A week or two ago, I dug up my old tin for the Collector's Edition I bought of Prey back when it released. To my amazement, the code printed on the back of the manual activated a copy on Steam (this was a nice surprise, since I couldn't find the disc anywhere). Having fond memories of the game, I loaded it up and started a new game.
If you've never heard of or played Prey, take a couple minutes to watch a trailer for the game:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ishWEzGFr7k
Looks kinda neat, huh? The game is actually pretty good. I'll break down a few reasons why I think so:
1) The level design is amazing. It has a slower start, and some of the puzzles decay into simple formats, but there's a surprising amount of depth to their design. It's kind of a mix between 90s FPS fundamentals, and more modern set-peice fluff. It's always in the service of a simple story set in an awesome environment -- a dyson sphere filled with aliens trying to murder you and your friends and family. That last bit is, apparantly, the connective tissue between this Prey, and Arkane's upcoming Prey reboot.
2) The guns are really memorable. They're all alien; which would be confusing if they didn't all have a design which reflected their purpose. These weapons almost all have alternate fire modes, and some of them work in fairly interesting ways: for example, there's a weapon that harnesses alien energy; you get ammo for it by sucking different types of ammo from various energy stations. The different types result in a completely different kind of gun. The lighting leads to a sort of close-range sniper effect, whereas the fire one results in a pulse rifle effect ala Quake 3.
3) The game runs on a modified Id Tech 4 engine (Doom 3 engine), and isn't completely dark. It's a better use of technology overall. But what's more is, if memory serves, this was the first game to have "Portals" in it -- even before Portal had Portals. Or something. They're used here in less mechanically strict ways; some rooms you don't even know there are portals in until you start noticing strange things, like seeing yourself at the end of a hallway. There's also a really cool use of changing gravity prevalent throughout most of the game. Because of all these different elements, a simple room might turn out to be an interesting environmental puzzle.
4) It's not totally serious. Being a game idea initially conceptualized by Duke Nukem creators 3D Realms, it seems like some of their humor rubbed off on Human Head. There's a lot of darker humor here, some snarkiness, and some stuff that, like 3DR games tend to have, doesn't land. If you liked the interactive elements of some of 3DR games, Prey has less than that, but still more than usual. The first area of the game, for example, has some arcade machines you can play on -- one of them being a Rune-skinned Pac-Man.
5) It has excellent pacing. The game gets faster and faster until it ends, and it ends in a more-or-less satisfying way. Going through it again, I was actually surprised by how much stuff the game was throwing in my face by the end -- it becomes confident in the player to create some interesting challenges. I died a lot, actually. Which is fine in this game because...
6) You can't die. Or, well, you can, but there's a trick to death in that you can come back to where you were without reloading a save. The theory was that this method was faster than a load (not true anymore, probably), and kept you playing while introducing a small mechanic to it to keep death a bit more interesting. Honestly, I'm not sure if I "like" this about the game, or if it's just a thing that I think was a cool thing to try. YMMV.
By the time I finished the game I sat back and thought two things. The first is, Prey here actually had a lot of innovations. Games came along that did some of this stuff better, and some of the dialogue is cringy, but it had actual *ideas* that were risky and unique and actually worked pretty well. The second is, I wonder if Arkane's Prey is actually up to the task of following up this game? I've seen some trailers, and I think they are on track to follow the spirit of the game -- with a darker tone -- but are they going to lose out on some of what made this game a blast to play?
For anyone who hasn't played this (and wants to), there's really not a lot of good news for you. You can dig up a Steam key on some key reseller websites, or buy a used copy on a previous generation console. Not great options -- a Prey remaster feels unlikely, but perhaps a re-release on Steam could be in the cards?
Anyway, for those of you who have played Prey, what'd you think, and do you think Arkane's vision for their "version" of Prey looks as interesting?
If you've never heard of or played Prey, take a couple minutes to watch a trailer for the game:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ishWEzGFr7k
Looks kinda neat, huh? The game is actually pretty good. I'll break down a few reasons why I think so:
1) The level design is amazing. It has a slower start, and some of the puzzles decay into simple formats, but there's a surprising amount of depth to their design. It's kind of a mix between 90s FPS fundamentals, and more modern set-peice fluff. It's always in the service of a simple story set in an awesome environment -- a dyson sphere filled with aliens trying to murder you and your friends and family. That last bit is, apparantly, the connective tissue between this Prey, and Arkane's upcoming Prey reboot.
2) The guns are really memorable. They're all alien; which would be confusing if they didn't all have a design which reflected their purpose. These weapons almost all have alternate fire modes, and some of them work in fairly interesting ways: for example, there's a weapon that harnesses alien energy; you get ammo for it by sucking different types of ammo from various energy stations. The different types result in a completely different kind of gun. The lighting leads to a sort of close-range sniper effect, whereas the fire one results in a pulse rifle effect ala Quake 3.
3) The game runs on a modified Id Tech 4 engine (Doom 3 engine), and isn't completely dark. It's a better use of technology overall. But what's more is, if memory serves, this was the first game to have "Portals" in it -- even before Portal had Portals. Or something. They're used here in less mechanically strict ways; some rooms you don't even know there are portals in until you start noticing strange things, like seeing yourself at the end of a hallway. There's also a really cool use of changing gravity prevalent throughout most of the game. Because of all these different elements, a simple room might turn out to be an interesting environmental puzzle.
4) It's not totally serious. Being a game idea initially conceptualized by Duke Nukem creators 3D Realms, it seems like some of their humor rubbed off on Human Head. There's a lot of darker humor here, some snarkiness, and some stuff that, like 3DR games tend to have, doesn't land. If you liked the interactive elements of some of 3DR games, Prey has less than that, but still more than usual. The first area of the game, for example, has some arcade machines you can play on -- one of them being a Rune-skinned Pac-Man.
5) It has excellent pacing. The game gets faster and faster until it ends, and it ends in a more-or-less satisfying way. Going through it again, I was actually surprised by how much stuff the game was throwing in my face by the end -- it becomes confident in the player to create some interesting challenges. I died a lot, actually. Which is fine in this game because...
6) You can't die. Or, well, you can, but there's a trick to death in that you can come back to where you were without reloading a save. The theory was that this method was faster than a load (not true anymore, probably), and kept you playing while introducing a small mechanic to it to keep death a bit more interesting. Honestly, I'm not sure if I "like" this about the game, or if it's just a thing that I think was a cool thing to try. YMMV.
By the time I finished the game I sat back and thought two things. The first is, Prey here actually had a lot of innovations. Games came along that did some of this stuff better, and some of the dialogue is cringy, but it had actual *ideas* that were risky and unique and actually worked pretty well. The second is, I wonder if Arkane's Prey is actually up to the task of following up this game? I've seen some trailers, and I think they are on track to follow the spirit of the game -- with a darker tone -- but are they going to lose out on some of what made this game a blast to play?
For anyone who hasn't played this (and wants to), there's really not a lot of good news for you. You can dig up a Steam key on some key reseller websites, or buy a used copy on a previous generation console. Not great options -- a Prey remaster feels unlikely, but perhaps a re-release on Steam could be in the cards?
Anyway, for those of you who have played Prey, what'd you think, and do you think Arkane's vision for their "version" of Prey looks as interesting?
