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  • $49.99-$59.99
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Prototype (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Windows)

common sense media says

Very violent and profane action game with extreme gore.


parents & educators say
  • 40% say violence is an issue

What parents need to know

Parents need to know that this game is absolutely not intended for children. It is exceptionally gory, thanks to the protagonist's ability to grow claws and use them to slice through enemies. Streets often become painted in blood and littered with body parts. It's also extremely profane. Topping things off, our hero is morally vacuous. His only interest appears to be revenge, and he doesn't care who he has to hurt to get it -- including innocent bystanders. Even something as mundane as walking down the street often becomes an unavoidable exercise in aggression as our avatar automatically shoves everyone out of his way.

Educational value: Not applicable.
Positive messages: Our hero is amoral. He doesn’t seem to care who gets injured or how badly, just as long as he can get one step closer to finding out what happened to him and how to get revenge. 
Violence: Extraordinarily gory. The guns and rocket launchers, which are everywhere, are perhaps the least violent part of the game. Far more disturbing are the claws that our hero grows from his hands and proceeds to use to shred people into ragged, spurting bits. He can also cause spikes to explode from the ground, impaling foes, and send out tentacles from his body to skewer multiple enemies. Every character on screen is a potential target, including pedestrians (there’s even a civilian body count report at the end of each mission).
Sex: Not applicable.
Language: Extreme profanity, including not just frequent occurrences of words like "f-ck" and "sh-t," but several surprisingly creative variants. Virtually every cut scene features multiple instances of words these words.
Consumerism: Most of the in-game advertising is for fake products and services, though we did notice the occasional real-world brand on some billboards, such as DC Comics, which is producing a graphic novel based on the game.
Drinking, drugs, & smoking: Not applicable.

More on Prototype

What to talk about

What's the story?

What's the story?

PROTOTYPE is an open world action game designed for adult consumption. As Alex Mercer, a man who wakes up in a Manhattan morgue with super-human powers and a hunger for revenge, players lay waste to New York, killing scores of military personnel and pedestrians in horrific ways that often involve impalement or dismemberment. Civilians are often caught in the crossfire, sometimes dying in greater numbers than Mercer's legitimate enemies.

For adults able to stomach the gore and questionable morality, there's plenty to do. Players will spend much of their time leaping from rooftop to rooftop, "consuming" enemies to gain memories of Mercer's missing past. You can also search out side quests, such as checkpoint races, and learn new abilities, like how to glide and generate a shield. Completing everything in the game takes dozens of hours.

Is it any good?

Is it any good?
 

Though not exactly original -- there are lots of adventure games that allow players to freely explore massive cities -- Prototype is nonetheless well constructed and surprisingly easy to play. Players can move through the streets unhindered, automatically leaping over obstacles such as cars and running up the sides of buildings in spectacular fashion. And while Mercer has enough different moves to make controlling him a bit more complex than the average action game, they are introduced slowly, giving players time to master his claws, kicks, dodges, and leaps.

Prototype does, however, begin to drag after a while. The missions tend to fall into a few different categories and eventually become repetitive and predictable. Plus, there's something distasteful in the fact that even careful players will accidentally kill hundreds of pedestrians along the way. The narrative could have been much more powerful had players been given the option to try to make Mercer a little less amoral; You ought to have greater control over whether or not you injure innocents. Still, its scope is remarkable, and its action leaves an impression. Worth a look for mature gamers with a taste for the genre.

