arsenal of the protagonist also includes splitting and electromagnetic grenades, electronic lure for the newcomers, Taser and other AIDS.
The aliens tifany divided into several classes. For example, “mimic” – a small creature resembling an octopus, which have the ability to turn into damage to surrounding objects. Here you go yourself to the station, not bothering anyone, and then suddenly coffee mug how to jump you in the face like packager from Alien. How can you not be scared? Over time you realize that everything in this game is not what it seems. Another type of Tihonov – “weavers”. Weaver is able to hang around the station cocoons with a small exploding upon contact with moving objects charges – “cestode”. In addition, weavers are able to turn human corpses in “phantoms”. As the phantoms remain part of the human memories, they roam the station, and mused about their past lives, in this rush to find their way. The spectacle, to put it mildly, terrible. Will meet you “psychic”, subordinating the human mind and turns people into “living bombs” and “technopathy” — exciting the control electronics. Now I listed to you for about half of the variety of types of Tihonov, with which you will encounter on the space station.
Skill tree of the hero consists of three main sections. The category of “Scientist” contains perks that increase healing properties of first aid kits and food, as well as Morgan teaches u to hack electronic locks, password-protected computers and even security systems for the space station. Section “Engineer” you will learn how to lift heavy objects like wardrobes, to carry more items in inventory, and to repair the broken mechanisms. You can also gain the ability to modify your weapons, though for this you will need to find special sets with additional details. The third section is called “the Guard” and, as you may have guessed, focuses on the combat system. You will be able to increase the efficiency of the ownership in some weapons, increase maximum health and stamina of the Morgan, as well as become less visible to enemies (this is especially appeal to fans of the passing game in the stealth-style).
At a certain point in the game the main character acquires the ability to scan Trifonov with his helmet – “psychoscope” and to take over their unique abilities. Psychoscope also allows you to see disguised as the surrounding interior mimics. However, over time, the protagonist also learns to turn in circles, first aid kits, chairs, and even in sophisticated electronic mechanisms. You can, as aliens, to throw right and left opponents of the kinetic waves, to raise objects in the air with your mind, to beat the enemies electrical discharges, or incinerate them with fire. Morgan will learn from telepaths for some time to capture the minds of his victims and control their behavior, as well as remote control of turrets and security drones operators. Skills obtained from Tihonov, consume the mental energy of the character, the scale of which is located just below the indicators of health status and level of protection suit of the hero. In addition to the pumping of the protagonist with the help of nyromodal, you will also be able to set psychoscope and suit Morgan additional modification chips. They are able to give Morgana bonus skills and strengthen already existing skills.
Kraft occupies a very important place in the gameplay of Prey. As you progress you will collect all kinds of debris, including coil wire, burnt hard drives, crumpled paper, half-smoked cigars, and even scraps from the table. It would seem, well why do you need all this stuff? All becomes clear in the moment when on your way there is “Recovery” — a mechanism that breaks down the waste into molecular components, turning it into a cubic and spherical pellets of plastic, organics, minerals, and exotic matter (we get it by breaking down the internal organs of dead Tihonov). Once you have accumulated enough number of different materials, you will need another device – a “Fabricator”. Select on the screen what you want to create, insert into the special slots required amount of materials and the fabricator, like a 3D printer from the distant future, will print you a box of shotgun shells, though additional neyromod, though spare a PLASTER gun. If only you were in possession of the necessary drawing object. Though this system is not a revolutionary, but to engage in crafting in this game – the class is incredibly fascinating.
Prey belongs to the popular genre of Immersive Sim (literally “immersion simulator”), which combines elements of other popular genres such as role-playing, first-person shooters, stealth-action games, platformers and so on. To this genre include such great games as Dishonored, BioShock, Fallout (from 3 parts), Deus Ex and many other hits. Very important in the Immersive Sim is creating the right atmosphere, so that the player could literally melt into created by the developers of the game world. And talented the guys from Arcane Studios did everything in order that we may believe what is happening on the screen. I literally was reading various books, magazines, electronic conversations, spied on the computers of deceased employees of the station, “Talos-1”. Sometimes I found the audio recordings contained important information about how you can get in a locked room or find a hidden someone a valuable item. You can hear just the voice of a desperate man on the verge of death, say goodbye to members of his family to listen to is extremely hard.
Generally, on the space station are no faceless or random character placed in the game just “furniture”. Even every you found the lost employee “Talos-1” has a name and surname, personal biography and place of work. Every single corpse or created on the basis of a phantom – a unique personality. And it’s just amazing, considering that at the station lived and worked hundreds of people. On the walls of the space station are paintings, painted by famous artists especially for the enthusiasm of its employees. And found magazines that were brought to the station from Earth, you can read articles about how the United States first in the world built a space Elevator and figured out how to terraform Mars using produce oxygen moss. All of these a pleasure to explore the details add up to a great whole picture and takes the player into the wonderful world that is gradually enslaving his mind is not worse than Typhon-a telepath.
