A very long essay about my Prototype 1 & 2 platinum runs.
I love Infamous Second Son. It's my favourite game of all time. I've replayed it countless of times and never got tired of it. The story resonanted with me in many ways, the soundtrack was great, the gameplay thrilling, and it honestly was my first experience in what I later found out to be a power fantasy game/media.
Years ago, I remember hearing things about Prototype being a similar game, but I guess it didn't fully pull me in enough to play it at the time. Then again, there was a huge discount on the biohazard bundle. Two games for the prize of one (or less) was a great offer, so I bought it out of curiosity.
I played the first game and honestly, I didn't really like it. Sometimes it felt too unforgiving, and it became very stressful at times. I didn't know how to handle hunters (other than doing the air blade slice over and over again), strike teams were exhausting to deal with (I just spamed whipfist triangle again and again...), missiles and rockets wouldn't let me run up walls and ended up dying all the time, the soundtrack sometimes felt way too loud which contributed to the stress... I remember trying New Game + but I wasn't feeling the rush and excitement I got from Infamous (I didn't even finish that run). In the end, I didn't even bother with the second game.
Fast forward to this year. I'm bored and don't know what to play. Remember prototype, so try to play the first game again for a bit. Played for a day, still stressful at times but wasn't too bad. Decided to give the second game a chance, hoping to see some improvements from the first one. And it did actually.
The movement felt easier than the first game and you could just jump away from the fight very quickly. The powers were simpler, and easier to understand, and it let you have two active at the same time. Really enjoyed the combat, the shield was greatly improved with the parry. I didn't feel myself running away for health everytime and felt like I could really endure long fights without having to run away. Really enjoyed the fact that you could summon 4 hunters to fight alongside you, it got rid of that anxiety I got from the first game whenever I got overwhelmed with enemies.
The weaponize vehicle feature was super fun, and the animations for the finishers of helicopters, tanks and hunters were so fun to watch. The Radnet challenges were also really fun as well as the collectables. The side missions of the blacknet were also super fun. Overall, I was having a great time. Before I realize it, I completed the main story, and really felt like I wanted to keep playing. In the end, I managed to get the platinum throphy and was super fun.
I decided to check the reddit to see if the community was still active and, sure enough, it was (like seriously prototype 2 came out on 2012 and I see new posts here everyday, you guys really love and care for this franchise, it's such a warm community). But something really stood out to me. Everyone kept saying that prototype 1 was in fact the better game, which really shocked me. Then I began seeing some videos about experienced players and it wasn't at all what I remembered. Saw reviews that challenged my intial thoughts about the game. Did I really missed something?
So, having my prototype 2 skills still fresh, I decided to go back again into the first game and start yet another new game +. The very first days I barely played the game and just focused on something I struggled with: movement. I just parkoured around the city, trying to make sure I learned the charge jump, glides, airdashes, wall jumps properly. And I realized something, the first game is meant to be played differently from the second.
Yes I found myself running away from the military, but now I was good at it. I jumped across Manhattan barely taking damage, killed enemies without standing still once. Because I understood that if I played this standing still I'd most certainly die. Quoting a review I saw: "You don't run because you are a bitch, you run because you are a god". I began having fun playing it once I understood it, got the final upgrades, did the side missions, and actually got good at the game. Discovered how OP musclemass is and understood why everyone got so mad they removed it in the second game, as well as the many parkour animations and other power skills that made Alex so cool and deadly. I began to understand why people preffered the first game over the second one (and why they got mad about Alex's character being butchered in prototype 2).
I knew the prototype 1 platinum was gonna be hard but I got so hooked to the game that I decided to go for it. The platinum challenges were overall fun (except 3 or 4 specific ones like the Raid war event, fuck that one in particular). Right now I'm only missing the landmarks and hints (very boring ngl, had to look it up), web of intrigue targets and the hard mode run, which I'm really excited to play. This whole essay brings me to my last point.
There needs to be a Prototype 3. It's a shame that both games have great highs but also frustrating lows. The great thing is that these flaws are easily spotable and I bet it would also be easy to create a third game with the best decisions and features taken for the previous two. Overall I really enjoyed myself playing these two games and I'm really looking forward to the future of the series, in the hands of developers who really appreciates Activision's work.