Game themes & details

Game Details
Available on: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Windows
Not available online
Genre: Action/Adventure
Developer: Activision
Released on: June 9, 2009
Price: 49.99-$59.99
ESRB Rating: M for Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language

This review was written by Chad Sapieha
 
 

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What parents & educators say

13
Based on 30 parent & educator reviews:
  • 40% say violence is an issue

Most useful reviews by all members

xXcoleXemoXx
teen, 15 years old
 
prototype:desctruction royale
ok this is an AWESOME game...however it is extremely gory and bloody.they say f*ck and sh*t ALOT and the main character alex mercer is uncaring and brutally destroys everything just to find out who made him into a monster.however, if your child is 'emo' like me or even 'goth' they will love it. and most emos and goths have seen gory things anyway because its the kind of thing we like...and alex is pretty much an emo even though he doesnt dress the part. so it just depends on how mature your kid is and if they panic when they see blood DO NOT GET IT FOR THEM because blood is the most common thing you see in this game.

Ezio3946
parent of 12 year old
 
You decide
well...what can i say? everyone knows the game is EXTREMELY violent. People who have played it knows its also really fun (most people anyways).the language is abundant which defenitly is a bad thing.but the combat, free running (parkour), missions, and doing random stuff is the best I'VE seen in years thats better than infamous 1 soooo.... ok i think that the game is o.k as long as the child (10 and up) isnt lighthearted and wont try to imitate anything in-game.

cerealkiller189
teen, 13 years old
 
Not that good,but still deserving of four stars.
Not extreme by much,since it happens just at every stop,your kids will soon just learn to get used to it.if you can't get used to a bit of violence in the world,you never will grow up .i play this game at least six seven hours every day for the past two years(I got it in 2009 when it came out)and I don't get violent I don't get into fights though I do get intro arguments and curse at times but these are very seldom and almost not at all.if your kids want to play just let them play.

protosiders
parent of 19 year old
 
perfect for teens!!
Its an ok game for kids to play the only problem is the extreme gore

GameGal101
kid, 13 years old
 
Truth
Walk up to any girl who likes it and ask them why they like it. The answer will always be "because Alex is hot" I'm guilty of this.

Rio101
parent of 17 year old
 
perfect for someone how loves zombies or free roam
This game is a grate game, I love this game for one fact im a game creator.

VForNoVendettas
kid, 10 years old
 
Just fine
I love this game, but it is the most gory game I have played I still consider it a good game, fine for 14/15+.

Plague
parent
 
Absolutly Amazing!
This game is one of my all time favorites. If you've ever played the Spiderman video games you would know how easy the gameplay is. Well its pretty much the same in this game. Easy gameplay, great storyline, kickarse graphics, and fun weapons that mold onto your body. This is a great game to those who are kill fanatics, gore enthusiests, or just want to play a game that you'll want to play for months on end.

NeverSh0utDalt0n
parent of 15 and 18 year old
 
AMAZING
All Your Kids Will LOVE This GAme

Mafiapoptart
teen, 14 years old
 
Good gory game
This is the goriest game i have ever played. The language is also terrible. No matter what happens you will hear the f word in every mission. It is a fun game, but Alex, the guy you play as, will never be a good model for anybody. Strictly because you can kill thousands of people in the game. There are also many trophies or achievements in the game that reward you for the ways you kill people. Not for any kids under 16.

