In Prey, gamers enter an unpredictable world where nothing can be taken for granted. You'll become Tommy, a Cherokee garage mechanic stuck on a reservation, going nowhere in life. When an otherworldly crisis awakens spiritual powers from his long-forgotten birthright, he & his girlfriend are abducted by aliens who need him to save the planet -- even if he's not sure he can. Multiplayer game support that takes advantage of the unique gameplay styles in Prey Deep, emotional story of love and sacrifice based on the Hero's Journey story structure -- the same used to tell Luke Skywalker's story in the original Star Wars
Features:
•
Serious, dark story, based on actual Cherokee mythology
•
Portal technology allows enemies to appear out of thin air, creating new and completely original puzzles and gameplay styles
•
Several never-before-seen gameplay elements such as Spirit Walking, Wall Walking, and Deathwalk
•
Highly organic, living environment that itself can attack Tommy
•
Control a spiritual hawk that can help him fight enemies and decipher the alien language of the living ship
Average Customer Review:
( 77 customer reviews )
Write an online review and share your thoughts with other customers.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
40 of 48 found the following review helpful:
You'll "prey" for more!Jul 14, 2006
By DarkDan
"DarkDan"
I am a FPS (First-Person Shooter) junkie and I love the Halo, Star Wars Battlefront and Rainbow Six series games. As of this writing, I have completed Prey on "Normal Skill" and am now working my way through the "Cherokee Skill" difficulty setting. (NOTE: These are the only two difficulty settings available in Prey.)
To state it upfront, Prey blows the FPS genre wide open. The game uses the Doom 3 engine for graphics, and players will be amazed with the level of detail the designers have put into each level. Moreover, many of the items in the environment are interactive (you can flush toilets, change the channels on a TV, etc.), which is reminiscent of the Duke Nukem 3D game that this developer is famous for. In addition, the main character makes snide remarks through the game (just infrequently enough to be funny, and not overdone) just like Duke used to do.
Even if you're not entertained by all the cute gimmicks, you're sure to appreciate the incredible details that have been woven into this title. As you progress, you'll encounter anti-gravity levels, low gravity environments and "wormholes" that warp you from one location to the next. And, like the game design, the plot is equally intricate. Although this game seems like a "guy saves girl" story, there are some very exciting plot twists and the storyline is based on actual Cherokee mythology and uses "The Hero's Journey," a writer's tool for story structure and plot. Speaking of the plot, there's a super-natural horror element that adds a considerable amount of suspense to the game. This, along with the over-the-top violence and adult language, means you probably shouldn't buy this game for impressionable children. However, all of this is not gratuitous and really adds to the impact of the title.
On the Normal difficulty, health power-ups are frequent and -when you die- you're sent to an "Indian underworld" where you must shoot wraiths with your spirit bow, in order to replenish your health and magic energy... Certainly a refreshing twist from every game that sends you back to the beginning of the level. On the Cherokee difficulty, there are no in-game health packs, so you'll have to rely on your abilities with the spirit bow. Speaking of spirits, you're also provided with a hawk who's your "Spirit Guide." The hawk will help attack enemies and, interestingly enough, translate the alien language so that you can read their computer panels and other information.
One thing that other reviewers haven't mentioned so far is that there are "puzzles" scattered throughout the game. Without providing any spoilers, the game sometimes makes you think in order to progress any further. For the most part, these puzzles are entertaining and challenging, but aren't designed so that you must buy a "game guide" to solve them. Often, solving the puzzles requires use of the "old ways" of your Indian ancestry, items that exist in the alien environment, or just good old fashion brainpower. Another nice feature is that the game levels are not so big that you'll find yourself lost, but you may have to explore a little to figure out exactly where to go. These features add to Prey's uniqueness in that it is more of a "thinking man's shooter" than your standard FPS.
If you're in it for the Xbox 360 achievements, this game will deliver. Each time you complete a level, you earn Gamerscore (from 25-60 points per level, which increase as you progress). It's also important to note that 250 of Prey's 1000 points are earned by playing online. There's even 3 "secret" achievements (you don't find out what they are until you earn them) that are quite fun to unlock. All of the achievements are obtainable by the average gamer.
When it comes right down to it, Prey is a game that any FPS-fan will absolutely love for the engaging story and the unique features. In addition, novice gamers that find most FPS games too difficult should consider this the perfect entry-level title. Finally, any sci-fi fan who loved the movie "Aliens," and thinks they could take on an alien invasion like Sigourney Weaver did, should pick up this title and put their money where their mouth is.
43 of 52 found the following review helpful:
It's HALO, DOOM and Quake 360 rehashed and upsidedown...That's really all it isAug 08, 2006
By Gary L. Fox
"tYpiCaL wYt gUy"
"PREY - XBOX 360"
I realize I'm going to hammered for saying this. After all I, too, was looking so forward to Prey for a long time. The anti-gravity is a very neat touch and I really loved it. It also has an out-of-the-body experience that helps you to open doors and turn off motion detectors. All that is good, but here's the problem...it is very repetitive(sp?). It just seemed like I was going from one small room to the another...OVER and OVER and OVER again. I played this game for 5 days and never got any different than going from one room to the next. The action was very slow to none. There were only a few different aliens and they got old too. The story is very cool and Art Bell is great in it. I found myself listening to the radio, in the game, and listening to the callers describe the horrible things they've seen. That is a very cool touch, I must admit.
I hate to rag this game because it looks and plays so good. But I've played these games before. It's dark like DOOM, the graphics look like Quake 360 and the Aliens look like Halo. The whole game looks and feels so rehashed I'm suprised more reviewers aren't mentioning that.