The game was developed on the fourth generation CryEngine graphics engine. In General, Prey visually looks nice and even stylish. However, things could be significantly better. First of all I want to criticize the developers for curve facial animation of characters – she’s just wooden. To tifonom I have no complaints. Well, what could be the facial expressions of the blobs of black mass with tentacles? But with people things are very sad. And some people are ugly. However, this can be attributed to the fact that the game has a total artists series, Dishonored, and there characters were also depicted very grotesquely. But Arcane Studios in terms of animation is still not justified. On the other hand, people living on the station is almost gone, so meet you they will be quite rare. The rest of the time you will be able to enjoy the wonderfully detailed interiors “Talos-1” and explore all its hidden corners.
Very impressed me the music. Although Prey and cannot be called a horror, sometimes the game forced a suspense, underscore poignant electronic music that you, unconsciously, are drawn to attention and a cold sweat. Music composer Mick Gordon ranges from a mild synth-pop in the spirit of Daft Punk to the chilling howls of the dark, gut-wrenching you inside out. For myself, I noted the work of this composer in last year’s Doom and Prey he only once again cemented its status as a “musical genius”. To praise is the game and the voice acting of the characters. I would like to take my hat off to the people who translated and voiced in the game for Russian-speaking audience. If you believe the credits, the translation of the game was the legendary Vladimir “Nomad” Goryachev, and voice conversations were recorded at Studio Synthesis. Well, guys, you’ve done a truly outstanding job and deserve to be commended. During the passage, I found no spelling or syntax error, and the Russian actors were laid in the Studio just 200% and played their roles almost better than their English counterparts.
In addition to the main storyline, the main character occasionally will offer to perform the various side-missions. Study these missions to me were quite excited, as each quest is interesting and reveals the characters one or more characters and makes the game even more attractive in narrative terms. Side-quests in the game a lot, and spend your time on them do not mind, really rare in modern games. For example, you will need to collect audiosample voice of one of the crew members, “Talos-1” to slice of them pass phrase to bypass the electronic lock. Found audio diaries will not be enough, so you’ll have to find a recording of this girl’s songs during a musical concert before the inhabitants of the station. The number of quests you have to perform, keeping within the designated time frame, for example, to save his friend suffering from a serious disease before it is too late. The fact that the drug left in her own apartment, and part of the residential unit smashed by the explosion, and access to the surviving areas is only possible through open space, teeming with typename. The game and then forces you to do backtracking. Here you will find the possibility of “fast travel”, so the road from one block station to another can take a lot of time. To some it may not come to mind, especially considering that the load between individual sections of the “Talos-1” lasted quite a long time.
In technical terms, the game has a number of problems. Once my game tight stuck (I played on the console Sony PlayStation 4). The music is playing, the system menu of the console works, but the game stalled on the spot and nothing is moving, though you burst. Had to restart it and start from last save. The nasty bug of the game is that in the console version of the game for some reason is constantly engaged in one or both of the analog stick of the controller. This is reflected in the fact that the screen is slowly crawling to the side even when you don’t touch the controller at all. To stop these “proclivities” have little to draw back the handle in the opposite direction. At first I thought that this is a problem solely of my controller. But after interviewing several of his colleagues and friends, find out what the bug is widespread. Someone even tried a few different controllers to understand that the problem lies in the game code, not in the console hardware. In addition, I have seen a few minor bugs that I just don’t want to draw your attention.
Pros:
- Interesting scenario, the final of which you are unlikely to be able to predict.
- “Talos-1” is the most elaborate space station in the video game world.
- The developers did their best to recreate the game an incredible atmosphere.
- The Arsenal of the protagonist and includes a varied and unusual weapons.
- An elaborate system of leveling, weapons, costume and psychoscope.
- Explore the corners of the huge space station is incredibly exciting.
- The tasks can be done in several different ways.
- Depending on your decisions, you will see that the ending you deserve.
- Music Mick Gordon fall in love with the first notes.
- Excellent Russian localization and voice characters.
- Very curious to Prey made the process of crafting and getting materials.
- The game will offer you plenty of exciting side-quests.
Cons:
- The basic game mechanics were borrowed from other projects.
- Graphics and animations could be much better.
- In the console version of the game is buggy controllers.
- Get ready for frequent backtracking.
- A very long download.
Despite the fact that Prey, do not hesitate, copy, time-tested game mechanics of Dishonored, Deus Ex and System Shock, it doesn’t make the game less original. Developer Arcane Studios has managed to create incredibly nuanced and detailed space station, inside which there is a unique ecosystem with its own laws and alien fauna. I think many of our readers will appreciate this wonderful work, because it is like no other, worthy of your attention. Great quests, advanced system of leveling the main character, a great Arsenal of weapons, stunning design locations and penetrating to the core of music – all this builds Prey in the status of one of the best games of the year. I give her 9 points out of 10.
A review of the game Prey: all is not what it seems
Sergey Grey