Prey grinds those Gears

Prey is better than Gears of War? That's what IGN seems to think in their "2006 Predictions". IGN is referring of course to CliffyB's "Gears of War" due later this year for the Xbox 360, saying "Prey will steal Gears of War's glory in the end." Here's what IGN has to say about Prey in this article:

We've all seen the Gears of War coverage so far. It's almost impossible not to have, considering it has been shown at almost every major Microsoft event in the last year. In it, you guide Marcus Fenix across the planet Sera as he battles ferocious Locust swarms. While the game has proven to be visually stunning so far, we're not really sure about its gameplay mechanics. It's been frequently described as "stop and pop" gameplay, but what that precisely means or how it will prove unique is unclear. Basically each level seems to proceed with players advancing to a hostile area and taking cover behind cars and ruined structure while occasionally popping out and unleashing a few bullets. Does that really sound revolutionary?

While you're thinking about that, consider Human Head Studios and 3D Realms' Prey, a first person shooter with a few very interesting features. Prey lets you control Tommy, a Cherokee who's had his girlfriend stolen by a mysterious alien force. From what we've seen so far, the game takes place aboard the alien craft with a distinct biomechanical flavor. Much like in Gears of War, you'll face off against freakish alien creatures. Unlike Gears of War, you'll have a variety of unique ways to dispatch them. In many of the game's environments you'll have to grapple with changes in gravity, as well as an entire Spirit dimension you can enter to perform stealth kills and access otherwise blocked areas. Though it's a first-person shooter, Prey is far from mindless, and may in fact prove to be more entertaining and more innovative than Gears of War hopes to be.

That's pretty high praise, as Gears of War has been getting some good press. Head over to the IGN site to check out their entire 2006 predictions article today where they talk about other game possibilities such as Grand Theft Auto 4, Knights of the Old Republic 3, and more.

Posted by Joe Siegler on January 10, 2006 at 12:09 PM | Permalink
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