You WILL notice these things I've mentioned, but will you be honest enough to admit it? It was hard for me to write this review because I do like the game, I just feel like I've been there and done that, OVER and OVER and OVER again. I may not have played it long enough but after 5 days of walking through a spaceships halls and rooms I just felt like shooting the game itself. My apologies to the fans of Prey. I truly mean no disrespect. Just being honest.
16 of 19 found the following review helpful:
An Interesting Addition to the Horror GenreOct 15, 2006
By Lisa Shea
"medieval swordfighting enthusiast"
Prey is a horror-survival game with a twist - you're a native american who begins by wanting to get off his reservation with his Cherokee girlfriend. Space aliens help you respect your roots.
The game is incredibly dark, gruesome and mature. The lead character swears constantly, and you see numerous images of children, old people and other random humans being slain in nasty ways. This makes it not a game for kiddies.
Still, for adults, there are a lot of interesting aspects to the game. For starters, the alien spaceship that you end up in is "alive". There are metal parts, but there are also many organic parts to it. The weapons you pick up are usually alive. The "gun" has little moving tentacles on it. Another weapon is a multi-legged creature where you rip off acid-filled bits and fling at enemies.
There's also many physics-challenging areas. There are metallic floors a la Ratchet and Clank so you end up upside down and sideways. There are spheres with gravity so you walk all the way around them. There are teleportation portals to zap you from area to area.
I did like the intriguing mix of graphics - it gave its own "flavor" to this genre. The weapons, especially, really intrigued me. The sound in general is full of screams, squishes and cries for help, to help you feel that you were racing against time to rescue people. There wasn't an unnatural "throbbing soundtrack" most of the time, although it did come in in certain scenes to help add some mood.
In keeping with the Cherokee theme, they do include elements from Cherokee mythology including spirit guides, special abilities and puzzles to solve. You could consider this a gimmick that could have easily been explained in many other ways, but still, I like the fact that they tried. After all, there are probably 80-quadrillion games out there involving Japanese or Chinese myths, but I could probably count those involving Native Americans on one hand.
This game doesn't shatter any new boundaries, but it was fun to play.
5 of 5 found the following review helpful:
not your generic fpsSep 13, 2007
By Raul Duke
"Gonzo HST"
i was never that big into FPS. they seem played out at this point. most of them feel the same. the only ones ill get into are either doing all the old things perfectly (Resistance, Call of Duty 2/3) or they're just doing something different (Fear, Bioshock) and Prey deffinitely falls into the latter category.
Aliens will appear out of nowhere from their portals linked together on different parts of the ship. you can use these as well. they're often your only way to progress to the next part of a level.
You can adjust the gravity in different rooms. of you shoot a certain switch on the walls or ceiling you can turn the gravitational pull to that plane, thus making it essentially the floor. there are different magnetic ramps that you often use to get places. they usually end up at leased going straight up a wall, if not turning completely upside down.
this does still carry the somewhat standard FPS formula though. you go through a level from point A to point B while killing baddies. complete each level to make progress through the story. the story is really good though. you're a native american living on a reserve with your grandfather and girlfriend. you're unhappy with your life and want to leave the reserve to persue other things. there's a good bit of native american mythology, which is VERY unique in the games scene. you're all abducted by aliens shortly after the opening scene. the rest of the game involves your attempt at escaping this intergallactic nightmare. there's some shocking twists toward the end though.
the game looks fantastic. there was a lot of attention payed to nearly every little detail. the ship is actually an android, technology mixed with living tissue. your guns are all the same way. everything in the game has a very unique look to it you're not going to see anywhere else. the sound is very good too. good soundtrack with very high quality sound effects. great production values all around.
if you're new to shooters, this is probably one of the best to start with because you cant actually die. once your health runs out you're simply transported to this spirit world where shooting the spirits with your bow will replentish your health, eventually resulting in you respawning not far from whereever you died. on the other hand, ive been stuck for a couple days at a time trying to figure out a few of the puzzles. quite mind bending.
the action never feels really intense because you cant actually die. they should've made the option of dying there. i know many of the fps hardcore wrote this off because of that one thing alone. its still a decent challenge at times, and great fun all the time. everybody with a 360 should at leased give this one a chance. FPS fan or not.
4 of 4 found the following review helpful:
Great story, great FPSSep 18, 2007
By Timothy J. Drozinski I played the downloadable demo and thought the game was good enough to warrant spending $30 for the full game.
The draws for me were the interesting twists on the classic first-person shooter... things like the gravity-defying walkways that allow you to walk up walls and along ceilings, giving you a different perspective on your situation; the very organic appearance of everything, include the various guns you use (one appears to be partly a living organism, and the other is the cybernetic hand of a massive beast complete with implanted cannons); the clever puzzles where you have to enter "Spirit Walk" mode in order to find ways around obstacles; and the interesting mechanism for dealing with dying in the game (you enter the Spirit World where you must shoot your bow and arrow at bird-like creatures to refill your health gage before your spirit gets sucked back down to the mortal plane). Beyond that, I thought it was going to be a pretty lame story of alien abduction. I don't want to ruin the story for anyone, but the story and especially the endgame is simply spectacularly written and leads you very cleverly into an announcement for Prey 2... a sequel that will hopefully live up to expectations.
The game includes multiplayer capability and achievements, but I'm not a big multiplayer person so I can't really comment on how this game stands up as a multiplayer game, but the few times I've gone online it was fun, but nothing really special or unique in terms of multiplayer modes. You can choose your character appearance and a variety of options regarding the match settings, but I don't recall any multiplayer features that seemed like they were extraordinary in any way.
based on 77 reviews
( 77 customer reviews )
