Report 16: Big Boys Time IV: Triple Treat
As you may have already heard a couple dozen times, Prey 2017 is perfectly described as a love letter to Bioshock/System Shock and so on. To my shame, I am yet to play System Shocks, but from what I could gather, this statement is pretty much true.
Sci-fi, horror, transhumanism - yup, sounds like my kind of jam.
What I really liked about this one is how the world feels much more seamless than Bioshock’s. Yes, you could go back to any of the previous levels in B., but here you feel like you’re on an actual ship instead of just going between bunch of levels in a 2d-dimensional way.
Furthermore, the game doesn’t obstruct you in any way that is not natural. There is a skill-based obstacles, such as repairing things, moving the heavy objects out of the way, etc. - but there are always a few more ways you can get things done, like creating ledges with GLOO cannon so you can climb up the wall or using the recycle grenades to destroy the object obstructing the passage. The possibilities are limited at some point, of course, but you still have to be creative.
My main issue with the game is that I’ve expected to be scarier, or… scary at all? It does have, like, two or three jumpscares and overall tense atmosphere, but most of the game takes place in a fairly normal, well-lit environment, and you get used to the enemies fairly quickly. You just have too many tools at your disposal to feel scary. As soon as you have enough shotgun ammo and Combat Focus skill, there’s literally nothing that can stop you in this game. Even a non-skill run that’s required for one of the achievements, isn’t that hard either (or maybe I’m just that good, heh). I think I’m going to replay it on harder difficulty sometime in the future.
Fun fact: Morgan’s ex, Mikhaila was renamed to Ekaterina in the russian translation. The reason for that is (probably) very simple: authors created a feminine version of the male name Mikhail(it’s diminutive form is Misha) by adding the -a to the end. Suffice to say, there is no such name in the modern Russian culture (at least I haven’t heard of it), and the russian translators seemed to be really bothered with that for some reason. Ekaterina (dim. f. is Katya), however, is a very common russian name. The thing is, there was a period of time in USSR history when it was, uh, - “trendy” is not the right word, but let’s roll with it - to give weird non-existent names by transforming the words or abbreviatures into names, and since Prey set in the universe where Soviet Union is still a thing… well, I guess our translators didn’t put that much thought into it.
Mooncrash DLC was an interesting and fun addition to the main game. It has a fairly interesting concept and resembles a roguelike game with a twist - you get through the same location with five different characters in a row - and I mean the same, every item taken and every typhon you killed stays dead - at least for some time (it’s complicated, i’m not gonna go into details). This DLC also forces Survival mode features on you - such as weapons durability, body traumas etc. - which I never got to try out during the main game. Weapons breaking down is pretty annoying, but it’s not that hard to find a new one. Traumas turned out to be a really interesting implementation that freshens up the experience a bit.
The problem is, this DLC has a fairly small map, and you’ll know all the ins and outs around four-five hours in. It gets really repetitive after a while, even moreso if you go for the achievements. I was getting pretty tired of this DLC and Prey altogether at some point, but I still managed to complete it.
Overall, it’s a great game with a pretty solid DLC.
Wow, this is… terrible.
Essentially this is an attempt to squeeze the milk outta typhon’s mimicry meme, resulting in a Prop Hunt ripoff that is completely devoid of fun. There might have been some fun factor for this, if it wasn’t for a fact that the multiplayer is d-e-a-d, since nobody is playing this garbage, and there’s plenty of reasons for that.
Even without the multiplayer experience, the game already looks pretty unbalanced and not well thought out. There’s literally no content (3 small maps, wrench+pistol, a psychoscope bonus and that’s it). Awful hit detection. You can’t play as a mimic without the other player as Morgan (dead multiplayer strikes again).
This feels like a throwaway product instead of an actual game mode. I know it’s free, but it doesn’t change the fact that it’s waaaaay too lazy.
It’s a first person shooter, a long-suffering game that was announced back in ‘95, came out more than 10 years later after several failed attempts, and was supposed to be further made into a franchise before it failed and has been rebooted to become an entirely different game.
This one is obviously not inspired by the same games as 2017 game, it has more of a Doom 3 vibe with less horror elements if anything, imo. Pretty simple plot, predictable story structure and characters’ motivations, but it all works in a pretty neat way and feels like solid above-average action movie plot.
This game tries its hardest to be unique and that’s a great thing. Out of all the shticks the game shows off, most of it is gravity-related. It certainly looses its novelty after a while, but the game isn’t that long to begin with, so it’s not really a problem. The puzzles that require you to leave your body are getting repetitive pretty quick too.
Really liked the alien-language-translation-on-the-go gimmick. Haven’t seen scenes with child deaths for a while, that sure was a surprise.
If I had to pick a downside of this game, I’d say it feels too linear. This giant alien ship should’ve been a really interesting place, yet there’s little to no room for exploration, and even when you get to wander off trail, your efforts aren’t rewarded apart from stumbling upon more ammo. I know this might sound like a weird complaint (and it’s certainly is), but that’s just how I feel. Those Art Bell Earth signal transmissions could’ve worked great as a side thing you could look for, and yet it’s kinda hard to miss them on your way through. But then again, it’s not that kind of a game, I guess.
Also, I have no idea why would they include a ressurrection mechanic in a game like this. It makes the game downright unloseable and my completion was a matter of time instead of being a skill challenge. It’s just like vita-chambers from Bioshock, but in this case you can’t turn it off, and it makes even less sense gameplay-wise, since there’s no penalty for your failures whatsoever.
All in all, it is a pretty outstanding game for its time, and it’s still good to play now, despite its flaws and weird decisions.
Backlog progress status: not a mimic