Prey (PC) Demo Impressions

I while ago I downloaded the Prey (PC) Demo, and I must say I'm quite impressed with Human Head Studio's latest offering.

One of the most interesting things about Prey is that it was originally announced by 3D Realms back around 1996-ish, and then placed on hold up until a while ago. It's very rare indeed that a title shelved for so long is brought out of limbo and actually completed.

In Prey, you take on the role of Tommy, a Cherokee native American who is abducted by aliens from his girlfriend's bar along with Jen, his girlfriend, his grandfather, and the bar itself. These aliens are abducting people all over the world, and many of them seem to be meeting gruesome ends. During your "tour" of the alien mother ship, you are freed through the intervention of another character, and you begin your battle to try and save Jen.

Prey is the third game to be developed with the Doom 3 engine, and it looks as beautiful as ever. Backgrounds are crisp and realistically lit, character models are smooth, detailed, and clean, and all the effects look great. Using my new rig, I had no issue running the Demo with all the settings cranked up, and though I still prefer the character models from Quake 4, Prey is a great visual masterpiece.

The Prey demo introduces us to the innovations that the retail game brings to the genre, namely portals (something that Valve seems to be ripping for their next tech dem... er game, Portal) and non-linear gravity.

The alien mothership has portals scattered everywhere that you can walk through like a door, and end up in a completely different area; essentially teleporting you from point "A" to "B." It's done differently than basic FPS teleportation, however, and it's something you should check out (there's no loading or changing to another level, and you can see in real time through the portal before you jump through). For gravity, not only can you walk along certain "strips" across ceilings, walls, and the like, but you can also encounter rooms next to rooms that have gravity pulling in different directions, and in some areas, you can change what direction gravity pulls in. Thus far, the Demo has shown some interesting gravity puzzles that where much more amusing than Valve's "pick up brick and put it on object, repeat" physics puzzles from the Half-Life 2 series.

It's also quite refreshing to have a main FPS character who can talk, hold conversations, and swear his head off. I find it gives him a lot more depth and allows me to care about him a whole lot more. Not to mention the interactivity of the game world. You start off in the bar's washroom, and you can use the taps, flush the toilets, dispense soap, and generally have a lot of fun with environments. The interactivity of the early Prey levels where giving me some fond Duke Nukem 3D flashbacks, and a simple room has not been this interactive in a very long time (sorry, but Half-Life 2 wasn't overly interactive, it just let you bump things around with its physics).

My only gripes with the Prey demo is that it was too damn easy, and the "Spirit" powers Tommy acquires are gotten too conviently, which is rather silly.

Overall, however Prey features some nice innovations and an excellent use of the Doom 3 engine. This is a game I will pick up, however I will wait for a price drop to between $29.99 and $39.99, as many reviews are claiming the Single Player game is rather short.