Prey (Xbox 360)

I'm not usually a fan of first person shooters, mainly because I find them too hard and don't like having to keep saving and loading to progress 30 feet. It's the whole issue of dying that exhausts my precious patience. 'Prey' has done something about this and created a first person shooter for people who aren't very good at first person shooters.

The story isn't overly original. Aliens invade Earth and beam up humans, then commit unspeakable acts upon them and there is only one man who can do anything about it... You.

You play Tommy, a Cherokee who is desperate to escape the trapping of the reservation, but his girlfriend, Jen, is desperate to stay. When the aliens abduct the both of you the race is on to save both Jen and yourself and get yourself back to Earth.

The game plays out like most other FPS games in the way that you have to run around shooting enemies and solving the odd puzzle. There are three ways to do this; in the Physical World, the Spirit World and the Death World.

The Physical World is exactly as it sounds, the physical, albeit alien, reality that surrounds Tommy. This is the world you will spend most time in and is where the various gravity effects come into play. In this game there are certain points where you can walk up the walls and on the ceilings, other points where you will need to completely flip the gravitational pull of the environment. At times this can become a little disorienting but that is all part of the fun. You need to use these gravity effects to progress, so they are not just a gimmick added on, but an essential part of the game.

As Tommy is Cherokee he can allow his Spirit to leave his body. This is the Spirit World. When you press the Y button the screen will take on a light blue hue and your spirit will have the ability to access areas that Tommy's physical body cannot. Enemies can't see Tommy's spirit unless you attacks them so it is very good for stealthily working out where you need to get to next. The spirit body can also activate switches, lowering force fields that are otherwise blocking Tommy's progress through the physical world. To me this is the best part of the game. I like the puzzle solving elements of any game, and although the puzzles in 'Prey' aren't particularly perplexing they add a little more enjoyment for me.

The most controversial element of the game seems to be the Death World. This is only encountered when Tommy looses all of his health. You then enter Death Walk and try to shoot Wraiths to gain back as much health as possible before being thrown back into the action where you fell. Essentially you cannot die. This element is why it is a FPS for people who are not very good at first person shooters. You can 'die' as many times as you need and will always be able to get straight back into the action, without using quick saves. While other people have slated the whole game for this one part, I would say that it has kept the game alive for me. If it wasn't for the idea that I could not 'die' I would have probably given up on the game a lot earlier, as it was I completed it in a couple of weeks.

It is not a huge game but more than adequate for the like of me, for whom games are meant to be fun.

You get the usual mix of weapons and enemies. The guns are all easy to use and the enemies are varied. Boss battles could have been a little bit harder though.

The online element to 'Prey' consists of either Deathmatch or Team Deathmatch. If you've played any sort of multiplayer FPS before you will know what to expect. The gravity effects come into play in a big way in multiplayer as not only do you have to keep an eye on what is giong on behind you, but also above you and below. There may not be all that many people playing 'Prey' online due to games like 'Gears Of War' now being on the market, but you should still be able to get a decent game now and then. It's got a bit of lag if you are playing with more than three other people which can be annoying.

Achievements are half story based and half multiplayer based, with three Secret Achievements. This gives it the balance that is so often absent when it comes to Achievements.

Once you have finished this game you will feel more prepared to take on more conventional FPS games. I enjoyed 'Prey' and will probably spend a good few weeks trying to get all the multiplayer Achievements. I wouldn't say it is worth £49.99 but if you can get it for under 30 notes you'll have a good little game on your hands.

I really did enjoy playing Prey, the story's simple yet effective, the game play is fun, I like the range of weapons, especially the spider like grenades most amusing......but.....it just lacks that special something that some other games have, it doesn't prey on your mind, I wasn't itching to get back on the buttons. In short it just got to be a bit lack lustre in the end. That said it's certainly worth a go especially at the price you can get it now.

On the face of it it has a lot going for it - fabulous graphics and some unique features for a FPS such as the upside down walkways, the ability to step, via strange portals, from one location to another instantly, and I like the 'Independence Day' type scenario, only this time it's set on the giant mothership which is 'harvesting' citizens of the Earth, and it's up to the American Indian hero to rescue his girl and save the day. And exploring this gigantic mothership you do get a feel of the massive scope of it and a sense of wonder as you progress through this strange alien world, and you can tell the designers put a lot of time and effort in creating something original which would stand out from the usual Half Life 2 and Halo shooters.

Sadly the developers, while putting this amazing world together, neglected the essential element: gameplay. Why we like Half Life 2 and Halo so much is not only do they look good, and you also get that sense of adventure as you progress through the varied levels, you get some cool weapons that are fun and exciting to use, and the shoot outs are, more often than not, an adrenaline rush. The weapons in Prey, frankly speaking, are just bland and boring with weak sounds, and the shoot outs after a while become a real chore. This for a FPS is a disaster.

And as has already been alluded to by other reviewers, the pattern to progress through this game is the same tiresome sequence of tasks: flip switches, ocassionally shoot a switch to flip the artificial gravity upside down so you can manouevre through a tricky section of the ship, go into 'spirit walk' to bypass a force field, negotiate through the various portals and walkways, while at each time engaging in mostly tedious shoot outs with various alien enemies using your crappy arsenal.

And on and on it plods in similar fashion... With Half Life 2 and Halo you don't want them to end, and after each session you feel you're doing something worthwhile. Prey by comparison is not a fun experience overall, it's more an endurance test. What could have been a serious Half Life 2/Halo contender is essentially just a bland and repetitive gaming experience that does nothing for the genre other than to showcase the rather nice enhanced Doom 3 engine.

By all means give it a go, but if you hate it don't say I didn't warn you.