 
Such a fun game!
I gave this game 5 stars not because of its originality....quite honestly, its really not original at all...its a sandbox game in which you, Alex Mercer, are an incredible parkour mutant and are able to glide and leap around the city with ease, destroying any puny tanks or helicopters that get between you and figuring out your mysterious past. There storyline isn't very original either, and the only thing fresh about Alex Mercer is that he constantly wears a hood around his face like an adorable emo man. He looks and moves a lot like a Hunter from Left 4 Dead on performance inhancing drugs, if that can be imagined. All this being said, I haven't had so much fun playing a game in a long time. I found myself just running around the city doing side quests, admiring the way my supple body slid across skyscrapers and vaulted over high buildings, only to fall thousands of feet and smash the concrete without injuring myself at all. It plays a lot like Cole in InFamous, identical in game-style and similar in character, only in my opinion, Alex is the more fun of the two to control. You have so much freedom in this game, and the city is huge to accommodate your incredible ability to get around very quickly. You upgrade your abilities by earning points from battles, which gives you incentive to fight. This game is a great 3rd person game, a really fun fun fun time. If your looking for artistic and beautiful story line, look elsewhere, but if you want to watch Alex mercer's moodily hooded form fly gracefully and powerfully through the air as much as I do, this game will keep you occupied! For parents, this might be a better choice for the kids that want a more mature game, but that you don't want to expose to the realism and intensity of Black Ops and other games. There is blood, but most of it is fairly unrealistic and fanciful; it squirts out of the enemies you slash apart with your limbs, but as most of the people you'll be killing are either infected beasts or corrupt military forces, its a less intense experience than many other games. You feel removed from the killing, rather than completely emersed by it, as with First person shooters. And all of it is very unrealistic; one of your attacks, for example, absorbs enemies into your body with tentacles. Its fantastic violence such as you would see in a dark action movie now days. There is language, but most games of this type have that now days, and this game isn't as bad as some. Lastly, there are different difficulty levels, ranging from easy to hard, that accommodate the beginning player as well as the veteran. The key with this game is that it IS dark, it IS violent, but not nearly as much so as all the other M rated games out there, and certainly not as realistic. One thing should be noted though; Alex Mercer is not really a hero. He fights for himself and only himself. The player controls almost all of his actions, and can choose whether to kill civilians to heal themselves or not; however, Alex, though obviously unfairly persecuted, is out for revenge. This is a story about him getting even, and there is a lot of killing.

Gore Guy
parent of 17 year old
 
ok for people who can handle blood
this game is ok very bloody and gore but u can handle it

remeidd23
teen, 15 years old
 
Fun game but procede with caution
This is a extremely fun game in which you get to take on the city of New York with super powers. Although it is very fun it is very violent, and a very negative plot. So before allowing you kid to play make sure he understands the plot and the problems with the game.

GameDude17
kid, 11 years old
 
A good but, violent superpower game!
Prototype is a very violent game. Very gory, body parts fly every where. You can kill civilian's and your foe's. F--k,sh-t, is said. I think it is a fine game, but not so great for some people. My friend got sick after playing the first few seconds. Its fun but really gross sometime.

12345678910111 ...
parent of 14 year old
 
13+
... This game is extremely fun, violent, and gory. However, parents need to know that their kids aren't stupid. If they see something in a video game, they aren't going to copy it in real life, if they're over 12, they probably understand the difference of what's ok to do in a video game versus what's ok to do in real life (especially in this game cause not too many kids have super powers.) So if your kid is over 13, then they should be able to handle this game.

herbertoneill83
parent of 14 year old
 
amazing game for players 14+
This game is amazing, however it's not ok for kids 14 or younger. I have a 13 year old son, and I only play this game after he goes to bed. My wife won't even be in the room when I'm playing it. If you're older than 14 and have a tough stomach (to be able to handle the huge amount of blood) this game is a great choice for you. I think it's somewhat educational for older kids because it forces you to make decisions, that are either good or bad, and it shows the consequences. If you are or have a child who wants this game, but you think it's not ok yet, a great alternative is inFAMOUS (only for PS3.)

 
Can't wait for part 2. It's going to be great.

masterchief117
kid, 12 years old
 
gory and young kids should't see or play it
a very violent game with gore. you can cut people in half,punch holes into people kill zombie like creatures,shootings and explosions. this game is easy to play excatly the same as hulk ultmate distruction. infrequent uses of the f-word and milder stuff(mostly infrequent). shootings aren't very gory but cutting people in half and stuff like that are gory but when you cut someone in half its just red. most kids now just watch and play anything so 11+. by the way its quite hard including the final boss battle so young kids won't be able to play it.

just call me ...
teen, 15 years old
 
all i have to say is that your kid isnot gonna become a bad person when they grow up just because they watch violent video games.

bordelands=me
teen, 14 years old
 
prototype is the best
amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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